System and method for using an electronic lock with a smartphone

• US 10,264,433 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2017
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlage Lock Company LLC (Allegion PLC)
• Original Assignee: Schlage Lock Company LLC (Allegion PLC)
• Inventors: Ahearn, John R., Baumgarte, Joseph W., Focke, Gabriel D., Henney, Michael S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Orange, David
• Application Number:
  US15/471,759
• Publication Number:
  US 20170265026A1
• Time in Patent Office: 749 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00793 by Hertzian waves
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00174 Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys mechanical locks with electric permutation E05B49/00; arrangements for sensing or reading record carriers G06K7/00; electronic switching H03K17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00571 operated by interacting with a central unit
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An electronic lock may transmit advertising that the electronic lock is available for communication. A smartphone may establish communication with the electronic lock in response to the advertising. The electronic lock may transmit an encrypted lock identification to the smartphone. The smartphone may transmit the lock identification and a smartphone identification to a cloud. In response, the cloud transmits to the smartphone an encrypted update such as the user database, time and date, and lock configuration. The smartphone may transmit the encrypted update to the electronic lock.

Claims

1. A system for controlling access of a door with a smartphone via wireless engagement, comprising:

an electronic lock associated with the door and configured to;

advertise to the smartphone that the electronic lock is available to be wirelessly engaged,

automatically transmit to the smartphone a plurality of status updates after the electronic lock establishes wireless communication with the smartphone, wherein the plurality of status updates includes a current status of the electronic lock,

automatically transmit to the smartphone a status update that the door associated with the electronic lock is in an open position when the door is in the open position, and/or a status update that the door associated with the electronic lock is in a closed position when the door is in the closed position; and

a phone cloud associated with the electronic lock configured to;

automatically wirelessly engage the electronic lock and the smartphone without a user of the smartphone realizing that wireless engagement between the smartphone and the electronic lock is occurring,

receive an encrypted message from the smartphone that consists of a lock identification that identifies the electronic lock and a smartphone identification that identifies the smartphone,

in response to receiving the encrypted message from the smartphone, transmit an encrypted message to the smartphone that consists of a user database update, a time and date update, and an electronic lock configuration update,

determine whether a position of the smartphone is in a vicinity to a position of the electronic lock,

determine whether the door associated with the electronic lock is in the open position when the door is in the open position based on the status update provided by the electronic lock and/or determine whether the door associated with the electronic lock is in the closed position when the door is in the closed position based on the status update provided by the electronic lock, and

notify the smartphone that the door associated with the electronic lock is in the open position and request that the smartphone display to the user an instruction to close the door when the door is in the open position based on the status update provided by the electronic lock and the position of the smartphone is in the vicinity to the position of the electronic lock.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic lock is further configured to transmit a plurality of encrypted status updates to the smartphone after the identification of the electronic lock and the identification of the smartphone are verified by the phone cloud.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of encrypted status updates include information associated with the door, information associated with a battery of the electronic lock, audit of the electronic lock, and maintenance information of the electronic lock.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the phone cloud is further configured to store the information associated with the door, the battery information associated with the battery of the electronic lock, audit information of the electronic lock, and maintenance information of the electronic lock.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic lock and the smartphone wirelessly engage the wireless technology standard of Bluetooth communication.

6. A method for controlling access to a door with a smartphone via wireless engagement, comprising:

advertising, via an electronic lock associated with a door to control access through the door, to the smartphone that the electronic lock is available to be wirelessly engaged;

automatically transmitting, via the electronic lock, to the smartphone a plurality of status updates after the electronic lock establishes wireless communication with the smartphone, wherein the plurality of updates includes a current status of the electronic door;

automatically transmitting, via the electronic lock, to the smartphone a status update that the door associated with the electronic lock is an open position when the door is in the open position and/or automatically transmitting, via the electronic lock, to the smartphone a status update that the door associated with the electronic lock is in the closed position when the door is in the closed position;

automatically wirelessly engaging, via a phone cloud associated with the electronic lock, the electronic lock and the smartphone without a user of the smartphone realizing that wireless engagement between the smartphone and the electronic lock is occurring;

receiving an encrypted message from the smartphone that consists of a lock identification that identifies the electronic lock and a smartphone identification that identifies the smartphone;

in response to receiving the encrypted message from the smartphone, transmitting an encrypted message to the smartphone that consists of a user database update, a time and date update, and an electronic lock configuration update;

determining, via the phone cloud, whether a position of the smartphone is in a vicinity to a position of the electronic lock as received from the electronic lock;

determining, via the phone cloud, whether the door associated with the electronic lock is in the open position when the door is in the open position and/or whether the door associated with the electronic lock is in the closed position when the door is in the closed position based on the status update provided by the electronic lock;

notifying the smartphone, via the phone cloud, that the door associated with the electronic lock is in the open position and request that the smartphone display to the user an instruction to close the door when the door is in the open position based on the status update provided by the electronic lock and the position of the smartphone is in the vicinity to the position of the electronic lock.

7. A system for controlling access of a door with a smartphone via wireless engagement, comprising:

an electronic lock associated with the door configured to;

advertise to the smartphone that the electronic lock is available to be wirelessly engaged,

transmit an encrypted lock identification that identifies the electronic lock to the smartphone after the electronic lock establishes wireless communication with the smartphone,

adjust a lock configuration of the electronic lock,

transition between a locked state and an unlocked state as requested by the smartphone based on the lock configuration as adjusted by the electronic lock,

automatically transmit to the smartphone a plurality of status updates after the electronic lock establishes wireless communication with the smartphone, wherein the plurality of status updates includes a current status of the electronic lock, and

a phone cloud associated with the electronic lock configured to;

automatically wirelessly engage the electronic lock and the smartphone without a user of the smartphone realizing that wireless engagement between the smartphone and the electronic lock is occurring,

receive an encrypted message from the smartphone that consists of the lock identification and a smartphone identification that identifies the smartphone,

in response to receiving the encrypted message from the smartphone, transmit an encrypted message to the smartphone that consists of a user database update a time and date update, and an electronic lock configuration update,

generate a lock configuration for the electronic lock to adjust into after the encrypted lock identification of the electronic lock is transmitted to the smartphone when the electronic lock is wirelessly engaged with the smartphone without the user of the smartphone realizing wireless engagement between the smartphone and the electronic lock is occurring, and

enable the electronic lock to be transitioned between the locked state and the unlocked state as requested by the smartphone based on the generated lock configuration for the electronic lock.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the electronic lock is further configured to automatically transmit to the smartphone a status update that the door associated with the electronic lock is an open position when the door is in the open position and/or to automatically transmit to the smartphone a status update that the door associated with the electronic lock is in a closed position when the door is in the closed position.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the phone cloud is further configured to determine a position of the smartphone relative to a position of the electronic lock as received from the electronic lock.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the phone cloud is further configured to determine whether the door associated with the electronic lock is in the open position when the door is in the open position and/or to determine whether the door associated with the electronic lock is in the closed position when the door is in the closed position based on the status update provided by the electronic lock.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the phone cloud is further configured to notify the smartphone that the door associated with the electronic lock is in the open position and request that the smartphone display to the user an instruction to close the door when the door is in the open position based on the status update provided by the electronic lock and the position of the smartphone relative to the position of the electronic lock.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting a plurality of encrypted status updates to the smartphone after the identification of the electronic lock and the identification of the smartphone are verified by the phone cloud.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of encrypted status updates included information associated with the door, battery information associated with a battery of the electronic lock, audit information of the electronic lock, and maintenance information of the electronic lock.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

storing, via the phone cloud, the information associated with the door, the battery information associated with the battery of the electronic lock, the audit information of the electronic lock, and the maintenance information of the electronic lock.