This invention relates to identifying not only a hoistway containing an elevator which will answer a registered destination call, but also identifying a selected one of a plurality of elevators in the hoistway to which the destination call has been assigned.
The use of multiple elevator cars in a single elevator hoistway has always posed problems of assignment of cars to calls as well as identifying any particular car that has been assigned to answer a call. In early double-deck elevators, persons desiring to reach an odd floor during up peak traffic would have to enter at an odd floor lobby; similarly for even floors. During down peak, persons entering from an odd or even floor were similarly carried to an odd or even lobby, respectively, near the street level. During off-peak, the dispatching system attempted to answer two calls (either car calls or hall calls) at the same time, if possible, and otherwise simply assigned calls to either the upper or lower deck and delivered any passengers to whichever floors they designated with car calls.
More recently, signage has been provided to indicate to passengers the next stop of an arriving car so that passengers can either enter it or not. This of course does not present adequate service to waiting passengers.
The concept of multiple elevator cars (such as three) within the same hoistway is now known. However, the ability to adequately inform a passenger which arriving car that passenger should enter in order to reach the passenger's destination registered by a call has not been provided adequately.
Objects of the invention include: elevator signage which indicates to passengers the particular car of a number of elevator cars in a plurality of hoistways which has been assigned to take the passenger to the desired destination floor; elevator service which provides an indication of the selected elevator car of plurality of cars in each of a plurality of hoistways in an easily identified and easily remembered fashion; improved elevator service; and improved multiple hoistway, multiple car per hoistway elevator service.
According to the present invention, an elevator system having a plurality of elevator cars operating within a plurality of different hoistways provides easily identifiable and easily rememberable indications to passengers identifying the particular car and hoistway which is to provide service to a registered destination floor; cars not responding to a call are not announced as they approach a floor.
According to the invention further, the signage may designate the individual cars by unique colors disposed adjacent the entrance to the corresponding hoistway, or by letters or other symbols adjacent the hoistway, which colors, letters or symbols match corresponding colors, letters or symbols indicated to the passenger on a call entry panel display at the time the destination call is entered by the passenger. Thus, matching of a color, letter or other symbol is easily achieved to identify the arrival of the car that has previously been assigned to serve that passenger's needs.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in the light of the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Referring to
In order to enter requests for elevator service, a call entry station 22 includes, in this example, keys 23 indicative of all of the nine other floors in the building which may be pressed to enter a call for the passengers' desired destination floor, in a conventional way. Alternatively, the call entry panel 22 may have other call designating buttons, such as a 10-key pad.
The call entry station 22 also includes a display 26 which can present any of the letters A-D to indicate to the passenger the particular car which has been assigned to the call by a controller 27. In this example, call assignments are near instantaneous such that other call entries are not made between the time that one passenger selects a destination floor and the identity (A-D) of the car that is assigned to answer that call is indicated on the display 26.
The operation in the controller 27 is relatively simple and may be carried out with a variety of software routines in any readily available computer. Other necessary steps such as recognizing that the call has been assigned and that the call has been answered, initiating and resetting functions, and providing other proper management of the call assignment and illumination processes are conventional and are omitted herein for clarity.
An example of functions which may be performed to employ the invention as illustrated in
A test 35 determines if the committable floor of the assigned car X is floor F, and if so, a step 37 will cause the letter A-D of the assigned car, X, to be illuminated on the related sign 16-19. If test 35 is negative, step 37 is omitted.
Referring to
A test 53 determines if the committable floor of the assigned car, X, is floor F; if so, a step 54 causes a corresponding one of the signs 40, 41 to be illuminated in the color of the assigned car, X. The one of the signs 40, 41 will be selected based upon the hoistway 11, 12 within which car X is serving passengers.
The controller 27 does not cause illumination of any signs next to a hoistway on a floor when a car, not assigned to answer a call on that floor, approaches that floor in that hoistway. That is a paramount feature of the invention.
Instead of letters, the embodiment of
The nature of the invention is that the passenger, upon entering a destination call, receive information at the call input station 22, 22A which information will be displayed adjacent the correct hoistway to announce the approach of the car assigned to carry the passenger to that desired destination that has been entered as a request by means of the buttons 23; and cars which are not assigned to calls entered on a particular floor are not announced at that floor.
Thus, although the invention has been shown and described with respect to exemplary embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and additions may be made therein and thereto, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.