Method and system for access control proximity location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9697656-B2
Application number	US-201514605165-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 26, 2015
Priority date	Aug 19, 2014
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

A system for a frictionless access control automatically identifies users and enables access to restricted areas of a building for example via access points such as locked doors. The system allows access when authorized users are in the vicinity of doors without requiring the users to swipe access keycards (or badges) at keycard terminals located at the doors, as in current systems. The system includes user devices such as key fobs and mobile phones that wirelessly broadcast user information and unique IDs for each of the devices in data packets, which are received by positioning units. The positioning units determine locations of the user devices, and send the packet data and the location data to a verification and tracking system. Preferably, the positioning units include two or more antennas that determine close proximity of users to access points while also allowing the system to continuously monitor the locations of the users.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A security system, comprising:
user devices that transmit wireless signals including packet data, wherein the packet data includes user information;
access points that provide access to restricted areas; and
positioning units located near the access points that include two or more antennas, wherein each of the positioning units receive the wireless signals from the user devices, and determine locations of the user devices relative to the access points,
wherein each of the positioning units includes a first omnidirectional antenna that receives the wireless signals from the user devices when the user devices are located beyond a threshold area of the access points, and a directional antenna that receives the wireless signals from the user devices when the user devices are located within a threshold area of the access points.

2. A security system, comprising:
user devices that transmit wireless signals including packet data, wherein the packet includes user information;
access points that provide access to restricted areas;
positioning units located near the access points that include two or more antennas, wherein each of the positioning units receive the wireless signals from the user devices, and determine locations of the user devices relative to the access points; and
wherein the antennas of the positioning units are Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) antennas.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the positioning units determine the locations of the user devices relative to the access points by comparing attenuation of the wireless signals received between the two or more antennas.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein a verification and tracking system authorizes the user devices by authenticating the user information broadcast by the user devices.

5. The system of claim 4 , further comprising door controllers that lock and unlock door access points, and wherein the positioning units send signals to the door controllers to unlock the door access points to provide access to the restricted areas of the building.

6. The system of claim 4 , further comprising door controllers that lock and unlock door access points, and wherein a verification and tracking system sends signals to the door controllers to unlock the door access points to provide access to the restricted areas of the building.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user devices include mobile phones and fobs.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
video cameras that capture video data of users carrying the user devices; and
a video analysis system that accepts the video data from the video cameras over a network, and verifies identities of the users carrying the user devices from the video data.

9. The system of claim 2 , wherein a first antenna of the positioning units is an omnidirectional antenna and a second antenna of the positioning units is a directional antenna.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein each of the positioning units includes a first omnidirectional antenna that receives the wireless signals from the user devices when the user devices are located beyond a threshold area of the access points, and a directional antenna that receives the wireless signals from the user devices when the user devices are located within a threshold area of the access points.

11. A security system, comprising:
user devices that transmit wireless signals including packet data, wherein the packet data includes user information;
access points that provide access to restricted areas; and
positioning units located near the access points that include two or more antennas, wherein each of the positioning units receive the wireless signals from the user devices, and determine locations of the user devices relative to the access points;
wherein each of the positioning units include: a first omnidirectional antenna mounted to an exterior of the positioning units; and a grounded enclosure including a second omnidirectional antenna to form a directional antenna.

12. A security system, comprising:
user devices that transmit wireless signals including packet data, wherein the packet data includes user information;
access points that provide access to restricted areas;
positioning units located near the access points that include two or more antennas, wherein each of the positioning units receives the wireless signals from the user devices, and determines locations of the user devices relative to the access points; and
door controllers that lock and unlock door access points, and wherein a verification and tracking system authorizes the user devices by authenticating the user information broadcast by the user devices and sends signals to the door controllers to unlock the door access points to provide access to the restricted areas of the building in response to the verification and tracking system determining that the user devices are authorized and in response to the positioning units determining that the user devices are located within a threshold area of the access points and remain within the threshold area for at least a lingering threshold value.

13. A method for tracking and authorizing user devices in a security system, the method comprising:
the user devices transmitting wireless signals including packet data, wherein the packet data includes user information;
receiving the wireless signals from the user devices via positioning units including two or more antennas,
the positioning units determining locations of the user devices relative to access points; and
a verification and tracking system sending the signals to the door controllers to unlock the door access points in response to the verification and tracking system determining that the user devices are authorized and in response to the positioning units determining that the user devices are located within a threshold area of the door access points and also remain within the threshold area for at least a lingering threshold value.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising the positioning units determining the locations of the user devices relative to the access points by comparing attenuation of the wireless signals received between the two or more antennas.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising the positioning units determining the locations of the user devices relative to the access points by determining a time of flight of the wireless signals received at the two or more antennas.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising the positioning units determining the locations of the user devices relative to the access points by using triangulation of the wireless signals received at the two or more antennas.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising the verification and tracking system authorizing the user devices by authenticating the user information associated with the user devices.

18. A method for tracking and authorizing user devices in a security system, the method comprising:
the user devices transmitting wireless signals including packet data, wherein the packet data includes user information;
receiving the wireless signals from the user devices via positioning units including two or more antennas;
the positioning units determining locations of the user devices relative to access points by using an omnidirectional antenna that receives the wireless signals from the user devices when the user devices are located beyond a threshold area of the access points, and a directional antenna that receives the wireless signals from the user devices when the user devices are located within a th

Assignees

• Sensormatic Electronics Llc

Inventors

• Trani James

Classifications

• G07C9/28

  the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence · CPC title

• G07C9/257

  electronically (G07C9/26 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G07C9/00571

  operated by interacting with a central unit · CPC title

• G07C2009/00444

  by the key · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title