DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to an authentication system for opening a shared entry.

Closed-circuit intercom and/or video intercom systems enabling conversations between an individual who presents him/herself in front of a building entrance (outdoor station) and another individual who is inside a building (indoor station) have long been present on the market.

Typically, the outdoor station comprises a pushbutton panel, which enables identification of the indoor station one wishes to enter into contact with, a closed- circuit camera, a pushbutton for activating the call, and a microphone and a speaker for the conversation; accordingly, the indoor station comprises an audio receiver, a microphone and a monitor making it possible to receive the call, see the caller and engage in a conversation with whoever has activated the call from the outdoor station, and one or more pushbuttons for activating the functions of opening the electric lock(s) of the outside gate and/or any subsequent protected entries, and/or switching on lights or other functions.

The selection of the indoor station is typically proposed on the pushbutton panel of the outdoor station either in uncoded form, with the name and surname of the tenant of the building, or with reference acronyms, abbreviations or alphanumeric codes that the tenant communicates confidentially only to the narrow circle of possible interlocutors from whom he/she might expect a visit. It is also well known that video intercom systems are particularly advanced, many varieties and configurations exist, and today there also exist systems capable of diverting any call made from the outdoor station directly to a smartphone connected for that purpose and activated at the indoor station by the call recipient, who can in this manner dialogue with whoever has activated the call from the outdoor station as if he/she were in the building, even when not there, and in some cases also having the possibility of opening the protected entries remotely.

As is also well known, with the increasingly widespread practice of online purchasing and home delivery of goods there has arisen a need for users to communicate their data, including sensitive data, to the seller for the authorisation of the purchase and delivery of the goods: the delivery data are then transferred by the seller to the courier and normally include at least the building address and a phone number of the purchaser, often a personal mobile phone number.

On reaching the building address of the user designated for the delivery, the courier typically calls the user at the phone number associated with the delivery information, informing the user of his/her presence and asking for instructions for entering the building via the traditional intercom/video intercom system normally present at the entrance, and where the user can appear with his/her name and surname in uncoded form, or with a reference acronym, abbreviations or alphanumeric codes evidently selected by the user to protect his/her privacy. However, such procedures compromise and jeopardise the confidentiality of the information that the user who has made an online purchase must share both with the seller - which should however always have its own system for protecting such confidentiality - and with the courier, who in all likelihood and also due to mere operational requirements does not have a corresponding system for protecting the user’s data.

Accordingly, there is a felt need for a system that allows managing communication at the entrance of a building between two users associated respectively with the outdoor station and the indoor station, while rendering the personal contacts of the two parties anonymous.

There is thus a felt need for an innovative system making it possible to have the same functions as with a traditional intercom/video intercom system located at a building entrance for opening a shared entry, without having to install apparatus and complicated cable networks and without having to incur maintenance and obsolescence costs, and which can offer a series of functions a traditional system does not have.

The technical task of the present invention is thus to provide an authentication system for opening a shared entry which allows the aforementioned technical drawbacks of the prior art to be eliminated.

Within the scope of this technical task, one object of the invention is to provide an authentication system for opening a shared entry that renders the contacts between the two users anonymous.

Another object of the invention is to provide an authentication system for opening a shared entry which enables the configuration of a building and a plurality of residents who adhere to the system, allowing individual users to establish how they will be individually displayed in anonymous form on the list associated with the building.

A further object of the invention is to provide an authentication system for opening a shared entry which enables a plurality of mobile electronic stations to access a request for opening the entry also in the form of a unique display code.

The technical task, as well as these and other objects, are achieved according to the present invention by providing an authentication system for opening a shared entry comprising:

- a shared entry;

- a wireless signalling device installed at the entry for the location of the entry and configured to transmit an identification code of the entry;

- an opening means for opening the entry;

- a plurality of mobile electronic control stations for controlling the opening means;

- a plurality of mobile electronic request stations for requesting the opening of the entry;

- an online communication platform accessible from said control stations, said request stations, and said wireless signalling device, said online communication platform having a controller and a first database containing said identification code of the entry, a second database of identification codes of each mobile control station, and a third database of identification codes of each mobile request station; wherein said controller enables the transmission of an opening request to a control station if the request station has received said identification code of the entry from said wireless signalling device and has transmitted it to said controller and if the controller has verified the actual correspondence of said identification code of the entry with the one stored in said first database and the actual correspondence of the identification code of the station that submitted the opening request with one of those stored in said third database.

Other features of the present invention are defined, moreover, in the subsequent claims.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of an authentication system for opening a shared entry according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the appended drawing, wherein: figure 1 schematically shows the architecture of the system.

With reference to the aforementioned figures, an authentication system for opening a shared entry denoted in its entirety by the reference number 1 is shown.

A shared entry 10 comprises a wireless signalling device 11 installed at the shared entry 10 for the location of the entry, wherein the wireless signalling device is configured to transmit a unique identification code of the entry.

The shared entry comprises an opening means 12 for opening the entry, typically at least one electric lock. The system 1 comprises a plurality of mobile electronic control stations 20 for controlling the opening means 12 of the shared entry 10, and a plurality of mobile electronic request stations 30 for requesting the opening of the shared entry 10.

The system 1 further comprises an online communication platform 100 accessible from the control stations 20, from the request stations 30 and from the wireless signalling device 11.

The online communication platform 100 has at least one controller 101 and at least a first database 102 containing at least one unique identification code of a shared entry 10 of at least a plurality of shared entries.

Present on the platform 100 there is also at least a second database 103 of unique identification codes of each of the plurality of mobile control stations 20, and at least a third database 104 of unique identification codes of each of the plurality of mobile request stations 30.

The controller 101 enables the transmission of a request from a request station 30 to a control station 20 to open the shared entry 10 if the request station 30 has received the unique identification code of the shared entry 10 from the wireless signalling device 11 and has transmitted it to the same controller 101, and if the controller 101 verifies the actual correspondence of the unique identification code of the shared entry 10 received with the one stored in the first database 102 and the actual correspondence of the unique identification code of the request station 30 that submitted the opening request with one of those stored in the third database 104.

The operation of the authentication system for opening a shared entry according to the invention appears clear from what has been described and illustrated and, in particular, is substantially the following.

The system associates a shared entry 10 with a building, creating a datasheet identifying the physical address thereof, the town or city, postal code and any further instructions and/or limits and characteristics of accessibility, and the shared entry 10 is thus then associated with a unique code that is stored in the memory 102 of the online communication platform 100.

Through a specific universal commercial application, conveniently downloaded to their smartphones, or comparable electronic devices, the users of the system residing in the building associated with the shared entry 10 configure their presence as desired in the system, associating with their name in uncoded form, which remains confidential and protected, the data that they wish to make public and have displayed by the system, such as, but not only, their details as they would appear at an outdoor station of a traditional video intercom system, such as name and surname or initials or a code or nickname.

The user can also configure further information and instructions on how he/she can be contacted, and other custom functions, such as automatic deactivation of calls for a given period of time, forwarding of calls to another personal or third-party number and so on. Such information is associated by the system with a unique identification code stored in the second database 103 of unique identification codes of the online communication platform 100 and now associated with the smartphone of the user recognised by the system as one of the plurality of control stations 20.

Similarly, potential visitors who wish to be registered in the system will in turn download the (universal commercial) application to their smartphone, or comparable electronic device, configuring themselves in the system as desired, associating with their name in uncoded form, which remains confidential and protected, the data they wish to make public and have displayed by the system, which might include, in the case of a courier, the name of the seller of the goods, the name of their delivery firm or anything else that may be deemed worth displaying publicly.

Such information is associated by the system with a unique identification code stored in the third database 104 of unique identification codes of the online communication platform 100 and now associated with the smartphone or a comparable electronic device of the visitor, now recognised by the system as one of the plurality of the request stations 30.

Advantageously, the authentication system 1 according to the present invention enables a plurality of request stations 30 to obtain a single unique “company” identification code, thus identifying, for example, a plurality of request stations 30 attributable to a single commercial supply and/or delivery entity.

When the visitor, already registered in the system as described above, arrives near the physical address of the shared entry 10, with his/her smartphone, or a comparable electronic device, now also identified and described as a request station 30, he/she will open the application and log onto the authentication system 1, wherein he/she will be recognised based on his/her unique identification code stored in the third database 104.

The visitor will then be enabled to search for the location signal emitted, today preferably with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) technology, by the transmitter 11 or by a plurality of transmitters 11 in the vicinity; a list of the unique identification codes of shared entries 10 will be displayable by the visitor from his/her own request station 30.

The visitor can then choose and request access to the one associated with the shared entry 10 of interest by means of the online IT platform 100 of the authentication system 1.

The controller 101 of the IT platform 100 verifies whether the request station 30 has received the unique identification code of the shared entry 10 from the wireless signalling device 11 and verifies the actual correspondence of the unique identification code of the shared entry 10 received with the one stored in the first database 102, and the actual correspondence of the unique identification code of the request station 30 that submitted the opening request with one of those stored in the third database 104.

Upon a positive verification, the system 1, by means of the IT platform 100, will submit to the request station 30 a list of users of the system residing in the building associated with the shared entry 10, now and hereinafter also identified as control stations 20 identified by the unique identification code stored in the second database 103, displaying the authorised public data as they would appear at an outdoor station of a traditional video intercom system, such as name and surname or initials or code or nickname.

At this point the visitor will scroll through the list of public data, selecting the resident he/she is looking for on the basis of the information thereof, and activating by means of his/her request station 30 a call to the same via the online IT platform 100 of the authentication system 1.

The controller 101 of the IT platform 100 will enable the transmission of the request from the request station 30 to a control station 20 to open the shared entry 10 if it verifies the actual correspondence of the unique identification code of the request station 30 that submitted the opening request with one of those stored in said third database 104.

The user of the system/building resident receives the call at his/her control station 20, as a phone call or a notification on the basis of instructions associated with his/her unique identification code; the user will be able in turn to log onto the authentication system 1 and dialogue with the request station 30 recognised by the authentication system 1, start a conversation and obtain information about the reason for the visit, in addition, for example, to exploiting the by now traditional features of a smartphone, such as displaying on his/her phone the images transmitted from the visitor’s phone and/or those of the camera of the traditional video intercom system.

Using a suitable control means via the IT platform 100, from the control station 20 the user can activate an opening means 12 for opening the shared entry 10, typically at least one electric lock.

Conveniently, the user of the authentication system 1 who, by way of non-limiting example, proceeds to make an online purchase of goods can register, in the seller’s authorisation system, the unique identification code of his/her control device 20, which can be communicated to the courier designated by the seller for delivery, while respecting the confidentiality of the user’s name and personal phone number.

If the visitor is a courier providing a home delivery service, the unique identification code of the request station 30 thereof registered in the authentication system 1 can reveal, in uncoded form, the name of the seller of the goods or the name of the delivery firm to the control station 20.

Advantageously, the authentication system 1 as described by the present invention manages the flow of information between the request station 30 and the control station 20 in an anonymous form, by means of an exchange of unique identification codes, conveniently stored in the first database 102 of the shared entries 10, in the second database 103 of the control stations 20 and in the third database 103 of the request stations 30 of the IT platform 100.

Modifications and variants, in addition to the ones already mentioned, are naturally possible, such as, for example, ones related to the instructions that the control station 20 can enter into the system 1, connected to the unique identification code and related to the hours of availability, that is, to a selection of different times and modes for request stations 30 associated with different or identical unique identification codes.

It has been confirmed in practice that an authentication system for opening a shared entry according to the invention is particularly advantageous for rendering the contacts between the two users anonymous.

Advantageously, an authentication system for opening a shared entry according to the invention enables the configuration of a building and of a plurality of residents who adhere to the system, allowing individual users to establish how they will be individually displayed in anonymous form on the list of users associated with the building.

A further advantage of the invention is that of providing an authentication system for opening a shared entry that enables a plurality of mobile electronic stations to access a request to open the shared entry also in the form of a single unique display code.

An authentication system for opening a shared entry thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variants, all falling within the scope of the inventive concept; moreover, all of the details may be replaced by technically equivalent elements, according to need and the state of the art. For example, maintaining the same numerical references for equivalent parts, the authentication system 1 can be more generally used for signalling the presence of goods in a physical delivery station 10, rather than the opening of a shared entry.

In this case, the wireless location signalling device 11 is installed at the physical delivery station 10 for the location of the physical delivery station 10, and is configured to transmit an identification code of the physical delivery station 10.

The mobile electronic stations 20 are stations for receiving a presence signal, and the mobile electronic stations 30 are stations for transmitting a presence signal.

The online communication platform 100 is accessible from the receiving stations 20, from the transmission stations 30, and from the wireless signalling device 11.

The online communication platform 100 has a controller 101, a first database 102 containing the identification code of the physical delivery station 10, a second database 103 of identification codes of each of the plurality of receiving stations 20, and a third database 104 of identification codes of each of the plurality of mobile transmitting stations 30.

The controller 101 is configured to enable the transmission of the presence signal from a transmitting station 30 to a receiving station 20 if the transmitting station 30 has received the identification code of the physical delivery station 10 from the wireless signalling device 11 and has transmitted it to the controller 101 and if the controller 101 has verified the actual correspondence of the identification code of the physical delivery station 10 with the identification code stored in the first database 102 and the actual correspondence of the identification code of the transmitting station 30 that submitted the transmission request.

After enabling, the system 1, via the IT platform 100, will submit to the transmitting station 30 the authorised data of the receiving station 20 identified by the unique identification code stored in the second database 103, and the transmitting station 30 will contact the receiving station 20, for example, by means of a phone call.