Methods and systems for access control and awareness management

1. A method for providing access credentials, comprising:

receiving, by a credentialing server, an access credential request from a first entity, the request comprising:

an indication of a first access control device of a plurality of access control devices;

an indication of at least one second entity, the at least one second entity different than the first entity; and

an indication of at least one access restriction;

identifying, by the credentialing server, a second access control device associated with the first access control device;

generating, by the credentialing server, a first access credential and a second access credential configured to provide at least one computing device associated with the at least one second entity with access to the first and second access control devices, respectively, and in accordance with the at least one access restriction based on the at least one computing device wirelessly transmitting the first access credential or the second access credential to the first access control device or the second access control device, respectively; and

transmitting, by the credentialing server, the first and second access credentials to the at least one computing device associated with the at least one second entity.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second entity is at least one of a service provider and a guest, wherein the first entity is associated with a first account, wherein the second entity is associated with a second account, wherein the server generates the credential based on receiving the request from the first account, wherein the server determines access to the second access control device is required to provide access to the first access control device, the first and second access credentials comprising first and second cryptographic keys, respectively.

3. A method of gaining access to a first access control device, comprising:

determining, by a credentialing server, a second access control device associated with the first access control device;

receiving, by a mobile device from the credentialing server, a first access-restricted credential and a second access-restricted credential associated with the first and second access control devices, respectively, the first and second access-restricted credentials being valid to provide access to the first and second access control devices, respectively, in accordance with at least one access restriction and an access instruction;

storing, on the mobile device, the first and second access-restricted credentials and the access instruction;

receiving, by a wireless communications interface of the second access control device, the first access-restricted credential from the mobile device to permit access to the first access control device in accordance with the at least one access restriction; and

displaying, on the mobile device, the access instruction.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access credential is associated with a first security level of a plurality of security levels, wherein each security level is associated with a respective number of authentication operations required to access the access control devices using the access credentials, further comprising:

transmitting, by the at least one computing device associated with the at least one second entity via a wireless connection with a wireless communications interface of the first access control device, the first access credential to the first access control device;

if the access restriction is satisfied, providing, by the first access control device, access to a first access point associated with the first access control device; and

if the access restriction is not satisfied, denying, by the first access control device, access to the first access point associated with the first access control device.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one computing device comprises a mobile device, wherein the authentication operations comprise: (i) the mobile device transmitting one of the access credentials to one of the access control devices, (ii) providing a password, and (iii) providing biometric credentials, the method further comprising:

transmitting, by the at least one computing device associated with the at least one second entity via a wireless connection with a wireless communications interface of the second access control device, the second access credential to one of the at least one the second access control device; and

providing, by the second access control device, access to a second access point associated with the second access control device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access restriction comprises a time window during which the access credentials are valid.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting, by the credentialing server, the access credentials to at the least one computing device associated with the at least one second entity comprises transmitting the access credentials via an application programming interface (API).

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the receiving, from the credentialing server, the first and second access-restricted credentials comprises receiving the first and second access-restricted credentials via an application programming interface (API).

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the access restriction comprises a time window during which the access-restricted credentials are valid, wherein the access credential is associated with a first security level of a plurality of security levels, wherein each security level is associated with a respective number of authentication operations required to access the first and second access control devices using the first and second access-restricted credentials, respectively.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the access instruction comprises an instruction for a service associated with first and second access-restricted credentials, wherein the authentication operations comprise: (i) the mobile device wirelessly transmitting the access-restricted credentials to the respective access control device, (ii) providing a password, and (iii) providing biometric credentials.

11. The method of claim 3 , further comprising receiving, by a service provider web interface, a request from a user for a service associated with the first access control device, wherein the receiving the first and second access-restricted credentials from the credentialing server is in response to receiving the request for the service from the user.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving, by the service provider web interface, the access instruction with the request from the user for the service.

13. A system comprising:

a plurality of access control devices installed in a building, each access control device configured to:

communicate, via a wireless communications interface, with a plurality of mobile devices associated with at least one first user; and

provide access to the at least one first user based on access credentials stored on the plurality of mobile devices and received via the wireless communications interface; and

a credentialing server comprising:

at least one processor;

a database storing a plurality of access credentials; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions thereon that cause the at least one processor to:

receive a request to grant access to a second user different from the at least one first user, the request for the second user comprising an indication of a first access control device of the plurality of access control devices, an indication of the second user, and an indication of at least one access restriction;

identify a second access control device associated with the first access control device; and

communicate, to the database, a request to provide the second user with a first access credential and a second access credential configured to provide access to the first and second access control devices, respectively, and in accordance with the at least one access restriction.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the credentialing server is configured to transmit, in response to receiving the request to grant access to the second user, the first and second access credentials to a mobile device associated with the second user.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first and second access control devices are configured to provide access to the second user based on the first and second access credentials, respectively, when wirelessly received from the mobile device associated with the second user in accordance with the at least one access restriction.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the credentialing server comprises a cloud service.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the first and second access credentials comprise cryptographic keys, wherein each of the plurality of access control devices are associated with a respective unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier comprises a respective media access control (MAC) address of the respective access control device.

18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the first access credential is pre-installed on the first access control device and mirrored in the database, wherein the second access credential is pre-installed on the second access control device and mirrored in the database.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of access control devices are communicably coupled via a wireless mesh network and are not persistently connected to the Internet.

20. The system of claim 18 , further comprising a manager device configured to communicate with the credentialing server to update at least one of the plurality of credentials stored in the database.