Description of Invention

This invention relates to an identification system comprising a badge and a validation system.

In many industries and businesses, it is known to provide members of staff with identification tags or name badges. The badges may simply be intended to provide the staff member's name to customers or clients, or may have other functions such as acting as security passes.

A disadvantage with such badges is that a new badge must be provided for each staff member, and the badges wil! be useless and must often necessarily be destroyed when the staff member (eaves or changes status. Similarly _. , if the company brand or logo changes, it can be necessary to replace ail the badges for every staff member.

It is known to provide relatively simple badges with an electronic display, such as an LCD display or with scrolling LED's, where a simple message can be entered, and such badges could conceivably be used as adaptable name badges. However, there are disadvantages with such badges, including ensuring that the wearer is correctly identified, particularly in circumstances such as hospitals where it is essential that the badge wearer be correctly identified.

An aim of the invention is to reduce or overcome one or more of the above problems.

m^ς/twn According to a first aspect of the invention, we provide an identification system comprising a badge, and a validation system, the validation system being operable to receive an identifier from an authorised user, obtain information corresponding to the authorised user and transmit the information to the badge, the badge comprising an electronic display system and a display screen, the electronic dispiay system being operable to receive the information and generate a display on the display screen in accordance with the information.

The step of generating a display on the display screen may include displaying a name of the authorised user.

The step of generating a display on the display screen may include displaying an image.

The image may comprise a logo or a photograph of the authorised user.

The image may comprise a video image.

The step of generating a display on the display screen may include displaying additional text information.

The additional text information may be provided to the validation system.

The validation system may be operable to log a start time when the identifier is received from the authorised user.

The validation system may be operable to log a finish time when the badge is returned by the authorised user, The identification may provide the start time and the finish time to a time recordal system.

An identification system may further comprise a paging system whereby an alert can be transmitted to the badge.

The paging system may be operable to identify an authorised user to the validation system, receive an identifier corresponding to the badge used by the authorised user, and transmit the alert to the badge.

An identification system may be operable to receive the badge from the authorised user and to subsequently receive an identifier from a further authorised user, obtain further information corresponding to the further authorised user and transmit the further information to the badge.

The validation system may transmit the information to the badge over a wireless communication link.

The validation system may transmit the information to the badge over a wired communication link.

The validation system may comprise a docking station and wherein the badge may be engaged with the docking station to link to the validation system.

The validation system may permit the presence or absence of users to be tracked.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein; Figure 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of an identification system embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of a badge of identification system of Figure 1 , and

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a further identification system embodying the present invention.

Referring now to Figure 1 , a badge is shown at 10. The badge is preferably small enough to be worn by a user, whether by being pinned or otherwise connected to their clothing, for example with a suitable clip 19 as shown in Figure 2, but can conveniently be worn elsewhere, such as on a lanyard or wristband. The badge 10 has a display screen generally shown at 11. Preferably the display screen is of a sufficient size to display text and preferably graphics in an easily viewable manner. In the present example, the screen is an LCD screen, such as a TFT or OLED screen. The badge 10 further has an electronic display system 12 which is operable to generate a display on the screen, In this example, the eiectronic display system comprises a screen controller 13, a memory 14, a suitable processor 15 and a communication means 16. The communication means 16 may be any appropriate connection means, such as a USB connection, or a wireless communication link, or an infrared communication, or any other fink as appropriate.

Where appropriate, the badge 10 may have user controls generally shown at 17 to enable the user to turn the badge on or off, or scroll through menus or otherwise control the display or a function of the badge. Alternatively, it may be preferable in some circumstances that the functionaiity of the badge is not under the control of the user, in which case some user controls 17 may be omitted. A suitable power source for the badge 1 O ₁ such as a battery, is shown at 18, preferably a rechargeable battery.

A validation system is generally shown at 20. The validation system 20 is operable to receive an input from a user input device, here shown generally at 21. The user input device 21 is a means of obtaining an identifier from an authorised user and passing it to the validation system 20. For example, an authorised user may be provided with an electronic card, such as a swipe card, memory card or RFID card which identifies them and may be read by the user input device 21. Alternatively, the user input device 21 may have a key pad enabling the user to identify a pass number or pass code which uniquely identifies them. The validation system 20 is operable to receive the identifier from the authorised user. The validation system 20 further comprises a data store listing the authorised users and storing appropriate information corresponding to each authorised user. A communication means 22 permits the validation system to communicate with the badge 10. The validation system 20 may also communicate with other business systems, such as an employee time recordal system as shown at 24, or a security system 25.

An authorised user is anyone who works at the premises or site or business where the system is provided, and may be a staff member, employee, visitor, contractor or other appropriate person.

Accordingly, when an authorised user wishes to collect a badge 10, for example when arriving at a premises to begin work, they identify themselves to the user input device 21. The user input device 21 passes an identifier from the authorised user to the validation system 20, which retrieves information corresponding to the authorised user from the data store 22. The data is then transmitted via a communication link generally shown at 23a to the badge 10, where it is stored in the memory 14. The processor 15 may use the information held in the memory 14 and using the display controller 13, generate an appropriate display on the display screen 11. The display may for example include an image such as a logo generally shown at 30, a name of the authorised user generally shown at 31 , and other information generally shown at 32. The other information may for example be the department or job title of the authorised user, an advertising message, an indication of the security access permitted to that user or any other information as appropriate. The display may also include an image comprising a photograph of the authorised user, which the validation system 20 can transmit to the badge 10 as part of the information. If desired, an image displayed on the display screen 11 may comprise a moving or animated video image.

Advantageously, where a business requires logging of a staff member's working time, the validation system 20 may provide the time at which the authorised user identifies themselves to the user input device 21 , to a time recordal system 24, When the staff member no longer requires the badge, for example when they are leaving at the end of the working day, the badge may be appropriately returned to the validation system 20 and reset. This may be by the user identifying themselves to the user input device 21 or otherwise. The time at which the user returns the badge may be logged by the validation system 20 and passed to the time recordal system 24 accordingly.

It wiil be apparent that when a user returns the badge 10, the badge 10 is available for reuse. Accordingly, when a further user identifies themselves to the user input device 21, the further information corresponding to that further user can be transmitted to the badge 10, which will then generate a display on the display screen 11 suitable for the further user.

Accordingly, the validation system and badge provides a reliable system of providing a suitable badge to an authorised user in a secure but adaptable manner. The display may be easily changed and updated, whether to reflect changes in the company, changes in the user or user status or other information, and may be provided as part of an employee badging system for time recordal or presence/absence tracking for health and safety or security functions. For example, for health and safety purposes it may be desirable to maintain a registry of everyone who is present on the site or premises in case of fire. The security function may be tracking visitors who have attended a site or premises, particularly if movements within the site are logged. The system may be suitable for organisations which have high staff turnover such as fast food restaurants, or large shift changes, such as hospitals and provides a suitable secure identification, again for organisation such as in hospitals.

Additional, further messages may be provided on the badge, for example, messages to each user, whether genera! messages or messages specific to that user, when a badge 10 is provided to that user. The further messages or information may be supplied to the validation system 20 by any suitable means. The badge 10 could possibly be used to display an advert whether for the organisation or to provide a source of revenue. When a staff member leaves the organisation, there is no need to destroy or replace a redundant badge, and a single badge can be used for several shifts in a day.

Advantageously, as illustrated in Figure 3, a badge as described above may also operate as a pager, As shown in Figure 3, a badge 10' is shown, which is functionally identical to the badge 10 of Figure 1 , but additionally has a pager controller generally shown at 40. A paging system 41 is operable to communicate with the badge 10 ¹ to transmit an alert through the validation system 20 as illustrated by communication link 42a, or through a suitable independent wireless link shown by communication link 42b, The paging system 41 can be a text or telephone paging system as appropriate. The paging system 41 may communicate with the validation system 20 to retrieve an identifier of the badge associated with the authorised user, so that the paging system 41 can communicate with the correct badge 10', The paging system 41 can thus act as an alert or messaging system in known manner, for example to transmit a message to the badge 10' asking the wearer to call a particular telephone extension or attend to a particular location. The pager controller may have a suitable vibrating mechanism or control a speaker on the badge 10' to provide an audibie or haptic alert to the wearer. The paging system 41 may of course transmit a message to a plurality of badges 10' if a general message or alert is to be sent out. If the communication link 23a is suitable, for example a sufficiently long range wireless link, messages can be sent from the paging system 41 to the badge 10' via communication links 42a and 23a. It will be apparent that the validation system may be operable to !og messages transmitted to the badge 10' if appropriate.

It will be apparent that any other suitable functionality may be provided to the badge, such as an RFlD tag or other system to prevent theft or accidental removal of the badge from a site, and an appropriate magnetic strip, RFID tag or other device to allow for unique identification of the badge, for secure access and traceability or otherwise. Where the badge is used for security access, for example, the badge identifier may be provided to the security system 25 so that the badge permits the wearer to proceed to a secure area of the premises.

A further advantage of the badge 10, 10' as described above is that due to the controllable display and the security features, the badge can perform a duai function. The badge 10, 10' may function as a security badge, where the display screen 11 shows a photo of the user, job titie and security clearance where appropriate, for example passing through a check point. The display may then be changed, manually or automatically through interaction with the validation system 20 or a position detection means, to generate a display that acts as a name tag, for example with the user's name, department and company logo, for example when the user will then be working with clients or in contact with customers or otherwise, in this way, users in premises which both require secure access and for employees or authorised users to have name badges, can be provided with a single badge as described above which provides both security and name tag applications. Such a badge will be appropriate for premises such as, for example, airports and hospitals.

Where the badge 10 is provided with a suitable battery 18 or other power source, it may for example be connected to the validation system 20 by a docking station which allows for recharging of the badge, or otherwise as desired.

When used in this specification and claims, the terms "comprises" and "comprising" and variations thereof mean that the specified features, steps or integers are included. The terms are not to be interpreted to exclude the presence of other features, steps or components.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separateiy, or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.