Keyless padlock, system and method of use

1. A keyless padlock system, comprising:

a keyless padlock, comprising:

a padlock body;

a shackle; and

a locking mechanism located in the body and associated with the shackle to lock the shackle to the body in a locked condition and to release at least a part of the shackle in an unlocked condition, the locking mechanism including:

a signal receiver;

at least one control assembly; and

at least one actuator; and

an application comprising instructions executable by a personal computing device to:

initialize operation of the keyless padlock by:

pairing the keyless padlock with the personal computing device;

receiving an identifying code unique to the keyless padlock;

storing the identifying code in a memory of the personal computing device; and

transmitting to the keyless padlock one or more details that are unique to the personal computing device; and

operate the keyless padlock by:

accessing the identifying code; and

transmitting the identifying code to the signal receiver with the one or more details that are unique to the personal computing device;

wherein the at least one control assembly of the padlock triggers the at least one actuator to unlock the padlock shackle if the identifying code received by the signal receiver matches that of the padlock and will not open if the identifying code does not match.

2. The keyless padlock as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:

the locking mechanism further includes a battery and a camming member within the padlock body movable between the locked and unlocked conditions;

the at least one actuator comprises a camming member actuator in order to move the locking mechanism; and

the at least one control assembly is configured to control operation of the camming actuator according to the received signal.

3. The keyless padlock as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the locking mechanism further includes a switch associated with a short arm of the shackle such that when the short arm the shackle is aligned with a respective opening in the padlock body and depressed by a user in order to lock the padlock, the switch is activated which in turn is used to signal the actuator to rotate the camming member to lock the shackle.

4. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the unique identifying code is a code or signal which is matched to the keyless padlock.

5. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the unique identifying code is generated substantially in real time each time the operation of the keyless padlock is prompted and communicated to both the keyless padlock and to the personal computing device for transmission to the keyless padlock.

6. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the keyless padlock utilises a multifactor authentication protocol.

7. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 6 wherein the keyless padlock includes a transmitter configured to request additional information either from a user, from a third-party, or from an external system administrator implementing a multifactor authentication protocol.

8. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one or more details unique to the personal computing device are obtained directly from the personal computing device each time a transmission is made rather than being stored in the application.

9. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the unique identifying code is transmitted by a third party on behalf of an authorised user in order to allow the third-party to operate the keyless padlock with the unique identifying code being provided to the third-party by the authorised user or with the authorised user's consent from a system administrator, the third party also having a personal computing device operating the application.

10. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 9 wherein authorisation is provided to the third party by an authorised user on a single use basis.

11. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 9 wherein once the authorised third-party has operated the keyless padlock, the application operating on the third party's personal computing device provides feedback to the authorised user's personal computing device allowing the authorised user to ascertain the identity of the third-party operating the keyless padlock in confirmation.

12. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the application further comprises instructions to provide an interface that allows a location of the keyless padlock paired with the personal computing device to be determined geographically.

13. A keyless padlock system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the application further comprises instructions to, upon the padlock being locked, note a geographic position of the personal computing device using a positioning system of the personal computing device and store the geographic position in a memory of the personal computing device.