Entering/leaving control system

Abstract: An entering/leaving control system for a user who is carrying a wireless medium which stores at least collating information and has a wireless communication function. This entering/leaving control system includes a receiving unit (1) provided near a gate for entering/leaving a specified place for receiving the collating information transmitted from the wireless medium, a collating unit for collating the collating information received by the receiving unit with a preset collating information, an intention detecting unit (2) for detecting a specified place entering/leaving intention of a user who is carrying the wireless medium, a judging unit (3) for judging propriety of the specified place entering/leaving based on the output of the intention detecting unit and the result of collation of the collating unit, and a control unit for controlling the opening/closing of the gate based on the judging result of the judging unit.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a non-touch entering/leaving control system which controls entering/leaving, for instance, a room or place requiring security using such wireless media as wireless cards, etc. 2. Description of the Related Art From the viewpoint of importance for ensuring the security in enterprises pursuant to the progress of information oriented society, various room entering/leaving control systems for checking the entering/leaving into/from rooms or places have been developed in recent years. Relevant background art is described in the following documents. DE-A-40 27 491 describes an admission control system in which a transponder (for example, in a wireless card) is interrogated by a transmitter/receiver unit with an enquiry code signal. If the transponder provides a correct answer code in response, a voice recognition unit is activated to permit a user to indicate to a controller which one of one or more gates or barriers should be opened. The controller passes corresponding signals to the gate or barrier in question to open it as required. EP-A-0 542 293 describes an admission managing system which manages admission of a holder of an integrated circuit card having a part for operating by power induced by an external command, a memory for storing identification information and a part for at least communicating in a noncontact manner including reception of the command and transmission of the identification information. The admission managing system includes a gate for admitting the card holder of the integrated circuit card when the gate is opened, a first part for transmitting the command and for receiving the identification information received from the integrated circuit card in response to the command, a second part for storing identification information for authorized card holders to be admitted, a third part for opening the gate when the identification information received by the first part from the integrated circuit card is identical to one of the items of identification information stored in the second part, and a fourth part for outputting a warning to the card holder if a number of times the same identification information is received by the first part from the integrated circuit card exceeds a predetermined value. As one of such entering/leaving control systems, there is, for instance, a non-touch entry/leaving control system using a wireless individual identification card (hereinafter referred to as a wireless card). This non-touch entering/leaving control system is for allowing only users (entering/leaving persons) who are carrying a wireless card storing an identification code, which is collating information for allowing the entry/leaving in advance, to enter into/leave a room or place. That is, when a user comes close to a door (a gate) of a room or a specified place to pass through, a terminal equipment provided in the vicinity of the door reads an identification code from a wireless card carried by the user and collating it with the identification code that has been registered in advance and opens the door to allow the user to pass through it when both of them agree with each other. However, in such an entering/leaving control system, a terminal equipment which exchanges signals with wireless cards have received influence of all wireless cards regardless of intention of entering/leaving. That is, the terminal equipment reads all of wireless cards carried by persons who passed near it and therefore, there was such a problem that the door (the gate) is opened although there is no person who has an intention or a purpose to enter into or leave a room. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an entering/leaving control system which is capable of preventing unnecessary gate control resulting from reading of information of wireless cards carried by persons who have no intention to enter into/leave a specified place. The present invention provides an entering/leaving control system as defined in independent claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the construction of a first embodiment of an entering/leaving control system of the present invention; FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing a layout example of a wireless card reader near a door of which opening/closing is controlled; FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing another layout example of a wireless card reader at the side of a door of which opening/closing is controlled; FIGURE 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation in a first embodiment of the entering/leaving control system of the present invention; FIGURE 5 is a schematic block diagram showing the construction of a second embodiment of the entering/leaving control system of the present invention; FIGURE 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment of the entering/leaving control system of the present invention; FIGURE 7 is a plan view showing an embodiment using a push-button switch as an intention detecting means in the room entering/leaving control system of the present invention; FIGURES 8A and 8B are plan views showing embodiments using a touch sensor as the intention detecting means; FIGURE 9 is a perspective view showing an embodiment using a foot switch as the intention detecting means; FIGURE 10 is a perspective view showing an embodiment using a voice sensor as the intention detecting means; FIGURE 11 is a plan view showing an embodiment wherein a voice sensor has been incorporated in a wireless card reader in one united body; and FIGURE 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation in a third embodiment of the entering/leaving control system of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An entering/leaving control system of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings in the following. First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIGURE 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a non-touch entering/leaving system involved in the first embodiment. In FIGURE 1, the reference letter P shows a wireless card (a non-touch card) as a wireless medium carried by users and it has a wireless communicating function including a memory as a storage means and an antenna. For instance, it is comprised of an IC card, etc. The memory stores such collating information peculiar to the card as identification codes such as individual identification number and other security information (name of card carrier, the validity period of the card, entering/leaving allowable time, entering/leaving allowable place, etc.). The wireless card P is activated when it comes in a reading range (a communication range) of a wireless card reader 1 and transmits prescribed radio wave and sends such security information as an identification code. The wireless card reader (the non-touch card reader) 1 as a terminal equipment is constantly transmitting radio wave for reading, and if a wireless card P comes in its reading range, activates that wireless card P and receives (reads) security information such as an identification code, etc. An intention detecting means 2 is to detect an intention of a user carrying a wireless card P to enter into/leave a room as a specified place and is provided to the wireless card reader 1 or in the vicinity of it. The wireless card reader 1, the intention detecting means 2, an electrically controllable gate (a controlled door such as a door with an electric lock or an automatic door) 4 have been connected to a first control unit 3. This first control unit 3 receives card information from the wireless card reader 1, judges propriety of the room entering/leaving by collating the received card information with pre-registered collating information and controls the gate 4 according to the result of the judgment. A second control unit 5 arranges room entering/leaving data received from plural first control units 3 and sends them to a host computer 6. The host computer 6 has room entering/leaving data and abnormal data indicating and output functions and control data and registered data preparation, changing, retrieving and output functions. A CRT 7, a printer 8, a card writer 9 and a uninterruptive power supply unit 10 are connected to the host computer 6. The card writer 9 is a machine to issue a new wireless card P by writing collating information of an identification code on an unwritten wireless card P. FIGURES 2 and 3 show equipment layout examples around the controlled door. FIGURE 2 shows a case where the wireless card reader 1 provided on a wall 13 near a controlled door (equivalent to the gate 4 shown in FIGURE 1) to enter into or leave a security area (a room) 11. FIGURE 3 shows a case where the wireless card reader 1 was separated into a main body and a communication antenna 1a and the antenna 1a portion only was set on the controlled door 12 and the main body of the wireless card reader 1 was set at an optional place. Next, the processing operation in the construction as described above will be explained referring to a flowchart shown in FIGURE 4. Further, in the first embodiment, the presence of the input for indicating user's intention to entering/leaving a room is judged through the detection by the intention detecting means in the first control unit 3. The wireless card reader 1 is constantly transmitting radio wave for reading card information (ST401). If a wireless card P is present in the reading range of the wireless card reader 1 (ST402), that wireless card P transmits the pre-written collating information peculiar to the card. The wireless card reader 1 receives the card information (the collating information) and examines (judges) propriety of the card information (ST403). As a result of this examination, the card information is revealed to be proper, the card information is sent to the first control unit 3 (ST404). The first control unit 3 receives the card information (ST405) and judges propriety of the room entering/leaving by examining the contents of the card information (ST406). That is, the collating information read from the wireless card P is collated with the collating information that has been preset and stored in the first control unit 3 and propriety of the room entering/leaving is judged according to whether a prescribed relation is formed between both collating information. If the result of the collation revealed that no prescribed relation was formed between both collating information, the room entering/leaving is judged to be not allowed and the collating information read from the wireless card P is discarded (ST407). If the result of the collation revealed that the prescribed relation was formed between both collating information, the room entering/leaving is judged to be allowable, and a timer is started (ST408) and the intention indicating input from the intention detecting means 2 is waited. If the user's intention indicating input is detected by the intention detecting means 2 before the timer completes the counting of a fixed time (ST409), it is regarded that the intention for the room entering/leaving is read from the card information, the room entering/leaving is finally judged OK and a door opening control signal is output (ST410), and the room entering/leaving information at this time is sent to the second control unit 5 (ST411). If no user's intention indicating input was detected by the intention detecting means 2 even when the timer has counted a fixed time (ST412), it is judged that the card has no intention for room entering/leaving (ST607), and the room entering/leaving is judged finally to be not allowed and the collating information read from a wireless card P is discarded (ST407). A fixed time that is counted by the timer is about 10-20 seconds. Next, a second embodiment will be explained. FIGURE 5 is a schematic block diagram showing the construction of a non-touch entering/leaving control system involved in the second embodiment. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment shown in FIGURE 1 in that the intention detecting means 2 has been connected to the wireless card reader 1 and all others are identical to the first embodiment, Hereinafter, the processing operation will be explained referring to a flowchart shown in FIGURE 6. Further, in the second embodiment, the presence of the input for indicating user's intention for the room entering/leaving is judged through the detection by the intention detecting means 2 in the wireless card reader 1. The wireless card reader 1 is constantly transmitting radio wave for reading card information (ST601). If a wireless card P is present in the reading range of the wireless card reader 1 (ST602), the wireless card P transmits the pre-written collating information peculiar to that card. The wireless card reader 1 receives this card information (the collating information) and examines (judges) propriety of the card information (ST603). If the result of this examination reveals that the card information is proper, a timer is started (ST604) and the detection of the intention indicating input by the intention detecting means 2 is waited. Here, if the input for indicating user's intention is detected before the timer completes the counting of a fixed time (ST605), it is regarded that the card having user's intention for the room entering/leaving is read and the card information is sent to the first control unit 3 (ST606). If no user's intention indicating input is detected by the intention detecting means 2 even when the counting of a fixed time has been completed by the timer (ST607), it is regarded that the card has no user's intention for the room entering/leaving and the collating information read from the wireless card P is discarded (ST608). The fixed time that is counted by the timer is about 10-20 seconds. The first control unit 3 receives the card information from the wireless card reader 1 (ST609) and judges propriety of the room entering/leaving as in the above by examining the contents of the card information (ST610). If the room entering/leaving is not allowable as a result of this judgment, the collating information read from the wireless card P is discarded (ST608). If the room entering/leaving is allowable as a result of the judgment, a door opening control signal is output (ST611) and the room entering/leaving information at this time is sent to the second control unit (ST612). Next, a definite example of the intention detecting means 2 will be explained. FIGURE 7 shows a push-button switch 21 that is used as the intention detecting means 2 and is set on the wireless card reader 1. In this case, a user who has a room entering/leaving intention goes to near the controlled door 12 and after having the wireless card reader 1 read the carrying wireless card P, indicates his intention to enter into/leave a room by depressing the push-button switch 21 within a fixed time. FIGURES 8A and 8B show a touch sensor 22 that is used as the intention detecting means 2 and is set on the wireless card reader 1 as in FIGURE 8A or in the vicinity of the wireless card reader 1 as in FIGURE 8B. In this case, a user who has a room entering/leaving intention goes to near the controlled door 12 and after having the wireless card reader 1 read the carrying wireless card P, indicates his intention to enter into/leave a room by touching the touch sensor 22 with his elbow, etc. within a fixed time. Thus, it is possible to indicate his intention without any inconvenience when both hands are full. FIGURE 9 shows a foot switch 23 that is used as the intention detecting means 2 and is set on a passage 14 in front of the controlled door 12. In this case, a user who has a room entering/leaving intention goes to near the controlled door 12 and have the wireless card reader 1 read the information stored in a carrying wireless card P. Thereafter, he indicates his intention for a room entering/leaving by waiting in front of the door until the door opens naturally within a fixed time. Thus, it is possible to indicate his intention through the natural motion without any inconvenience when both hands are full. The fixed time in this case is about 2-3 seconds. FIGURE 10 shows a voice sensor 24 that is used as the intention detecting means 2 and is set on a ceiling 15 in front of the controlled door 12. In this case, a specific voice signal is registered in the wireless card reader 1 and it is collated with a specific voice signal that is input through the voice sensor 24 and if both signals agree with each other, it is judged that the room entering/leaving is allowable. In this case, a user who has a room entering/leaving intention goes to near the controlled door 12 and have the wireless card reader 1 read the information stored in a carrying wireless card P. Thereafter, by speaking, for instance, a prescribed password to the voice sensor 24 within a fixed time, indicates his room entering/leaving intention. As s prescribed password in this case, for instance, a number of 4 figures and the like are used. Thus, the intention can be indicated through a natural motion without inconvenience even when both hands are full. FIGURE 11 shows a voice sensor 24 that is used as the intention detecting means 2 and is set on the wireless card reader 1. In this case, all others are the same as in FIGURE 10. Next, a third embodiment will be explained. The third embodiment is to judge whether a user's room entering/leaving intention is indicated according to whether the same card information is successively read for a fixed time and the process operation will be explained in the following referring to a flowchart shown in FIGURE 12. The wireless card reader 1 is constantly transmitting radio wave for reading card information (ST1201). When a wireless card P is present in the reading range of the wireless card reader 1 (ST1202), that wireless card P transmits pre-written collating information peculiar to that card. The wireless card reader 1 receives the card information (collating information) and examines (judges) propriety of the card information (ST1203). The result of this examination reveals that the card information is proper, the timer is started (ST1204) and by repeating the operation to read card information of the same wireless card P until a time set on the timer is over, judges whether the same card information is successively read for a fixed time (ST1205). If it is revealed that the same card information is read successively for a fixed time (ST1206), it indicates that a user carrying a wireless card P who has an intention for room entering/leaving is standing near the wireless card reader 1 in front of the controlled door, and it is therefore regarded that a card having the room entering/leaving intention is read (ST1207) and the card information is sent to the first control unit 3 (ST1208). The fixed time described above is about 2-3 seconds. The first control unit 3 receives card information from the wireless card reader 1 (ST1209) and judges propriety of the room entering/leaving in the same manner as described above by examining the contents of the card information (ST1210). If the room entering/leaving is not allowable as a result of this judgment, the collating information read from the wireless card P is discarded (ST1211). If the room entering/leaving is allowable, a door opening control signal is output (ST1212) and the room entering/leaving at this time is sent to the second control unit 5 (ST1213). According to the third embodiment, the intention detecting means 2 for indicating the user's intention for the room entering/leaving as in the first and the second embodiments described above will become unnecessary. As described above, according to the embodiments described above, when the intention detecting means 2 is provided to the wireless card reader 1 or in the vicinity of it for indicating user's intention for a room entering/leaving and propriety of the room entering/leaving is finally judged based on a combination of the output of the intention detecting means 2 and the judging result on propriety of the room entering/leaving according to the collating information read from a wireless card P, it becomes possible to open the door of a room only for allowable persons. Thus ensuring the smooth room entering/leaving control. Accordingly, regardless of the installing environment of the wireless card reader 1 for reading collating information from a wireless card P without touching it and the building environment and at the same time, without being governed by motion and crowding degree of persons, it becomes possible to solve such a problem that wireless cards P come into the reading range and the door is unnecessarily controlled. As described above in detail, according to the present invention it is possible to provide an entering/leaving control system which is capable of preventing the unnecessary gate control resulting from reading of information of wireless media having no intention for a specified place entering/leaving.

Claims: An entering/leaving control system for a user who is carrying a wireless medium (P) which stores at least collating information and has a wireless communication function, comprising: means (1), provided near a gate (4) for entering/leaving a specified place (11), for receiving the collating information sent from the wireless medium; means (3) for collating the collating information received by the receiving means with preset collating information; means (2) for detecting the presence of an input for indicating an intention of the user who is carrying the wireless medium to enter/leave the specified place; means (3) for judging the propriety of entering/leaving the specified place based on the output of the intention detecting means and the result of collation by the collating means; means (3) for controlling the opening and closing of the gate based on the judging result of the judging means; characterized by : means for counting a prescribed time starting from after completing the collation by the collating means until completing waiting for the input for indicating the user's intention to enter/leave the specified place; means (3) for discarding the collating information received by the receiving means if the intention detecting means did not detect the user's intention to enter/leave the specified place before the timer completes the counting of the prescribed time; and propriety judging means (1) for judging the propriety of the collating information received by the receiving means; wherein the collating means (3) collates the received collating information with the preset collating information if the received collating information is revealed to be proper as a result of the judgment by the propriety judging means (1). An entering/leaving control system according to claim 1, wherein the intention detecting means (2) includes a switch (21,22) provided near the gate so that it is operated by a user who has an intention to enter/leave the specified place (11) and is carrying the wireless medium (P). An entering/leaving control system according to claim 1, wherein the intention detecting means (2) includes a foot switch (23) provided near the gate so that it is trodden by a user who has an intention to enter/leave the specified place (11) and is carrying the wireless medium (P). An entering/leaving control system according to claim 1, wherein the intention detecting means (2) includes a voice sensor (24) provided near the gate so as to detect the voice of a user who has an intention to enter/leave the specified place (11) and is carrying the wireless medium (P). An entering/leaving control system according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means (2) includes: means for judging whether the collating information can be received successively from the same wireless medium (P) for a fixed time by the receiving means (1).

Inventors: KANNO MAIKO, KANNO, MAIKO, Kanno, Maiko, c/o Intellectual Prop. Div.
Applicants: TOSHIBA KK, KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
Application year: 1995
Main classification: G07C9
IPC codes: G06Q50, G06F13, E05B49, G07C9