Destination call control for different traffic types

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for allocating elevators of an elevator group to landing calls given in the elevator group, the elevator group having a control unit having a destination call control, which elevator control unit is connected to determining means for the prevailing traffic condition in the elevator group. Further the control unit comprises at least a first and second operating mode which are selected according to the prevailing traffic condition, wherein the first operating mode uses immediate call allocation of the elevators which includes the display of the allocated elevator on a destination operating panel immediately after having issued a landing call and wherein the second mode comprises the allocation of an elevator to a landing call before the arrival of the allocated elevator call to the landing where the landing call has been issued. The invention allows an adaption of destination control to different traffic situations.

Claims

1. A method of allocating elevators of an elevator group to landing calls given in the elevator group, the elevator group having a controller configured to perform destination call control the method comprising: collecting traffic condition data indicating a prevailing traffic condition in the elevator group; and switching whether the controller, allocates elevators of the elevator group via at least a first operating mode or a second operating mode based on the prevailing traffic condition such that in the first operating mode the controller is configured to (i) immediately perform an allocation of one of the elevators to an associated one of the landing calls as an allocated elevator and (ii) display the allocated elevator on a destination operating panel, and in the second operating mode the controller is configured to (i) delay the allocation and analyze the prevailing traffic condition during the delay while the elevators of the elevator group are operating such that an amount of time from an associated one of the landing calls to when the controller determines the allocated elevator is longer when the controller operates in the second operation mode having the delay associated therewith as compared to the first operating mode and (ii) switch from utilizing the destination operating panel to display the allocated elevator to utilizing a common information panel to display the allocated elevator such that the controller is configured to utilize different panels based on whether the controller allocates elevators via the first operating mode or the second operating mode.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: displaying, on the common information panel, data indicating at least destination floors associated with outstanding ones of the landing calls and the allocation of the elevators to associated ones of the landing calls in response to the controller operating in the second operating mode, the common information panel being a separate panel from the destination operating panel.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: prompting, on the destination operating panel, passengers of the elevator group to obtain information about the allocation from the common information panel.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining load data from load weighing devices of the elevators.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining call data from the destination call control.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining statistical traffic data from a traffic forecast unit.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: switching to a third operating mode in response to user input via an input device such that, in the third operating mode the controller performs immediate call allocation independent of the prevailing traffic condition.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the input device is an ID tag reader of the elevator group.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: allocating, in the second operating mode, one of the elevators to an associated one of the landing calls such that the allocation is delayed to within a time span before an arrival of the one of the elevators at a landing where an associated one of the landing calls has been issued.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the time span is between 1 and 10 seconds.

11. An elevator system comprising: a controller configured to perform destination call control for allocating elevators of an elevator group of elevators to landing calls given in the elevator group by, collecting traffic condition data indicating a prevailing traffic condition in the elevator group, and switching whether the controller allocates the elevators of the elevator via at least a first operating mode or a second operating mode based on the prevailing traffic condition such that in the first operating mode the controller is configured to (i) immediately perform an allocation of one of the elevators to an associated one of the landing calls as an allocated elevator and (ii) display the allocated elevator on a destination operating panel, and in the second operating mode the controller is configured to (i) delay the allocation and analyze the prevailing traffic condition during the delay while the elevators of the elevator group are operating such that an amount of time from an associated one of the landing calls to when the controller determines the allocated elevator is longer when the controller operates in the second operation mode having the delay associated therewith as compared to the first operating mode and (ii) switch from utilizing the destination operating panel to display the allocated elevator to utilizing a common information panel to display the allocated elevator such that the controller is configured to utilize different panels based on whether the controller allocates elevators via the first operating mode or the second operating mode.

12. The elevator system according to claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to obtain load data from at least one weighing device of the elevators.

13. The elevator system according to claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to obtain statistical traffic data from a traffic forecast unit.

14. The elevator system according to claim 11, further comprising: the common information panel arranged in an elevator lobby, the common information panel configured to display data indicating at least destination floors associated with outstanding ones of the landing calls and the allocation of the elevators to associated ones of the landing calls in response to the controller operating in the second operating mode, the common information panel being a separate panel from the destination operating panel.

15. The elevator system according to claim 11, wherein the destination operating panel comprises: an input device for activating a third operating mode using immediate call allocation.

16. The elevator system according to claim 15, wherein the input device is an ID tag reader.

17. A controller comprising: a memory and a processor, the memory containing computer readable code that, when executed by the processor, configures the processor to perform destination call control for allocating elevators of an elevator group of elevators to landing calls given in the elevator group by, collecting traffic condition data indicating a prevailing traffic condition in the elevator group, and switching whether the controller allocates the elevators of the elevator group via at least a first operating mode or a second operating mode based on the prevailing traffic condition such that in the first operating mode the controller is configured to (i) immediately perform an allocation of one of the elevators to an associated one of the landing calls as an allocated elevator and (ii) display the allocated elevator on a destination operating panel, and in the second operating mode the controller is configured to (i) delay the allocation and analyze the prevailing traffic condition during the delay while the elevators of the elevator group are operating such that an amount of time from an associated one of the landing calls to when the controller determines the allocated elevator is longer when the controller operates in the second operation mode having the delay associated therewith as compared to the first operating mode and (ii) switch from utilizing the destination operating panel to display the allocated elevator to utilizing a common information panel to display the allocated elevator such that the controller is configured to utilize different panels based on whether the controller allocates elevators via the first operating mode or the second operating mode.

18. The controller of claim 17, wherein the controller is configured to, display, on the common information panel, data indicating at least destination floors associated with outstanding ones of the landing calls and the allocation of the elevators to associated ones of the landing calls in response to the controller operating in the second operating mode, the common information panel being a separate panel from the destination operating panel.

19. The elevator system according to claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to, prompt, on the destination operating panel, passengers of the elevator group to obtain information about the allocation from the common information panel.

20. The controller according to claim 17, wherein the controller is further configured to, prompt, on the destination operating panel, passengers of the elevator group to obtain information about the allocation from the common information panel.

Description

(1) The invention will now be described by the aid of the schematic drawing.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a front view of a destination operating panel and a common information panel, and

(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of the essential components of an elevator system in connection with the control unit for running a control unit with a destination call control in two different operating modes.

(4) FIG. 1 shows a destination operating panel 10 having a display 12 for indicating the ID-number 14 of an allocated elevator and an arrow 16 showing the walking direction to the elevator from the location of the destination operating panel 10. The destination operating panel 10 further comprises a decade keyboard 18 for inputting a destination floor and eventually input means 19 for starting a third operating mode for handicapped or VIP persons.

(5) FIG. 1 further shows a common information panel 20 having five columns 22 showing in the first column the destination floor of all running elevators, in the second column the name of companies being located on the different destination floors, the third number the ID-number of the elevator, usually a digit or number, the fourth column the expected arrival time and the fifth column the current load of the elevator. Via this common information panel, a passenger is able to easily find the elevator which is allocated to his particular destination floor. Further he can see from the common information panel when this allocated elevator is expected to arrive and how much it is loaded. The indication of the data in the second, fourth and fifth column is optional.

(6) The destination operating panel 10 may also comprise an ID tag reader as e.g. an RFID reader or a card reader.

(7) FIG. 2 shows the essential control components of an elevator system 30 comprising a control unit 32 connected to at least one destination operating panel 10 on preferably each landing. Further, the control unit 32 is connected to regularly one or two common information panels 20 preferably on each landing. The control unit 32 is further connected to at least one load weighing device 34 provided in connection with preferably each elevator. Furthermore, the control unit 32 has a destination call control 36 which is provided in a module or is software implemented in the control unit 32. The control unit further has optionally a traffic forecast unit 38 with a memory 40 with historical and statistical traffic data. Also the traffic forecast unit 38 may be provided as a module of the control unit 32 or maybe software-implemented.

(8) The elevator system 30 works as follows:

(9) The destination call control 36 of the control unit 32 checks preferably continuously the prevailing traffic situation by gathering and analyzing data from the weighing device 34 and from the traffic forecast unit 38. Also the number or rate of occurrence of the open landing calls and serviced landing calls within a certain time frame are used by the destination call control 36 to calculate the prevailing traffic situation. If the traffic is below a certain limit value, the elevator system 30 runs with immediate call allocation in which after the input of a destination floor via the decade keyboard 18 on the destination operating panel 10, an elevator is allocated which is immediately, i.e. within a few seconds, indicated to the passenger on the display 12 of the destination operating panel 10. The change between first and second operating mode may also be time controlled.

(10) If the traffic exceeds the limit value, either nothing is displayed on the destination operating panel or a prompt is displayed which refers the passenger to at least one common information panel in the elevator lobby easily to notice by all passengers in the elevator lobby. This is in contrast to the DOP 10 wherein the display 12 is intended to show the allocated elevator only to the passenger having issued the call on the DOP. On the common information panel 20, the destination floors of each running elevator is indicated so that a passenger is able to look which elevator is to serve his destination floor. In this case, the control unit, particularly the destination call control, is able to allocate an elevator up to a short time span before its arrival at the floor where the landing call has been issued (i.e. the departure floor). This gives the control unit additional time to consider time after the issuing of the landing call to find and/or allocate the best suited elevator to serve the landing call. The common information panel may be one central information panel located in the elevator lobby or it may be embodied as several information panels located at different points of the elevator lobby, e.g. at its ends or for example in top of each elevator.

(11) The indication of the arrival of an elevator may also be assisted by acoustic indication.

(12) Preferably, the destination operating panel has an ID tag reader 19, e.g. an RFID reader which automatically sets the control system to a third operating mode where always immediate call allocation is performed, in which case the allocated elevator is shown to the passenger on the display 12 immediately after having issued the landing call via the decade keyboard 18. Of course, when the elevator system is currently running in the second operating mode, this additional destination may also be displayed on the common information panel 20.

(13) The invention is not limited to the above embodiments but may be varied within the scope of the appended patent claims.

(14) Accordingly, it is not necessary that the common information panel displays the companies which are served according to the different destinations or the load data or expected arrival time.

(15) It is further obvious that the different components of the elevator system 30 as shown in FIG. 2 may be distributed as several hardware components within the elevator group or may be arranged in a central location which is well accessible by a maintenance operator. Some components as for example the weighing device 34, the destination operating panel 10 and the common information panel 20 may be located as a single element or as several elements on preferably each of the floors served by the elevator group.