A method of operating a building elevator system within a building having a plurality of floors including: controlling a building elevator system comprising a first elevator system having a first elevator car and a second elevator system having a second elevator car; determining one or more sectors for the plurality of floors in response to at least one of a time of day, manual input, a density of the down peak traffic, and whether there is simultaneous up peak or inter-floor traffic, the one or more sectors comprising a first sector having a first plurality of floors and a second sector having a second plurality of floors; assigning the first elevator car to the first sector; and assigning the second elevator car to the second sector.

The invention relates to a method for the processing of call inputs of a user by an elevator controller of an elevator installation in which a user inputs either an external call and an internal call or a destination call into the elevator controller, wherein the elevator controller generates at least two sub-calls in reaction to the internal call or the destination call, wherein the sub-calls comprise at least one external call and/or at least one internal call whose destination floor is different from the destination floor of the internal call input by the user. The invention furthermore relates to a method in which an elevator controller generates a destination call or an internal call in reaction to an external call. The invention furthermore relates to corresponding elevator installations designed for carrying out these methods.

In an elevator system using multiple-deck elevator cars (130, 132), an elevator passenger (154) travels between a floor in a first zone (170) in a building (120) and a floor in a second zone (172) in the building (120). The passenger (154) travels first from one of the zones (170, 172) to a ground floor lobby (100, 101). Within a given amount of time after arriving at the lobby (100, 101), the identified passenger (154) is allowed to place an elevator call for an elevator traveling to the other zone (170, 172). Even if the call is for a destination floor not usually served from the particular ground floor lobby (100, 101), the passenger (154) is allowed to travel to the destination floor as requested.

The invention relates to a method for managing flow of people and goods within a building under construction, comprising providing one or more elevator control systems for automatically controlling movement of elevator cars; providing a first passenger elevator, the first passenger elevator comprising a first passenger elevator car for transporting people, the first passenger elevator car being vertically movable in an elevator hoistway formed inside the building under construction, vertical movement of the car being automatically controlled by an elevator control system, the first passenger elevator car comprising an interior delimited by floor, walls, ceiling and at least one automatic door; and providing a goods elevator, the goods elevator comprising a goods elevator car for transporting goods, the goods elevator car being vertically movable beside the first passenger elevator car in an elevator hoistway formed inside the building under construction, vertical movement of the goods elevator car being automatically controlled by an elevator control system, the goods elevator car comprising at least a transport platform; using the first passenger elevator to transport passengers between floors of the building under construction; and using the goods elevator to transport goods between floors of the building under construction. The invention also relates to an arrangement for managing flow of people and goods within a building under construction, which arrangement implements the method.

An illustrative example embodiment of a counterweight monitor device includes a boundary marker configured to be situated along a boundary of a counterweight space at a selected location along the counterweight path. A detector is configured for detecting a boundary marker change. The detector is configured to provide an output indicating a departure of any part of the counterweight from the counterweight space based on a detected boundary marker change.

A method of operating a building elevator system within a building having a plurality of floors including: controlling a building elevator system comprising a first elevator system having a first elevator car and a second elevator system having a second elevator car; determining one or more sectors for the plurality of floors in response to at least one of a time of day, manual input, a density of the down peak traffic, and whether there is simultaneous up peak or inter-floor traffic, the one or more sectors comprising a first sector having a first plurality of floors and a second sector having a second plurality of floors; assigning the first elevator car to the first sector; and assigning the second elevator car to the second sector.

A method of operating a building elevator system within a building having a plurality of floors including: controlling a building elevator system comprising a first elevator system having a first elevator car and a second elevator system having a second elevator car; determining one or more sectors for the plurality of floors in response to at least one of a time of day, manual input, a density of the down peak traffic, and whether there is simultaneous up peak or inter-floor traffic, the one or more sectors comprising a first sector having a first plurality of floors and a second sector having a second plurality of floors; assigning the first elevator car to the first sector; and assigning the second elevator car to the second sector.

An elevator system may include upper and lower shuttle cars in a first shaft. The shuttle cars are at least at times fixedly coupled to one another and can move vertically upward and downward together. Upper and lower distribution cars in a second shaft may be movable vertically upward and downward separately. The upper shuttle and upper distribution cars may each comprise a stopping point at an upper shuttle level. The lower shuttle and lower distribution cars may each comprise a stopping point at a lower shuttle level. The second shaft may include a first stop element that can selectively limit a driving range of the upper distribution car to the upper shuttle level and a range vertically above it. A second stop element in the second shaft may selectively limit a driving range of the lower distribution car to the lower shuttle level and a range vertically below it.

The invention relates to an elevator system comprising: a plurality of elevator sub-systems and a group controller configured to control the plurality of the elevator sub-systems, wherein the group controller is configured to: determine an efficiency of the elevator system; and control, in accordance with the efficiency of the elevator system, at least one elevator sub-system to serve elevator calls at different zones from at least one other elevator sub-system. The invention also relates to a method, a group controller and a computer program product.

An illustrative example embodiment of an elevator system includes: a plurality of elevator cars; a plurality of elevator machines, respectively associated with the elevator cars to selectively cause movement of the associated elevator car, at least some of the elevator machines respectively operating in a first mode including consuming power and in a second mode including generating power; a power source having a power output threshold and a power intake threshold; and at least one controller that is configured to determine when the power source is providing power for the elevator system, and dynamically adjust how the plurality of machines move the elevator cars to maximize a number of the plurality cars being used to move passengers while keeping power consumption by the elevator system below the power output threshold and keeping power generation by the elevator system below the power intake threshold.