Security pouch having a locking mechanism associated with an electronic

Abstract

A security pouch for carrying confidential documents or other valuables from a sending to a remote receiving station, the pouch being adapted to inform its receiver whether at some point in the course of transit, the pouch had been intercepted and opened and then reclosed. The pouch is provided with closure means, a locking mechanism which when locked engages the closure means and secures the documents within the pouch, and an electronic module operatively coupled to this mechanism. The electronic module includes a random number generator, an elapsed time measuring unit and an LCD display to present the number and the elapsed time. When at the sending station, the sender locks the pouch containing the documents, this action triggers the generator to produce and display a random number. And it also resets the elapsed time unit which then proceeds to count time. Normally, when the pouch arrives at the receiving station, the module then displays the same random number, thereby assuring the receiver that the pouch had not been intercepted in the course of transit. But if at some point in this course, the pouch was intercepted and unlocked to obtain access to the documents and then relocked, then when the pouch arrives at the receiving station, the random number then displayed does not match that produced at the sending station. And the elapsed time then displayed indicates the time that had elapsed from the time of interception, not from the sending time.