Elevator controller configured to control an elevator based on a determination of which of a plurality of elevator cars is associated with a passenger having registered a destination call, a system and a method of operating same

Abstract

An elevator controller may include a memory configured to store acceleration data therein; and a processor configured to, register a passenger-specific destination call, the passenger-specific destination call including destination information indicating a destination floor of a passenger, receive passenger acceleration data indicating a vertical acceleration of the passenger in one of a plurality of elevator cars, compare elevator acceleration data of the plurality of elevator cars departing a floor with the passenger acceleration data, determine whether a correlation exists between the passenger acceleration data and the elevator acceleration data of a detected one of the plurality of elevator cars, and guide the detected one of the plurality of elevator cars that has left a floor to the destination floor according to the passenger-specific destination call, if the processor determines that the correlation exists.

Claims

1. A method of operating an elevator controller, the method comprising: registering a passenger-specific destination call, the passenger-specific destination call including destination information indicating a destination floor of a passenger; receiving passenger acceleration data indicating a vertical acceleration of the passenger in one of a plurality of elevator cars; comparing elevator acceleration data of the plurality of elevator cars departing a floor with the passenger acceleration data of the passenger; determining whether a correlation exists between the passenger acceleration data and the elevator acceleration data of a detected one of the plurality of elevator cars; and guiding the detected one of the plurality of elevator cars that has left a floor to the destination floor according to the passenger-specific destination call, if the determining determines that the correlation exists.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: linking information indicating a departure floor of the passenger with the destination information; and allocating at least one of the plurality of elevator cars as an allocated elevator car to collect the passenger from the departure floor according to the destination information.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: controlling the plurality of elevators such that, within a time window, two or more of the plurality of elevator cars are prevented from being driven in the same direction.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: assigning unique acceleration profiles to each of the plurality of elevator cars, and wherein the comparing compares the passenger acceleration data with the acceleration profiles.

5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: delaying a departure of the allocated elevator car from the departure floor, if the allocated elevator car is empty.

6. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: allocating a new one of the plurality of elevator cars to the passenger, if the determining determines that the correlation does not exist.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: deregistering the passenger-specific destination call if based on the comparison, the passenger has not transferred into any of the plurality of elevator cars within a time window after the registering registers the passenger-specific destination call.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: identifying an exit floor of the passenger based on the comparison; and performing one or more monitoring procedures, if the exit floor is different than the destination floor included in the destination information.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: collecting statistical data about elevator journeys made by the passenger; and determining a home floor associated with the passenger based on the statistical data, the home floor being a most frequent destination floor of the passenger.

10. An elevator system comprising: a plurality of elevator cars; and an elevator controller including a processor configured to, register a passenger-specific destination call, the passenger-specific destination call including destination information indicating a destination floor of a passenger, receive passenger acceleration data indicating a vertical acceleration of the passenger in one of the plurality of elevator cars, compare elevator acceleration data of the plurality of elevator cars departing a floor with the passenger acceleration data, determine whether a correlation exists between the passenger acceleration data and the elevator acceleration data of a detected one of the plurality of elevator cars, and guide the detected one of the plurality of elevator cars that has left a floor to the destination floor according to the passenger-specific destination call, if the determining determines that the correlation exists.

11. The elevator system according to claim 10, wherein the elevator controller is configured to receive the measurement data from a terminal device associated with the passenger.

12. The elevator system according to claim 10, wherein the elevator controller is configured to receive the passenger-specific destination call via a reader device configured to read identification data contained in an identifier associated with the passenger.

13. The elevator system according to claim 10, further comprising: a base station configured to wirelessly transmit the passenger acceleration data to the elevator controller, the base station being one of a base station of a mobile phone network; a DASH7 base station; a Bluetooth base station; a WLAN base station.

14. The elevator system according to claim 10, wherein the elevator controller is further configured to, assign unique acceleration profiles to each of the plurality of elevator cars, and compare the passenger acceleration data with the acceleration profiles.

15. An elevator controller comprising: a memory configured to store acceleration data therein; and a processor configured to, register a passenger-specific destination call, the passenger-specific destination call including destination information indicating a destination floor of a passenger, receive passenger acceleration data indicating a vertical acceleration of the passenger in one of a plurality of elevator cars, compare elevator acceleration data of the plurality of elevator cars departing a floor with the passenger acceleration data, determine whether a correlation exists between the passenger acceleration data and the elevator acceleration data of a detected one of the plurality of elevator cars, and guide the detected one of the plurality of elevator cars that has left a floor to the destination floor according to the passenger-specific destination call, if the processor determines that the correlation exists.

16. The elevator controller according to claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to receive the measurement data from a terminal device associated with the passenger.

17. The elevator controller according to claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to, assign unique acceleration profiles to each of the plurality of elevator cars, and compare the passenger acceleration data with the acceleration profiles.

Description

LIST OF FIGURES

(1) In the following, the invention will be described in detail by the aid of a few examples of its embodiments, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 presents an elevator system according to the invention,

(3) FIG. 2 presents by way of example the vertical speed profiles of elevator cars and of a passenger, and

(4) FIG. 3 presents a flowchart of the method according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) FIG. 1 presents one elevator system 10 according to the invention, which comprises two elevators with elevator cars 10a and 10b as well as a control system 10c controlling the elevators. In the possession of a passenger is a terminal device 20, integrated into which are measuring means 20c for measuring the vertical acceleration of the passenger. The terminal device 20 communicates wirelessly with the control system 10c via the base station 14. The base station is e.g. a base station belonging to a mobile phone network or a base station of some other wireless data transfer network suited to the purpose. Marked in FIG. 1 with the reference number 15 is a back-end system (comparison means), which receives the acceleration data of the elevator cars and of a passenger and compares them with each other. In FIG. 1 the back-end system 15 has been integrated into the control system 10c, but some or all of its functions can be integrated into a terminal device 20 and/or implemented as dedicated apparatus.

(6) The elevator system 10 can be provided with conventional call-giving buttons, such as with up/down buttons and/or destination call buttons in the elevator lobbies and/or floor buttons (not presented in FIG. 1) in the elevator cars. Signs, e.g. direction arrows, are installed in connection with the door openings of the elevators, which signs indicate the direction of travel, i.e. up or down (not presented in FIG. 1), of each elevator car. On the basis of the guidance of the direction arrows, a passenger is able to go into an elevator car that is going in the direction in which his/her home floor is situated.

(7) When the passenger arrives in the entrance lobby F1, the terminal device sends via the base station 14 the individual ID code of the passenger/terminal device to the control system 10c. The sending starts e.g. on the basis of GPS coordinates data determined by the terminal device when the passenger arrives in the building. The home floor of each passenger is recorded in the memory 10d of the control system 10c. The control system 10c determines on the basis of the aforementioned ID code the home floor of the passenger and registers a destination call corresponding to it. The passenger can also be identified from an access card 42, which the passenger takes to an identifier reading device 41. The reading device reads the passenger-specific ID code contained in the identifier 42 and transmits it to the control system 10c, which registers a passenger-specific destination call in the manner described above. The identifier can be integrated into a terminal device or it can be an identifier separate to the terminal device. The identifier can be e.g. an NFC identifier, an RFID identifier, a barcode identifier, a magnetic card or corresponding.

(8) Also information about the departure floor of the passenger, i.e. the floor on which the passenger is at the time the call is registered, can be connected to the aforementioned destination call. The departure floor is determined e.g. on the basis of a previous elevator journey made by the passenger and/or on the basis of the time of day, e.g. in the mornings the departure floor is assumed to be the entrance lobby floor F1 and in the evenings it is assumed to be the home floor of the passenger. A passenger can also manually give with his/her terminal device both a departure floor and a destination floor. The departure floor can also be assumed to be constant, e.g. always to be the entrance lobby floor F1. For the identification of the departure floor, beacons that send floor information and/or other position information can be installed on floors, the position information sent by which beacons being received by a terminal device 20 automatically.

(9) When the home floor and the departure floor of a passenger have been determined, the control system 15 allocates for the use of the passenger at least one elevator car e.g. on the basis of the following rules: a) elevator cars that are traveling in the direction of the home floor of the passenger and for which a stop at the home floor of the passenger has already been registered for letting passengers out of the elevator car and/or for taking passengers into the elevator car, and in which there is still room for one new passenger, are allocated for the use of the passenger. b) elevator cars that have stopped at the departure floor of the passenger and that are empty are allocated for the use of the passenger. The doors of allocated elevator cars are opened for letting the passenger into the elevator car and the drive direction of the elevator car to the predicted destination floor can be indicated on the departure floor with the aforementioned direction arrows. c) an elevator car that is standing empty at another floor than the departure floor of the passenger is allocated for the use of the passenger and a call is registered for the elevator for driving the elevator car to the departure floor of the passenger. If there are simultaneously in the elevator system a number of elevator cars fulfilling the aforementioned criteria, some elevator car can be selected from them on the basis of the desired optimization criterion, e.g. the elevator car that is closest to the departure floor of the passenger. The drive direction of an elevator car to the predicted destination floor can be indicated with direction arrows on the departure floor.

(10) If the departure floor of the passenger is not known, the passenger can call an elevator car to his/her departure floor e.g. with the up/down call pushbuttons.

(11) When each of the elevator cars (allocated to a passenger or an unallocated elevator car) stops at the departure floor of the passenger and a passenger transfers into it, the base station 14 receives from the terminal device 20 of the passenger in the elevator car the acceleration data of the passenger and transfers them to the back-end system 15 of the control system. The control system 10c determines and also transfers to the back-end system 15 the acceleration data of each elevator car, said data comprising at least information about the floor from which the elevator car has started moving or at which floor the elevator car is stopping/has stopped. The back-end system 15 determines on the basis of the acceleration data the vertical acceleration profile of the passenger and also the acceleration profile of each elevator car that has left a floor. The back-end system compares the acceleration profiles of the passenger and of the elevator cars with each other. If there is sufficient correlation between them, the control system identifies in which elevator car the passenger is. The control system 10c gives to the elevator car in question for serving a destination call registered to the passenger for taking the passenger to his/her destination floor. At the same time the control system removes the other allocations made for the passenger from the elevator cars.

(12) For determining sufficient correlation of the acceleration data, the back-end system calculates e.g. the quadratic difference over the desired time interval, e.g. for a duration of 2 seconds, between the vertical acceleration of the passenger and the acceleration/speed of each elevator car that has left a floor from the collected measurement results for acceleration/speed from the moment the elevator car left onwards. If the root sum square of the differences is below a given threshold value, the back-end system deduces that the passenger is in the elevator car in question.

(13) So that a number of elevator cars do not simultaneously leave from floors in the same drive direction (up/down), the control system 10c delays the departures of the elevator cars relative to each other. A delay, e.g. a delay of at least 1 s, is arranged between the consecutive departures of the different elevator cars. The delay prevents the acceleration data of the elevator cars being confused with each other. The delay between simultaneous departures can apply to all elevator cars leaving from the same floor or to all elevator cars leaving from any floor whatsoever. FIG. 2 presents by way of example graphs of the vertical speed of elevator cars and of a passenger over a certain time span. In FIG. 2 the elevator car 10a leaves a floor at the time 0 going upwards (graph A), the elevator car 10b at the time 3 s going upwards (graph B), and the vertical speed (graph C) of a passenger measured by means of a terminal device. By comparing the graphs of FIG. 2 with each other it can be deduced that there is sufficient correlation between the speed profiles of the elevator car 10b and of the passenger, and that the passenger is therefore in the elevator car 10b.

(14) Since the acceleration profiles/speed profiles of the elevator cars are generally constant and the same as each other, the constant profile in question can be recorded in advance in the memory 15a that is in connection with the back-end system, and it is possible to read it from there when information about the moment of departure and departure floor of some elevator car is known. If the acceleration profiles/speed profiles are different for different elevator cars, the profile shapes can be utilized in the comparison of acceleration data. In this embodiment the shape of the acceleration profile/speed profile of which elevator car best resembles the measured acceleration profile/speed profile of the passenger is identified. The acceleration profiles/speed profiles of all the elevator cars are recorded in the memory 15a separately.

(15) If an elevator car allocated to a passenger has stopped at the departure floor of the passenger but calls given by other passengers are also allocated to it, it is possible that the elevator car leaves the departure floor before the passenger has had time to get into it. For minimizing the problem, the control system 10c can delay the departure of the elevator car for the duration of the given maximum delay or until the control system 10c detects, e.g. using the door photocell and/or load weighing device, that all the passengers to be served have arrived in the elevator car.

(16) If one or more elevator cars allocated to a passenger leave from the departure floor of the passenger but on the basis of the comparison of the acceleration data the passenger has not transferred into any of them, the control system 10c can allocate new elevator cars for serving the passenger. For example, if an elevator car that has not yet been allocated to a passenger becomes empty, the control system can allocate it for the use of the passenger and automatically send it the departure floor of the passenger. The allocation of new elevator cars shortens the waiting time of a passenger and therefore also improves the service received by the passenger. On the other hand, if the elevator system does not detect a passenger within the maximum time, e.g. within five minutes from when the destination call of the passenger was registered, the control system 10c removes the destination call of the passenger from the plurality of calls to be served.

(17) According to one embodiment of the invention the floor on which the passenger has exited from the elevator car is identified on the basis of the acceleration data. The identification occurs e.g. as follows: an elevator car, in which it has been verified there is a passenger, stops at a floor and continues after that to some other floor; if the comparison of the acceleration data in the manner described above indicates that a passenger is no longer in the elevator car in question, the control system 10c compares the destination floor of a destination call registered to a passenger with the floor on which a passenger exited the elevator car; if on the basis of the comparison of the floors the exit floor is not a destination floor of a passenger (home floor), the control system 10c performs one or more monitoring procedures, e.g. sending a notification to the terminal device 20 of the passenger and/or to the tracking center 40 of the access control system about the incorrect exit floor.

(18) The collection of statistical data about the elevator journeys made by a passenger is also presented as an inventive concept in the elevator system according to the invention. The elevator system is provided with conventional call buttons (up/down buttons in the elevator lobbies, floor buttons in the elevator cars), with which a passenger gives elevator calls. The departure floors and/or destination floors of elevator journeys made by a passenger are identified on the basis of the acceleration data in the manner described above. When sufficient statistical data has been collected about the elevator journeys made by the passenger, it is possible on the basis of said data to determine a passenger-specific departure floor and/or home floor and record it/them in a passenger-specific manner in the memory 10d. When the passenger arrives in the building after this and he/she is identified on the basis of the ID code sent by the terminal device 20 or contained in the identifier 42, the control system 10c automatically registers a passenger-specific destination call to the floor automatically determined in this manner.

(19) In the embodiments described above, the base station 14 is assumed to be a base station of a mobile phone network, in which case the terminal device 20 can be a mobile phone provided with means 20c measuring acceleration, with a keyboard 20a and with a display 20b. The solution according to the invention can also be implemented with preferably a terminal device comprising only means 20c for measuring acceleration as well as communication means e.g. according to the DASH7 standard. A base station 14 according to the DASH7 standard can be disposed e.g. in the machine room of the elevator system 10, where it can receive from a terminal device the acceleration data of a passenger and an ID code identifying the passenger from any floor whatsoever served by the elevator system.

(20) In the solution according to the invention the base stations of a wireless local area network WLAN and/or Bluetooth base stations that are in the building can be utilized for communication. The aforementioned base stations are capable of local communication and therefore enable the automatic identification of the departure floor of a passenger on the basis of the location of the base stations. The base stations in question can be disposed in floor lobbies and/or in elevator cars.

(21) As presented above, in the elevator system according to the invention the elevator service of a passenger can be fully automatic in such a way that the passenger does not need to take out his/her terminal device at any stage of his/her elevator journey, but instead it can be e.g. in the handbag or pocket of the passenger. This facilitates and accelerates travel, particularly if the same elevator journey is made repeatedly.

(22) In FIG. 1 the back-end system 15 has been presented as a part of the control system 10c, but some or all of its functions can be integrated into a terminal device 20. If the back-end system 15 is integrated into a terminal device 20, the terminal device 20 receives via a base station 14 the acceleration data of the elevator cars that the control system sends. The terminal device 20 compares the acceleration data of passenger measured by it with the acceleration data of the elevator cars. If the terminal device 20 detects that there is sufficient correlation between the aforementioned acceleration data, it sends via the base station 14 to the control system 10c information about which elevator car the passenger is in on the basis of the comparison. By integrating a back-end system 15 (comparison means) into terminal devices, the need for data transfer between terminal devices and the control system can be reduced because the control system can send the same acceleration data concerning elevator cars simultaneously to a number of terminal devices. The computing load of the control system also decreases because the calculation for comparing acceleration data is distributed to a number of terminal devices. The embodiment therefore enables elevator systems in which the number of simultaneous passengers can be very high indeed.

(23) FIG. 3 presents as a flowchart the method according to the invention. In phase 100 a passenger-specific destination call is registered, in phase 110 the vertical acceleration of the passenger is measured, in phase 120 the acceleration data of the elevator cars leaving floors is compared with the measured acceleration data of a passenger, and in phase 130 it is deduced whether there is sufficient correlation between the acceleration data of the passenger and the acceleration data of some elevator car. If there is sufficient correlation, phase 140 is executed; otherwise no phase is executed. In phase 140 the elevator car identified on the basis of the comparison of acceleration data is guided to the destination call according to the destination call of the passenger.

(24) The invention is not only limited to be applied to the embodiments described above, but instead many variations are possible within the scope of the inventive concept defined by the claims below. It is obvious to the person skilled in the art that, inter alia, acceleration data can be converted into speed data and vice versa, and instead of the measuring/comparison of acceleration data the speed data can be measured/compared with each other. The control system of the elevator system can comprise one or many control units, which control(s) an individual elevator or elevator group. The terminal device can also measure the horizontal acceleration components, in addition to the vertical acceleration component, of a passenger and address them all in the comparison of acceleration data by taking into account that the horizontal acceleration components of the elevator cars is close to zero.