Opportunity
Managing entry to controlled facilities like schools, stadiums, corporate offices, and concert halls is challenging. Schools, for example, are responsible for student safety but often rely on manual roll calls or card-based systems (RFID). Physical cards get lost, damaged, or shared, and tapping cards at entrances causes long queues—a school with a thousand students arriving simultaneously can face delays of over ten minutes. Similar problems occur at large events or workplaces. There is a need for a fast, contactless, automated entry system that can identify multiple people simultaneously as they walk through an entrance, without stopping or tapping.
Technology
This patent presents an entry detection system with multiple image capture devices (cameras) mounted on or adjacent an entrance (door/gate). A detection apparatus (computing device with processor and memory) is wirelessly paired with the cameras and can easily add more cameras for scalability.
Each person carries a unique identifier—a machine-readable optical code (QR code), AprilTag, or fiducial marker with an ID number. The identifier is displayed on a smartphone screen or worn as a printed tag. As multiple persons walk through the entrance simultaneously, the cameras capture images. The detection apparatus processes these images to detect all identifiers present. It then identifies each person by looking up the identifier in an identifier database (which stores the association between each unique identifier and a specific person). The system records each identified person as entering or exiting.
Optionally, the system also performs facial recognition to verify the person's identity against the identifier, reducing fraud. An identifier generator creates new identifiers at regular intervals (e.g., daily) and transmits them to users' mobile devices, expiring old ones. This prevents sharing or reuse. If an unauthorized person (no identifier, expired identifier, or mismatched face) is detected, the system triggers an alarm. A display shows the names of identified persons in real time.
Advantages
- Fast, Contactless Entry: No tapping or stopping—people simply walk through while displaying an identifier on their phone or clothing.
- Simultaneous Multi-Person Detection: Identifies multiple individuals in a single captured image, eliminating queues.
- Scalable & Flexible: Easily add more cameras by wireless pairing; works for facilities of any size.
- Reduces Fraud: Regular identifier regeneration prevents sharing or using expired identifiers; optional facial recognition adds a second verification layer.
- Low-Cost & Simple: Uses standard cameras and printed or smartphone-displayed identifiers—no expensive RFID readers or special cards.
- Real-Time Recording: Automatically logs entry/exit events and can integrate with attendance systems.
- Contactless Hygiene: No physical contact required, reducing transmission of communicable diseases in schools or healthcare facilities.
Applications
- School Attendance Tracking: Automatically recording students as they enter the school gate, eliminating manual roll calls and queues.
- Stadium & Event Access Control: Fast, simultaneous entry for thousands of ticket holders without scanning each ticket individually.
- Corporate Office Security: Contactless employee entry with automatic attendance logging.
- University Campus Management: Tracking student and staff entry to buildings or facilities.
- Concert Halls & Theatres: Managing large audience entry efficiently while preventing ticket sharing via time-limited identifiers.
