US 8,979,446 B2
Fully automatic self-service key duplicating kioskGeneral
US 8,979,446 B2
Fully automatic self-service key duplicating kiosk
Tech Center:
3700 Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing and Medical Devices/Processes
Examiner:
Daniel Howell
Art Unit:
3722 Manufacturing Devices and Processes, Machine Tools and Hand Tools
Agent:
Inventors:
Daniel Freeman
Assignee:
Priority:
06/03/10
Filed:
06/03/11
Granted:
03/17/15
Expiration:
01/15/33
Abstract
A self-service, fully-automatic kiosk for duplicating keys includes a kiosk housing having a customer interface for receiving payment from a customer for the purchase of at least one duplicate of the customer's key. A key-receiving entry in the housing receives at least a portion of the customer's key to be duplicated, and a key analysis system within the housing analyzes the blade of a key inserted in the key-receiving entry to determine whether the inserted key matches one of a group of preselected key types and, if so, which preselected key type is matched. A key blank magazine within the housing stores key blanks for each of the preselected key types. A key blank extraction system extracts from the magazine a key blank for the preselected key type matched by the blade of the key inserted in the key-receiving entry. Then a key duplicating system within the kiosk replicates the tooth pattern of the blade of the key inserted in the key-receiving entry, on the blade of the extracted key blank.
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
G07G07F9/009G07FY10T409/300952Y10TB23C3/35B23CG06Q20/18G06Q