Patent ID: 6980672

Claim:
A locking device comprising: (a) a locking mechanism for locking and unlocking movement of an object; (b) a pressure-based fingerprint sensor for detecting a fingerprint pattern comprising at least a portion of a plurality of ridges and a plurality of valleys of a finger in both an x-direction and a y-direction when said finger is pressed against said sensor; (c) a semiconductor memory device for storing registered fingerprint data; (d) a processor configured to determine by electronic processing whether the fingerprint data created from the fingerprint pattern detected by said fingerprint sensor matches with any of the registered fingerprint data stored in said semiconductor memory device; (e) a control unit for controlling whether said locking mechanism locks or unlocks movement of said object in response to said fingerprint match determination by said processor; and (f) a key unit separated from said locking mechanism and independently portable with respect to said control unit and said locking mechanism, said portable key unit comprising one of the group consisting of: (1) said sensor, said semiconductor memory device, and said processor but not said control unit, and wherein said portable key unit is in communication with said control unit via unidirectional wireless communication from the portable key unit to the control unit, and (2) said sensor and said semiconductor memory device but not said processor and not said control unit, and wherein said portable key unit is in communication with said processor via unidirectional wireless communication from the portable key unit to said processor.