SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AN AUTOMATED ENTRY SYSTEM

• US 20140285315A1
• Filed: 03/20/2014
• Published: 09/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unisys Corporation
• Original Assignee: Unisys Corporation
• Inventors: Wiewiora, Jan Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,633,498 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/5.53
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/38 with central registration

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for determining whether individuals seeking access to a facility site are authorized to enter. The system identifies a license plate of a vehicle approaching a controlled entrance of the facility site. If the vehicle is found in a database of enrolled entrants, then an enrolled entrant is loaded into a quick access memory. Iris scans of passengers the passengers are taken and compared against records of the enrolled entrants, beginning with the expected passengers identified as being associated with the license of the vehicle approaching the facility site.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for controlling access to a facility at an access control point, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer of an access control system, an image from a camera of a license plate associated with a vehicle approaching an access control point;

searching, by the computer, for a record of the vehicle according to the license plate in a first database storing one or more records of vehicles approaching the access control point, wherein each record of a vehicle comprises a license plate, an individual previously identified in the vehicle, a unique iris scan of the previously identified individual, and an indication of whether authorization was granted;

storing, by the computer, the record of the vehicle into a cache memory accessible to the computer;

receiving, by the computer, a scan from an iris scanner of an iris of an individual currently in the vehicle;

comparing, by the computer, the scan of the iris of the individual currently in the vehicle against the unique iris scan for previous individual in the record of the vehicle; and

authorizing, by the computer, access for the vehicle responsive to determining that the individual currently in the vehicle matches the previous individual in the vehicle and upon determining that the record indicates that authorization was granted.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, when the individual currently in the vehicle does not match the previous individual in the record in the cache memory:

identifying, by the computer, a record in the first database of an individual authorized to enter the access control point comprising a unique iris scan matching the iris scan of the individual currently in the vehicle; and

authorizing, by the computer, access for the vehicle responsive to determining that the current individual is authorized to enter based upon the match of the iris scan of the current individual with the unique iris scan of the authorized individual.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising identifying, by the computer, the record in the second database for an individual authorized to enter the access control point comprising the unique iris scan matching the iris scan of the individual currently in the vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising searching, by the computer, a second database for the record of the vehicle according to the license plate.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising recognizing, by the computer, a jurisdiction and a set of characters for the license plate.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising determining, by the computer, whether the license plate is associated with a record in a crime database.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising updating, by the computer, a local watch list in a local database when the license plate is associated with a watch list in the crime database.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising associating, by the computer, the individual currently in the vehicle with the vehicle in a new record of one or more databases upon granting authorization for entry.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising replicating, by the computer, the first database associated with the access control point to the second database associated with the facility site, wherein the second database is at a higher-hierarchical level of the first database.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing, by the computer, a new record for a new authorized individual into one or more databases.

11. An access control system for controlling access at a facility site, the system comprising:

a camera capturing an image of a license plate of a vehicle approaching an access control point (ACP) of the facility and transmitting the image of the license plate to an ACP server associated with the ACP;

an iris scanner capturing a scan of a individual in the vehicle approaching the access control point and transmitting the scan to the ACP server;

a cache memory storing a record from the ACP server associated with the license plate to be matched to the individual based on the scan;

a site database storing records of one or more enrolled entrants authorized to enter a facility and associated with a license plate, wherein each enrolled entrant is uniquely identified by an iris; and

the ACP server searching the site database and automatically authorizing entry to the approaching vehicle responsive to matching the scan of the iris of the individual with the unique iris of an enrolled entrant and matching the license of the vehicle with the license plate associated with the enrolled entrant.

12. The system according to claim 11, further comprising an enterprise database storing an enrolled entrant authorized to enter the facility not in the site database.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the ACP server identifies a set of one or more characters on the license plate of the approaching vehicle.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the ACP server queries a crime database for an association with a crime using the license plate of the approaching vehicle.

15. The system according to claim 14, further comprising a local watch list database storing one or more license plates associated with one or more crimes in the crime database, wherein each license plate in the located watch list database is associated with a previous vehicle to approach the facility.

16. The system according to claim 11, the ACP server further comprising a gate arm controller actuating a gate arm obstructing a lane at the access control point, wherein the gate arm controller removes the gate arm obstruction responsive to authorizing entry to the approaching vehicle.