Apparatus and methods for remote control of access to facilities

• US 9,049,306 B1
• Filed: 11/30/2008
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DoorKing Inc.
• Original Assignee: DoorKing Inc.
• Inventors: Richmond, Thomas R., Richmond, Suzanne, Kochie, Patrick S., Gueorguieva, Nadejda V., Cheng, Yu Jennifer, Bear, Eitan T.
• Primary Examiner(s): GAY, SONIA L
• Application Number:
  US12/325,254
• Time in Patent Office: 2,375 Days
• Field of Search: 379/102.06, 340 52- 574
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/007 with remote control systems remote control in general G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/025 Door telephones adapted for television H04N7/186

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for simplifying and improving the reliability of communication between end users and access control systems such as those that include door and/or gate controllers, tenant access to buildings, and the like. In certain embodiments using an analog modem at the controller end of the system, the corresponding remote analog modem (which communicates with that analog modem at the controller end) is not within the direct control of the end user, and the end user'"'"'s communicates instead via the user'"'"'s standard hardware/software for communicating generally, such as via the Internet. Depending on the application, the control data can be maintained and/or synched at any selected combination or sub-combination of several locations: (1) the user'"'"'s local system; (2) an intermediate server system; and/or (3) the controller end system. Preferred communication connections between the components provide improved ease of installation and use and reliability, as compared to prior art systems in which an end user'"'"'s analog modem must be configured to directly communicate with a corresponding analog modem on a selected control device (such as a gate or door controller). Corresponding telephone/voice control preferably is also provided within the system, via POTS, a cellular telephone connection, VoIP, etc.

Claims

1. Apparatus, including:

a plurality of telephone entry systems (TES) each near an entrance to a physical location, each of the TES including at least one analog modem;

a plurality of end user systems each having a non-analog communication link to the Internet, each end user system corresponding to at least one of the physical location entrances; and

at least one intermediate communication system linking (a) the plurality of end user systems via the users'"'"' respective non-analog communication link to the Internet, with (b) the TES at the corresponding entrance, said intermediate communication system including at least one analog modem remote from the TES and remote from the end user systems, said intermediate communication system providing communication between the corresponding pairs of TES and end users.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one analog modem of the intermediate communication system communicates with the TES'"'"'s at least one analog modem over a telephone network.

2. Apparatus, including:

a plurality of secure facilities, each having at least one entrance;

an access controller corresponding to and at least partially located adjacent to each such entrance, the controller configured to allow passage through the entrance based on information within an electronic database, each such controller including its own at least one analog modem for communicating information relating to the database;

a communication server remote from the secure facilities and having a plurality of analog modems for communicating information relating to the database with the respective access controllers'"'"' modems at the secure facilities, the communication server remote from the secure facilities also having at least one non-modem Internet communication link and having means for communicating between the non-modem Internet communication link and the communication server'"'"'s analog modems;

a plurality of end user systems each corresponding to at least one of the plurality of secure facilities, each end user system having at least one non-modem Internet communication link capable of directly communicating information relating to the database with the communication server.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, including:

a payment system by which end users register for and pay for use of the communication server.

4. Apparatus, including:

A plurality of access control systems, each configured to control entry to a respective secure location based on information within an electronic database, each access control system further having at least one analog modem located near an entrance of the secure location for communicating information relating to the database;

a plurality of end user systems, each corresponding to at least one of the respective secure locations, and each having a non-analog-modem means for communicating over the Internet;

an intermediate communication system remote from the end user systems and the secure locations, the intermediate system having (a) means for transmitting information to and from the end user systems via the users'"'"' respective non-analog-modem means, and (b) a plurality of modems for related transmission of that information between the system and the analog modem or modems in the respective access control systems that correspond to the specific end user system.

6. A method of electronically communicating information for controlling access to a plurality of secure locations, including the steps of:

providing an intermediate communication system for communicating with a plurality of end user systems and with a corresponding plurality of secure locations, each of the secure locations having at least one analog modem, the intermediate system remote from the secure locations and including a plurality of analog modems for communicating with the secure location modems, the intermediate system including non-analog-modem means for communicating with each of the plurality of end user systems;

communicating with a plurality of end user systems using the non-analog-modem means; and

communicating with the secure location modems using at least one of the plurality of analog modems.