Glossary¶

Grantee

Person or entity, represented by a user ID, who is granted access to one or many locks.

Identity Provider

An entity providing online authentication services (e.g. Google) which can be used to authenticate Tapkey users.

Lock

Physical component to control physical access. E.g. cylinder, electronic door lock, wall reader, furniture lock, car lock etc. Might also be implemented as access control component in, e.g. a vending machine.

Manufacturer

Manufacturer of physical components within the Tapkey ecosystem (locks or NFC transponders).

NFC Transponder

A passive, access medium using NFC technology.¹

Owner

Person or entity, represented by a user ID, who is considered to own a certain owner account. Only the owner can name co-administrators for a given owner account.

Owner Account

Account that locks are registered to during the registration/binding process. Every registered lock is connected to exactly one owner account. An owner account can be administrated by multiple users (administrators) but is owned by exactly one user, the owner.

Owner Card

An NFC transponder bound to an individual lock, allowing to toggle owner mode.

Owner Mode

A special state of Tapkey locks, allowing the execution of privileged commands like binding a lock to a new owner account or adjusting date and time.

Provisioning

The process of initializing a new lock with a new identity and registering it with the Tapkey security backend. Provisioning is carried out at manufacturing time.

Tapkey Mobile App

Installed on an Android or iOS smartphone enabling users to interact with the Tapkey ecosystem, e.g. to unlock Tapkey locks.

Tapkey Trust Service

Central cloud service implementing Tapkey core services. Interacts via the mobile apps, the Tapkey web portal, the tools for manufacturers and the Tapkey Web APIs.

Tapkey Web Portal

A web site that allows managing Tapkey locking systems.

TLCP

Tapkey Lock Control Protocol; the application layer protocol used for communication between locks and external NFC devices (smartphones and NFC transponders).

User

Grantee and/or owner. Is represented by a unique ID in the Tapkey ecosystem.