Patent Application
20230312304
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210323808.8, filed Mar. 30, 2022, and all the benefits accruing therefrom under 35 U.S.C. § 119, the contents of which in its entirety are herein incorporated by reference.
The present application relates to elevator technology, in particular to a method for indicating a service status of an elevator, an elevator call-out device for implementing the method, and a computer-readable storage medium.
A request to stop at a waiting floor can be sent to an elevator system by pressing an elevator call-out button installed near a landing door of an elevator. An elevator call-out panel usually contains two call-out buttons that request an elevator car to move up and down. Information received by an elevator controller from the call-out panel includes not only a floor to stop, but also a direction of movement of the elevator car required by a user after stopping at the floor.
According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided an elevator call-out device, comprising: a call-out button for inputting a request to cause an elevator car to move upward and downward relative to a landing station where the elevator call-out device is located; a visual sign associated with a direction of movement of the elevator car indicated by the call-out button; a control unit configured to:
upon receiving the request input via the call-out button to cause the elevator car to move upward or downward relative to the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located, switch one of the visual signs, which corresponds to the requested direction of movement, from an off state to a normally lit state; in response to an event that the elevator car stops at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located, switch one of the visual signs, which corresponds to a direction of movement of the elevator car in which the elevator car will move after stopping, from the normally lit state to a flashing state; and in response to an event that a door of the elevator car or a door of the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located is closed, switch one of the visual signs in the flashing state to the off state.
Optionally, in the above elevator call-out device, the control unit is further configured to: receive a command from an external device which indicates the visual signs switched from the off state to the normally lit state; switch the visual signs indicated by the command from the off state to the normally lit state.
Optionally, in the above elevator call-out device, the visual signs are one or more of the following items: call-out button indicator, arrival indicator, and upward and downward markers displayed on a display screen.
Optionally, in the above elevator call-out device, the control unit is configured to switch one of the visual signs from the normally lit state to the flashing state in the following manner receiving an indication signal from an elevator controller that the elevator car stops at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located; causing a luminous intensity of one of the visual signs, which corresponds to the direction of movement of the elevator car in which the elevator car will move after stopping, to change within a set range.
Optionally, in the above elevator call-out device, the control unit is configured to switch one of the visual signs from the normally lit state to the flashing state in the following manner receiving an indication signal from an elevator controller that the door of the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located is opened or that the door of the elevator car is opened after arriving at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located; causing a luminous intensity of one of the visual signs, which corresponds to the direction of movement of the elevator car in which the elevator car will move after stopping, to change within a set range.
Optionally, in the above elevator call-out device, the control unit is further configured to switch one of the visual signs from the normally lit state to the flashing state in the following manner receiving an indication signal from an elevator controller that the elevator car stops at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located; causing a color of one of the visual signs, which corresponds to the direction of movement of the elevator car in which the elevator car will move after stopping, to change alternately.
Optionally, in the above elevator call-out device, the control unit is further configured to switch one of the visual signs from the normally lit state to the flashing state in the following manner receiving an indication signal from an elevator controller that the door of the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located is opened or that the door of the elevator car is opened after arriving at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located; causing one of the visual signs, which corresponds to the direction of movement of the elevator car in which the elevator will move after stopping, to change alternately.
Optionally, in the above elevator call-out device, the control unit is configured to switch one of the visual signs from the flashing state to the off state in the following manner receiving an indication signal from an elevator controller that the door of the elevator car or the door of the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located is closed; causing one of the visual signs, which corresponds to the direction of movement of the elevator car in which the elevator car will move after stopping, to enter the off state.
Optionally, in the above elevator call-out device, the control unit is configured to switch one of the visual signs from the off state to the normally lit state in the following manner detecting whether the call-out button is pressed or whether an object hovers in its vicinity; if it is detected that the call-out button is pressed or the object hovers in its vicinity, one of the visual signs, which corresponds to the direction of movement indicated by the call-out button, is caused to enter the normally lit state.
Optionally, the elevator call-out device is an integrated call-out panel assembly or a discrete call-out panel assembly.
Optionally, in the above elevator call-out device, a frequency value within a normal range of respiratory frequency is determined as the luminous intensity or frequency of color change of the visual sign.
According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided an elevator system, comprising: an elevator car; an elevator controller; and a plurality of elevator call-out devices as described above, each being provided at a corresponding landing station.
According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a method for indicating a service status of an elevator, comprising: upon receiving the request input via the call-out button to cause the elevator car to move upward or downward relative to the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located, switching one of the visual signs, which corresponds to the requested direction of movement, from an off state to a normally lit state; B. in response to an event that the elevator car stops at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located, switching one of the visual signs, which corresponds to a direction of movement of the elevator car in which the elevator car will move after stopping, from the normally lit state to a flashing state; and C. in response to an event that a door of the elevator car or a door of the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located is closed, switching one of the visual signs in the flashing state to the off state.
According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium in which an instruction is stored. When the instruction is executed by a processor, the processor is caused to execute the above method.
The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the present application will be clearer and more easily understood from the following description of various aspects in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar elements are specified by the same reference numerals. The accompanying drawings include:
The following detailed description is only illustrative in nature and is not intended to limit the present application or applications and uses of the present application. Many specific details are set forth in the following description of the specific embodiments of the application in order to provide a more in-depth understanding of the application. However, for those of ordinary skill in the art, the application can still be practiced without providing these specific details. In some examples, well-known features are omitted to avoid complicating the description.
In this specification, terms such as “comprising” and “including” mean that in addition to units and steps that are directly and clearly stated in the specification and claims, the technical solution of the application does not exclude the presence of other units and steps that are not directly and clearly stated in the specification and claims.
Unless otherwise specified, terms such as “first” and “second” do not indicate the order of the units in terms of time, space, size, etc., but are merely used to distinguish the units.
An elevator call-out device 100 shown in
The elevator call-out device 100 may take the form of an integrated call-out panel assembly as shown in
The elevator call-out device 100 may also take the form of a discrete call-out panel assembly as shown in
It should be noted that the pressed call-out buttons shown in
In the elevator call-out device 100 shown in
The control unit 103 may control the status of the indicator based on the following control logic: in response to an indication signal, for example, from an elevator controller or an elevator control cabinet 110 that the elevator car arrives at the landing station or floor where the elevator call-out device 100 is located, the indicator is turned off by disconnecting the indicator corresponding to the direction of movement of the elevator car, in which the car will move after stopping, from the power supply Vcc.
In order to solve the above difficulties, in some embodiments of the present application, the control unit adopts the following improved control logic:
in response to an event that the elevator car stops at the landing station or floor where the elevator call-out device is located, the indicator corresponding to the direction of movement of the elevator car in which the car will move after stopping is caused into the flashing state (for example, by causing the indicator to be periodically powered on or by continuously supplying power to the indicator with a changing current or voltage), and in response to an event that the door of the elevator car or the door of the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located is closed, the indicator of the call-out button corresponding to the direction of movement of the elevator car in which the car will move after stopping is caused to be switched from the flashing state to the off state.
That is, in these embodiments of the present application, the flashing state indicates the service status of the elevator in which a call request in a certain direction (upward or downward) is being satisfied, the normally lit state indicates the service status of the elevator in which a call request in a certain direction (upward or downward) is not yet satisfied, and the off state indicates the service status of the elevator in which no call request in a certain direction (upward or downward) exists.
It should be pointed out that various ways may be used to notify the control unit of an event that the elevator car stops at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located. In one exemplary way, an indication signal that the elevator car stops at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located may be sent to the control unit of the elevator call-out device by an external device such as an elevator controller or an elevator control cabinet. In another exemplary way, an indication signal that the door of the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located is opened or that the door of the elevator car is opened after arriving at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located may be sent to the control unit of the elevator call-out device by an external device such as an elevator controller or an elevator control cabinet. The indication signal described here should be broadly understood as not only including the signals that directly indicate the elevator car stops at the landing station, the door of the elevator car and the landing door are closed (such as the status signals sent by the elevator controller to indicate the opening and closing status of the car door, etc.), but also including the signals that indirectly indicate the elevator car stops at the landing station, the door of the elevator car and the landing door are closed (such as the command to turn off the indicator sent by the elevator controller to the elevator call-out device).
The above improved control logic is further described below with the help of the drawings.
As seen from the examples described above with the help of
It should be noted that the call-out button indicator is only one example of a visual sign used to indicate the direction of elevator movement. Those skilled in the art will recognize, after reading the content described in the Description, that the above improved control logic is also suitable for other visual signs used to indicate the direction of elevator car movement. Other examples of visual signs include, but are not limited to, arrival indicator and upward and downward markers displayed on the display screen (e.g., arrow markers displayed on the display screen 203 of
It is also should be noted that the flashing state described herein should be broadly understood as a state in which the visual sign provides a dynamic display effect. In some embodiments, this dynamic display effect may be presented by a variation of the luminous intensity of the visual sign within a set range (e.g., 30%-100% of the maximum luminous intensity), which may be achieved, for example, by providing a changing current or voltage to the indicator of the call-out button. In other embodiments, the dynamic display effect is reflected as a variation in the color of the visual signs, such as the alternate illumination of a plurality of indicators with different colors (which all correspond to the same call-out button).
Although respiratory frequency varies with age, gender and physiological state, there is usually a normal range for a large number of individuals. The inventors of the present application have found through research that when the luminous intensity or frequency of color change of the visual sign is set within the normal range of respiratory frequency (e.g., 12-20 times/minute), it can significantly improve the subject's attention to the visual sign without causing discomfort to the subject.
Referring to
The method shown in
Step 801: The control unit 103 of the elevator call-out device 100, upon receiving a request to make the elevator car move upward or downward relative to the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located, causes the indicator of the call-out button corresponding to the requested direction of movement to enter a normally lit state. For example, if a request for upward movement is received, the control unit 103 causes the indicator corresponding to upward movement to be in the normally lit state.
The control unit 103 may determine whether a request is received and the type of request (upward movement or downward movement) based on the state of the call-out button 101 (e.g., buttons 201 and 202). Exemplarily, when the call-out button is pressed or an object is hovered near the call-out button, a trigger signal is generated at the control unit 103 (e.g., a high level signal is applied to the I/O port of the chip used to implement the control unit function), whereby the control unit 103 may determine the presence and type of the request and light the corresponding indicator by turning on the power supply Vcc.
Optionally, in step 801, the visual sign (e.g., indicator of the call-out button) may also be brought into the normally lit state in the following manner. The control unit 103 first receives a command from a device (e.g., an elevator controller) located outside the elevator call-out device that indicates the indicator to be switched to the normally lit state; the control unit 103 then switches the indicator indicated by the command from the off state to the normally lit state (e.g., by turning on the power supply Vcc to light the indicator). This approach can be applied, for example, in the following application scenario: a passenger sends a call request via a personal terminal device such as a cell phone, a smart watch and smart glasses, and a device located outside the elevator call-out device (such as an elevator controller) receives the call request and generates a corresponding control command to control the operation of the elevator car and instructs the elevator call-out device to present the corresponding information about the service status of the elevator.
Step 802: The control unit 103 judges whether there is an event that the elevator car stops at the landing station where the elevator call-out device 100 is located. If it exists, it proceeds to step 803, otherwise it continues to perform the judgment operation.
As mentioned above, various ways may be used to notify the control unit of an event that the elevator car stops at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located. For example, an indication signal that the elevator car stops at the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located or an indication signal that the door of the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located is opened or that the door of the elevator car is opened after arriving at the landing station may be sent to the control unit of the elevator call-out device by an elevator controller or an elevator control cabinet.
Step 803: The control unit 103 causes the indicator of the call-out button corresponding to the direction of movement of the elevator car, in which the car will move after stopping, to enter a flashing state. For example, in the examples shown in
As described above, the flashing state can be achieved by providing a changing current or voltage to the indicator of the call-out button, or by lighting a plurality of indicators with different colors (which all correspond to the same call-out button) alternately. In addition, the luminous intensity or frequency of color change of the indicator can be set within the normal range of respiratory frequency to improve the passenger's attention to the indicator without causing discomfort.
Step 804: The control unit 103 judges whether there is an event that the door of the elevator car or the door of the landing station where the elevator out-call device is located is closed. If it exists, it proceeds to step 805, otherwise it continues to perform the judgment operation. Various ways may be used to notify the control unit of an event that the door of the elevator car or the door of the landing station where the elevator call-out device is located is closed, such as the elevator controller or the elevator control cabinet sending an indication signal to the control unit that the door of the elevator car or the door of the landing station is closed.
In this step, it is also possible to replace the above judgment with a judgment of whether the stay of the elevator car at the landing station where the elevator call-out device 100 is located exceeds a preset duration. If it exceeds, it proceeds to step 805, otherwise, it continues to wait.
Step 805: The control unit 103 causes the indicator of the call-out button corresponding to the direction of movement of the elevator car after stopping switch from the flashing state to the off state. For example, in the examples shown in
According to another aspect of the present application, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program is stored. When the program is executed by the processor, one or more steps contained in the method described above with the help of
The computer-readable storage medium referred to in the application includes various types of computer storage media, and may be any available medium that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer. For example, the computer-readable storage medium may include RAM, ROM, EPROM, E2PROM, registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other transitory or non-transitory medium that may be used to carry or store a desired program code unit in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Disks as used herein usually copy data magnetically, while discs use lasers to optically copy data. The above combination should also be included in the protection scope of the computer-readable storage medium. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read and write information from and to the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in the ASIC. The ASIC may reside in the user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in the user terminal.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both.
To demonstrate this interchangeability between hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in changing ways for the particular application. However, such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.
Although only a few of the specific embodiments of the present application have been described, those skilled in the art will recognize that the present application may be embodied in many other forms without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Accordingly, the examples and embodiments shown are to be regarded as illustrative and not restrictive, and various modifications and substitutions may be covered by the application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application as defined by the appended claims.
The embodiments and examples presented herein are provided to best illustrate embodiments in accordance with the present technology and its particular application, and to thereby enable those skilled in the art to implement and use the present application. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description and examples are provided for convenience of illustration and example only. The presented description is not intended to cover every aspect of the application or to limit the application to the precise form disclosed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202210323808.8 | Mar 2022 | CN | national |
