Method for controlling access to hazard zones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11127237-B2
Application number	US-201816181743-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 6, 2018
Priority date	Nov 7, 2017
Publication date	Sep 21, 2021
Grant date	Sep 21, 2021

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling access to hazard zones (202; 206) by a server (100), the server (100) comprising a processor (102) and a memory (106), the memory storing instructions in a form of an evacuation module (108), the instructions being executable by the processor, the method comprising electronically registering the presence of persons in the hazard zones (202; 206) by reader devices (208) associated with the hazard zones (202; 206), the registering being performed by reading ID tokens uniquely associated with the persons by the reader devices (208).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for controlling access to hazard zones, the system comprising a server, the server comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing computer readable instructions in a form of an evacuation module, the computer readable instructions being executable by the processor, wherein system is operable for electronically registering the presence of persons in the hazard zones by reader devices assigned to the hazard zones, the registering being performed by reading ID tokens by the reader devices, the ID tokens being uniquely associated with the persons, each of the reader devices comprising a set of two receivers, for each of the reader devices, a first of the receivers is exclusively assigned to a registration of the ID tokens for the respective hazard zone and a second of the receivers is exclusively assigned to a deregistration of the ID tokens for the respective hazard zone, a person associated with one of the ID tokens is deemed to be present in the respective hazard zone when the ID token of that person has been read by the first receiver, and a person associated with one of the ID tokens is deemed to be no longer present in the respective hazard zone when the ID token of that person has been read by the second receiver, wherein the execution of the computer readable instructions by the processor causes the server to:
a) retrieve, for the persons whose presence is registered, person-specific data from at least one first database, wherein the person-specific data comprise personal master data,
b) retrieve, for the reader devices used to register the presence of the persons, data specific to the respective hazard zone from at least one second database, wherein the data specific to the hazard zone comprise location information of the hazard zone,
c) generate evacuation data, the evacuation data comprising the personal master data of the persons whose presence is registered and the data specific to the hazard zone, the data specific to the hazard zone being assigned to the person-specific data in accordance with the presence of the persons in the respective hazard zone,
d) transmit the evacuation data to a mobile telecommunication device for buffering of the evacuation data by the mobile telecommunication device, and
e) repeat automatically and cyclically the steps a)-d) at specified time intervals.

2. A method for controlling access to hazard zones by a server, the server comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions in a form of an evacuation module, the instructions being executable by the processor, the method comprising electronically registering the presence of persons in the hazard zones by reader devices assigned to the hazard zones, the registering being performed by reading ID tokens uniquely associated with the persons by the reader devices, each of the reader devices comprising a set of two receivers, for each of the reader devices, a first of the receivers is exclusively assigned to a registration of the ID tokens for the respective hazard zone and a second of the receivers is exclusively assigned to a deregistration of the ID tokens for the respective hazard zone, a person associated with one of the ID tokens is deemed to be present in the respective hazard zone when the ID token of that person has been read by the first receiver, and a person associated with one of the ID tokens is deemed to be no longer present in the respective hazard zone when the ID token of that person has been read by the second receiver, wherein the execution of the instructions by the processor causes the server to:
a) retrieve, for the persons whose presence is registered, person-specific data from at least one first database, wherein the person-specific data comprise personal master data,
b) retrieve, for the reader devices used to register the presence of the persons, data specific to the respective hazard zone from at least one second database, wherein the data specific to the hazard zone comprise location information of the hazard zone,
c) generate evacuation data, the evacuation data comprising the personal master data of the persons whose presence is registered and the data specific to the hazard zone, the data specific to the hazard zone being assigned to the person-specific data in accordance with the presence of the persons in the respective hazard zone,
d) transmit the evacuation data to a mobile telecommunication device for buffering of the evacuation data by the mobile telecommunication device, and
e) repeat automatically and cyclically the steps a)-d) at specified time intervals.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein, on the basis of the transmitting of the evacuation data to the mobile telecommunication device, the evacuation data previously buffered in the mobile telecommunication device is overwritten by the currently transmitted evacuation data.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving an update request from the mobile telecommunication device, wherein the steps a)-d) are repeated immediately upon the receiving of the update request irrespective of the cyclic repetition.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the evacuation data is transmitted by a server to the mobile telecommunication device via a push mechanism.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein, for each of the reader devices, the set of receivers is spatially separated from each other such that simultaneous reading of a particular ID token by both receivers is avoided.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein
the reader devices are configured to register the ID tokens for the respective hazard zone and for deregistering the ID tokens for the respective hazard zone; and
a person associated with one of the ID tokens is deemed to be no longer present in the respective hazard zone,
if the presence of the person associated with the ID token is registered in a zone other than the respective hazard zone, and/or
if a predetermined first time interval after registration of the person's ID token has elapsed.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the registering of the presence of the person associated with the ID token in a zone other than the respective hazard zone comprises:
using one of the reader devices not associated with the respective hazard zone to re-register the ID token,
registering the person associated with the ID token on a time recording terminal outside the respective hazard zone.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein
the unique association of each ID token with the respective person is given by a unique identifier; and
the retrieving of the person-specific data from the first database is performed using the unique identifier as the primary key from the first database.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the registering of the presence of persons in the hazard zones comprises:
reading the unique identifier provided by the ID token by one of the reading devices, wherein the reading is performed by near field communication between the ID token and the reader device.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the registering of the person associated with the ID token on the time recording terminal comprises:
recording the registration process of the person associated with the ID token on the time recording terminal by a time recording module; and
communicating, to the evacuation module, said recorded registration process by the time recording module, the communicating comprising transmitting such an information, which enables the evacuation module to uniquely identify the person associated with the ID token directly or using the first database, wherein execution of the instructions of the evacuation module further causes the server to register the person associat

Assignees

• Thyssenkrupp Ag
• thyssenkrupp Hohenlimburg GmbH

Inventors

• Garthe Frank
• Ewert Thomas
• Jungjohann Joerg
• Wolff Oliver

Classifications

• G06Q90/205 Primary

  Building evacuation · CPC title

• H04L65/102

  Gateways (arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66) · CPC title

• G08B21/0272

  System arrangements wherein the object is to detect exact location of child or item using triangulation other than GPS · CPC title

• H04W4/024

  Guidance services · CPC title

• G07C9/28 Primary

  the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence · CPC title