JP2021070578A - Remote control system for elevator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform an operation process linked with an elevator when a service robot automatically moves a floor of a building by using an elevator without installing a dedicated device for communicating between the service robot and the elevator. Easy to build with existing building equipment only. SOLUTION: A wireless facility 10 generally installed in a building, an elevator, a monitoring center 6 for receiving an elevator state, remote control of the elevator, and changing a setting state at the request of a building owner, and the inside of the building. It is composed of moving service robots 11, and the service robot 11 uses the wireless equipment of the building to move to the elevator via the monitoring center server 60 provided in the monitoring center 6 to the floor where the service robot 11 is currently located and the destination floor. The elevator that transmits the scheduled time and receives the elevator moves the car to the floor where the service robot 11 is currently located, and then performs a series of controls such as moving to the destination floor. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for remotely controlling an elevator using a so-called monitoring center. Among them, in particular, it relates to a coordinated control technology of an autonomous traveling body (hereinafter referred to as a service robot) moving in a floor in a building and an elevator moving back and forth between floors.

In recent years, service robots that perform cleaning, security, customer service, transportation, etc. on behalf of people have been developed and commercialized. Most robots of this type can run independently, and can move freely within the building floor. On the other hand, in general, an elevator that moves between floors is installed in the building, and the above-mentioned service robot can move to each floor by utilizing the elevator.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-18646

The coordinated control of the service robot and the elevator described in Patent Document 1 describes a control method in which the service robot calls the elevator, gets into the car, and moves to the target floor without human intervention. Specifically, the configuration is described in which wireless communication repeaters are installed in the elevator machine room and the elevator car, respectively, and the service robot connects to the elevator system via the wireless communication repeater.

However, the realization method according to Patent Document 1 requires an additional installation of a wireless communication repeater, the wireless communication repeater breaks down, and the wireless communication standard of a service robot to be developed and commercialized in the future is a wireless communication relay. If it does not match the wireless communication standard of the machine, it may become unavailable. That is, there is a possibility that only a specific service robot can use the invention of Patent Document 1.

From the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a control method capable of linking a service robot and an elevator only with existing equipment in combination with an elevator remote monitoring system.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a service robot operating in the building in a remote control system of an elevator connected to an elevator device that controls an elevator installed in the building via a public network. A means for receiving movement request information for moving to a destination floor in the building, which is transmitted via a communication network different from the public network, and an elevator via the public network. , A remote control system having a means for transmitting a control command according to received movement request information.

The present invention also includes a method in the remote control system, a program for executing the process, and a storage medium in which the program is stored.

According to the present invention, it can be constructed by the existing radio equipment of the building and the remote control system such as the existing elevator monitoring system. Further, the present invention can be easily used if the service robot is provided with a means for connecting to a communication network different from the public line network such as the Internet network.

The figure which shows the whole structure example including the building, the elevator, the monitoring center 6, and the service robot 11 which concerns on one Example of this invention. The figure which shows the control flowchart of the service robot 11, the monitoring center server 60 and the elevator control device 2 which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the hardware configuration of the monitoring center server 60 which concerns on one Example of this invention. The figure which shows the schedule information 100 used in one Example of this invention. The figure which shows the movement request information 200 used in one Example of this invention. The figure which shows the elevator specific table 300 used in one Example of this invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration example of a building 1, an elevator 12, a monitoring center 6, and a service robot 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The building 1 is equipped with an elevator 12. The elevator 12 includes an elevator control device 2 that controls the elevator 12, a car 4 on which a person or a service robot is boarded, and a car hoisting machine 3 that moves the car 4 up and down under the control of the elevator control device 2. In the figure, the elevator control device 2 and the car 4 are installed on the roof of the building 1, but the elevator control device 2 and the car 4 are installed in the elevator hoistway, which is the area where the car 4 moves. It may be a machine room-less type elevator.

There is a monitoring center 6 that centrally and remotely monitors a plurality of elevators (not shown). Then, in the monitoring center 6, a public network communication facility 7 for receiving an abnormality report of the elevator control device 2 and transmitting a remote control command to the elevator 12 and a customer such as the owner of the building 1 are suspended on the waiting floor of the elevator. It is provided with an internet network communication facility 8 that communicates in order to set operations, display of advertisements on a liquid crystal panel in a car, and the like. Further, it is provided with a monitoring center server 60 that connects to these communication facilities and executes the processing according to the present embodiment. Here, the hardware configuration of the monitoring center server 60 is shown in FIG. The monitoring center server 60 is installed in the monitoring center 6 and is connected to the public line network communication equipment 7 and the Internet network communication equipment 8. In addition to these, it is also connected to a terminal device 70 for operating the monitoring center server 60. The monitoring center server 60 is realized by a so-called computer and has the following configuration. A control unit 601 that executes calculations such as a CPU, a connection unit 602 for connecting to the public network communication equipment 7 and the Internet network communication equipment 8, a storage unit 603 that stores programs and various tables that execute calculations, and a terminal device. It is composed of an adapter 604 to be connected to 70. The process described later with reference to FIG. 2 is executed by the control unit 601 according to the program. Further, the storage unit 603 may be divided into a main storage unit for storing a program and an auxiliary storage unit for storing various tables. Further, the monitoring center server 60 remotely controls the elevator via the elevator control device 2, and corresponds to the remote control system for the elevator in the present specification.

The public line network communication facility 7 described above is connected to the elevator control device 2 by a public line network 5, and although the communication is wireless such as LTE in the figure, there are cases where communication is performed by wire such as a LAN cable. Also. The above-mentioned Internet network communication facility 8 is connected to the customer's building 1 by the Internet network 9. The Internet network 9 may be a communication network different from the public line network 5.

In addition to the elevator 12, the building 1 is equipped with a building radio device 10 such as Wi-Fi, which is supposed to be used by a building user. A service robot 11 that moves in the building 1 is arranged in the building 1, and the service robot 11 is equipped with various sensors such as a camera (not shown).

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a control flowchart by the service robot 11, the monitoring center server 60, and the elevator control device 2 according to the present embodiment. The contents will be described below.

In step S101, when the service robot 11 moves from the current floor to another floor, it moves to the elevator hall where the car 4 can be boarded. This is processed according to the schedule information 100 stored in the service robot 11 in advance. To do. An example of schedule information 100 is shown in FIG. The schedule information 100 includes the time, floor, room, and task content of the task to be performed by the service robot 11. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the patrol starts from 0:00 in Room 101 on the first floor. Then, when the tour of Room 102 from 0:20 is completed, the elevator will move to the elevator hall at 0:25.

In FIG. 4, the schedule information including the task content is used, but the task content may be omitted. For example, when the service robot 11 is a cleaning robot, when the cleaning of room 102 on the first floor is completed, the cleaning robot moves to the elevator hall to perform the next task of cleaning the second floor.

Further, if the task content is constant, the task content may be omitted. For example, when the service robot 11 is a patrol robot, the patrol robot moves to the elevator hall when it detects a certain time before the end time of the patrol on the first floor or the patrol start time on the second floor.

Next, in step S102, the service robot 11 moves to the elevator hall and executes the following processing. The service robot 11 transmits the movement request information 200 to the monitoring center 6 via the Internet network 9 via the building radio equipment 10. Here, the movement request information 200 includes a building in which the user exists, a unique number for identifying the user, the current floor in which the user currently exists, the destination floor of the destination, and the scheduled time if a time is specified. .. In the following, communication via the Internet network 9 means passing through the building radio equipment 10. An example of this movement request information 200 is shown in FIG. In this example, as shown in the schedule information 100 shown in FIG. 4, it is necessary to move from the first floor to the second floor by an elevator between 0:25 and 0:30. Therefore, the service robot 11 specifies the current floor "1st floor", the destination floor "2nd floor", and the scheduled time "0:27", and creates the movement request information. The scheduled time may be set to 0:26 or the like as long as it is the time between the first floor and the second floor. Further, the scheduled time may be the time when the elevator arrives at the current floor or the time when the elevator arrives at the destination floor. By using such movement request information 200, the monitoring center server 60 can grasp the content of the movement required by the service robot 11, and the elevator can be easily controlled.

Further, a schedule including a "scheduled time" may be incorporated in the schedule information 100. Furthermore, the service robot 11 may execute the movement request information 200 before moving to the elevator hall. For example, it may be an appropriate timing such as the end of the tour of room 102 on the first floor before moving to the elevator hall in the schedule information 100.

Further, only one of the building and the unique number of the movement request information 200 may be used. This information is used as information for identifying the elevator to be controlled, which will be described later. Therefore, when the unique number is used, the building 1 is specified by using the information in which the unique number and the building are associated with each other on the monitoring center server 60. Further, when there are a plurality of elevator halls in the building 1, information for identifying the elevator halls may be used.

In this way, the movement request information 200 is specified by using the schedule information 100 that the service robot 11 has. The schedule information 100 may be held by an upper-off processing device other than the service robot 11, and the movement request information 200 may be created by this information processing device. Next, in step S201, the monitoring center server 60 confirms whether or not the movement request information 200 has been received from the service robot 11. When received (Yes), the information included in the movement request information 200 from the service robot 11 is acquired in step S202. That is, the current floor, the destination floor, the scheduled time, the unique number of the service robot 11, or the information that identifies the building is specified. After that, the elevator will be controlled using the specified information.

In step S203, the monitoring center server 60 communicates with the elevator control device 2 and receives the result in order to perform control corresponding to the movement request information 200. Specifically, first, the monitoring center server 60 identifies which building's elevator is being monitored by the unique number of the service robot 11 or the information that identifies the building. This is determined using the elevator specific table 300 included in the monitoring center server 60. An example of the elevator specific table 300 is shown in FIG. The elevator specific table 300 is stored in the storage unit 603, and each service robot 11 is associated with a building and an elevator hall. The elevator identification table 300 is used to identify an elevator to be controlled, but since the elevator is usually associated with a building, such a table is used.

Further, when there is only one elevator hall, the elevator hall may be omitted in the elevator specific table 300. In addition, information identifying the elevator may be stored.

Then, the monitoring center server 60 transmits the movement confirmation information to the elevator control device 2 that controls the specified elevator via the public network 5 using the public network communication equipment 7. The movement confirmation information is information for confirming whether the service robot 11 can move to the current floor and then to the destination floor at the scheduled time included in the movement request information 200.

Next, in step S301, the elevator control device 2 receives the movement confirmation information from the monitoring center server 60.

Further, in step S302, the elevator control device 2 determines whether the elevator can move to the current floor and the destination floor at the scheduled time included in the received movement confirmation information. This judgment is made based on whether the target floor is a prohibited floor or whether it is impossible to respond at the scheduled time. For these determinations, the information possessed by the elevator control device 2 is used as prohibited floor information and elevator schedule information (particularly, it cannot be used due to maintenance / inspection).

When the elevator can be moved in step S302, the elevator control device 2 identifies the designated elevator unit for identifying the moving car 4 when there are a plurality of elevator cars 4. This uses so-called group management techniques to determine which car to use.

Then, in step S304, the elevator control device 2 transmits the results of steps S302 and S303 to the monitoring center server 60. This transmission is executed via the public network 5.

The information transmitted in this step is as follows. If it is determined in S302 that it is not possible, information indicating which of the conditions of the current floor, the destination floor, and the scheduled time included in the movement request information 200 is not satisfied is transmitted. At this time, information indicating that the vehicle cannot be moved may be simply transmitted. If it is determined in S302 that it is possible, the fact that it is movable and the designated machine specified in S303 are transmitted.

The monitoring center server 60 receives the information from the elevator control device 2 by using the public network communication equipment 7.

Then, in step S204, the monitoring center server 60 determines whether or not the movement request information 200 transmitted in step S102 is movable.

If it is determined in step S204, the monitoring center server 60 transmits the completion of reception to the service robot 11 via the Internet network 9 using the Internet network communication equipment 8 in step S205. In this case, the designated machine and the movement request information 200 specified in step S303 are transmitted.

If it is determined in step S204 that it is not possible, the monitoring center server 60 transmits to the service robot 11 a result indicating that it cannot be moved and a result indicating which condition is not satisfied in step S206. This transmission is executed via the Internet network 9 using the Internet network communication equipment 8.

In addition to this transmission, in step S207, the monitoring center server 60 transmits a control command to the elevator control device 2. The details of the subsequent processing (elevator control) will be described later. Here, the processing of the service robot 11 that has received the transmission in S205 and S206 will be described first.

In step S103, the service robot 11 is waiting for the reception contact, and determines whether the reception is completed or the result is transmitted from the monitoring center server 60 in steps S205 and S206 described above.

If there is transmission (Yes in the figure), the process proceeds to step S105, and the service robot 11 receives the reception completion or result transmitted in S205 or S206.

If there is no transmission, the process proceeds to step S104, and the service robot 11 determines whether the number of transmissions in step S102 exceeds a certain value. This is premised on repeating step S102 transmission when the reception in S105 is not within a certain period. As a result, if the number of transmissions does not exceed a certain value, the process returns to S102. If the number of transmissions exceeds a certain value, it is determined that the service robot 11 cannot move, and the process ends.

Next, in steps s106 and S107, the service robot 11 confirms the content received in S105 (the one transmitted in S205 and S206). That is, in step S106, it is determined whether the movement to the target floor is possible, and in step S107, it is determined whether the movement is possible at the scheduled time.

As a result, if either of them is impossible, it is determined that the service robot 11 cannot move, and the process is terminated. If any of these is possible, the process proceeds to step S109. It should be noted that these determinations are made using the movement request information 200 transmitted by the service robot 11 in step S102 and the contents received in S105. It should be noted that the content to be transmitted may be simply information indicating whether or not it can be moved, and steps S106 and S107 may be collectively determined.

Next, in step S108, when the service robot 11 has a plurality of elevators and the car 4 to be boarded is designated (for example, other than the first machine), the service robot 11 is the designated car 4, that is, the designated machine specified in S303. Move forward. Then, in steps S119 and S110, the service robot 11 waits until the door of the car 4 opens. The state of the door uses a sensor such as a camera mounted on the service robot 11.

When the door of the car 4 is opened (Yes in step S110), the process proceeds to step S111, and the service robot 11 moves to board the car 4. When moving, use a sensor such as a camera to check if there are any obstacles (including people) before moving. Further, the boarding car 4 is, of course, the car of the designated unit specified in S303.

Next, when the elevator moves toward the destination floor, in step S112, the service robot 11 determines whether the car 4 has arrived at the destination floor and the door has opened. The determination of arrival at the destination floor can be realized by detecting the display of the arrival floor in the car 4 using a camera. Then, using a sensor such as a camera, it is determined whether the door has been opened. Further, the determination in step S112 may be performed as follows. As a premise, the movement of the service robot 11 by the elevator is controlled by the elevator control device 2 so as to operate directly. As a result, when the service robot 11 detects that the door opens, it determines that the service robot 11 has arrived at the destination floor.

Next, in step S113, the service robot 11 gets off from the car 4. Then, in step S114, the service robot 11 transmits the arrival report information indicating that it has arrived at the destination floor to the monitoring center server 60 via the Internet network 9 and ends the process.

Here, the transmission process of step S114 is executed after determining whether the door of S112 has been opened (or after determining when the door has been opened). This is because the opening of the door enables communication between the service robot 11 and the building wireless communication facility 10. That is, in this embodiment, when the elevator door is opened, the service robot 11 and the monitoring center server communicate with each other. Therefore, the communication process of S114 may be executed in the elevator before the movement of step S113.

Further, upon receiving the transmission in step S114, in step S208, the monitoring center server 60 waits for the completion of reception from the service robot 11 transmitted via the Internet network communication equipment 8. Then, when the reception completion is received (Yes in step S208), the process proceeds to S209, and the monitoring center server 60 determines that the movement is completed and completes the process.

Here, the processing (elevator control) of the monitoring center server 60 after S207 will be described. When the monitoring center server 60 transmits the reception completion in step S205, the monitoring center server 60 transmits a control command to the elevator control device 2 in step S207. This Su Qin is executed via the public network 5 using the public network communication equipment 7. Further, the control command is a control signal that satisfies the current floor, the destination floor, and the scheduled time included in the movement request information 200 transmitted in step S102.

Next, in step S305, the elevator control device 2 receives the control command. Then, in step S306, the elevator control device 2 controls the car hoisting machine 3 of the elevator according to the control command, that is, so as to satisfy the current floor, the destination floor, and the scheduled time included in the movement request information 200. As a result, the car 4 moves so as to satisfy the movement request information 200, and the service robot 11 can move as shown in steps S108 to S113.

In this embodiment, in S301 to S304, it is determined whether the elevator control device 2 can move to satisfy the move request information 200. Here, if it is determined in S302 that the elevator control device 2 is movable, the process may be changed from step S304 to S305 to S306. That is, the elevator control device 2 autonomously controls the elevator so as to satisfy the movement request information 200. In this case, step S207 can be omitted.

This is the end of the description of the processing contents of this embodiment. After that, it is conceivable to change the destination floor and schedule items and perform the processing shown in FIG. 2 again.

As a means for confirming whether the service robot 11 has arrived at the destination floor in step S111, the following can be mentioned. The camera mounted on the service robot 11 determines the floor display state in the car 4, the microphone mounted on the service robot 11 determines the floor display status in the car 4, and the announcement that the car 4 has arrived at the target floor is used. can give.

As another configuration of this embodiment, when the service robot 11 is provided with a carrier communication means such as 5G or LTE, the monitoring center 6 is directly connected to the monitoring center 6 via the Internet network 9 without using the building radio equipment 10. You may communicate.
In addition, it may be necessary to prevent the elevator user and the service robot 11 from riding in one car 4. In this case, the following measures are taken as one of the measures to avoid riding the elevator user and the service robot 11 together. When the service robot 11 detects that there is a person in the elevator hall on the floor where the service robot 11 is waiting by a sensor such as a camera mounted on the service robot 11, the service robot 11 changes the scheduled time and shows it again in FIG. There is a correspondence to perform processing.

In addition, as another measure, a service robot is provided while the user is in the car 4 and goes to the user's destination floor by using a sensor (not shown) such as a security camera or a weighing device installed in the car 4. It may notify that a case where 11 is boarding will occur. For this notification, when the elevator control device 2 determines, the elevator control device 2 transmits a content such as not being able to board the monitoring center 6. Further, based on this content, the monitoring center server 60 has a support for transmitting information instructing the service robot 11 not to board the service robot 11 via the Internet network 9.

When there are a plurality of elevators, the elevator control device 2 transmits information for identifying the other elevator car 4 in which no elevator user is present as a designated unit to the service robot 11 via the monitoring center server 60. There is also a correspondence to do. In this case, the communication from the elevator control device 2 to the monitoring center server 60 is via the public network 5. Further, communication from the monitoring center server 60 to the service robot 11 is executed via the Internet network 9.

In addition, the service robot 11 has already boarded the car 4 and is moving, and an elevator user may be on board from the floor on the way to the destination floor. In this case, the situation in the car 4 is projected on the monitor installed in the elevator hall through the security camera in the car 4 to call attention. By the above-mentioned measures, it is possible to avoid or call attention to the elevator user and the service robot 11 riding in one car 4.

By the series of processes described above, the service robot can also move the floor using the elevator by using only the existing radio equipment of the building and the existing elevator monitoring system.

1: Building 2: Elevator control device 3: Car hoisting machine 4: Car 5: Public line network 6: Monitoring center 7: Public line network Communication equipment 8: Internet network Communication equipment 9: Internet network 10: Building radio equipment 11 : Service robot 60: Monitoring center server 100: Schedule information 200: Movement request information 300: Elevator specific table

Claims (4)

In the remote control system of an elevator connected to an elevator device that controls an elevator installed in a building via a public network.
A means for receiving movement request information for moving to a destination floor in the building, which is transmitted from a service robot operating in the building via a communication network different from the public line network.
A remote control system for an elevator, which comprises means for transmitting a control command according to received movement request information to the elevator via the public network. In the remote control system for the elevator according to claim 1.
The means for receiving the movement request information receives the movement request information including the unique number of the building or the service robot, the current floor where the service robot exists, the destination floor, and the scheduled time of the movement as the movement request information. An elevator remote control system characterized by receiving. In the elevator remote control system according to claim 1 or 2.
Further, a remote control system for an elevator, which comprises means for receiving arrival report information indicating that the service robot has arrived at the destination floor from the service robot when the service robot arrives at the destination floor. In the remote control system for the elevator according to claim 3.
The means for receiving the arrival report information is a remote control system for an elevator, which receives the arrival report information transmitted when the elevator arrives at the destination floor and the door of the elevator is opened.

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