EP1669941B1 - Access control system - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a system having at least one access control device with a reading device for data carriers on which an access authorization and identification data are stored.

Access control systems are used, for example, in cable cars and lifts. In particular, for winter sports day passes, weekly tickets and season tickets and the like longer-term entitlements are issued in addition to single trips, often for entire regions with a variety of cable cars and lifts. For the longer-term entitlements significant discounts are granted compared to single journeys, but they are not transferable to other persons.

However, the unauthorized transfer of longer-term cards is widespread. So it often happens that a skier who has bought a day ticket early in the morning, stops skiing around noon and then gives the map, for example, a friend, possibly even a stranger, for example, in the parking lot. This creates a significant financial damage to the lift operators. In order to prevent the transfer, therefore, upon purchase of the card, an identity photo of the buyer is made, which is affixed to the purchased card, so that the control personnel can compare the photo on the card with the person having the access used. Making and applying the photos on the cards, however, is time consuming and costly, so that only high-value cards, such as weekly or season tickets can be secured.

Further, it is known to store a digitized image of the card purchaser together with identification data for the relevant card in a database and access to provide a terminal with a screen, after entering the identification data of the card by the control personnel, the image of the cardholder from the database the terminal is transmitted and displayed with the screen, so the control person can compare the access user with the image on the screen. Such an execution is over US 6,801,907 known. However, this verification process is time consuming.

Out US 2002/016740 A1 is a shopping system with a customer ID card known. In the process, a picture of the customer is taken at the entrance with a camera and the ID card of the customer is read out. The ID data is linked to the customer profile data stored in a database and transmitted to a terminal together with the captured image of the customer. In this way, particularly affluent customers can be targeted by the sellers in the business.

Out US 5,095,196 A a security zone access system is known in which the images and identification data of the authorized persons are stored in a database. At the entrance of the security zone, a reading device for a data carrier with identification data and a camera for receiving an image of the respective person is provided. The read-out data and the recorded image are compared with the identification data and the image in the database and, if they match, the access is released.

The object of the invention is to prevent misuse of non-transferable access authorization data carriers.

This is achieved according to the invention with the system described in claim 1. In the subclaims advantageous embodiments of the invention are shown.

The system according to the invention has one or more access control devices. This may be any person separating devices, such as turnstiles, photocells and the like. At the access control device is a reading device that releases the access at valid reading an access authorization, ie, for example, in a driven by a motor turnstile drives the motor, so that the user of the data carrier can pass the turnstile. The reading device can be a contact-type reading device, for example for bar code, magnetic or chip cards as a data carrier or a non-contact reading device, in particular be for RFID transponder as a disk. The access authorization can also be stored in the mobile phone of the access user. The access authorization can for example be recorded on a cash register when buying the disk on the disk or stored on it.

The data carrier is provided with identification data which form a unique reference or identifier for the respective data carrier. This may be visual data, for example alphanumeric data printed on the ticket, e.g. the name of the buyer of the data carrier. The identification data can also be formed by a barcode or recorded on the magnetic or chip card. For cards with a chip, i. contact-based smart cards or RFID transponders, the identification data can also be e.g. be the serial number of the chip. The identification data can also agree with the access authorization data, if the latter is a unique identifier.

In order to release the access control device, the user must have an access authorization. For this purpose, the identification data stored on the data carrier is assigned an access authorization. The access authorization can be stored together with the identification data on the data medium. However, it is also possible that the access authorization is stored in the database, wherein the identification data on the data carrier form a reference for reading the access authorization from the database.

With the system according to the invention the access to any facilities can be controlled, for example to events, stadiums or swimming pools. However, it is intended in particular for passenger transport equipment before especially for lifts, cable cars and the like passenger transportation facilities in a winter sports area. In most cases, a large number of such passenger transport facilities with a data carrier with an access authorization can be used in a winter sports region. The access authorization readers of the access control devices at the individual lifts, mountain railways and the like passenger transport facilities are networked with a central database, in each access the identification data of the respective data carrier and other access data, such as the time of access and the data to identify the respective access control device are stored ,

According to the invention, at the entrance, in particular at the access lane in the area of the turnstile or the like access control device, there is a camera with which an image, preferably a breast image, of the data carrier user is recorded and stored in digitized form in the database.

The camera may be, for example, a simple webcam, e.g. may be provided in the housing of the access authorization reader. For this purpose, the housing needs to have only a small opening for the lens, so that the camera is virtually imperceptible. The camera is preferably triggered by the access authorization reader when reading a data carrier.

The triggering of the camera and the storage of the image can be done with each access. In order to reduce the number of images to be recorded and stored in the database, without significantly reducing the effectiveness of the control, a selection program is preferably provided.

Thus, only the images of the users of higher value media can be selected and stored, for example, only weekly or season tickets.

Since the access data for the respective data carrier are stored in the database, that is to say in particular the access times, a behavior pattern analysis of the user can furthermore be carried out and then a selection of the images to be recorded and stored can be made.

Thus, there is a typical misuse of a data carrier with non-transferable access authorization, e.g. a day pass for winter sports in that the user who bought the day ticket early in the morning, first with the elevator, the mountain railway or the like in higher regions, there spends the morning and leaves around noon to the valley to there the map, for example. at the parking lot to another to pass. If such a behavior has been determined on the basis of the database, an image can be taken by the user at the access control device in the valley and stored in the database. It can then be combined with a previously e.g. compared with the first use of the disk recorded image.

Thus, the system according to the invention is not concerned with preventing the access but the misuse of non-transferable access authorization media, for which, as the example above shows, unauthorized access is admitted but later discovered.

Furthermore, statistical methods can be used to record images of the volume users with the camera and to save them in the database. For example, the AQUL (Acceptable Quality Level) sampling system, an international quality assurance system, can be selected the user images are used, which in an assumption sampling test describes the upper limit of a satisfactory average quality level.

In order to reduce the amount of data that is stored in the database, a computer program can be used, which finds the head of the volume user, so to speak cut it out and so that only a digital image of the user's head is transmitted or stored.

The camera is triggered to capture the image of the user upon access by reading the data carrier with the reader or, for example, by advancing the user sensed by sensors.

According to the invention, the user images stored in the database are retrievable with a terminal having a screen operated by a control person. The terminal, which is preferably designed as a hand-held device, communicates with the database if necessary via a modem. However, the communication of the handset with the database preferably takes place via radio, in particular with GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) or another mobile radio technology for fast data transmission. The communication of the handset with the database can be done via wireless LAN via an internal network of the device instead of the public telecommunications network, whose access is to be monitored according to the invention.

In order to check the legitimate use of a data carrier, the identification data of the data carrier to be checked is first of all recorded with the preferably portable terminal device designed in particular as a handheld device. If the terminal has a keyboard and the identification data are formed by alphanumeric data, the identification data can be entered with the keyboard. If the identification data is formed by a barcode or recorded on a magnetic or chip card or stored in a chip of an RFID transponder or otherwise machine-readable, the terminal may instead also have a reading device to detect the identification data.

The identification data thus acquired are preferably transmitted to the database by radio, whereupon possibly all images stored in the database, which are associated with the data carrier with these identification data, are preferably transmitted by radio to the terminal.

The control person can thus visually compare the images on the screen of the terminal, which have been stored in the database by the user of the data carrier, with the person who currently owns the data medium. The operator scrolls through these images with the terminal, so to speak, and can thus determine by visual comparison, whether the images on the screen always show the person who is currently testing. The images stored in the database can thereby be used by a camera when using the access control device and / or at another location, e.g. have been recorded at a spot on the purchase of the disk. In other words, the stored image may also have been recorded a long time ago, which may be of interest in particular for season tickets and the like data carriers with long-term access authorizations.

If there is no match of an image on the screen with the person being examined, appropriate measures can be taken, for example the data carrier can be collected.

Since preferably together with the images and the identification data of the respective data carrier also further access data, such as access time and data of the respective access control device are stored in the database, the control person can also determine, for example, in the absence of conformity of an image on the screen with the person currently being examined to which time and on which access control device the data medium was used by another person.

According to the invention, an image can also be taken only during the first use of the data carrier at the access control device with the camera arranged there and stored in the database together with the identification data and this image is transmitted to the terminal with the screen for visual comparison. The data carrier can also be purchased over the Internet and provided with the identification data.

The invention is explained in more detail by way of example with reference to the attached drawing, the single figure of which shows schematically an embodiment of the system according to the invention.

Thereafter, a trained as a turnstile access control device 1 with a turnstile with two about an axis 2 rotatable locking arms 3 a reading device in a housing 4. In the card jaw 5 of the reading device designed as a reading device designed as a card data carrier 8 is inserted with a non-transferable access authorization, for example with a barcode. With a valid reading of the access authorization on the data carrier 8 with the insert reader, the turnstile is rotated, so that the access 6 is released.

When the data carrier 8 is inserted into the card jaw 5, a picture is taken of the data carrier user with a camera in the housing 4, of which only the objective 7 can be seen. The data carrier is provided with identification data, e.g. "752" read by the reader. These identification data are stored in a database 9 together with the digitized image taken by the camera 7 with the camera.

The images stored in the database 9 are retrievable with a handset 11 with a screen 12 and a keyboard 13 via radio 14 from a control person, of whom only the hand 15 is shown.

In order to check the legitimate use of a data carrier, the control person 15 receives from the person 16 who is checking them the identification data, e.g. "752" of the data carrier 8, which enters it with the keyboard 13 in the handset 11. The identification data are then transmitted by radio 14 to the database 9, which then transmits all stored images associated with these identification data to the handset 11, which can be viewed with the screen 12.

The control person 15 browses through these images and can thus determine by visual comparison whether the images always show the person 16 who is currently controlling them.

Claims (11)

1. A system with at least one access checking device (1) with a reader (4) for data carriers (8) on which identification data are stored, to which an access right is assigned, which the user must have in order that the access checking device is enabled, wherein a camera (7) on the access checking device (1), which records digitised images of the users of the access checking device (1) which are stored together with the identification data in a database (9), and also at least one terminal (11) with a monitor (12), which terminal can be operated by a checking person (15) and communicates with the database (9), are provided, wherein the terminal (11) has a keypad (13) for capturing the identification data of the data carrier (8) to be tested if the identification data of the data carrier (8) are formed by alphanumeric data, or, if the identification data of the data carrier (8) are formed by a barcode or are recorded on a magnet or a chip card or are stored in the chip of an RFID transponder or in a machine readable manner in some other way, has a reader, wherein the images stored in the database (9), which are assigned to the database (8) with the same identification data, are transmitted to the terminal (11) so that the checking person (15) can visually compare the images on the monitor (12) of the terminal (11), which have been stored in the database (9) by the user of the data carrier (8), with the person (16) who currently possesses the data carrier (8), in order to determine by visual comparison whether the images on the monitor (12) always show the same person, whom they are currently checking.
2. The system according to Claim 1, characterised in that the image of the checked user (16) of the data carrier (8), which is recorded at the access checking device (1) with the camera (7) and stored during the first use of the data carrier (8), can be transmitted for visual comparison.
3. The system according to Claim 1, characterised in that the images of the checked user (16) of the data carrier (8) recorded during the individual instances of access to the access checking device (1) using the camera (7) and stored can be transmitted for visual comparison.
4. The system according to Claim 1, characterised in that the communication of the terminal with the database takes place wirelessly (14).
5. The system according to Claim 4, characterised in that the communication of the terminal with the database (9) takes place using GPRS, UMTS or another mobile communications technology for fast data transmission.
6. The system according to Claim 4, characterised in that the communication of the terminal with the database (9) takes place by means of wireless LAN via an internal network.
7. The system according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the terminal is constructed as a handheld device (11).
8. The system according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a selection program selects certain data carriers (8) in order to record an image of the user of the access (6) with the camera (7) and to store the same in the database (9).
9. The system according to Claim 8, characterised in that the selection program selects the data carriers (8) in accordance with their value on the basis of a behaviour-pattern analysis of the data carrier users and/or statistically.
10. The system according to Claim 1, characterised in that the camera (7) for recording the image of the user is triggered by means of the reading of the data carrier (8) with the reader (4) and/or by means of the advancing of the user, which is detected using sensors.
11. The system according to Claim 1, characterised in that an image of the user of the data carrier (8) is stored in the database (9) together with the identification data of the data carrier (8) and can be captured using the terminal, which image has been recorded using a camera before the access of the user to the access checking device (1).

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