Access monitoring and control system and method

• US 8,009,041 B2
• Filed: 11/13/2007
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Carrier Fire & Security Americas LLC (Carrier Global Corporation)
• Original Assignee: UTC Fire & Security Americas Corporation, Inc. (Carrier Global Corporation)
• Inventors: Graichen, Catherine Mary
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Tai T
• Application Number:
  US11/938,820
• Publication Number:
  US 20090121869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,386 Days
• Field of Search: 340/541, 340/547, 340/545.2, 340/573.1, 340/506, 340/517, 340/520, 340/523, 340/526, 340/426.1, 726/22
• US Class Current: 340/541
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00 Individual registration on entry or exit

Abstract

An access monitoring and control system is provided. The access monitoring and control system includes a sensing device configured to collect data points regarding at least one of movement of a person through an access portal and a state of the access portal and a processing unit configured to receive the data points from the sensing device and to form activity clusters from the data points based upon similar patterns of inactive or active behaviors.

Claims

1. An access monitoring and control system, comprising:

a sensing device configured to collect data points regarding at least one of movement of a person through an access portal and a state of the access portal; and

a processing unit configured to receive the data points from the sensing device, to organize the data points in time slots, and to form activity clusters from the data points based upon similar patterns of inactive or active behaviors during days of a week, wherein each day represents an instance in a data set and each time slot represents an attribute of the instance, wherein each of the data points of the activity clusters represent a cumulative inactive time, and wherein the processing unit is configured to group the days that have the most similar patterns to form the activity clusters.

2. The access monitoring and control system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to evaluate new data points against the formed activity clusters to detect an abnormal behavior for the new data points.

3. The access monitoring and control system of claim 2, wherein the processing unit is configured to transmit a signal indicative of the abnormal behavior for the new data points to a remote control unit.

4. The access monitoring and control system of claim 3, wherein the processing unit is configured to trigger an alarm indicative of the abnormal behavior for the new data points.

5. The access monitoring and control system of claim 4, wherein the abnormal behavior is representative of an improper functioning of the sensing device.

6. The access monitoring and control system of claim 1, wherein the access portal comprises a door, or a window, or combinations thereof.

7. The access monitoring and control system of claim 1, wherein the state of the access portal comprises an open or a closed state of the access portal.

8. The access monitoring and control system of claim 1, wherein the sensing device comprises a motion sensor, or a door sensor, or a window sensor, or a key pad entry, or a card reader, or a biometric reader, or combinations thereof.

9. The access monitoring and control system of claim 1, wherein the activity clusters include a weekday activity cluster formed using data points corresponding to similar patterns of inactive or active behaviors during weekdays and a weekend activity cluster formed using data points corresponding to similar patterns of inactive or active behaviors during weekends.

10. A method of providing an access monitoring and control system, comprising:

providing a sensing device for collecting data points regarding at least one of movement of a person through an access portal and a state of the access portal; and

providing a processing unit to receive the data points from the sensing device, to organize the data points in time slots, and to form activity clusters from the data points based upon similar patterns of inactive or active behaviors during days of a week, wherein each day represents an instance in a data set and each time slot represents an attribute of the instance, wherein each of the data points of the activity clusters represent a cumulative inactive time, and wherein the processing unit is configured to group the days that have the most similar patterns to form the activity clusters.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said providing a processing unit comprises providing a processor to evaluate new data points against the formed clusters to detect an abnormal behavior for the new data points.

12. The method of claim 10, comprising providing a remote control unit for receiving signals indicative of the abnormal behavior of the new data points and for triggering an alarm indicative of the abnormal behaviors.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising providing the remote control unit for detecting an improper functioning of the sensing device based upon the signals indicative of the abnormal behavior for the new data points.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said providing a sensing device comprises installing the sensing device on a door, or a window, or combinations thereof.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein said providing the sensing device comprises providing a motion sensor, or a door sensor, or a window sensor, or a keypad entry, or a card reader, or a biometric reader, or combinations thereof.

16. A method of detecting an abnormal activity for an access control system, comprising:

obtaining activity data from the access control system;

grouping the obtained activity data into activity clusters, each activity cluster representing those days of a week having similar patterns of inactive or active behaviors; and

evaluating new data points against the activity clusters to detect the abnormal activity.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said obtaining activity data comprises collecting data points regarding at least one of movement of person through an access portal and a state of the access portal.

18. The method of claim 16, comprising generating a maximum inactivity line and an alert line based upon the obtained activity data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said evaluating new data points comprises determining whether the new data points exceed the maximum inactivity line and the alert line.