Techno Thursday - Bike Security Apparatus

I know Techno Tuesday has a better ring to it but, I didn't get around to writing this.

This week I came across an application (US 2012/0234777) for a bike stand/lock.

This bike lock works like a parking meter with a password. You put your coins into the slot and the lock pops open. The user would use a card and set a password then use a fingerprint reader to set the lock and then lock the bike. When the user comes back the password is entered or fingerprint is scanned and the device unlocks. 

For a more complicated description see below...keep in mind the inventor is from an Asian country and the translation may have some "broken English" in it: 

The bicycle security apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises a housing standing on a supporting plane. The housing includes a panel formed on a front side thereof and two side plates respectively connected to the panel. At least one of the two side plates has an opening defined therein and a hook secured thereon. An opening is defined in the side plate where the hook is secured. The hook has a distal end extending toward the opening. At least one drive device is disposed in the housing and corresponds to the at least one opening. At least one latch is connected to the at least one drive device and the at least one latch is reciprocally driven by the at least one drive device, wherein the latch is received in the housing when the bicycle security apparatus is in an unlocked condition and the latch facing the distal end of the hook when the bicycle security apparatus is in a locked condition.

A control unit is mounted onto the panel. The control unit includes a central process unit mounted onto the interior of the panel. A slot device, a card reader and a fingerprint recognize device are respectively mounted onto the panel and electrically connected to the central process unit, wherein the slot device is provided for user to insert coin(s) before take bake his/her bicycle and the card reader is provided to read the personal data from a card, and the card reader and the fingerprint recognize device are provided to recognize the person who wants to take back his/her bicycle. An input device is disposed on the panel for user to input the pass word(s) of his/her card for ensuring the identity of the card owner.

*All information in this post is available to the public through the USPTO.gov website or through Google Patents.