METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PERMITTING REMOTE CHECK-IN AND COORDINATING ACCESS CONTROL

• US 20110187493A1
• Filed: 01/29/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Assa Abloy AB
• Original Assignee: Assa Abloy Hospitality Incorporated (Assa Abloy AB)
• Inventors: Alexander, Arnon, Elfström, Jan, Aase, Halvor, Kjällman, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 8,730,004 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/5.6
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00309 operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00857 where the code of the data carrier can be programmed
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00904 for hotels, motels, office buildings or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/20 involving the use of a pass
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/22 in combination with an identity check of the pass holder
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/27 with central registration

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for controlling access within a multi-facility room are provided. More specifically, a guest of the multi-room facility is allowed to remotely confirm reservations to the facility as well as bypass the front desk of the multi-room for check-in purposes. At a location within the facility, the guest is allowed to confirm their arrival, check-in, and have their access credential written with personalized access data that may be useable for the duration of the guest'"'"'s stay.

Claims

1. A facility, comprising:

an access control module located within the facility, the access control module comprising;

access control logic configured to make a determination to either permit or deny user access to an asset controlled by the access control module; and

a check-in module configured to receive a credential identifier from an access credential, compare the credential identifier to a list of credential identifiers, determine that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of credential identifiers, and, based on determining that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of identifiers, invoke the access control module to encode the access credential with access data that is useable by the access credential with other access control modules within the multi-room facility.

2. The facility of claim 1, further comprising a first location with a credential programming system, wherein the access control module is different from the credential programming system.

3. The facility of claim 1, wherein the access data encoded on the access credential is formatted specifically for use by other access control modules within the facility and is not necessarily formatted specifically for use by access control modules within other facilities.

4. The facility of claim 3, wherein the access data encoded on the access credential comprises one or more of a site-code identifying the facility, an encryption key used substantially exclusively by the facility, a communication protocol used by access control modules within the facility, a guest identifier substantially uniquely correlated to the access credential within the facility, guest stay duration, room number, identifiers of authorized services, and a set of access permissions defining whether the access credential is permitted or denied access to particular assets of the multi-room facility.

5. The facility of claim 1, wherein the asset controlled by the access control module comprises one or more of a room within the facility, a corridor within the facility, and an elevator within the facility an entry/exit port to the facility.

6. The facility of claim 1, wherein the asset controlled by the access control module comprises a guest room within the facility and wherein the other access control modules within the facility also comprise access control logic configured to make a determination to either permit or deny user access to assets other than the guest room, wherein the assets other than the guest room include at least one of a corridor, a spa, a workout facility, a shared office, a computer, and a customer account.

7. The facility of claim 1, wherein the check-in module invokes the access control logic to encode the access credential with the access data after determining that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of identifiers and wherein the check-in module is further configured, after determining that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of identifiers, to remove the credential identifier from the list of identifiers and report a successful check-in to a central access control logic.

8. The facility of claim 7, wherein, prior to having the access credential presented to the access control module and after reservations have been confirmed for a user of the access credential, the central access control logic generates and sends at least one message to the access control module causing the access control module to add the credential identifier to the list of identifiers.

9. The facility of claim 1, wherein access control module comprises a credential interface that facilitates RF communications with access credentials and wherein the credential identifier is received in a message transmitted from the access credential to the credential interface and provided to the check-in module after the message has been demodulated and the credential identifier has been determined.

10. The facility of claim 1, wherein the access control module changes authorizations/access permissions on the credential.

11. A method of operating a facility having a first location with a credential programming system located in proximity therewith and a plurality of access control modules located within the facility, a first of the access control modules comprising access control logic configured to make a determination to either permit or deny user access to an asset controlled by the first access control module and a check-in module configured to perform check-in operations similar to the credential programming system, the method comprising:

receiving, at the first access control module, a message from an access credential, the message including a credential identifier;

extracting, by the first access control module, the credential identifier from the message;

comparing, by the first access control module, the credential identifier with credential identifiers contained within a list of credential identifiers maintained at the first access control module;

determining that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of credential identifiers; and

based on determining that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of identifiers, encoding, by the first access control module, the access credential with access data that enables the access credential to verify access permissions with the plurality of access control modules within the facility.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the access data encoded on the access credential is formatted specifically for use by the plurality of access control modules within the facility and wherein the access data encoded on the access credential comprises one or more of a site-code identifying the facility, an encryption key used substantially exclusively by the facility, a communication protocol used by access control modules within the facility, a guest identifier substantially uniquely identifying a user of the access credential within the facility, guest stay duration, room number, identifiers of added services, and a set of access permissions defining whether a user of the access credential is permitted or denied access to particular assets of the facility.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

confirming that the access credential has been successfully encoded with the access data;

after determining that the access credential has been successfully encoded with the access data, removing the credential identifier from the list of identifiers;

generating a message which indicates a successful check-in of a guest associated with the access credential; and

transmitting the message which indicates a successful check-in to a central access control logic such that the central access control logic can remove instances of the credential identifier from lists of credentials maintained at one or more of the central access control logic and the plurality of access control modules.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

prior to receiving the message from the access credential at the first access control module, confirming reservations of an asset by a user of the access credential;

after the reservations have been confirmed and prior to receiving the message from the access credential at the first access control module, transmitting at least one message from the central access control logic to the first access control module causing the first access control module to add the credential identifier to the list of identifiers maintained by the first access control module.

15. A method of managing a multi-room facility comprising a first asset and a second asset, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first access control module, a message from an access credential, the message including a credential identifier, wherein the first access control module comprises access control logic configured to make a determination to either permit or deny user access to the first asset;

extracting, by the first access control module, the credential identifier from the message;

comparing, by the first access control module, the credential identifier with credential identifiers contained within a list of credential identifiers maintained at the first access control module;

determining that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of credential identifiers maintained at the first access control module;

based on determining that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of identifiers maintained at the first access control module, permitting user access to the first asset;

receiving, at a second access control module, a message from the access credential, the message including the credential identifier, wherein the second access control module comprises access control logic configured to make a determination to either permit or deny user access to the second asset and a check-in module configured to perform check-in operations;

extracting, by the second access control module, the credential identifier from the message;

comparing, by the second access control module, the credential identifier with credential identifiers contained within a list of credential identifiers maintained at the second access control module;

determining that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of credential identifiers maintained at the second access control module;

based on determining that the credential identifier matches at least one credential identifier in the list of identifiers maintained at the second access control module, encoding, by the second access control module, the access credential with access data that enables the access credential to verify access permissions with a plurality of access control modules within the multi-room facility, the plurality of access control modules including the first access control module and at least a third access control module.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first asset comprises one or more of a corridor and elevator and wherein the second asset comprises a room.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

confirming that the access credential has been successfully encoded with the access data;

after determining that the access credential has been successfully encoded with the access data, removing the credential identifier from the list of identifiers maintained at the first access control module;

generating a message which indicates a successful check-in of a guest associated with the access credential; and

transmitting the message which indicates a successful check-in to a central access control logic such that the central access control logic can remove the credential identifier from the list of credentials maintained at the first access control module, wherein after the credential identifier has been removed from the list of credentials maintained at the first access control module, the first access control module determines access permissions for the access credential based on the access data.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

prior to receiving the message from the access credential at the first access control module, confirming reservations of the second asset by a user of the access credential, wherein the first asset provides access to the second asset;

after the reservations have been confirmed and prior to receiving the message from the access credential at the first access control module, transmitting at least one message from the central access control logic to the first and second access control modules causing the first and second access control modules to add the credential identifier to the list of identifiers maintained at the first and second access control modules.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the access data encoded on the access credential is formatted specifically for use by access control modules within the multi-room facility and is not necessarily formatted specifically for use by access control modules within other multi-room facilities, and wherein the access data encoded on the access credential comprises one or more of a site-code identifying the multi-room facility, an encryption key used substantially exclusively by the multi-room facility, a communication protocol used by access control modules within the multi-room facility, a guest identifier substantially uniquely identifying a user of the access credential within the multi-room facility, guest stay duration, room number, identifiers of added services, and a set of access permissions defining whether a user of the access credential is permitted or denied access to particular assets of the multi-room facility.