Abstract:
A system is provided and facilitates management of a device by a first entity and management of a third entity by a second entity, wherein by way of the system access rights permitting access otherwise prevented by the device are assignable by the first entity to the second entity, the access rights are able to be administrated by the second entity to the third entity, and the access is obtainable by the third entity using a combination of the access rights and personal identification information to affect the device.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The subject matter disclosed herein relates to trusted vendor access, a system to provide trusted vendor access and a method of providing trusted vendor access. 
     Traditionally, access control systems are managed centrally and both the means of access to secure resources and the persons who are allowed access to the secure resources is managed by the same organization. That is, when separate organizations are interacting within an access control system, it is often the case that only one of the organizations is involved in the management of the system. For example, many universities own and manage both the locks on campus doors and the cards that can access those locks. If a vendor organization requires access prevented by those locks, each vendor of the vendor organization must get a credential card from the university and be setup in the university system to gain the required access. 
     Over time this may lead to an unwieldy and cumbersome process if many vendor organizations, many sites, large geographical areas and other factors are involved. Additionally, adding and/or removing to and/or from the system a vendor organization or an individual vendor becomes a key management chore where the university (in this example) would need to make access control management tasks over time as vendor organizations and their associated vendors change. 
     Moreover, if a vendor organization intends to have access to secure resources of multiple universities, each of their associated vendors needs to be given access via the various universities respective systems. This means that each vendor needs to have multiple cards, one for each university the vendor organization intends to have access to. In a similar vein, if each vendor intends to be associated with multiple vendor organizations, he will, again, be required to carry multiple cards for the university (or universities) the multiple vendor organizations intend to have access to. 
     In addition, vendor access systems may be networked where a centralized database is used to manage the access control rights. When a card is presented to the lock, the lock communicates to the central database to verify access control rights before permitting access. However, some systems are ‘offline’ and therefore the cards that are permitted access must be prior programmed into the lock. If a card is to be added or removed, a programming step must be done to the lock to allow the card in. 
     In some improvements, a single-card programmed in the lock is replaced by a ‘system code’ that would allow any card from a particular organization to access the offline lock. However, this still has the limitation that if the vendors that may access the lock are to be changed, then the lock must be reprogrammed in order for the change to take effect. 
     Also, in patent application U.S. 2006/0208852 A1, Wenzlik, et al., offer an invention in which access is delegated in code-based systems. In Wenzlik, a license is provided to an authorized person that allows them to generate codes based on their own schedule to gain access to a trusted resource but the access control managing organization must still manage individuals as opposed to organizations as a whole. They must still issue licenses to ‘authorized persons’ on an individual basis even though that authorized person can manage their own codes to a secure resource and, if new authorized persons require access, then the managing organization must still be involved to provide additional licenses. 
     Moreover, most current vendor access systems provide for first or at most second level access control. First level access control is characterized by the authorized person gaining access through something he/she knows (i.e., a code/PIN). Second level access control is characterized in that the authorized person gains access through something he/she carries (i.e., a credential). By contrast, third level access control is characterized in that the authorized person gain access through the use of a combination of something he/she knows and something he/she carries (i.e., a code/PIN associated with a credential). This level of access control is rarely offered with the current vendor access systems, however, due to the high level of programming demand that must be managed and memory requirements that must be provided to the various locking devices. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the invention, a system is provided and facilitates management of a device by a first entity and management of a third entity by a second entity, wherein by way of the system access rights permitting access otherwise prevented by the device are assignable by the first entity to the second entity, the access rights are able to be administrated by the second entity to the third entity, and the access is obtainable by the third entity using a combination of the access rights and personal identification information to affect the device. 
     According to another aspect of the invention, a system is provided and facilitates management of a locking device preventing access to a secured resource by a lock owner and management of a trusted vendor possessing a portable device by a trusted vendor organization, wherein by way of the system access rights permitting access to the secured resource otherwise prevented by the locking device are assignable by the lock owner to the trusted vendor organization, the access rights are able to be administered by the trusted vendor organization to the trusted vendor, and access to the secured resource is obtainable by the trusted vendor using the portable device to unlock the locking device with a combination of the access rights and personal identification information. 
     According to yet another aspect of the invention, a system is provided and facilitates separate management of one or more locking devices preventing access to secured resources by one or more lock owners and separate management of one or more trusted vendors each of whom possesses a portable device by one or more trusted vendor organizations, wherein by way of the system access rights permitting access otherwise prevented by the one or more locking devices to the secured resources are assignable by the lock owners to the trusted vendor organizations, the access rights are able to be administered by the trusted vendor organizations to the trusted vendors, and access to the secured resources is obtainable by each of the one or more trusted vendors using the respective portable device to unlock the corresponding one or more locking devices with a combination of the access rights and personal identification information. 
     These and other advantages and features will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of an environment in which a system for providing trusted vendor access to various separately managed devices is provided; 
         FIG. 2  is an exemplary resource to which managed devices are attached; 
         FIG. 3  is a further schematic illustration of the environment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation of the system; and 
         FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating an operation of the system. 
     
    
    
     The detailed description explains embodiments of the invention, together with advantages and features, by way of example with reference to the drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , a system  10  for providing trusted vendor access to various separately managed devices is provided. The system  10  includes first entities  11 , second entities  12  and third entities  13 . The first entities  11  separately manage the various separately managed devices, which may include locking devices or systems that prevent unauthorized access to secured resources. The second entities  12  separately manage the third entities  13  and the third entities perform services, operations or functions that require the third entities to have access rights permitting access to the secured resources and past the various separately managed devices. In accordance with an operation of the system  10 , the first entities  11  assign access rights permitting access to the various separately managed devices to the second entities  12 . The second entities  12 , meanwhile, administer those access rights to the third entities  13  who are considered to be trusted vendors granted trusted vendor access. 
     As described above, trusted vendor access allows a second entity  12  to act as an entire organization to be ‘trusted’ and to be given the responsibility to manage the authorized third entities  13  within the organization. A first entity  11  can revoke a trust accorded to a second entity  12  at any time, and in so doing, disallow access to all of its third entities  13 . Trusted vendor access does not require device/lock programming because each of the third entities  13  may carry, for example, a portable device that contains credential information that has all the information needed for a locking device to decide whether the third entity  13  should have access, by providing for delegation of access rights management to the second entities  12  and by allowing full offline and geographically distributed layouts of devices/locks. The first entities  11  may at any time change second entities  12  and remove permissions, which in turn would update any and all of the access control devices that the third entities  13  carry within a predefined time period. This predefined time period would be determined by how often a third entity  13  is required to synchronize their access control device with the system  10 . 
     Thus, geographically distributed offline devices/locks, which are relatively inexpensive as compared to ‘online’ devices/locks, can be managed in a similar manner to ‘online’ devices/locks because third entities  13  can carry their access permissions with them so that locks do not need to be programmed and so that costs associated with such programming can be avoided. Moreover, while no limit exists as to the number of second entities  12  that can be involved with a particular first entity  11 , the first entities  11  maintain control over relationships with the second entities  12  but are not required to manage the third entities  13  directly even in the absence of a centralized management entity. 
     Where the third entities  13  are considered to be trusted vendors, the second entities  12  include trusted vendor organizations and it is possible that multiple first entities  11  may assign their respective access rights to each one or more of the trusted vendor organizations and, similarly, the multiple second entities  12  administer the access rights to each one or more of the trusted vendors. 
     That is, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , separate banks  1 - 4  may separately manage one or more exemplary locking devices at each door, vault and automatic teller machine at each branch location and assign access rights permitting access to secured resources past those different types of locks to separate vendors of types  1  and  2 . In particular, bank  1  may manage a door lock  200  granting access to an automatic teller machine  201  having a housing lock  202  and a vault lock  203 . In this case and, in the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , Bank  1  assigns access rights to the “type  1 ” vendor organizations  1  and  2 . These access rights afford the trusted vendors of these vendor organization access rights past the door lock  200  and the housing lock  202 . Meanwhile, Bank  1  may also assign access rights to the “type  2 ” vendor organization  1  such that its trusted vendors are afforded access rights past the door lock  200  and the vault lock  203 . In this way, the respective trusted vendors  1 - 3  of the “type  1 ” vendor organizations  1  and  2  can each be administered access rights to the housing of the automatic teller machine  201  for repair and service operations relating to the computing devices therein but will not have access to the vault since such access would represent a security risk. By contrast, the trusted vendors of the “type  2 ” vendor organization  1  can each be administered access rights to the vault for money delivery operations but will not have access to the housing. In any case, Bank  1  can be assured that their automatic teller machine gets service from the vendor organizations, and the vendor organizations can decide who from their organizations actually does the service. 
     With reference to  FIG. 3 , the system  10  may be distributed over a wired or wireless network  20 , such as the Internet, by which the first, second and third entities  11 ,  12 ,  13  access a portal  30 , which may be embodied as a collection of databases. Via this portal  30 , the first entities  11  assign the access rights permitting access to the various separately managed devices to the second entities  12  whereas the second entities  12  administer the access rights to the third entities  13 . These assignments and administrations can all be carried out and recorded in databases stored in computer readable media of a secure remote server  32 . 
     In accordance with embodiments, the portal  30  may include a website  31  that is hosted on the secure remote server  32  or another similar server and the first, second and third entities  11 ,  12 ,  13  each may be granted access to unique pages of the website  31 . In accordance with further embodiments, the website  31  may provide tracking information to the first, second and third entities  11 ,  12 ,  13 . Thus, if a third entity  13  fails to provide adequate service upon being granted access rights to a secured resource, an associated second entity  12  can revoke his access rights and administer them to another. If, however, the second entity  12  fails to account for the poor performance, the first entity  11  can eventually revoke all access rights from the second entity  12  and grant them to another higher performing second entity  12 . In so doing, the first entity  11  need not reprogram the actual locking devices it separately manages. Rather, the first entity  11  may simply update the access rights information via the portal  30 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 4 , in order to perform his duties, each third entity  13  individual may carry with him a portable device  40  by which he can access information relating to the access rights administered to him from a second entity  12 . The portable device  40  may be a display key, a swipe card, a magnetic stripe card, a contactless card, a cell phone, a mobile computer and/or a personal digital assistant. The individual should periodically (i.e., once daily) sync the portable device  40  with the network  20  in order to download the information relating to his access rights and the access rights themselves where those access rights expire and are reissued periodically (i.e., once daily). 
     In accordance with embodiments, the access rights may be administered to the individual as an impermanent access token  401  that is periodically updated and, in some cases, only updated once appropriate tracking data is provided to the system  10 . This access token  401  may be passively or actively accessible and downloadable as different types of data packets via the network  20  whether the network  20  is wired or wireless. The access token  401  is then employed by the individual to gain access to a secured resource to which he has been administered access rights. In this way, an individual may need to periodically update his access tokens so that, when he encounters a locking device  50  preventing access to a secure resource to which he should have access rights, the individual can connect his portable device  40  to the locking device  50 . Since the individual&#39;s portable device  40  includes the most recently reissued and currently valid access token, the locking device  50  need not carry this data or be reprogrammed every time the data changes. 
     This process is shown schematically in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , which illustrate an operation of the system  10 . As shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the individual connects his portable device  40  to the locking device  50  by way of various wired or wireless connection modes (operation  500 ). The portable device  40  then determines an identification of the locking device  50  by accessing for example the locking device&#39;s serial number and the first entity&#39;s system code (operation  501 ). At this point, having downloaded or accessed the individual&#39;s currently valid access token(s) corresponding to the locking device  50 , the portable device  40  searches through the data packet list  41 , which is built by or as a result of the downloading of the access token  401 , for data packets corresponding to the type of the locking device  50  (operation  502 ). Having identified the type of the locking device  50  and the appropriate data packet associated with that locking device type, the portable device  40  generates data reflective of the access token  401  and an encrypted version of the individual&#39;s personal identification information (i.e., a PIN number) in accordance with the type of the locking device  50 . The portable device  40  then requests that the individual enter his pin via the interface  42  and subsequently inputs at least the personal identification information and the encrypted version thereof to the locking device  50  along with an instruction. Each of these elements is generated and formatted to be readable by the locking device  50  (operation  503 ) such that the locking device  50  can be effectively operated by the portable device  40 . The instruction, therefore, may be an unlock instruction if the personal identification information matches the encrypted version thereof and the access token  401  is recognized by the locking device  50  as permitting the vendor access. 
     In an alternate embodiment, the portable device  40  requests that the individual enter his pin via the interface  42  with the subsequent input of at least the personal identification information and the encrypted version thereof to the locking device  50  along with an instruction being separate operations. 
     Thus, the system  10  provides for both credential and password protection of secured resources. That is, the access token acts as the individual&#39;s credential and, even though the individual may therefore present a valid credential, it remains necessary for the individual to enter his personal identification information to gain access. This way, should the individual misplace, lose or have the portable device  40  stolen, an unauthorized user who does not know the personal identification information will not be able to gain access. 
     The appropriate data packet may take several forms organized as at least first through fifth types. The first type specifies one type of lock to open and includes options information, start and end information for when the data packet is valid, encryption information and update codes. The second type specifies access to various locks having common system codes and includes options information, start and end information for when the data packet is valid, encryption information and update codes. The third type specifies access to various locks having common system codes but requires an update code that is locking device specific and further includes options information, start and end information for when the data packet is valid, encryption information and update codes. The fourth type specifies one type of box to open and includes options information, end information for when a data packet is valid and a variable information string  420 . The fifth type specifies one type of box to open and includes options information, end information for when a data packet is valid, a variable information string  420  and encryption information. 
     The variable information string  420  provides variable types of information to the individual attempting to gain access to a secure resource. The variable types of information may include telephone numbers of a manager, instructions for how to complete a service call and/or additional access codes or information and may be displayed to the individual in various manners via at least the interface  42 . This displaying may be made to the individual at the time of access or on demand. 
     While the invention has been described in detail in connection with only a limited number of embodiments, it should be readily understood that the invention is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. Rather, the invention can be modified to incorporate any number of variations, alterations, substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described, but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, while various embodiments of the invention have been described, it is to be understood that aspects of the invention may include only some of the described embodiments. Accordingly, the invention is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.