Patent ID: 6867683

Claim:
A system for maintaining access control to a plurality of high security zones by at least one controlled door and in the vicinity of said at least one door, and by at least one local decision-making computer for controlling access to said at least one door, a one of said at least one doors and a one of said at least one decision-making computers being associated with each of said plurality of high security zones, all within a high security facility system, said system for maintaining access control comprising; a. an enrollment authority which may be in at least one secure facility, for obtaining and maintaining on a secure computer system biometric data files for each individual who may be allowed access to any said high security zone within said high security facility system, b. a direct tentative identifier device associated with a one of said doors and an associated one of said decision-making computers, for reading an ID token of a presenting individual and for sending an ID code related to said ID token to said associated one of said decision-making computers, c. a biometric reader associated with said one of said doors and said associated one of said decision-making computers, for reading a live biometric from said presenting individual, said biometric reader being connected to said associated decision-making computer so as to enable the comparing of live biometric data read from said presenting individual with biometric data maintained on said secure computer system, d. a secure communication path for secure communication of biometric data from said local decision-making computer providing control over said door to said secure computer system of said enrollment authority, e. a scheduler for maintaining a schedule for each individual allowed access to any of said high-security zones within said high security facility system having a secure line for communication to said local decision-making computer, said scheduler providing an indication of whether said presenting individual that is presenting for a live biometric reading is permitted access to a door associated with a high-security zone associated with said door.