EP3627460B1 - Access control system - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to an access control system according to the preamble of claim 1.

Access control systems are common in the commercial sector to allow only authorized persons access to business premises, offices and warehouses and to deny access to others. Electronic ID cards using RFID technology are held in front of a reader by persons requesting access and as soon as the electronic ID card is in the reading field, an authorization dialog takes place between the electronic ID card and the reader. If authorized, access is then released.

In the case of care facilities with disoriented residents, however, application of the known access control systems would fail if residents do not know how to use the electronic ID cards.

To simplify the access procedure for access control systems is from the EP 2 434 463 A2 known to use electronic ID cards and sensing devices with Bluetooth transceivers. The detection devices are located in door fittings, can open or release door locks via actuators, are self-sufficiently supplied with energy via batteries and are automatically activated by means of IR sensors when people approach. An authorization dialog then takes place via the Bluetooth transceiver. If authorization is confirmed, the door lock is released by the actuator.

For motor vehicles with keyless entry, as in the EP 1 388 469 A1 described, an access control system is known in which an authorization dialog is carried out via UHF transceiver, but a wake-up signal is sent out by an LF transmitter in the vehicle to wake up the UHF transceiver in the electronic ID card, which is perceived by an LF receiver in the ID card and switched on of the UHF transceiver on the ID card is used. These measures serve to prevent misuse by a data relay. In the known access control system, data exchange only takes place when a person requesting access approaches one of the multiple door handles with their hand and also when the position of the electronic ID card they are carrying is determined. This is done with a capacitive proximity sensor on each door handle and an evaluation of the field strengths of several LF transmitters. However, the time for data exchange is then so short that the door cannot always be opened the first time you try to pull the door handle.

The invention is based on the object of creating an access control system which ensures reliable functioning even when the mental and physical abilities of the user are restricted.

In an access control system according to the preamble of claim 1, this object is achieved by the features of this claim.

Further developments and advantageous refinements result from the dependent claims.

In contrast to conventional access control systems with data transmissions in only one frequency range, the invention uses data transmissions both in the UHF range, namely 868 MHz, and a wake-up function and location information in the LF range, namely 125 kHz. High data rates can be achieved in the UHF range achieve, so that the processing of large amounts of data can be done very quickly. In addition, a high range of several meters is possible. However, it is very difficult to predict the exact range of the communicating UHF transceivers because propagation can be affected by nearby people or objects. A reliable selection of different pairings of electronic ID cards and stationary recording devices based solely on the range is therefore not possible.

In the LF range, on the other hand, the propagation of electromagnetic waves is only slightly affected by objects, and if so only by large ferromagnetic masses. The propagation of the field is therefore largely constant and the radius within which the LF receiver can receive and evaluate the transmission signal can be determined with great accuracy. However, since only low data rates are possible in the LF range, an authorization dialog would take a long time and could break off if the electronic ID card leaves the electromagnetic field. Therefore, the LF signal is only used to wake up the UHF transceiver in the electronic ID card and to transmit a location identifier of the LF transmitter, which is transmitted back during the UHF transceiver dialogue. The UHF transceivers of the electronic ID cards and the stationary recording devices are therefore only switched on for the authorization dialog, which, however, requires a lot of energy, and remain in the idle state for the rest of the time, when very little energy is required.

The LF receiver in the electronic ID card is permanently active, but consumes little energy. Therefore, the electronic ID card can be supplied with energy from a battery for a long time and requires only a small size, which makes it possible to wear the electronic ID card in clothing or on the body, for example on the wrist as a watch or a dummy watch.

The LF transmitter is also designed for low energy consumption, since it is arranged together with a battery in the door fitting and this battery must be sufficient for the energy supply. Stationary recording devices can be set up or supplemented without structural changes to the electrical installation. Solutions from the automotive sector are not directly transferrable, as there is a much larger battery capacity available.

A PIR sensor ensures that the LF transmitter is only activated if the thermal image changes due to a person approaching the door. The PIR sensor consumes extremely little energy and has a much greater range than a capacitive sensor. This leaves enough time to activate the LF transmitter and complete the data exchange for identification before the person approaching the door has reached the door handle with their hand.

Due to the fact that the LF transmitter of the detection device is only activated by the PIR sensor at time intervals, the detection device also consumes little energy. False activations do occur when other people enter the detection area of the PIR sensor, but this is much less common than continuous operation.

Furthermore, wake-up information at the beginning of the LF transmission ensures that the LF receiver of the electronic ID card is not prompted to start its own UHF transceiver by interference fields from other transmitters.

The transmission power of the LF transmitter in connection with its antenna gain and the input sensitivity of the LF receiver in connection with its antenna gain should be dimensioned in such a way that the range of the LF transmission link is between 40 cm and 2 m.

With this range, it is to be expected that detection can also take place when the electronic ID card is located on the side of the user's body facing away from the detection device. It also prevents the UHF transceivers of electronic ID cards and detection devices from being activated unnecessarily when residents or staff are just walking down corridors without access requests.

The range of the PIR sensor is preferably as large as the range of the LF transmission path.

This ensures that when the PIR sensor enters the detection area, the signal from the LF transmitter can also be received and evaluated by the LF receiver of the electronic ID card.

More preferably, the electromagnetic field generated by the LF transmitter has a spherical characteristic and the antenna arrangement of the LF receiver also has a spherical characteristic.

A radius around the location of the detection device can then simply be specified, within which the entry of an electronic ID card is recognized and evaluated. This simplifies the dimensioning and adjustment of the detection areas of adjacent detection devices so that they are unambiguous and do not overlap or interfere.

According to a development, the range can be adjusted within limits by varying the transmission power.

This makes it possible to adapt the function and thus also the energy consumption, in particular of the detection devices, to the local conditions and to the habits of the residents.

A further development provides that the electronic ID cards are assigned different authorization levels, that in a restricted authorization level the electronic ID cards are only granted a few individual authorizations, which are limited to actions that can only be carried out automatically, and that in extended authorization levels the electronic ID cards are granted further individual authorizations , due to which further actions can be carried out automatically and/or individually via an input device.

In the case of disoriented residents, the electronic ID card can thus be worn on the wrist and when the resident approaches their room door and comes within the wake-up radius of the detection device, the LF signal sent out by the detection device with the location code is received by the LF receiver of the electronic ID card and after Turning on the UHF transceiver performs the authorization dialog with the UHF transceiver of the sensing device. If authorized, an actuator of a release device is then activated, which couples the door handle to the latch via a printer mechanism and allows the door to be opened by pressing the door handle. The enabling device is thus activated automatically. In the case of other doors to which the occupant does not have access, however, the door remains closed even when the door handle is pressed. In addition to releasing doors, areas can also only be monitored and alarm messages can be sent.

Residents without restrictions can carry electronic ID cards that include extended authorizations, such as leaving the care facility. Nursing staff and other employees can also be given additional authorizations, with the option of carrying out actions using a keyboard, such as opening additional doors or elevators individually.

Further versions of stationary detection devices can be arranged at the entrances or exits of an area to be monitored and can be coupled to door controls and/or to a registration and/or alarm device.

These can be common rooms or areas outside the building that are also accessible via doors, or areas that are only monitored to see if residents want to leave unsupervised.

Additional detection devices can be connected to a registration and/or alarm center by wire, via LAN or via a network using UHF or WLAN transceivers. It is also possible to use the same UHF radio link as is used by the recording devices for the authorization dialogue with the electronic ID cards.

This also makes it possible to monitor the function of autonomous stationary recording devices or electronic ID cards, for example to register failed access attempts.

Preferably, the transceivers of the stationary sensing devices have a collision resolution routine.

This makes it possible to record access requests or other processes even when a number of residents are in a monitored area and authorization dialogs are triggered at the same time.

Fig. 1

zeigt ein Blockschaltbild eines Zugangssteuerungssystem nach der Erfindung,

Fig. 2

zeigt einen Türbeschlag zur Aufnahme einer Erfassungsvorrichtung,

Fig. 3 und 4

zeigen Varianten von elektronischen Ausweisen,

Fig. 5

zeigt einen schematischen Grundriss einer Pflegeeinrichtung mit Anordnungen von Erfassungsvorrichtungen.

The invention is explained below using an exemplary embodiment which is illustrated in the drawing and subsequently described.

1

shows a block diagram of an access control system according to the invention,

2

shows a door fitting for receiving a detection device,

Figures 3 and 4

show variants of electronic ID cards,

figure 5

shows a schematic floor plan of a care facility with arrangements of detection devices.

The drawing shows representations of an access control system, which is particularly suitable for care facilities with disoriented residents. It grants residents easy access to their own rooms, but prevents access to other people's rooms. The nursing staff, on the other hand, is given access to all rooms and other rooms and areas that disoriented residents should not enter. Oriented residents are also able to access rooms and areas that should remain inaccessible to disoriented residents.

In 1 an access control system is shown as a block diagram, in the upper part of which a detection device 10 and in the lower part of which an electronic ID card 12 are arranged. The detection device 10 includes an LF transmitter 14, a UHF transceiver 16, a controller 18, an actuator 20 as a motor drive and a PIR sensor 22. The electronic ID card includes an LF receiver 24, a UHF transceiver 26 and a controller 28 and optionally a keyboard 30.

Residents and staff carry electronic ID cards 12 with them, while stationary detection devices 10 are arranged on the residents' room doors and on other doors or door controls. Normally there are the electronic ID cards and detection devices in an idle state in which most of the electronic circuits are switched off and the overall energy requirement is therefore very low. Only the PIR sensor 22 of each sensing device and the LF receiver 24 of each electronic badge are active.

If a person with an electronic ID card 12 approaches a detection device 10, a change in the thermal image is recognized by the PIR sensor 22 of the relevant detection device 10 and the controller 18 causes the LF transmitter 14 to repeatedly send a location identifier and the UHF transceiver 16 to put in an operating state. The range of the LF signal is approximately the same as the detection range of the PIR sensor 22, so that an electronic ID card 12 carried by the person simultaneously enters the reading field of the detection device 10 when the location identifier is sent. The LF receiver 24 of the electronic ID card 12 then receives the location identifier, whereupon the controller 28 places the UHF transceiver 26 in an operational state and forwards the received location identifier to the UHF transceiver 26 for retransmission. The UHF transceiver 26 of the electronic ID card 12 and the UHF transceiver 16 of the detection device 10 now carry out an authorization dialog in which the location identifier is transmitted to the detection device 10 in conjunction with a user ID of the person to whom the electronic ID card 12 is assigned. The control device 18 evaluates the result. If the occupant stands in front of his own room door, authorization is recognized and an actuator 20 in the form of a drive motor is actuated by the controller 18, which couples a door handle with a handle mechanism. The resident can then open the door to their room by pressing the door handle. If, on the other hand, the occupant is standing in front of someone else's room door or another door to which he/she has no access, the request for access is rejected because the actuator 20 is not actuated by the controller 18 .

By dividing it into an LF radio link in the 125 kHz frequency range and a UHF radio link in the 868 MHz frequency range, the electronic ID card is activated, i.e. its UHF transceiver 26 is only switched on within a radius of between 40 cm and 2 m around the detection device. In the LF range, propagation is changed only slightly by objects in the reading field, so that the geometry of the reading field can be defined very precisely. The antennas of the LF transmitters of the detection devices have omnidirectional characteristics and can be adjusted in such a way that they do not overlap with detection devices in neighboring rooms. The antennas of the LF receivers of the electronic ID cards also have omnidirectional characteristics and receive the reading field with the same field strength regardless of their orientation in space. Due to the data rate, which is also low at low frequencies, there is only one transmission in one direction from the detection device to the electronic ID card. In this case, only the location identifier of the detection device is transmitted. Since this transmission is repeated, there is no need for a dialog and it is assumed that the location identifier can be correctly received and evaluated at least once in the case of multiple transmissions.

The UHF radio link, on the other hand, enables a higher data rate and is therefore suitable for a dialogue in which more extensive data can also be transmitted. A longer range is also achieved, although this can vary greatly due to reflections and attenuation. The UHF transceivers require more energy than an LF receiver or a clocked LF transmitter and are therefore only switched on when the approach of an electronic ID card to a detection device is detected by a PIR sensor registering a thermal image changed by a user of the ID card .

While a disoriented resident only has a restricted level of authorization, for example only being able to open their own room door, non-disoriented residents and especially the staff can receive more extensive individual authorizations. In the case of disorientated residents, the actuator 20 can be controlled automatically without any further possibility of intervention, while persons with further authorizations can also or alternatively carry out manual actions, for which purpose an input device 30, for example in the form of a keyboard, is provided on their electronic ID card 12.

2 shows a door fitting 32 for receiving a detection device 34. The door fitting 32 includes a door handle 40, which can only be pressed empty in the absence of authorization without the door being able to be opened, but which is coupled to a handle mechanism when authorized and then withdrawn when actuated the trap allows. In the upper part of the locking plate there is a cover 36 which is permeable to high-frequency fields and behind which the detection device with the antennas of the UHF transceiver 16 and the LF transmitter 14 is arranged. The cover 36 also has an opening 38 for the PIR sensor.

3 shows a watch 42 to be worn on the wrist, which can also be designed as a dummy and has no operating elements, as an embodiment of an electronic identity card 12 for a disoriented person.

4 shows a tag 44 as an embodiment of an electronic ID card 12, which tag can be worn on a bunch of keys, on a collar or in a pocket of clothing. This electronic ID card 12 can have additional authorization levels and has a keyboard 46 to activate additional actions.

figure 5 shows a schematic floor plan of a care facility with arrangements of detection devices. From a hallway 64 two rooms 60 and 62 are accessible via doors. Door fittings 32 and 32' are equipped with detection devices 10, respectively. Another detection device 48 is located on the door control of an automatic door at the end of the corridor and another detection device 54 is also located on an automatic door at an exit to the outside area 66. Finally, there is still a detection device 52 at the property entrance. However, the detection devices 52 do not control doors via their actuator, but rather an alarm system.

The detection devices 48 and 54 in the door controls of the automatic doors are preferably supplied with energy from the house network. PIR sensors can be dispensed with here and the LF transmitter can transmit repeatedly at intervals. Since the detection device 52 does not have to be accommodated in a door fitting, it can also be operated with a somewhat larger battery for the extended detection range. A PIR sensor is then useful. However, operation from the home network without a PIR sensor is also possible.

For all detection devices, the reading field is shown by a dashed circle, in which persons with electronic ID cards are recognized and recorded. The size of these reading fields can be adjusted by changing the transmission power of the LF transmitters of the detection devices. With larger reading fields, for example at the exit to the outside area, it can happen that several people are there at the same time. By means of anti-collision routines in the controls of the detection devices, faults in the detection can be eliminated by simultaneous transmission.

Due to their low energy requirements, the detection devices can be operated independently and therefore do not need to be integrated into the electrical installation. It is possible to integrate them wirelessly into a network, for example using the existing UHF radio links and additional UHF transceivers and/or additional WLAN transceivers and WLAN hotspots. WLAN hotspots 50 and 56 are therefore arranged indoors and outdoors for forwarding to a central registration device 58 .

The detection devices can also be designed in such a way that they emit beacon identifiers at intervals of about 1 hour, which the registration device 58 uses to check their presence and functionality. Such emissions in the HF range thus enable the monitoring of the detection devices without significantly increasing their energy requirements. Reference List 10 detection device 50 WiFi hotspot 12 electronic ID card 52 detection device 14 LF transmitter 54 detection device 16 UHF transceiver 56 WiFi hotspot 18 steering 58 Registration, alarm device 20 actuator 22 PIR sensor 60 Room 24 LF receiver 62 Room 26 UHF transceiver 64 Hallway 28 steering 66 outdoor area 30 input device, keyboard 32 door fitting 34 detection device 36 cover 38 opening 40 door handle 42 Clock 44 Fan 46 Keyboard 48 detection device

Claims (9)

1. Access control system consisting of electronic IDs (12) carried by persons and stationary capture devices (10), wherein an authorization dialogue takes place when a person approaches a stationary capture device (10) and a release device can be activated in the event of authorization, wherein each electronic ID (12) contains a transceiver and a controller (28) and each capture device (10) contains a transceiver, a controller (18) and an actuator (20) for releasing the door, wherein capture devices (10) are autonomously integrated in door fittings (32), are supplied with energy via a battery that fits in terms of size into the door fitting (32) and is installed there and comprise an IR sensor, by means of which the transceiver of the stationary capture device (10) is temporarily changed from an idle state into an operating state via the controller (18) of the capture device (10) when a person approaches, and an authorization dialogue is carried out by interchanging and checking the identity number of the electronic ID (12), and the actuator (20) of the door release device is activated by means of the controller (18) in the event of authorization, characterized in that the transceivers in the electronic IDs (12) are UHF transceivers (26), in that the transceivers in the capture devices (10) are likewise UHF transceivers (16), in that each electronic ID (12) additionally contains an LF receiver (24) and each capture device (10) additionally contains an LF transmitter (14), in that the IR sensor of the capture device (19) is a PIR sensor (22), wherein the access control system is configured in such a manner that the LF transmitter (14) of the capture device (10) is activated via the controller (18) of the capture device (10) if a change in a thermal image is detected by the PIR sensor (22), and wake-up information followed by separate location information is transmitted, in that the UHF transceiver (26) of the electronic ID is changed from an idle state into an operating state by means of the controller (28) of the electronic ID (12) when the location information is received by the LF receiver (24) of the electronic ID (12), and an authorization dialogue is carried out with the UHF transceiver (16) of the stationary capture device (10), which is then likewise in the operating state, by interchanging and checking the identity number of the electronic ID (12) in conjunction with the returned location information from the stationary capture device (10), and the actuator (20) of the door release device is activated by means of the controller (18) in the event of authorization.
2. Access control system according to Claim 1, characterized in that the transmission power of the LF transmitter (14) in conjunction with its antenna gain and the receiving sensitivity of the LF receiver (24) in conjunction with its antenna gain are such that the range of the LF transmission path is between 40 cm and 2 m.
3. Access control system according to Claim 2, characterized in that the range of the PIR sensor (22) is as great as the range of the LF transmission path.
4. Access control system according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the electromagnetic field generated by the LF transmitter (14) has an omnidirectional characteristic, and in that the antenna arrangement of the LF receiver (24) likewise has an omnidirectional characteristic.
5. Access control system according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the range can be set within limits by varying the transmission power.
6. Access control system according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that different authorization levels are assigned to the electronic IDs (12), in that only a few individual authorizations, which are limited to actions which can only be carried out automatically, are granted to the electronic IDs (12) in a restricted authorization level, and in that further individual authorizations, on the basis of which further actions can be carried out automatically and/or individually via an input device (30), are granted to the electronic IDs (12) in extended authorization levels.
7. Access control system according to one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a further number of stationary capture devices (34, 48, 52, 54) are arranged at entrances or exits of a region (66) to be monitored and are coupled to a registration and/or alerting device (58) .
8. Access control system according to one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that stationary capture devices (34, 48, 52, 54) are connected to a registration centre (58) via a network by means of UHF radio links and/or WLAN transceivers (50, 56).
9. Access control system according to one of Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the transceivers (16) of the stationary capture devices (34, 48, 52, 54) have a collision resolution routine.

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