Universal access control device

• US 10,089,801 B1
• Filed: 05/15/2017
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Musabeyoglu, Ahmet, Balasubramaniam, Balarajan, Greger, William, Haverl, Carl, Krishnamurthy, Prakash, Mani, Kaushik, Nahar, Peeyush Champalal, Tachmuradov, Hoshgeldy
• Primary Examiner(s): Syed, Nabil
• Application Number:
  US15/595,840
• Time in Patent Office: 505 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/335 for accessing specific resources, e.g. using Kerberos tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/35 communicating wirelessly
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00793 by Hertzian waves
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00182 operated with unidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00571 operated by interacting with a central unit
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00896 specially adapted for particular uses
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/20 involving the use of a pass
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/27 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Described herein is a system and universal access control device that may be installed in proximity to, or within, an access control system to enable a user to use a user device to gain access to a secure area or resource. In some embodiments, a user may submit a request for access to a remote server and may be provided with an access token. The user may relay the received access token to the universal access device via a wireless transmission means on his or her user device. The universal access device may verify the authenticity of the access token by relaying the access token information to the remote server. Once the access token has been authenticated, the universal access control device may retrieve a credential stored in memory and provide that credential to the access control system to enable the user to gain entry to a secure area.

Claims

1. A universal access control device, comprising:

a wireless receiver;

a processor; and

a memory including instructions that, when executed with the processor, cause the universal access control device to, at least;

receive, from a reader device of an access control system that manages access to a physical secure area in communication with the wireless receiver, a credential for use with the access control system;

forward the credential to an access control board of the access control system;

upon receiving an indication from the access control board that the credential is valid, store the credential for use by the universal access control device, wherein the credential is overwritten when a new credential is received and an indication is received that the new credential is valid;

receive, from a user device via the wireless receiver, an access token to be used in accessing the physical secure area managed by the access control system, wherein the access token is different from the credential;

determine, by communicating the access token to a remote server separate from the access control board, a validity of the received access token; and

upon determining that the received access token is valid, relay the credential to an access control board of the access control system to cause it to enable access to the secure area.

2. The universal access control device of claim 1, wherein the universal access control device includes a splitter device installed between a reader device and the access control board of the access control system.

3. The universal access control device of claim 2, wherein the splitter device of the universal access control device is connected to the reader device and the access control board via Wiegand interface connections.

4. The universal access control device of claim 2, wherein the credential for use with the access control system is received from the reader device upon presentation of an access device to the reader device by a second user.

5. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a universal access control device from a reader device of an access control system, a credential for use with the access control system;

forwarding the credential to an access control board of the access control system;

upon receiving an indication from the access control board that the credential is valid, storing, by the universal access control device, the credential for use with the access control system;

receiving, from a user device via a wireless receiver of the universal access control device, an access token different from the credential;

validating the access token based at least in part on information received from a service provider server which is remote from the universal access control device; and

upon determining that the access token is valid, transmitting, by the universal access control device, the stored credential to the access control system to cause it to grant access.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the wireless receiver is a wireless receiver in accordance with the Bluetooth®

series of wireless communication standards.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein storing the credential for use with the access control system further comprises:

receiving a new credential from a reader device of the access control system;

overwriting the credential with the new credential; and

forwarding the credential to an access control board of the access control system.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the stored credential to the access control system comprises relaying the stored credential over a direct physical connection to an access control board of the access control system.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the stored credential to the access control system comprises wirelessly transmitting the credential to a reader device of the access control system.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the user device is a mobile phone.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the access token is received from a mobile application installed on the mobile phone.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the access token is associated with one or more use conditions.

13. A method of enabling access to a secure area, comprising:

receiving a credential for use with an access control system from a reader device of the access control system;

forwarding the credential to an access control board of the access control system;

upon receiving an indication from the access control board that the credential is valid, storing the credential as a valid credential;

receiving, from a user device via the wireless receiver, an access token to be used in accessing a secure area managed by the access control system;

determining, by communicating the access token to a remote server, a validity of the received access token; and

upon determining that the received access token is valid, relaying the valid credential to an access control board of the access control system to cause it to enable access to the secure area.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the indication that the credential is valid is received upon determining that the credential received from the reader device via a separate access request is valid.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the credential received from the reader device is determined to be valid upon detecting that the separate access request resulted in enabling access to the secure area.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the reader device is a card reader operating on Radio-Frequency Identification.