Method and system for providing gated access for a third party to a secure entity or service

摘要

A security system for providing gated access for a third party to a secure entity or service and a method for operating the same is disclosed. The security system comprises a portable biometric device and a receiving module connected over a transmission channel. Biometric data in dependence upon a biometric characteristic such as a fingerprint of an authorized person is stored in memory of the portable biometric device. Biometric information of the person is captured, encoded and biometric data in dependence thereupon is provided to a processor. Using the processor the captured biometric data is then compared with the stored biometric data to produce a comparison result. If the comparison result is indicative of a match the first person is enabled to initiate provision of a gating signal for enabling signals provided by the third party to access the secure entity or service. The gating signal is received at a port of the secure entity or service. In response to the gating signal, a processor within a locking mechanism of the secure entity or service sets a flag for use in gating received signals provided by a third party for controlling access to the secure entity or service. The flag is set such that in a first state the locking mechanism is non-responsive to the signals and in a second other state the locking mechanism is responsive to the signals provided by the third party. If the first designated user has set the flag into the second other state access is provided to the secure entity or service by the third party upon receipt of a signal from the third party.