"CONTROL SYSTEM FOR SPECIFIC AREAS SAFETY"

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The present invention relates to a control system for specific areas safety.

In particular, the present invention relates to a control system for specific areas safety, of the type suitable to detect, authorize, record and store accesses and follow the path in real time.

The present invention also relates to a control method for specific areas safety.

As it is known, control systems are often developed and used to manage the approval or denial of access of a user to physical locations such as industrial plants, private areas, construction sites, or, more generally, to buildings .

The purpose of the known systems for access control is generally to verify if the user present at the access (door opening, gate, turnstile, etc.) owns or less than the previously established credentials and, if so, to authorize access and open the corresponding passage.

Traditional control systems of the most advanced access generally include a card reader or the user's biometric data. The data acquired by the reader are compared with the access codes to allow or not the gate. However, known control systems do not solve the problem of monitoring access and manage emergency situations, for example, any guided urgent local evacuations .

Purpose of the present invention is to provide a control system for specific areas safety and related method able to function in real-time, such as for safety of buildings, transport, shipping offices, railway stations and trains, ports and ships, airports and aircraft, railways and subway stations so to overcome the limitations that still affect the current systems and methods with reference to the prior art.

According to the present invention, a control system for specific areas safety is provided, as defined in claim 1.

According to the present invention, a method for specific areas safety is provided, as defined in claim 12.

For a better understanding of the present invention a preferred embodiment is now described, purely by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of a control system for specific areas safety, according to the invention; - Figure 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of a control system for specific areas safety, according to the invention.

In particular in figure 1, a control system 100 for specific areas security is shown, according to the invention. More specifically, the control system 100 for specific areas security comprises:

- an access reading device 101 at a gateway;

- a portable electronic device 102;

- a server 103 wifi connected to the access reading device 101 and the portable electronic device 102;

- a localization system 104 wifi connected to the to the access reading device 101, to the portable electronic device 102 and to the server 103;

- an emergency detection system 105 connected to the localization system 104 and the server 103;

a communication system 106 connected to the emergency detection system 105.

According to an aspect of the invention, the main passage or gateway consists of a gate, a door or a turnstile installed in correspondence to an area of the access point, for example of a building. The access reader 101 detects the passage of a user through the main gateway and acquires the user's identity. Once the user's identity is acquired, the system unblocks the delivery of the electronic device 102.

According to an aspect of the invention, the portable electronic device 102 is a device delivered and issued to a user of the system 100, as a result of the access request through the main passage or of the authorization to access it.

Advantageously according to the invention, the portable electronic device 102 is associated with the user since the user has accessed until the moment of the return of the device 102 by the user himself.

According to an aspect of the invention, the portable electronic device 102 is connected to the server 103 and the localization system 104 via a wireless or GPS connection.

Advantageously according to the invention, the electronic device 102 allows users to be instantly located and to follow the path when the user is present inside the building .

The system 100 may involve the presence of multiple users, and hence, comprise a plurality of portable electronic devices 102.

The localization system 104 is configured for receiving the signal transmitted by one or more portable electronic devices 102, each of which is associated with an authorized user present in the building, and to transmit the data received to the server 103.

According to an aspect of the invention, the emergency detection system 105 comprise a plurality of sensors. Such sensors may be smoke detectors, the accelerometers , receiving devices of alerts transmitted by institutions, such as civil protection.

According to another aspect of the invention, the communication system 106 is connected to the emergency detection system 105, which is configured to activate it in case of emergency and terrorist acts. Such a communication system 106 comprises visual and audio signaling systems that are configured to communicate with the user in a specific area of the building in the proximity of which an emergency situation, such as a fire, a flood or an earthquake or terrorist acts, is occurring.

Advantageously according to the invention, this control system 100 for specific areas safety restricts the number of users present in a building to that established by specific security regulations, blocking access if the number of users already present within the building reaches a maximum set value. Advantageously, the control system 100 for specific areas safety enables to monitor the presence of users located in the building facilitating rescue operations in emergency cases.

Advantageously, the control system 100 for specific areas safety according to the invention allows to report the emergency situation in real time, indicating the type and the location within the specific area, for example of a building .

If it is signaled the need for evacuation of some areas, the system 100 signals the priorities of local people to evacuate and informs the users present in those premises, through the selective control of audio or visual units present in the building, and the evacuation path to follow.

In addition, the system 100 provides for the instantaneous detection of the evacuation advancement, by means of the localization system 104, and consequently updates the evacuation routes communicated to the user and the opening of the corresponding gates.

According to an aspect of the invention, as shown in Figure 2, the system 100 further comprises:

- a reading module 107; - a verification module 108 connected to the reading module 108, to the server 103 and the actuation module 109; and

an actuation module 109 connected to the verification module 108;

each module 107, 108 and 109 being connected to the server 103.

In particular, a reading module 107 is associated to each gateway of the specific area. The module 107 consists of a device able to acquire the personal, biometric, or user's keys data. Such acquisition can be accomplished by scanning the user identity documents rather than by fingerprint detection or retinal scan.

Each main gate is used to access an area of the building associated with it. Within each area, one or more secondary passes can be installed, each controlled by the execution module 104 associated with the gateway.

According to an aspect of the invention, the reading module 107 can be equipped with a keyboard or keypad, or a microphone through which the user enters additional data, such as the reason for which access is requested and the destination specific area of the building or data related to the person to visit. The reading module 107 stores the acquired data and transmits them to the verification module 108. Such verification module 108 is suitable to perform the comparison between the acquired data and the data associated with the user and the access requirements present on a database, established for access authorization .

If the data collected meet the entry requirements, the verification module 108 sends a signal to the actuation module 109 which unlocks the gateway, allowing the user's access the corresponding area.

According to an aspect of the invention, the verification module 108 sends a request for acceptance to the person designated by the user as the recipient of a visit. After the acceptance, the verification module 108 sends a signal to the actuation module 109 so as to unlock the main gate.

According to an aspect of the invention, the actuation module 109 unlocks also secondary gates corresponding to the path available to the authorized user to access to a specific target area within the building declared at the time of the access request.

Consequently, the user whose access has been assessed and authorized can access only certain areas or rooms within the area, including in the path necessary to achieve the stated destination. Conversely, secondary gates that regulate the access to different zones will be automatically locked for the considered user.

Advantageously according to the invention, the authorization of the access of a user only to a specific area, by activating the secondary gates dependent on the authorized path gates, ensures security in the accesses and avoids that a user can access to areas, or zones of the building, for which does not possess the access requirements .

As previously said, the present invention also relates to a control method for specific areas safety. In particular, the control method for specific areas safety comprises the steps of:

- providing the reading of the user' s access at a main gate, for example, of a building;

- associating to each user authorized to access to a portable electronic device 102 connected to a server 103 and a localization system 104;

- immediately locating in the building the user to which the portable electronic device 102 is associated;

- transmitting the localization signals of each user to the server 103; - detecting emergency situations;

- communicating to each user the real-time emergency situations, the priority of the premises to be evacuated and the evacuation path to follow;

- obtaining the progress of the evacuation process; and

- updating the user on the paths to follow.

Moreover, the method comprises the steps of:

- releasing the portable electronic device 102 after having acquired user identity when the access reading device 101 has detected the passage of a user through the gateway and acquire a user' s document ;

- monitoring and storing the user' s path in the specific area; and

- limiting the number of users present in a specific area, by means of blocking access to the gateway if the number of users already present within the area reaches a given maximum value.

According to an aspect of the invention, the control method also comprises the steps of:

- acquiring the personal, biometric data, or access keys, by scanning the user's identification documents or detecting fingerprints or retina scans; - comparing the acquired data and the data associated to the user with the access requirements on a server database 103;

- storing user data;

- unlocking the main gate, allowing access to the corresponding area.

According to another aspect of the invention, the method also comprises the step of unlocking one or more secondary gate, correspondent to the necessary path to reach the destination declared by the authorized user, when the portable electronic device 102 associated with the user is detected in the vicinity of the secondary gate.

According to another aspect of the invention, the method also comprises the step of monitoring at any instant the number and location of users present in the building.

According to an aspect of the invention, the step of unlocking the main gate, allowing the user access to the corresponding area comprises the step of authorizing access and open the main gate where the user data satisfy the access requirements, and if the number of users located in the building at that time is less than or equal to the limit established by the relevant regulations and disabling the access and keep closing the gate otherwise. Therefore, the control system for specific areas safety and the related method according to the invention are able to detect in real time any users who were exposed to danger or emergencies and communicate the most appropriate guidelines on security procedures based on their location within the building or the controlled area.

In addition, the control system for specific areas safety and the related method according to the invention allows to limit the number of users present in a building to the maximum number permitted by the safety regulations.

Another advantage of the control system for specific areas safety and the related method according to the invention is to reduce the costs of access giving more safety .

Finally it is clear that the control system for specific areas safety and the related method here described and illustrated may be subject to modifications and variations without thereby abandoning the scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.