Access control system and a method therein for handling access to an access-restricted physical resource

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12408034-B2
Application number	US-202217940123-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2022
Priority date	Sep 9, 2021
Publication date	Sep 2, 2025
Grant date	Sep 2, 2025

Abstract

An access control system and a method performed therein, for handling access to an access-restricted physical resource. The method comprises, by means of a first credential reader, receiving an initiating access request credential initiating a request to give one or more visitors access to a first access-restricted physical resource. The method further comprises, by means of the first credential reader, receiving a visitor credential for each visitor for which access is requested, and, by means of a second credential reader, receiving a finalising access request credential finalising the request to give the one or more visitors access. Furthermore, the method comprises, by means of a first resource controller, allowing a visitor to access the first access-restricted physical resource upon presenting the visitor's visitor credential to the first credential reader.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, performed in an access control system, for handling access to an access-restricted physical resource, the method comprising:
by a first credential reader associated with a first access-restricted physical resource, receiving, as input to the access control system, a host's initiating access request credential initiating a request to give one or more visitors access right to the first access-restricted physical resource, wherein the first credential reader is arranged in communication with a first resource controller controlling access to the first access-restricted physical resource;
by the first credential reader, receiving, as input to the access control system, a visitor credential for each visitor for which a same access right is requested;
by a second credential reader associated with an access-restricted physical resource and arranged in communication with the first resource controller, receiving, as input to the access control system, a host's finalising access request credential finalising the request to give the one or more visitors access right to the first access-restricted physical resource; and
by the first resource controller, receiving information about the finalisation of the request to give access and the one or more visitor credentials, and allowing a visitor to access the first access-restricted physical resource upon presenting the visitor's visitor credential to the first credential reader.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first credential reader and the second credential reader are one out of:
one and the same credential reader; and
two different credential readers.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initiating access request credential and the finalising access request credential are one out of:
a single access credential being associated with a first host or a second host; and
two different access credentials, each of which being associated with only one out of the first host and the second host; and
wherein the first host and the second host are authorised to give the one or more visitors access to the first access-restricted physical resource.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to the second credential reader receiving the finalising access request credential and by the first resource controller, adding each received visitor credential to a first set of allowed credentials associated with the first access-restricted physical resource and the first credential reader.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
in response to a successful addition of the one or more visitor credentials and by the first credential reader or the second credential reader, activating an indication indicating that each received visitor credential has been added.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the allowing of the visitor to access the first access-restricted physical resource further comprises:
allowing the visitor to access the first access-restricted resource when the visitor's presented visitor credential is comprised in the first set of allowed credentials.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the initiating access request credential or the finalising access request credential is received with an indication of a total amount of allowed access to the first access-restricted physical resource that the one or more visitors is to be given and wherein the adding of each received visitor credential to the first set of allowed credentials, further comprises:
adding the indicated total amount of the allowed access for each visitor, and wherein the allowing of the visitor to access the first access-restricted physical resource further comprises:
allowing the visitor to access the first access-restricted physical resource only when an amount of access to be allowed is within the visitor's total amount of allowed access; and wherein the method further comprises:
when applicable, updating the visitor's total amount of allowed access with a remaining total amount of allowed access.

8. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
by the first credential reader or the second credential reader, receiving an initiating access change credential initiating a request to change a visitor's access to the first access-restricted physical resource;
by the first credential reader or the second credential reader, receiving a given visitor's visitor credential;
by the first credential reader or the second credential reader, receiving a finalising access change credential finalising the request to change the given visitor's access; and
updating the first set of allowed credentials with the requested change of the given visitor's access.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the adding of each received visitor credential to a first set of allowed credentials further comprises:
by the first resource controller or the access controller, determining that the first credential reader is comprised in a group of credential readers, which group also comprises one or more second credential readers being arranged in communication with the first resource controller and being associated with one or more second access-restricted physical resources to which the one or more visitors is to be allowed access;
by the first resource controller or the access controller, adding information relating to the one or more visitors and stored in the first set of allowed credentials to one or more second sets of allowed credentials, wherein each second set of allowed credentials is associated with a respective second access-restricted physical resource out of the one or more second access-restricted physical resources and associated with a respective second credential reader comprised in the group of credential readers.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to the second credential reader receiving the finalising access request credential and by the first resource controller, transmitting, to an access controller comprised in the access control system, a first request to add each received visitor credential to a first set of allowed credentials associated with the first access-restricted physical resource and the first credential reader; and
by access controller, adding each received visitor credential to the first set of allowed credentials.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
in response to a successful addition of the one or more visitor credentials and by the first credential reader or the second credential reader, activating an indication indicating that each received visitor credential has been added.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the allowing of the visitor to access the first access-restricted physical resource further comprises:
allowing the visitor to access the first access-restricted resource when the visitor's presented visitor credential is comprised in the first set of allowed credentials.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
by the first credential reader or the second credential reader, receiving an initiating access change credential initiating a request to change a visitor's access to the first access-restricted physical resource;
by the first credential reader or the second credential reader, receiving a given visitor's visitor credential;
by the first credential reader or the second credential reader, receiving a finalising access change credential finalising the request to change the given visitor's access; and
updating the first set of allowed credentials with the requested change of the given visitor's access.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the adding of each received visitor credential to a f

Assignees

• Axis Ab

Inventors

• Larsson Ingemar
• Blomgren Olle

Classifications

• H04W12/08

  Access security · CPC title

• G07C2209/08

  With time considerations, e.g. temporary activation, valid time window or time limitations · CPC title

• G07C9/00309

  operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks · CPC title

• G07C2009/00873

  by code input from the lock · CPC title

• G07C2009/00888

  programming by learning · CPC title