Closure for a compartment

摘要

The invention provides a closures (106) for a compartment (100) having one or more walls (112, 114, 116, 118) and an opening (110) defined by at least one of the walls (112, 114, 116, 118). The closure (106) is associated with at least one fastener located inside the compartment (100). The fastener can hold the closure (106) in a first position (eg. closed) relative to the opening (110). The fastener is adapted to cause the closure (106) to assume a second position (eg. open) relative to the opening (110) upon receipt of a suitable signal. The closure (106) has at least one indicium (108) visible from outside the compartment (110). The indicium (108) is adapted to provide a visual indication of a status of the closure (106) or the compartment (110), such as closure open, closure closed, compartment empty, compartment occupied. Instead of indicium (108) or in addition to it, the closure of the invention can include in the fastener means for communicating to a remote device, a status of the closure or the compartment. The closure and the compartment may form an array with other closures and compartments having similar fasteners. In that event, the fastener in each compartment may be addressable.

主权项

1. A closure for a compartment having one or more walls and an opening defined by at least one of the walls, the closure being associated with at least one fastener located inside the compartment and adapted to hold the closure in a first position relative to the opening, the at least one fastener comprising means for communicating to a remote device information relating to the closure, the compartment or its contents, and the at least one fastener being adapted to cause the closure to assume a second position relative to the opening upon receipt of a suitable signal, wherein the compartment forms an array with other compartments having respective closures and fasteners, the at least one fastener is addressable and the signal is provided external to the compartment and capable of addressing the at least one fastener, the signal being provided using any one of: entry of a code using a keypad; a wireless link; a radio link; induction coupling; infrared, microwave or visible light energy; sound energy; email; voice recognition; a smart card; an ID chip; a biometric scan; optical image recognition; or an RFID scan.