Granted Patent B2

US 8,122,497 · App. 11/852,612 · Granted Feb 21, 2012

Abstract

Claims (57)

1. A networked physical security access control system for controlling a security access device comprising:

a primary network including a user interface,

a plurality of access server appliances in communication with said primary network,

each access server appliance including an appliance management module for configuring said access server appliance to a user specified security configuration, and

said access server appliances being in peer-to-peer communication on said primary network to bridge said access server appliances for providing consistency in each of said access server appliances.

2. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein each access server appliance includes a local credential directory for storing access control information and a local policy directory for storing security access policies.

3. A system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said local credential directory and said local policy directory are lightweight directory access protocol directories.

4. A system as set forth in claim 3 wherein said primary network includes a primary credential directory and a primary policy directory and wherein each access server appliance includes a credential and policy module for synchronizing said local credential directory with said primary credential directory and for synchronizing said local policy directory with said primary policy directory.

5. A system as set forth in claim 4 wherein said appliance management module configures said access server appliance to manage said credential and policy module.

6. A system as set forth in claim 1 including an access controller in communication with one of said access server appliances.

7. A system as set forth in claim 6 wherein each access server appliance includes an information technology management module for configuring said access controller to control the security access device.

8. A system as set forth in claim 6 wherein each access server appliance includes a situation management module for configuring a third party physical security situation management system to control said access controller.

9. An assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein each access server appliance includes an information technology management module for monitoring said access server appliances and said system.

10. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein each access server appliance includes a primary server appliance and a backup server appliance with said backup server appliance being a mirror of said primary server appliance for providing redundancy.

11. A networked physical security access control system for controlling a security access device comprising:

a primary network including a primary credential directory and a primary policy directory and a user interface being a web browser,

a plurality of access server appliances each including a plurality of network interfaces and a primary server appliance and a backup server appliance with said backup server appliance being a mirror of said primary server appliance for providing redundancy,

a plurality of pairs of network connections with each pair in communication with a pair of said network interfaces of one of said access server appliances and said primary network to define a primary connection and a backup connection between each of said access server appliances and said primary network,

an access controller in communication with one of said network interfaces of one of said access server appliances defining a private subnet,

a device controller in communication with said access controller for communicating access requests from said device controller to said access controller and for communicating access decisions from said access controller to said device controller to manually control the security access device,

a credential reader in communication with said device controller for sending credentials to said device controller,

a monitor point in communication with said device controller for sending the status of the security access device to said device controller,

an alarm relay in communication with said device controller,

each access server appliance including a local credential directory for storing access control information and a local policy directory for storing security access policies,

each access server appliance including a credential and policy module for synchronizing said local credential directory with said primary credential directory and for synchronizing said local policy directory with said primary policy directory,

each access server appliance including an appliance management module for configuring said access server appliance to a user specified security configuration and for configuring said access server appliance to manage said credential and policy module,

each access server appliance including a situation management module for configuring a third party physical security situation management system to control said access controller,

each access server appliance including an information technology management module for monitoring said access server appliances and said system and for configuring routing services and firewall protection on said private subnet and for configuring said access controller to determine the signals communicating between said primary network and said private subnet and for configuring said access controller to control said device controller,

said access server appliances being in peer-to-peer communication on said primary network to bridge said access server appliances for providing consistency in each of said access server appliances, and

said local credential directory and said local policy directory being lightweight directory access protocol directories.

12. A method for implementing a networked physical security access control system including a plurality of access server appliances on a primary network wherein each access server appliance includes an appliance management module and wherein the primary network includes a user interface, said method comprising the steps of:

mounting the plurality of access server appliances into a plurality of computer systems,

communicating each access server appliance with the primary network,

accessing the appliance management module of one of the access server appliances with the user interface,

configuring the appliance management module of the accessed access server appliance to a user specified security configuration after said accessing the appliance management module step, and

replicating the appliance management module of the accessed access server appliance in each of the other access server appliances through peer-to-peer communication on the primary network to maintain consistency in the access server appliances in response to said configuring the appliance management module step.

13. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein each access server appliance includes a credential and policy module and a local credential directory and a local policy directory and wherein the primary network includes a primary credential directory and a primary policy directory, said method including the steps of:

configuring the credential and policy module of the accessed access server appliance with the appliance management module to synchronize the local credential directory of the accessed access server appliance with the primary credential directory on the primary network and to synchronize the local policy directory of the accessed access server appliance with the primary policy directory on the primary network after said accessing the appliance management module step,

synchronizing the local credential directory of the accessed access server appliance with the primary credential directory on the primary network in response to said configuring the credential and policy module step, and

synchronizing the local policy directory of the accessed access server appliance with the primary policy directory on the primary network in response to said configuring the credential and policy module step.

14. A method as set forth in claim 13 including the step of replicating the local policy directory and the local credential directory of the accessed access server appliance in each of the other access server appliances through peer-to-peer communication on the primary network to maintain consistency in the access server appliances in response to said synchronizing steps.

15. A method as set forth in claim 13 including the step of replicating the credential and policy module of the accessed access server appliance in each of the other access server appliances through peer-to-peer communication on the primary network to maintain consistency in the access server appliances in response to said configuring the credential and policy module step.

16. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein the networked physical security access control system includes an access controller and including the step of communicating the access controller with one of the access server appliances.

17. A method as set forth in claim 16 wherein each access server appliance includes a situation management module and including the steps of:

accessing the situation management module of one of the access server appliances with the user interface,

configuring the situation management module of the accessed access server appliance for allowing a third party physical security situation management system to control the access controller communicating with the accessed access server appliance after said accessing the situation management module step, and

replicating the situation management module of the accessed access server appliance in each of the other access server appliances through peer-to-peer communication on the primary network to maintain consistency in the access server appliances in response to said configuring the situation management module step.

18. A method as set forth in claim 16 wherein the networked physical security access control system includes a device controller and including the step of communicating the device controller with the access controller for communicating access requests from the device controller to the access controller and for communicating access decisions from the access controller to the device controller.

19. A method as set forth in claim 18 wherein each access server appliance includes an information technology management module and including the steps of:

accessing the information technology management module of one of the access server appliances with the user interface,

configuring the information technology management module of the accessed access server appliance for controlling the device controller with the access controller after said accessing the information technology management module step, and

replicating the information technology management module of the accessed access server appliance in each of the other access server appliances through peer-to-peer communication on the primary network to maintain consistency in the access server appliances in response to said configuring the information technology management module step.

20. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein each access server appliance includes an information technology management module and including the steps of:

accessing the information technology management module of one of the access server appliances with the user interface,

configuring the information technology management module of the accessed access server appliance to monitor the access server appliances after said accessing the information technology management module step,

configuring the information technology management module of the accessed access server appliance to maintain event and transaction logs after said accessing the information technology management module step, and

replicating the information technology management module of the accessed access server appliance in each of the other access server appliances through peer-to-peer communication on the primary network to maintain consistency in the access server appliances in response to said configuring the information technology management module steps.

Assignments (8)