Failsafe operation for unmanned gatelines

• US 9,626,818 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2016
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cubic Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cubic Corporation
• Inventors: Reymann, Steffen, Smith, Gavin
• Primary Examiner(s): NWUGO, OJIAKO K
• Application Number:
  US15/208,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20160321849A1
• Time in Patent Office: 280 Days
• Field of Search: 340 561, 340 564, 340 57, 340 1225
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 1/006 by emergency conditions, e.g. fire operating or controlling mechanisms for physical fire-barriers A62C2/24
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/40 Safety devices, e.g. detection of obstructions or end positions
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/72 responsive to emergency conditions, e.g. fire
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/75 responsive to the weight or other physical contact of a person or object
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/76 responsive to devices carried by persons or objects, e.g. magnets or reflectors E05F15/77 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 2015/765 using optical sensors using photoelectric cells E05F15/74
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 2015/767 using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: E06B 11/02 Gates; Doors
• CPC Class Codes: E06B 11/08 Turnstiles; Gates for control of entry or exit of persons, e.g. in supermarkets control gates on vehicles B60N5/00 ; bank protection devices E05G5/00; with registering means G07C9/10 ; coin-freed facilities for turnstiles G07F17/14
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/10 Movable barriers with registering means
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/15 with arrangements to prevent the passage of more than one individual at a time
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/30 not involving the use of a pass
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons

Abstract

Systems and techniques are presented for enabling fail-safe operation of an automatic pedestrian access control gate during a health and safety event. Gateline sensor data is received from at least one gateline sensor. The gateline sensor data indicates that an event concerning health and safety has occurred. An alert is generated in response to receiving the gateline sensor data. The alert is transmitted to a remote monitoring device that is remote from the access control gate. A determination is made that a preset amount of time has elapsed since transmitting the alert. A further determination is made that an acknowledgement of the alert has not been received. Based on determining that the preset amount of time has elapsed and determining that the acknowledgement has not been received, a predefined action is triggered.

Claims

1. A method for enabling fail-safe operation of an automatic pedestrian access control gate during a health and safety event, the method comprising:

determining whether a remote monitoring device is being actively monitored based on input from a camera of the remote monitoring device;

selecting a preset amount of time from a plurality of time periods based on determining whether the remote monitoring device is being actively monitored;

receiving gateline sensor data from at least one gateline sensor, the gateline sensor data indicating that the event concerning health and safety has occurred;

generating an alert in response to receiving the gateline sensor data;

transmitting the alert to the remote monitoring device, the remote monitoring device being remote from the access control gate;

determining that the preset amount of time has elapsed since transmitting the alert;

determining that an acknowledgement of the alert has not been received; and

triggering a predefined action based on determining that the preset amount of time has elapsed and determining that the acknowledgement has not been received.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a sensory notification via the remote monitoring device in response to receiving the alert at the remote monitoring device, the sensory notification including at least one of a visual notification and an audible notification.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the remote monitoring device is being actively monitored based on input from an inertial sensor of the remote monitoring device; and

selecting the preset amount of time from a plurality of time periods based on determining whether the remote monitoring device is being actively monitored.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a report that includes a history of all health and safety events that were detected during a specific period of time.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the health and safety events are categorized by severity within the report.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

transmitting a portion of the report to a user account, the portion corresponding to health and safety events of a certain category of severity.