EP3440640B1 - Door stations having improved communication between owner and visitor - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to what is claimed in the generic term and thus relates to door stations.

Door stations are well known. They are used on the doors of buildings, but also on gates to surrounding properties, industrial plants, etc. near access barriers, so that a visitor can signal to the owner that he wishes to enter by pressing a bell button, for example, and the barrier can then be released.

In this case, a person is also considered a visitor if he or she - such as a resident of a house who has lost his or her key - is per se authorized but in fact not able to overcome a lock near the door station - and usually controlled by it. An owner is also understood to be a person such as a porter, caretaker or administrator who does not own the door station but is responsible for controlling access so that the lock is only opened for the visitors who are currently wanted. It should be noted that a door station - in particular a door station of the present invention - can have more than one owner, for example because the door station regulates access to a single-family home and several or all of the people in the family living there are possible owners who control access rights for visitors. In multi-tenant buildings, several people from each party may be owners. The same applies to commercial buildings such as large office buildings with different tenants who share a door station. Here too, every tenant or part-owner can be considered the owner of the door station, who regulates access for his visitors, and a large number of people can be the owner for each tenant or part-owner. It is already known for door stations to establish a communication link between the visitor and the owner. In conventional door stations, this can be done via intercom systems, which, for example, establish a voice connection from a garden gate to the interior of a building; it is also already known to equip the door station with a video camera and establish a video connection to the interior of the building. The transmission of the communication signals can take place in different ways. For example, a wired Communication via two- or multi-wire lines is common. However, this requires the presence of a line between the door station and the building or similar. Where new buildings are being built or an old building is to be retrofitted, it may be undesirable to have to lay such lines. For this reason, door stations have already been proposed that do not transmit wired signals, but have a short-range wireless communication interface via which the required signals can be transmitted.

In this context and for the implementation of the invention, examples of short-range wireless communication interfaces are those that can communicate via protocols in accordance with the following standards: Bluetooth (in various versions, including in particular Bluetooth LE and Bluetooth 5.0), Zigbee, ZWave, 6LoWPAN, MiWi. This list is by no means intended to be exhaustive, but is intended to list some current standards as examples, without thereby excluding other standards that have already been developed or are still to be developed or are already in development.

With the previously known arrangements, it is possible not only to exchange status signals, control signals, sensor data, etc. with the door station, but also to exchange information between a visitor at the door station and an owner or to transmit information from a visitor to an owner, for example to inform the owner that the visitor is at the door station and has pressed the doorbell. In larger buildings, this information can be transmitted in a mesh-like manner using the short-range communication means via other devices used in relay mode - like a "bucket". Examples of such devices include remote-controlled dimmers or the like, as described elsewhere by the present applicant or inventor.

It has also been recognized as desirable to transmit information from the visitor to the owner even when the owner is outside the range of the mesh network of short-range communication devices, for example when he is not near a device that can be addressed directly via the Bluetooth interface of the door station or at least indirectly after mesh-like transmission of the signals. It has been suggested that in such a case a gateway should be provided. which is connected via WiFi to a router in the building secured by the door station (for example, the single-family home to which the door station allows or blocks access). The owner can then be contacted by telephone, e.g. on his mobile phone. Such arrangements are known from an application note for the BRIA app from CounterPath, which suggests using a door station from Gira. An application example is proposed on the Internet as state of the art, in which the BriaApp allows a person who owns a Gira door communication system including an IP-capable gateway to see and hear who is ringing the doorbell via the Bria app. As a prerequisite, a description states that the system must be fully set up by the electrician, i.e. an IP gateway must function in the door communication system, the gateway must have a connection to a WiFi network, and the TKS Communicator must be installed on a computer in order to activate forwarding during later operation. It is understandable that this arrangement is complicated to install and requires a lot of effort when replacing routers, gateways, etc.

It is also already known to provide a control panel in a home appliance control system, which on the one hand has a short-range interface, but on the other hand can establish a connection to an owner's mobile phone in order to transmit certain information. In this regard, reference is made to the WO 2014/ 144 122 A1 According to this document, the control panel can also be used to forward calls directly to an owner; the control panel can have a display, it should be possible to communicate with household appliances via a mesh network, and it is stated that it can have a memory for applications that it is to run. Since such a device also has to be configured, this can be complex. In any case, however, there is still the need to have an additional device ready, which is often undesirable because such devices have to be purchased, consume energy and require maintenance, thus causing a relatively high total cost of ownership (TCO) for the owner. Reference is also made to the WO 2007/031654 A1 , which also shows the use of a gateway. The US 2013/176107 A1 and the US2012/044050 A1 are mentioned as general background to door stations.

It is desirable to create an arrangement that allows particularly simple operation with little overall effort.

The object of the present invention is to provide something new for commercial application.

The solution to this problem is claimed in independent form. Preferred embodiments can be found in the subclaims.

According to a basic idea of the invention, a method according to claim 1 is therefore initially proposed.

The invention thus makes use of the knowledge that communication can be made significantly easier by not using one's own infrastructure, but rather by using the ubiquitously available devices of visitors. The widespread use of such devices and their design for easy adaptation to current requirements means that a connection can be easily established without great effort.

A particular advantage of the invention is therefore that no separate SIM card or the like is required for its implementation, so that the door station according to the invention can be operated particularly inexpensively. This is particularly true where a visitor is allowed to download an app for establishing communication free of charge and fees are charged to the owner for their control app.

According to the invention, it is also possible to establish communication between the visitor and the owner even if the owner is in an area where the internet connection is poor. The owner will usually specify a mobile device as the device used to communicate with a visitor. Even in areas with poor internet connections, data transmission will usually be sufficient so that a communication connection can be established even if the owner is in a remote location. The same applies to door stations installed in remote areas. The invention also reduces the bandwidth problem and it is also clear that the connection is usually established so quickly that the visitor will wait for the connection to be established at the door station. This is especially true where the visitor is asked to agree to the connection being established in advance, i.e. to make his mobile device available for this purpose.

As a rule, the owner will not only want to communicate with the door station or a visitor at the door station, but may also want to transmit control signals or commands to the door station in order to grant a visitor access if necessary or to ensure that a gate or front door belonging to the door station, etc. is securely closed and possibly locked. In cases where the owner communicates with the door station via the devices that transmit signals in a bucket chain or mesh-like manner via the short-range communication interface, in cases where the owner is absent, such signal transmission can take place in another way. There are various options for this. On the one hand, it would be conceivable to store a PIN or something similar in the door station, which the door station opens when entered. After a communication connection has been established, the owner could then explicitly give the visitor a PIN - possibly only valid once or temporarily - which opens the passage so that the visitor gains access after entering it. Such a temporary PIN can be stored in the door station in advance. It is obvious that this not only needs to transmit visitor-specific information, but also allows visitor-specific actions to be triggered.

The PIN can be entered using a number pad provided on the door station or alternatively using the visitor’s smartphone, which can be is used as a keyboard via Bluetooth. In such cases, the door station will preferably be designed in such a way that the maximum number of failed attempts or the maximum number of failed attempts within a certain interval is limited in order to prevent the PIN from being hacked. In addition and/or alternatively, PIN entry only needs to be permitted as long as a device with a known identification number is used or is in the vicinity, so that only selected visitors are permitted to enter a PIN from the outset.

In this case, unless otherwise stated, the mobile devices of the visitors are referred to as "smartphones" or "mobile devices", without this purely linguistic simplification being intended to exclude other devices such as smart watches, iPads, etc. What these devices have in common is that they have a short-range interface that can communicate with that of the door station if the visitor carries the devices with them, and that the devices are usually active, i.e. switched on and ready for use, and that they are able to transmit information to the visitor in different ways or to trigger the transmission of information.

The use of a mobile device or similar such as an iPad or smartwatch can be done in different ways. In the particularly preferred variant, a radio connection is established via the visitor's smartphone to a number that the owner has stored for the visitor in the door station. This number can be transmitted to the visitor's smartphone via short-range communication, either in plain text or as data that is not displayed to the visitor but is only used to establish the connection. In order to allow the connection, an app can be installed on the smartphone with which the transmitted data can be used to establish the connection or to display it on the smartphone. If such an app is not pre-installed on the smartphone and it is not designed to be remotely controlled by the door station or the information transmitted by it, possibly after approval by the visitor, the app can also be installed directly on the door station. In the simplest case, this can be done by displaying a QR code or similar that is to be photographed and recognized by the smartphone. When recognized, an Internet connection is established to a website from which the corresponding required app is downloaded in order to then use this app to to be able to process information specified by the owner. Such automatisms are known per se and apps for this purpose are already pre-installed on many smartphones.

In other cases, it will be possible to transfer the app itself from the door station to the visitor's smartphone. Since only a small number of different operating systems are required on smartphones and the like, there is no need to store many different apps in the door station for this purpose. The apps can be slowly loaded into the door station via the short-range communication interface at a time when the owner is near the door station. This can be done via other devices that work together in a mesh-like manner from the owner's mobile device or smartphone.

When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that the visitor is first identified by or at the door station and only then is the information intended for the visitor transmitted.

It would be possible for a visitor to identify themselves by entering a PIN or something similar, for which the owner could explicitly provide a tradesman with a corresponding PIN in plain text in advance. Typically, however, it would be preferred if the visitor was identified using signals, such as a unique ID of their Bluetooth devices or one of their Bluetooth-enabled devices. This is always advantageous when a visitor comes multiple times, as is the case with patients in a doctor's office, for example, or with parcel carriers from delivery services, who usually remain the same. Especially with such groups, the owner will often be present when the visitor visits previously; if an ID is recognized on such occasions, the owner can then assign it to the visitor or a group of visitors such as "parcel carriers" without any further steps being required.

This corresponding assignment is communicated to the door station via the mesh network so that identification is carried out during subsequent visits of the visitor. It is also possible to require identification via more than one device to increase security, which is possible, for example, if the visitor is known to have both a Wears a smartwatch and owns a known mobile phone. Examples of other devices that can be used to identify a visitor include smartwatches, fitness devices such as heart rate monitors, sports watches and the like.

When implementing the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that information is only transmitted to identified visitors.

When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that the information to be transmitted to the visitor is determined based on time. It is therefore determined at what time information is transmitted to a visitor and when the information is not transmitted to the visitor; in particular, information transmission can be completely excluded at certain times.

The transmission of information only to identified visitors allows specific information to be transmitted to these selected visitors. The additional effort required at the door station to arrange this on a time-dependent basis is minimal; time information can be transmitted to the door station regularly, for example from the owner's smartphone or similar, if the owner is at least temporarily within range of the mesh network of the short-range communication interfaces or is directly near the door station.

After such corrections of the time inside the door station, which may only be made infrequently, to the time specifications in the owner's devices - which are usually automatically adjusted there - the current time at the door station is then determined using an internal timer until the next correction. It should be mentioned that the door station does not require a lot of energy for this (so that it can be powered by photovoltaics, which is seen as an advantage in itself, without the need for supply lines to the door station), nor is the hardware required large because the door station, as a digital unit, will usually also include a clock whose pulse can be counted for time recording.

Even major temperature fluctuations and the associated inaccuracies of a door station's internal clock are hardly detrimental due to the repeated updating be, especially since it is generally not critical if an interval during which certain information is transmitted to a visitor begins or ends slightly too early or too late. It should be mentioned that synchronization to visitors' devices can take place if, for example, the owner has not been near the door station for a long time. If this happens, it is advantageous to carry out a plausibility check before correcting the time, i.e. to only allow an internal door station time to be updated if the deviation from the time on a visitor's mobile device is not too great and/or several visitors in quick succession display approximately the same time deviation from the internal door station time. According to the above, when carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that the visitor is identified using signals from a device transmitting a unique ID to the door station via the short-range communication interface.

In an unclaimed example, it is advantageous and preferred if the door station diooo is designed in such a way that the device by which the visitor is identified is different from his mobile phone. At the same time, it is possible to only identify the visitor as such if he is carrying more than one identifiable device that can be assigned to him and/or to only give him the option of additionally identifying himself by entering a PIN or another password after identification by one or more devices. It is also possible to transmit the information to him even if he identifies himself only by entering a password, PIN or the like. This can be permitted if the visitor is carrying at least one of the devices assigned to him that can be clearly identified by an ID, but more than one device is usually required for clear identification.

When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that the information to be transmitted to the visitor is determined in advance by the owner, transmitted to the door station via the short-range communication interface and stored therein.

When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that information is transmitted to the visitor that allows the establishment of a mobile phone connection between the visitor's mobile phone and a communication device of the owner, preferably under a telephone number under which the owner can be reached at least temporarily even outside the range of the short-range interface.

Since the visitor will usually and preferably acknowledge when a connection is established via his mobile phone, and the owner must also answer the call accordingly, unnecessary or unwanted connections can be avoided.

It is also possible, where an owner (possibly with a single SIM card) can have several phone numbers, to give the owner a clue as to the identity of the visitor, even if the visitor's caller ID is suppressed, by dialing the corresponding phone number specifically. In addition, not only control data but also sensor data are usually transmitted between the door station and the owner. This can also be done using a visitor's smartphone or mobile phone. It should also be mentioned that, in addition to the transmission of visitor-specific information, visitor-specific actions can also be carried out automatically. For example, access to an anteroom can be granted if a group of visitors assigned to the parcel delivery service is identified. For this purpose, the visitor's smartphone can be used as a Bluetooth-like remote control (or using other protocols), after this has been initiated by the information transmission, if necessary.

It should also be mentioned that, in addition to the transmission of visitor-specific information, visitor-specific actions can also be carried out automatically. For example, access to an anteroom can be granted if a visitor who is one of the parcel delivery workers is identified.

It should be mentioned that it is possible and preferred to store identification data of a visit at the door station, especially with a time stamp.

When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that a message is transmitted to the visitor as information intended for the visitor, preferably as a voice or text message for display on the visitor's mobile phone. This makes a display on the door station unnecessary.

When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that a voice message reproduced via a loudspeaker of the door station is transmitted as information.

It is preferred if the establishment of the mobile phone connection is completely automated, but this is not absolutely necessary. It is also possible to transmit information to the visitor in other ways, in particular by using a loudspeaker in the door station, through which a voice message is transmitted. This can be used to announce the owner's mobile phone number, for example. The voice announcement is particularly universal and easy to use. Since it is possible to announce this voice message only to selected visitors, this also prevents the owner from being disturbed by any third party.

Alternatively and/or additionally, depending on the visitor's mobile phone or smartphone, a voice or text message can be transmitted, e.g. with opening times of a doctor's office or similar. It is anticipated that in certain protocols the playback of such voice messages or text messages on smartphones and the like can only be done on the basis of a suitable communication protocol without installing apps. Using the door station as such for voice playback is, however, particularly simple.

It is understood that in a situation where information is reproduced as a voice message, repeated reproduction can occur, for example as a "loop" that is reproduced several times or as an endless loop and/or that the visitor can access the information several times, for example by pressing a doorbell button again. It should also be mentioned in this context that the method according to the invention is typically triggered by pressing a doorbell button; this is not mandatory, but but advantageous because it prevents a tenant living in the same building who wants to ring the doorbell of another party as an exception, for example to hand over a received consignment of goods or the like, from receiving messages or being offered a communication connection every time he or she passes the door station.

When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that the owner enters the information on a device that communicates with the door station via several stations with a short-range communication interface. When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that the owner installs an app on a smartphone, tablet PC or laptop with which communication can be established with the door station, and that communication with the door station then takes place while the owner is within range of the short-range interface of the door station, in particular within a mesh network that communicates with it.

As mentioned, one advantage of establishing a mobile connection between the visitor's smartphone and a communication address stored by the owner, such as the owner's mobile number, is that it is usually asked several times whether the participants, owners and visitors, want to establish a connection. In addition, certain people such as notified tradesmen only need to receive information within the notified arrival time that enables them to establish a connection with the owner, while frequent visitors such as friends of the residents of a single-family home are able to receive information automatically even outside of typical tradesmen's working hours.

New visitors can also be trained by recording the identification data of one or more of their devices communicating via the short-range communication interface, such as their mobile phone, while the owner is also nearby, whereby the proximity to the door station or a device communicating via it in a mesh-like manner can be determined in particular by recording the signal strengths and/or distance measurements such as by determining the runtime of communication signals.

However, it would also be possible to transmit the relevant information to every visitor. This can be particularly useful in commercial buildings, in order to inform a person who rings the bell about opening times or to enable a connection to be established to an emergency service that operates outside of normal business or practice hours. In other cases, however, the aim is to prevent every visitor from being connected, for example because a private individual only wants to be reachable during certain times.

In principle, it would be possible to store the information to be transmitted to the visitor somewhere other than the door station and only transmit it to the door station via the mesh network when a visitor arrives. However, the overall arrangement is considerably simplified if the door station can be operated independently and the information is already stored there. On the one hand, this has the advantage that the transmission of information to the owner can begin immediately, which is advantageous when there is a lot of information, particularly if the short-range communication interface only has a low bandwidth or the devices available for the mesh-like transmission of information are occupied elsewhere and/or only temporarily available, for example because certain devices in a commercial property are not supplied with power outside of opening hours but are disconnected from the lighting network. It is therefore also advantageous and preferred when carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station if dedicated information is stored in the door station for a large number of different owners, when a visitor arrives, the owner with whom the visitor currently wishes to contact is identified, and the visitor is then given the information intended for him by this owner. This makes it very easy for several owners to use a door station. If there are several owners, each one can be allocated a dedicated memory area, which is particularly advantageous if the memory for messages addressed to visitors is limited.

When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that the owner with whom the visitor wishes to contact is identified by means of a bell button pressed on the door station, by entering a PIN or other passwords and/or by means of an ID received via the short-range interface and then the information provided by the identified owner is transmitted.

When carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that information for a visitor is deleted if a validity period assigned to the information has expired and/or the storage space available for storing information is no longer sufficient for further information, and the information for deletion is selected from the previously stored information based on at least one criterion from: age of the information, frequency of visits by the corresponding visitor, successful retrieval of information that is only valid for a finite number of visits, preferably only one visit by a specific visitor. In a preferred variant, the owner is therefore made able to manage the information presented to a visitor. This can be done in particular by storing a validity period for specific information; in such a case, in addition to the information for a visitor, data for their identification and data indicating when the information was stored, how long it is to be valid for and at what times are also stored. In a preferred variant, the door station will be designed to either regularly, for example once a day, go through all information to see whether it can be deleted again, or to delete information when the memory has reached a critical level, for example due to too many or too extensive messages and information. Pre-deleting before new information is stored is advantageous because then the owner does not have to wait for the old information to be deleted when new information is stored. Deleting at certain times may be undesirable where the door station is self-sufficient in energy, for example via a photovoltaic cell, and the charge level is low because, for example, a door buzzer had to be opened several times using stored energy and there are times with little sunlight.

Furthermore, when carrying out the method and for the structural design of the door station or a system using it, it is advantageous and preferred if it is designed in such a way that the owner enters the information on a device that communicates with the door station via several stations with a short-range communication interface. As long as the owner is in the vicinity of the door station - which is assumed as long as he communicates with the door station at least via the mesh network with a short-range communication interface - he can preferably use his smartphone, his Tablet PC, laptop or similar can communicate with the door station, in particular via an app installed on it.

It should be mentioned that it is possible and preferred to design the method or the door station in such a way that an app that is particularly suitable for establishing communication is opened or called up on the visitor's smartphone as soon as it is recognized that he or she has approached the door station or has identified himself or herself as a visitor there, for example by pressing a specific doorbell button, entering a PIN for a specific visitor, etc. Such an app call can significantly simplify operation and also refer to measured signal strengths and/or runtimes of the signals exchanged via the short-range communication interface to determine whether an approach has taken place or is taking place. In this particularly preferred case, the door station will have a communication interface that is designed in such a way that measured signal strengths and/or runtimes of the signals exchanged via the short-range communication interface can be determined on it or with it. This offers massive advantages, especially for installers who want a menu selection to take place automatically.

Protection is also claimed for a door station with a short-range communication interface for exchanging data between the door station and at least one mobile device of a visitor, a memory for information specified by the owner and to be transmitted to a visitor, a memory for visitor identification data and a controller that is programmable to identify a visitor and to transmit information in response to the identification.

Figur 1

eine Türstation gemäß der vorliegenden Erfindung während der Einspeicherung von Information durch den Besitzer.

Figur 2

die Türstation bei Eintreffen eines Besuchers, für den Information abgelegt ist.

The task is described below only as an example using the drawing. In this is represented by

Figure 1

a door station according to the present invention during storage of information by the owner.

Figure 2

the door station when a visitor arrives for whom information is stored.

After Figure 1 a door station 1, generally designated 1, comprises a short-range communication interface I/O 2 for exchanging data between the door station 1 and at least one mobile device 4b ( Fig.2 ) of a visitor 5b ( Fig.2 ) and, via a mesh-like network of building technology devices 3a, 3b, 3c with a smartphone 4a of an owner 5a. The door station 1 has a RAM 6 in which visitor identification data, control data and information specifically intended for identified visitors to be transmitted are stored, as well as a controller 7, which can be designed as a microcontroller or CPU 7 and, among other things, locks or unlocks a door 8. In the present example, the door station 1 is supplied with energy from a solar cell 9, the energy from which is stored in a memory 10. As is known per se, the lock for the door can also be supplied with energy from the memory 10 so that the door is unlocked.

The door station 1 also has a bell button, a microphone and a loudspeaker. The microphone signals are digitized and provided to the CPU 7. The loudspeaker receives analog-converted signals in response to signals from the CPU 7, which enables the output of voice messages and/or audio signals received digitally via the interface 10. The corresponding required circuits are known. The bell button is wired in such a way that its operation triggers an interrupt on the CPU, based on which a visitor identification process is started to identify a visitor 5b located near the door station 1 or their mobile device 4b.

The arrangement is operated as follows:

First, the owner 5a installs an app on his smartphone 4a, via which he can communicate with the door station 1 via the short-range communication interfaces and the building technology devices 3a - 3c used for signal transmission (in a manner that is transparent to him), so that he can store information there for a specific visitor 5b, which makes it possible to contact the owner by mobile phone in his absence. The information transmitted by the owner 5a to the door station 1, which is intended for a specific visitor 5b or a member of a specific group of visitors, as well as visitors who may not be specifically recognized and thus identified as members of the general public, is stored in the RAM 6.

In the case of presence, i.e. as long as the mobile phone 4a is within the range of one of the devices 3a - 3c or the range of the short-range communication interfaces of the door station 1, audio signals can be transmitted from the door station to the mobile phone 4a of the owner 5a, so that an intercom system is implemented. (In other embodiments, video data can be transmitted at the same time, which does not need to be described here.)

If, however, the owner 5a is absent and a visitor 5b comes to the door station 1 and presses the bell button there (not shown), an attempt is first made to recognize the visitor using identification data stored in RAM 6. For example, a query is made as to whether a Bluetooth-enabled device is within range or, preferably, particularly close to the door station 1 when the doorbell rings, for which purpose, in the preferred case mentioned, runtime measurements and/or signal strength measurements of the Bluetooth signal can be carried out. If a known Bluetooth identifier is recorded, the visitor 5b is identified at the door station and a code can be transmitted to his smartphone 4b, identified using the Bluetooth identifier, for example, which allows a communication connection to be established via mobile radio to the mobile phone 4a of the owner 5a.

If the visitor 5b agrees to the connection being established and the owner 5a accepts the call from the mobile phone 4b of the visitor 5b on the mobile phone 4a of the owner 5a, the owner 5a can communicate with the visitor 5b in the usual way and, if necessary, send a command to the visitor's mobile phone 4b, which in turn is transmitted to the door station 1 via the short-range communication interface 10 in order to release the previously locked door 8.

If, however, identification based on a previously stored Bluetooth ID is not possible, the visitor 5b is identified as belonging to a group of unknown persons and a general announcement is then triggered from the loudspeaker of the door station 1, informing the visitor 5b that there is currently no possibility of admitting him.

Thus, the door station 1 provides a method for using a mobile phone for communication between a visitor at a door station with a short-range combination interface and a visitor of the door station which is outside the short-range range, in which the visitor's mobile phone, iPad, smartwatch or other portable, communication-capable data processing device is communicated with via the short-range communication interface from the door station, so that the visitor is communicated information specified by the owner in response.

Claims (13)

1. Communication connection setup method for setting up a communication connection between a visitor at a door station having a short-range communication interface and an owner of the door station, who is outside the short range, by using a portable communicative data processing device,
   characterized in that

   first the door station communicates with a portable communicative data processing device of the visitor via the short-range communication interface, the portable communicative data processing device of the visitor using the short-range communication interface to transmit signals having a unique ID to the door station,

   the visitor is identified by the door station on the basis of the signals from the portable communicative data processing device that uses the short-range communication interface to transmit the unique ID to the door station,

   the door station then transmits information that is intended for the identified visitor and that facilitates setup of a communication connection by mobile radio between the portable communicative data processing device of the visitor and a communication device of the owner,

   and then the information transmitted by the door station is used to set up a mobile radio connection directly from the portable communicative data processing device of the visitor to the communication device of the owner.
2. Method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that information to be transmitted to the visitor is determined in a time-dependent manner.
3. Method according to either of the preceding claims, characterized in that the visitor is asked beforehand to consent to the use of his portable communicative data processing device for connection setup, and then the portable communicative data processing device of the visitor is used to set up a radio connection to a number that has been stored for the visitor in the door station by the owner as information.
4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the information is transmitted to the visitor in the form of data and then the mobile radio connection is set up therewith in an automated manner.
5. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that information is transmitted to the visitor, preferably on a telephone number on which the owner is available at least temporarily even outside the range of the short-range interface.
6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the information intended for the visitor that is transmitted is a message to the visitor, preferably as a text message for display on a portable communicative data processing device of the visitor, or as a voice message, which is preferably transmitted as a voice message reproduced via a loudspeaker of the door station.
7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the information is determined by the owner beforehand, transmitted to the door station via the short-range communication interface and stored therein.
8. Method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the owner enters the information on a device that uses multiple stations having a short-range communication interface to communicate with the door station.
9. Method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that an app installed on a smartphone, tablet PC or laptop of the owner is used to set up a communication to the door station, and thus the communication by the owner with the door station in order to store the information intended for the visitor is effected while the owner is within the range of the short-range interface of the door station, in particular within a network communicating therewith in a mesh-like manner.
10. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a door station is used that is designed to store information from a multiplicity of different owners for respective visitors in the door station,
    wherein

    the arrival of a visitor prompts that owner whom the visitor wishes to contact to be identified,
    and

    the information that this owner intends for the visitor is transmitted to the latter.
11. Method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the owner whom the visitor wishes to contact is identified on the basis of a bell button operated at the door station,
    on the basis of the input of a PIN or other passwords and/or on the basis of an ID obtained via the short-range interface and then the information provided by the identified owner is transmitted.
12. Method according to one of the preceding claims,

    characterized in that information for a visitor is erased if a validity period associated with the information has expired and/or the memory space available for storing information is no longer adequate for further information,

    and the information for erasure is selected from among the previously stored information on the basis of at least one criterion from: age of the information, frequency of visits by the relevant visitor, information valid only for a finite number of visits, preferably only a single visit, by a specific visitor having been successfully retrieved.
13. Door station having a short-range communication interface for interchanging data between the door station and at least one portable communicative data processing device of a visitor, a memory for information that can be predefined by an owner and is to be transmitted to a visitor, a memory for visitor identification data, and a controller designed so that

    first the door station communicates with a portable communicative data processing device of the visitor via the short-range communication interface, signals that comprise a unique ID of the portable communicative data processing device being received from the portable communicative data processing device of the visitor via the short-range communication interface,

    the visitor is identified on the basis of the unique ID in the signals from his portable communicative data processing device,

    and then the door station transmits information that is intended for the identified visitor and that facilitates setup of a mobile radio connection directly from the portable communicative data processing device of the visitor to a communication device of the owner.

Images