Electronic security system

Claim 1

A method of operating an electronic real estate lockbox system, the system including an electronic lockbox, an electronic key, and a central computer, the method comprising: placing a dwelling key in a lockable compartment inside the lockbox, the dwelling key permitting access to a property listed for sale by a listing real estate agent, the listing agent being affiliated with one of a plurality of local real estate offices, said local real estate office in turn being affiliated with a regional real estate board; providing the lockbox with a lockbox identification code; providing the electronic key with a key identification code; entering a user code on a keypad associated with the key; verifying from the user code that the user entering the code is an authorized user of the key; relaying data between the electronic key and lockbox; unlocking the lockbox compartment to allow access to the dwelling key contained therein in response to the data relayed between the key and lockbox; storing transaction data specifying the date and time of the unlocking transaction, together with at least one of either the lockbox identification code or the key identification code, in a memory, said data being in raw numeric form; transferring the transaction data from the memory to the central computer, said central computer being located remotely from the local real estate office; providing the computer with interpretive data permitting the computer to correlate the key or lockbox identification code to a textual counterpart identifying the key or lockbox, respectively; interpreting the transaction data with said interpretive data to produce an interpreted activity report that includes interpreted textual, rather than raw numeric, data; establishing a telephone link between the central computer and a remote location; and transmitting by facsimile the interpreted activity report to the remote location.

Claim 2

A method of operating an electronic real estate lockbox system, the system including an electronic lockbox, an electronic key, and a central computer, the method comprising: placing a dwelling key in a lockable compartment inside the lockbox, the dwelling key permitting access to a property listed for sale by a listing real estate agent, the listing agent being affiliated with one of a plurality of local real estate offices, said local real estate office in turn being affiliated with a regional real estate board; providing the lockbox with a lockbox identification code; providing the electronic key with a key identification code; entering a user code on a keypad associated with the key; verifying from the user code that the user entering the code is an authorized user of the key; relaying data between the electronic key and lockbox; unlocking the lockbox compartment to allow access to the dwelling key contained therein in response to the data relayed between the key and lockbox; storing transaction data specifying the date and time of the unlocking transaction, together with at least one of either the lockbox identification code or the key identification code, in a memory, said data being in raw numeric form; transferring the transaction data from the memory to the central computer, said central computer being located remotely from the local real estate office; providing the computer with interpretive data permitting the computer to correlate the key or lockbox identification code to a textual counterpart identifying the key or lockbox, respectively; interpreting the transaction data with said interpretive data to produce an interpreted activity report that includes interpreted textual, rather than raw numeric, data; establishing a telephone link between the central computer and a remote location; and transmitting by facsimile the interpreted activity report to the remote location.