Biometric reader for compactor/baler and method

Abstract

A compactor/baler for compacting materials includes a frame defining a compacting chamber, a platen movably mounted to the frame, a loading gate movably mounted to the frame and a control panel including a biometric reader having a biometric scanner. The platen is movable within the compacting chamber and the loading gate is movable from a closed position blocking access to the compacting chamber and-an open position exposing the compacting chamber. The control panel is actuable between a locked configuration and an operational configuration. The biometric reader is designed to accept a biometric attribute of a user and to actuate the controller between the locked and operational configurations. The biometric reader actuates the controller to the operational configuration if the biometric attribute matches a stored biometric attribute. The control panel prevents the loading gate from moving to the open position when the controller is in the locked configuration.

1 - 22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . A method for controlling access to a compacting chamber of a compactor/baler having a loading gate, a platen, a compacting chamber, a gate locking mechanism, a fingerprint reader, a proximity sensor, a plurality of stored fingerprints and a plurality of stored authorization codes, each of the plurality of stored fingerprints associated with one of the plurality of stored authorization codes, the method comprising the steps of:
 a) orienting the compactor/baler in a locked configuration wherein the loading gate is in a closed position and a gate locking mechanism blocks the loading gate from moving out of the closed position;   b) accepting a user's fingerprint with the fingerprint reader;   c) accepting a user authorization code with the fingerprint reader;   d) comparing the accepted user's fingerprint and user authorization code of steps (b) and (c), respectively, to the plurality of stored fingerprints and the plurality of stored authorization codes;   e) actuating the gate locking mechanism to permit the loading gate to move out of the closed position when:
 e1) the accepted user fingerprint of step (b) match one of the plurality of stored fingerprints; and 
 e2) the accepted user authorization code of step (c) matches the stored authorization code of the plurality of stored authorization codes associated with the one of the plurality of stored fingerprints of step (e1); and 
   f) notifying the user when the accepted user fingerprint and the accepted user authorization code of steps (b) and (c) do not match one of the plurality of stored fingerprints and the associated one of the plurality of stored authorization codes.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23  comprising the further step of:
 g) transmitting the plurality of stored fingerprints and the plurality of stored authorization codes from the fingerprint reader to a slave fingerprint reader associated with a slave compactor/baler. 
 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 23  comprising the further step of:
 g) transmitting the plurality of stored fingerprints and the plurality of stored associated authorization codes from the fingerprint reader to a remote storage device. 
 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 23  comprising the further step of:
 g) sounding an alarm when the loading gate is in an open position for more than three minutes (3 min) following step (e). 
 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25  comprising the further step of:
 h) sensing the position of the loading gate with the proximity sensor to determine when the loading gate is in the open position. 
 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the fingerprint reader permits the platen to move from an initial position to a compacting position only when the loading gate is in the closed position.