HK1128672B - Call related elevator car identification - Google Patents

Description

Elevator car identification associated with call calling

Technical Field

The present invention relates to uniquely identifying each destination call recorded within an elevator system having indicia such as a letter, the identified call being different from any other outstanding call than the call being subsequently answered; calls can be reassigned to different cars as many times as is reasonably possible, the car to which this call is assigned causing the indicator of the hoistway adjacent to this car to display the unique indicia of the call or calls to which it responds as it approaches the floor at which the call or calls were entered.

Background

The presently preferred way of handling elevator calls involves typing calls that identify a passenger's designated destination to enable improved call assignment functionality when assigning calls to cars. A competitive preference is for passengers who wish to be informed of which elevator will respond to their call in different hoistways, and between different cars in a plurality of multi-car hoistways. In fact, it is necessary for a passenger to immediately identify the designation of the car that will serve his call so that the request of other passengers located on the same floor can be different from the request of the first passenger. When a car stops at a landing, passengers must know whether that is the car they should enter, or not.

Thus, the need to reassign cars for better service is secondary to the need to tell the passenger which car should be on, thereby ensuring that all the indication given to the passenger should be that a car arrives at the floor the passenger should enter.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the invention comprises an elevator system, wherein: passengers learn immediately how to identify cars as they answer their calls; elevator calls can be reassigned to different cars as appropriate; before a call is answered, an immediate (instant) indication as to how the car answered the identified call, as appropriate, coincides with reassignment of the call; there are more than one car in the hoistway and elevator calls for service can be reassigned among those cars or cars adjacent to the hoistway; in the hoistway, one car or more than one car travels in which calls can be reassigned among these cars and the passenger can immediately learn the designation identifying the car that will answer the passenger call as it approaches the floor on which it is located.

According to the invention, each unanswered call for service in an elevator system is instantly identified with a token, such as a letter, color or other symbol, which will indicate to the passenger that the car arrived at the landing in order to provide service to the destination specified by the passenger. Unlike identifying the elevator car itself, when the elevator car approaches a landing to pick up a passenger to be served by the car, the indicia adjacent to the hoistway of the car indicates the indicia of the call that the car is responding to. Alternatively, the cars are caused to display different indicia based on the call they are answering, and those indicia can be switched between cars along with the call assigned during reassignment of the call for better service so that different cars answer the call.

At any time, each indicium is unique to either a single call or multiple calls taken and served by the same elevator at the same time, such as during up peak traffic, for example.

The invention allows the passenger to instantly identify: how cars responding to passenger calls will be identified while at the same time allowing calls to be freely reassigned if and as deemed reasonable. The present invention also provides a given car that stops at one floor for the first time to pick up one or more passengers having a first call indicium while another passenger or passengers on the same floor having a second call indicium do not enter the car and thereafter stops at the same floor using the second call indicium to pick up other people. Reassignment of calls may be from a car in one hoistway to a car in another hoistway or from a car in one hoistway to another car in the same hoistway.

In one embodiment, hoistway landing doors can also be displayed to allow passengers to wait at the doorway where they will be boarding the car.

The present invention provides great flexibility in deciding which car will answer a call, while at the same time providing quick identification of the car that will answer the call, not by the name of the car but by the name of the call.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

Drawings

Fig. 1-4 are simplified elevation views of an elevator system having nine floors, two hoistways, and two cars in each hoistway, the elevator system employing call identification related reassignment of the present invention.

Fig. 5-7 are partial views of fig. 1-4 showing the present invention during an up-peak transport.

Fig. 8 is a partial front view showing the hoistway door identifier of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1, four elevators named according to a hoistway and a position of an elevator therein, an upper left elevator (UL), a lower left elevator (LL), an upper right elevator (UR), and a lower right elevator (LR) are disposed in a left hoistway (LF) and a right hoistway (RT). Shown are ten floors including pit (P) and lobby (L), and floors 2-9.

Each floor (except the pit) has call buttons 21-29, designated internally with the destination floor of the call, which is entered by pressing the buttons. Although only one call button 21-29 is shown on each floor, the present invention is described in terms of a system having destination call entry, such as a ten-KEY system or an N-KEY (N-KEY) system, to enter calls by indicating the passenger's designated destination. Thus, in the construction of fig. 1-4, the buttons 21-29 should be understood to represent call entry panels, similar to the call entry panel 21a in fig. 8, with keys and displays for call identification indicia. Call button 21 requests service to the second floor, call button 25 requests service to the lobby, call button 27 requests service to the lobby, and call button 29 requests service to the fourth floor. Each of the above call buttons 21, 25, 27, 29 has a letter for indicating the identity of the call in accordance with the invention.

Each service floor of the left hoistway has a plurality of car identification signs 31-39 and each service floor of the right hoistway has a plurality of similar car identification signs 41-49. Where appropriate at the bottom of some elevator cars, there are letters indicating the call currently assigned to that car, e.g., by the controller 53. Thus, call a (from floor 7 to lobby) and call D (from floor 5 to lobby) have been assigned to the upper left car as indicated in fig. 1. Has assigned call C (from lobby to floor 2) to the lower left car; call B has been assigned (from floor 9 to floor 4) to the upper right car; and no call is assigned to the lower right car at this time. The arrows within each car indicate the direction of travel of the car.

FIG. 2 shows the state at a time after FIG. 1; however, all events (events) shown in fig. 2 do not occur simultaneously, and fig. 1-4 are merely examples of the present invention, and do not necessarily represent time-coordinated events based on a time coordinate.

In fig. 2, the upper left car has reached floor 7 to answer call a, so the sign 37 displays a, the contents of which are displayed to the passenger at floor 7 when call a is entered on call button 27 and when the car approaches floor 7 to answer the call. The upper right car has reached floor 9 to answer call B, so the sign 49 displays the letter B, which is displayed to the passenger at floor 9 when the call button 29 is pressed to enter the call.

In fig. 2, the lower left car is still assigned the call C that has been entered at the lobby and has floor 2 as its destination; no calls are still assigned to the lower right car.

Assume that the stop button of the upper left car in fig. 2 is pressed, indicating to the call assignment function in the controller 53 that the upper left car will be delayed at floor 7. In fig. 3, the upper left car is still stopped at floor 7, and then call D, entered at floor 5 to service the lobby, has been reassigned to the upper right car. Because the upper left car can arrive at the lobby before the lower left car can answer call C and then drive into the pit to make way for the upper left car, call C is reassigned to the lower right car based on the assumption that it can answer call C and can drive to floor 2 and from there to the pit before the time the upper right car will arrive at the lobby. Assuming that one car is in danger of colliding with another car, steps will be taken to avoid the collision, such as slowing or stopping the car. This is not relevant at all to the present invention.

In fig. 4, the lower right car has reached the lobby and the sign 41 displays a C to indicate to the passenger at the lobby floor that this car is answering the call, which call is identified by C when the passenger types the call in the button 21.

The lower left car has reached the pit and will stay there until the upper left car leaves the lobby after serving call a, which call a is entered at floor 7 with the lobby as its destination. The upper right car continues down to answer call D at floor 5 and when it reaches floor 5, the sign 45 will display D therein with the same sign as that displayed when the passenger on floor 5 entered his call at button 25.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1-4, reassignment of calls to cars in a different hoistway than the hoistway in which the car was first assigned is shown. The invention will also allow reassignment of calls from one car in a hoistway to another car in the same hoistway. In fig. 3 and 4, call D, entered at the fifth floor, may have been reassigned to the lower left car as appropriate. Thereafter, call C may have been reassigned to the upper right car, rather than the lower right car.

Another exemplary application of the present invention is a group of people during morning up-peak traffic as shown in fig. 5-7. Grouping people by their destination is the best way to quickly transport people to upper floors during up peak traffic. When destination call entry is utilized, each passenger realizes that he or she must enter a call that can be for one person, or for that person and one or two companions. Thus, the number of people behind a call may be more accurate than in conventional non-destination-call systems. The passenger groups do not have to all be destined for the same destination; in the "sector" or "channeling", they need only be assigned to the same car in order to serve it. Group C may thus, for example, include passengers going to floor 5 to floor 7; group D may include passengers going to floor 2 to floor 5; and the like.

In fig. 5, the lower left car is in the pit, the upper left car passes down through floor 2, the upper right car passes up through floor 6, and the lower right car assigned to carry the passenger whose call is identified by a "C" has arrived at the lobby. The sign 41 shows that those passengers whose calls are identified will now board the lower right car and is indicated by the dashed line in group C. Three other groups, E, D, B, are also waiting for calls.

In fig. 6, the lower right car has moved to the second floor and unloaded the passengers while the upper right car is moving upward through the seventh and eighth floors. The lower left car is still in the pit and the upper left car has arrived at the lobby and the sign 41 shows that all passengers whose call is designated D should now enter the upper left car, indicated by the dashed arrow. Groups B and E still await assignment to their cars.

In fig. 7, the upper left car is traveling up through floor 2 and the lower left car has arrived at the lobby, while the designation 31 shows that the passenger whose call is designated E should now enter the lower left car, as indicated by the dashed arrow. The upper right car has reached floor 9 to discharge passengers. The lower right car has returned to the lobby floor and the sign 41 indicates that the passenger whose call was identified with a B should enter the lower right car at this time, as indicated by the dashed arrow. Thus, in fig. 5, the lower right car is assigned to respond to calls identified as C, and in fig. 7 the same lower right car is assigned a short period of time later to respond to calls identified as B. At a subsequent point in time, one or both of the lower cars may be in the pit and one of the upper cars will be designated as responding to the call identified with a. The upper left car is determined when answering the call identified as D in fig. 6. The present invention shows how call identification (different from the assigned car identification) allows the same car to arrive with the doors open without responding to some passengers, such as group B for the lower right car in fig. 5, and when the same lower right car arrives at the same floor, its doors open in response to different call identifications, such as group B in fig. 7.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1-4, reassignment of calls to cars in a different hoistway than the hoistway in which the car was first assigned is shown.

The invention has been described by way of simple example, illustrating that reassigning calls among cars (fig. 1-4) and assigning the same car to the same floor in succession (fig. 5-7) does not adversely affect service by indicating each call with a unique symbol, since the signs at each landing will indicate to the passengers the call that was answered as it approached the landing to service the call, rather than indicating a car.

Another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 8, allows passengers to gather near the doors they will be served. Wherein each time a call is entered by selecting one of the buttons 58 on the call entry panel 21a, the characters identifying the call the car is responding to are confirmed on the display 60, in addition to the confirmation on the display 59, by which the hoistway landing door the passenger is entering (car). Thus, in fig. 8, the lower right car has reached the lobby in the right hoistway 2 while the hoistway doors 61 are open to pick up calls identified with B. In this embodiment, calls are only reassigned among two or more cars in the same hoistway, since the passengers have been assured that they will be picked up here. An advantage of this embodiment of the invention is that it provides a more orderly lobby that will reduce confusion of passengers arriving in a correctly identified car. Passengers who are about to enter through doorway 1 will be located near doorway 1 while passengers who are about to enter through doorway 2 will be located near doorway 2 so that they do not need to push past each other once the appropriate car arrives as indicated by signs 31a, 41 a.

Separate car and group controllers may be employed within the scope of the invention, where all components are concentrated in the controller 53 for simplicity.

Claims (6)

1. Elevator system serving a plurality of floors (P, L, 2-9) of a building, comprising:

one or more hoistways (LF, RT);

at least two elevator cars (UL-LR) traveling in the one or more hoistways;

call entry panels (21-29, 21a) located on each of said floors, each call entry panel having call buttons (58) with which an intended passenger can type a desired destination floor to log in a call to service the designated destination floor, characterized in that:

the call entry panels each having a display (59) for identifying each logged in call through which a selected one of a plurality of call identifiers is displayed;

means (53) responsive to the entry of each call for immediately invoking a respective one of the call entry panels to display a selected call identifier that uniquely identifies (a) only the respective call, or (b) a plurality of calls entered on the same floor and answered simultaneously by the same one of the cars; the display of the selected call identifier provides identification of the car that will answer the call, not by the name of the car but by the name of the call;

said means (53) for assigning each registered but unanswered call to one of said elevator cars, said car being determined in accordance with initial conditions in said system consistent with an assignment strategy at the time of registration of said corresponding call, and for successively reassigning each registered call to successive said cars in a state subsequent to said initial state in said system when said strategy is required to be met;

signs (31-39, 41-49) located on each of the floors adjacent each of the one or more hoistways, each of the signs operable to display any selected call identifier assigned to an elevator car in the corresponding hoistway; and

the device (53) causes a selected call identifier corresponding to one of the calls to be displayed on one of the signs adjacent to a hoistway in which the car currently assigned to the one call is operating as the currently assigned car approaches the destination floor to receive passengers in response to the one call.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

there is only one car in each hoistway.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

there are multiple cars in each hoistway.

4. A method of operating an elevator system serving a plurality of floors (P, L, 2-9) of a building, which elevator system has one or more hoistways (LF, RT) in which at least two elevator cars (UL-LR) travel and on each of which there is a call input panel (21-29, 21a) which each has a call button (58) with which an intended passenger can enter a desired destination floor in order to log in a call to serve the designated destination floor, characterized in that:

in response to the entry of each call, displaying (59) a selected one of a plurality of call identifiers on a respective one of the call entry panels, the selected call identifier uniquely identifying (a) only the respective call, or (b) a plurality of calls entered on the same floor and simultaneously answered by the same one of the cars; the display provides identification of the car that will answer the call, not by the name of the car but by the name of the call;

assigning (53) each registered but unanswered call to one of the elevator cars, the car being determined according to initial conditions in the system consistent with an assignment strategy at the time of registration of the corresponding call, and when required to comply with the strategy, successively reassigning each registered call to successive ones of the cars in a state subsequent to the initial state in the system; and

displaying (31-39, 41-49) the call identifier corresponding to one of the calls on a sign adjacent to a hoistway in which the car currently assigned to the one call is operating when the currently assigned car is near the destination floor to receive passengers in response to the one call.

5. The method of claim 4, further characterized by: during the up-peak transport, one of the call identifiers of the same choice is displayed for destination floors in the range of a small number of adjacent floors, in response to the registration of any call each made in a short time.

6. The method of claim 4, the elevator system having a plurality of hoistways including landing doorways (1, 2), further characterized by:

along with the selected call identifier, a second indicium (1, 2) is displayed that represents one of the plurality of hoistway landing doorways at which the corresponding call is to be answered.