Tracking for badge carrier

• US 9,924,319 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2016
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Assa Abloy AB
• Original Assignee: Assa Abloy AB
• Inventors: Hoyer, Philip, Lovelock, Julian Eric, Robinton, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Chuong A
• Application Number:
  US15/210,188
• Publication Number:
  US 20170019765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 614 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/20 Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security

Abstract

A tracking system is disclosed that enables the tracking of a beacon device and a credential device being held by the beacon device. The beacon device may communicate with readers of an access control system using a first communication protocol whereas the credential device being held by the beacon device may communicate with readers of the access control system using a second communication protocol. As the beacon device and the credential device being held by the beacon device may also communicate with readers at different times, a beacon device may be associated with a credential device being held thereby such that tracking of one device enables inferred tracking of the other device.

Claims

1. An access control system, comprising:

a credential device;

a beacon device attachable to and detachable from the credential device, wherein at least one of the credential device and the beacon device is initially an unknown or anonymous device to the access control system, wherein the credential device comprises a first antenna that enables wireless communications with one or more readers using a second communication protocol that is different from a first communication protocol used by the beacon device to communicate with the one or more readers; and

an access server configured to receive a communication from the one or more readers, associate the credential device with the beacon device in a database, and determine, based on the received communication a location of the unknown or anonymous device within the access control system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the access server comprises a communication interface that enables the access server to receive the communication from the one or more readers.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first communication protocol comprises at least one of Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, and WiFi.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the credential device comprises a visual representation of identification information on a surface thereof.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the beacon device is configured to hold or attach the credential device to clothing or a body of a user, wherein the credential device lacks an internal power source.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second communication protocol utilizes an inductive coupling between the first antenna and a reader antenna of the one or more readers to provide power to the credential device and to exchange information between the credential device and the one or more readers.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein a communication range of the first communication protocol is greater than a communication range of the second communication protocol.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the beacon device is chargeable by motion of a retractable member.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one reader receives a beacon identifier from the beacon device via the first communication protocol.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more readers and one of a second reader and a third reader receive a communication from the beacon device, and further wherein a position of the beacon device is determined, at least in part, based on one or more of triangulation, angle of arrival, time of flight, echo detection, and phase detection, using information from the readers that receive the communication from the beacon device.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the access server comprises an asset tracking module to determine a location of the beacon device and the credential device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the beacon device is chargeable by a solar cell.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the access server comprises a validation engine configured to verify that information received by the one or more readers and included in the communication from the one or more readers originated from the beacon device, based on pseudo-random sequences of data included in the information.

14. A method of tracking assets in an access control system, comprising:

receiving, from a first reader in the access control system, a first communication comprising information about a first signal transmitted by a beacon device using a first communication protocol;

receiving, from the first reader, a second communication comprising information about a second signal transmitted by a credential device to the first reader using a second communication protocol, wherein the beacon device is a different device than the credential device, and wherein one of the credential device and the beacon device is initially an unknown or anonymous device to the access control system;

associating, based on the first and second communications, the beacon device with the credential device by storing identification information for the beacon device in association with identification information for the credential device within a database; and

determining, with a processor, a location of the unknown or anonymous device based on at least one of the information about the first signal and the information about the second signal.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first communication protocol is Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, or WiFi.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the second communication protocol utilizes inductive coupling that has a shorter communication range than the first communication protocol, the method further comprising:

determining that a visitor holding the beacon device and the credential device is checking out of the access control system; and

in response to determining that the visitor is checking out of the access control system, disassociating the credential device from the beacon device by erasing the information from the database that stored the identification information for the beacon device in association with the identification information for the credential device.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, from a second reader, a third communication comprising additional information about the first signal transmitted by the beacon device,

wherein the determining comprises triangulating a position of the beacon device based on the information about the first signal in the first communication and the additional information about the first signal in the third communication.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the information about the first signal in the first communication and the additional information about the first signal in the third communication each comprise signal strength information, and wherein the determining further comprises:

utilizing the signal strength information to determine a first distance between the beacon device and the first reader and a second distance between the beacon device and the second reader.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining, with the processor, a location of first credential device based on the information about the second signal.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

disassociating the beacon device from the first credential device;

receiving, from the first reader or a second reader in the access control system, a third communication comprising information about a third signal transmitted by the beacon device using the first communication protocol;

receiving, from the first reader or the second reader, a fourth communication comprising information about a fourth signal transmitted by a second credential device using the second communication protocol; and

associating, based on the first and second communications, the beacon device with the second credential device.

21. An access server comprising:

a processor;

a communication interface; and

a memory, the memory storing information associating an individual and a credential device and associating the credential device and a separate beacon device, wherein the beacon device is initially an unknown or anonymous device to the access server, wherein the memory further stores instructions for execution by the processor that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

determine a position of the beacon device based on first information received via the communication interface from a first reader and second information received via the communication interface from a second reader, the first and second information comprising signal strength information about a signal received by the first reader and the second reader from the beacon device; and

associate the unknown or anonymous beacon device with the credential device by storing information for the beacon device in association with information for the credential device within a database.

22. The access server of claim 21, wherein the memory stores additional instructions for execution by the processor that, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

determine a position of the credential device based on third information received via the communication interface from the first reader, the second reader, or a third reader, the third information evidencing a communication between the credential device and the first reader, the second reader, or the third reader.

23. The access server of claim 22, wherein the first and second information further comprise information about a signal received by the beacon device from the credential device.

24. The access server of claim 21, wherein the determining a position of the beacon device utilizes at least one of Received Signal Strength Indication, Time of Flight, Angle of Arrival, phase detection, and echo detection.