Automated gate system

• US 8,710,955 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2011
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: REMPREX LLC (REMPREX Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: REMPREX LLC (REMPREX Holdings LLC)
• Inventors: Teti, Fabio, Hewitt, Chad Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Akhter, Sharmin
• Application Number:
  US13/325,837
• Publication Number:
  US 20120146763A1
• Time in Patent Office: 867 Days
• Field of Search: 340 51- 592, 340901-944, 701/117, 187313-335
• US Class Current: 340/5.7
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/22 in combination with an identity check of the pass holder
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition

Abstract

An automated gate system (AGS) for processing vehicles entering and exiting a controlled access facility via a single common traffic flow. The AGS provides a single portal receiving both ingress and egress vehicle traffic as a common traffic flow sharing a same access road. The access road feeds a multi-lane gated sub-system having associated kiosks providing an interface for obtaining vehicle and driver related information and which have a combined inbound/outbound gate for controlling ingress and egress movement of vehicles of the common traffic flow in and out from the controlled access facility. A computer system receives signals from the portal and the kiosks representing a status of the vehicles alone or in combination with driver information for controlling gate operation of each of the gates. Thereby, both ingress and egress routes are controlled, and both ingress and egress movement of the vehicles regarding the access facility is controlled.

Claims

1. An automated gate system (AGS) for a unified gate layout, comprising:

a single portal receiving and processing vehicles comprising ingress and egress traffic as a common traffic flow moving in a same direction sharing a same access road, the single portal obtaining and processing information relating to vehicles passing therethrough;

a multi-lane gated sub-system having associated kiosks providing interface for obtaining vehicles and driver related information and each of the kiosks having a combined inbound/outbound gate for controlling ingress and egress movement of vehicles of the common traffic flow moving in a same direction into and out of a controlled access facility; and

a computer system for receiving signals from the portal and the kiosks, the signals representing a status of the vehicles alone or in combination with driver information and processing the signals to control operations of one or more gates traversing ingress and egress routes for the controlled access facility, the computer system including a program embodied on a non-transitory computer storage medium for controlling gate operation of each of the gates and thereby controlling both ingress and egress routes and controlling both ingress and egress movement of the vehicles to and from the controlled access facility, thereby the computer system receives information from the single portal and controls the gate operations of each of the gates in the multi-lane gated sub-system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the common traffic flow comprises:

merged ingress traffic received from an access road enabling entry of vehicles from a public access; and

egress traffic returning from a controlled access area within the facility.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the signals operate a gate at the single portal for processing inbound or outbound traffic.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the gates include gate arms controlled by the program, or the gate arms are raised automatically by activation of loop detectors or sensors by the vehicles.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a security-lock situation which employs logic used to allow only one vehicle at a time to pass through an exit gate.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the security-lock situation uses the logic to increase throughput speed of the vehicle during the security-lock situation at the exit gate.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system uses mitigating logic to identify a group of vehicles ready for ingress or egress from or into the controlled access facility, and the mitigating logic allows the group of vehicles to enter or exit as a singular entity while delaying other vehicles ingress or egress.

8. A method for automating a gate system (AGS) for a unified gate layout, comprising:

receiving and processing vehicles using a single portal comprising ingress and egress traffic as a common traffic flow moving in a same direction sharing a same access road;

obtaining and processing information relating to vehicles passing through the single portal;

controlling ingress and egress movement of vehicles of the common traffic flow moving in a same direction into and out of a controlled access facility using a multi-lane gated sub-system having associated kiosks providing interface for obtaining vehicles and driver related information wherein each of the kiosks include a combined inbound/outbound gate; and

receiving signals from the portal and the kiosks using a computer system including a program embodied on a non-transitory computer storage medium, wherein the signals represent a status of the vehicles alone or in combination with driver information;

processing the signals to control operations of one or more gates traversing ingress and egress routes for the controlled access facility, wherein controlling gate operation of each of the gates thereby controls both ingress and egress routes and controls both ingress and egress movement of the vehicles to and from the controlled access facility, thereby the computer system receives information from the single portal and controls the gate operations of each of the gates in the multi-lane gated sub-system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the common traffic flow includes:

merging ingress traffic received from an access road which enables entry of vehicles from a public access; and

returning egress traffic from a controlled access area within the facility.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

operating a gate at the single portal for processing inbound or outbound traffic using one or more of the signals.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

automatically activating gate arms of the gates controlled by the program, or automatically activating the gate arms using loop detectors or sensors by the vehicles.

12. The method of claim 8, allowing only one vehicle at a time to pass through an exit gate during a security-lock situation.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising increasing throughput speed of the vehicle during the security-lock situation at the exit gate using logic at the exit gate or at the computer system.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

identifying a group of vehicles ready for ingress or egress from or into the controlled access facility; and

allowing the group of vehicles to enter or exit as a singular entity while delaying other vehicles ingress or egress.

15. A computer program product for automating a gate system (AGS) with a unified gate layout, the computer program product including a computer program or program code embodied on a non transitory computer readable medium for causing a processor of a computer to initiate the steps of:

receiving and processing vehicles using a single portal comprising ingress and egress traffic as a common traffic flow moving in a same direction sharing a same access road;

obtaining and processing information relating to vehicles passing through the single portal;

controlling ingress and egress movement of vehicles of the common traffic flow moving in a same direction into and out of a controlled access facility using a multi-lane gated sub-system having associated kiosks providing interface for obtaining vehicles and driver related information wherein each of the kiosks include a combined inbound/outbound gate; and

receiving signals from the portal and the kiosks using a computer system including a program embodied on a non-transitory computer storage medium, wherein the signals represent a status of the vehicles alone or in combination with driver information;

processing the signals to control operations of one or more gates traversing ingress and egress routes for the controlled access facility, wherein controlling gate operation of each of the gates thereby controls both ingress and egress routes and controls both ingress and egress movement of the vehicles to and from the controlled access facility, thereby the computer system receives information from the single portal and controls the gate operations of each of the gates in the multi-lane gated sub-system.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the common traffic flow includes:

merging ingress traffic received from an access road which enables entry of vehicles from a public access; and

returning egress traffic from a controlled access area within the facility.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

operating a gate at the single portal for processing inbound or outbound traffic using one or more of the signals.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

automatically activating gate arms of the gates controlled by the program, or automatically activating the gate arms using loop detectors or sensors by the vehicles.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, allowing only one vehicle at a time to pass through an exit gate during a security-lock situation.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising increasing throughput speed of the vehicle during the security-lock situation at the exit gate using logic at the exit gate or at the computer system.

21. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying a group of vehicles ready for ingress or egress from or into the controlled access facility; and

allowing the group of vehicles to enter or exit as a singular entity while delaying other vehicles ingress or egress.