Patent ID: 8063734

Claim:
A method of operating an access control system including a remote control system configured to control a lock and a central control system configured to wirelessly communicate with the remote control system, the method comprising: inputting user data into a user identification reader of the remote control system; actively determining whether wireless communication is available between the central control system and the remote control system; comparing the user data with a remote user list when wireless communication is unavailable to determine whether to unlock the lock; solely in response to the inputting user data step, updating the remote user list stored by the remote control system with a central user list stored by the central control system using a wireless communicator of the remote control system and a wireless communicator of the central control system when wireless communication is available; and comparing the user data with the remote user list after updating the remote user list to determine whether to unlock the lock; wherein requesting updating the remote user list occurs after inputting user data and either a) before comparing the user data with the one of the remote user list and the central user list or b) when the user data is compared with the remote user list generally.