Patent Grant
10371531
The invention relates to positioning a user within a structure including a passageway, and particularly to operating the passageway on the basis of the positioning.
Elevators are hoisted in vertical passageways between floors. These passageways may be also referred to as hoistways due to the movement of the elevator car by hoisting operation past the floors. A hoistway is equipped with hoisting equipment, e.g. an elevator car that is hoisted under control of elevator control system. Elevator control system drives the elevator car between the floors based on the elevator calls obtained via an elevator control panel from the users. The elevator control panel is located in each floor to enable the calling of the elevator to the floor.
Accordingly, issuing an elevator call requires the user to manually operate the elevator control panel. The elevator call is issued by using the elevator control panel in the same way regardless of the user is leaving or coming back to home, visiting the building or the actual purpose the user is within the building. After all, the user is typically not in the building just for using the elevator. Accordingly, the presence of the user within a building is not appreciated in issuing the elevator calls manually.
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
According to an aspect there is provided a method comprising receiving indoor positioning information for positioning a user within a structure including at least one passageway and one or more bookmarks, a bookmark including a location of the bookmark within the structure, and a function for operating the passageway, when the bookmark is activated, determining a location of the user, comparing the location of the user with the locations of the bookmarks, determining at least one bookmark to be activated on the basis of the correspondence of the user's location and the locations of the bookmarks, activating the determined bookmark.
According to an aspect there is provided a method for operating a passageway within a structure, the method comprising obtaining one or more bookmarks, a bookmark including a location of the bookmark within the structure, and a function for operating the passageway, when the bookmark is activated, determining an activation of a bookmark, determining a current operational state of the passageway, determining a future operational state of the passageway on the basis of the function of the activated bookmark, controlling the passageway towards the future operational state, when the current operational state and the future operational state are different.
According to an aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising means to perform a method according to a method according to an aspect.
A computer program product comprising executable code that when executed, cause execution of functions of a method according to an aspect.
According to an aspect there is provided a computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the computer program being configured to control a processor to perform a method according to an aspect.
According to an aspect there is provided a computer program embodied on a distribution medium, comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an electronic apparatus, constitute the functionality of an apparatus according to an aspect.
Some aspects provide improvements comprising operating a passageway in a structure by indoor positioning information for positioning a user in the structure.
Some aspects provide improvements comprising flexible controlling of the passageway from one operational state to another by bookmarks.
Some aspects provide improvements comprising operating a passageway by a virtual environment.
Some aspects provide improvements comprising prescheduling of passageway operations.
In the following the invention will be described in greater detail by means of preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
Buildings typically include passageways for transportation of people and goods. Passageways typically extend in one floor of a building, but also between levels by the passageways being inclined or the passageways including stairs. Passageways may be equipped with lighting, heating and acclimatisation systems. These systems assist transportation of traffic through the passageway. In the following they are referred to as transportation systems. The transportation systems may be controlled manually but increasingly also by building automation systems.
The structure may be any built object that is capable of housing a passageway for transportation of the traffic. A building having a plurality of floors that serve as landing zones for an elevator car is one example of the building according to an embodiment. The traffic may comprise people and/or goods.
It should be appreciated that a structure may be mobile or fixed to a geographical location. Examples of moving structure include ships and airplanes. A structure fixed to a geographical location is for example a building including apartments and/or offices.
In an embodiment the passageway may be a hoistway of an elevator. An elevator car is arranged in the hoistway for moving traffic between passage zones, referred to as landing zones for the elevator. A structure may include one or more hoistways. An elevator shaft is formed by the structure including the elevator. The elevator shaft may include more than one hoistways, in parallel or arranged on top of each other in the hoisting direction of the elevator cars. A typical hoisting direction is the vertical direction, but also directions that are inclined from the vertical direction are possible. It is also possible to have more than one elevator shaft in a structure.
A bookmark may include a location 122 of the bookmark within the structure, and a function 124 for operating the passageway. The location information may comprise an indoor location of the bookmark in the structure.
In an embodiment, the bookmark may be arranged to the structure as a part of indoor positioning information of the structure. The structure may be defined by one or more locations in the positioning information. The definition of the structure may be a map including indoor locations in the structure, whereby the bookmark may be located in the building on the map.
The bookmark may be implemented as a data structure. A plurality of bookmarks may form a database.
Various indoor positioning techniques may be used to define an indoor location in the embodiments. A location of a person or object, e.g. a bookmark, within the building may be defined by a tag carried by the person or object. The location of the tag may be measured by Wireless Local Area Network, e.g. IEEE 802.11 compliant WLAN, Access Points that communicate with the tag using WLAN radio signals. In another example the tag may be a Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) transponder and the building may have RFID scanners that obtain a response signal from the tag, when the tag is near the RFID scanner. In this way the tag may be positioned at least with the accuracy of the RFID scanner. Locations within a building may be defined on a map formed by magnetic field mapping. In magnetic field mapping the magnetic field inside the building may be measured in different locations and a map may be formed on the basis of the measured magnetic field information.
In an embodiment a bookmark, the bookmark may be arranged to the structure as a physical unit installed as a part of the structure. The physical unit may be installed to a fixed location inside the building and be arranged to be activated on the basis of the correspondence of the user's location. Additionally or alternatively a location of transported goods may be used to activate the bookmark. Also further criteria may be for determining activation of the bookmark than the location information.
In one example the state S1, S2 may indicate whether the passageway is open for transportation of traffic or not. Passageways having only a very few states, e.g. the S1 “open” and S2 “closed” are suitable for relatively simple passageways, e.g. passageways having only one doorway, or one route extending between doorways. The function operating the passageway causes the passageway to change from its current state S1 to another state S2.
More complex passageways may have more states. These passageways may have several routes and/or doorways which traffic entering the passageway can take. In one example of a complex passageway is a hoistway of elevator, where the elevator has a plurality of landing zones. The landing zones may represent states of the elevator. There may be further states for indicating direction of the elevator. Already an elevator with two landing zones may have more than one state, since elevator state may indicate, whether the elevator is travelling from one landing zone to another, stopped to one landing zone or stopped to another landing zone. Further states may be needed if the direction of the elevator during its travelling should be is indicated, whereby separate states for each direction could be used. Similarly, to the example of simple passageways having only two states, the function may operate the more complex passageway to change the current state of the passageway to some of the other states of the plurality of states.
In an embodiment a function comprises one or more of: moving an elevator car between landing zones, switching lights on/off in the passageway, heating or cooling of the structure to a set temperature, navigating to a location within the structure, operating a building automation system and transmission of an automated message to a predetermined recipient. Correspondingly, operational states comprise a landing zone, lights on/off in the passageway, temperature of the structure, a location within the structure, an operational state of a building automation system, and transmission state of an automated message to a predetermined recipient.
In an embodiment the passageway may comprise a transportation system that assists traffic to be transported through the passageway. The function may operate the transportation system via an interface that may be implemented by a combination of software and hardware. Pre-existing interfaces may be re-used and operated by drivers for establishing wired or wireless communications between the transportation system and the function of the bookmark.
The transportation system may comprise hoisting machinery, an elevator control system, one or more lights, heating device, cooling device, navigation system, a building automation system and a message transmission system. Hoisting machinery is preferable for hoisting an elevator car in a hoistway between landing zones. An elevator control system is preferable for controlling hoisting machinery and/or controlling the driving of the elevator between landing zones by a function of the activated bookmark, elevator calls to landing zones, daily traffic pattern of the elevator and/or a current traffic on board the elevator car. Lights may be preferably switched on and off or dimmed to adjust the lighting on the basis of the activated bookmark. The heating device, e.g. a radiator, and the cooling device, e.g. a fan, may be preferable to adjust the temperature in the passageway on the basis of the activated bookmark. The temperature may be adjusted to a set temperature. A navigation system is preferable, to guide a person in the passageway. The guiding may comprise guiding the person through a network of passageways and/or to leave the passageway through the correct doorway. The navigation may be implemented by a combination of indoor positioning of the person and e.g. lights that may be illuminated for navigating through the passageway. In a crossroads in the passageway, the lights may be illuminated in the portion of the passageway, towards the destination of the person. Also other traffic may be navigated through the passageway than people. A building automation system is preferable for controlling a combination of heating, cooling, lights, locks in a building on the basis of the activation of the bookmark. A message transmission system is preferable for transmitting an automated message to a predetermined recipient.
The criteria defined for the bookmark cause activation of the bookmark, when the criteria are met. The activation criteria selectable by a user comprise for example one or more from a location within the structure, an activation time, a time period of activity, a user identifier of allowed users of the bookmark, a number of activation times.
In 404, indoor positioning information is obtained for positioning a user within a structure including at least one passageway and one or more bookmarks, a bookmark including a location of the bookmark within the structure, and a function for operating the passageway, when the bookmark is activated.
In 406 a location of the user is determined. The location may be determined as a location within the structure. The location of the user may correspond to a location of the device participating in the indoor positioning. The device may be a mobile phone of the user or a tag, for example.
In 408, the location of the user is compared with the locations of the bookmarks.
In 410 at least one bookmark is determined to be activated on the basis of the correspondence of the user's location and the locations of the bookmarks. It should be appreciated that if at least one bookmark is defined to a location in the building the bookmark will eventually be activated.
In 412, the determined bookmark is activated. The activation of the bookmark causes the function of the bookmark to be executed. If the bookmark has more than one function, they all may be activated. Different functions may have different activation criteria, whereby only a part of the functions may be executed by the activation.
In 504, interrelated bookmarks may be determined. The determining may be performed, when a bookmark is activated or when a bookmark is defined. When the bookmarks ide defined, the bookmark may be stored information indicating one or more interrelated bookmarks.
If in 506 a bookmark that is activated is a bookmark interrelated to one or more other bookmarks, the process proceeds to 508. The decision in 506 may be preceded by determining whether the activated bookmark is an interrelated bookmark. The determining may be performed by checking the activated bookmark for information of interrelated bookmarks and/or by comparing the location of the activated bookmark to locations of one or more bookmarks to determine the interrelated bookmarks.
In 508 one or more bookmarks that are interrelated to the activated bookmarks are activated. In this way functions of the interrelated bookmarks may be executed by activation of the first bookmarks of the interrelated bookmarks. In 510 the process ends after interrelated bookmarks are activated.
If in 506 a bookmark that is activated is not interrelated to further bookmarks, further bookmarks are not activated on the basis of the first activated bookmark and the process ends 510.
In 604, information identifying the bookmarks within the structure may be obtained. The obtained information may be used to determine the bookmarks within the structure. After bookmarks are identified, the identified bookmarks may be derived location information and information on the function operating on a passageway in the structure. A bookmark may be defined be further criterion in addition to the location information and these criterion may be stored to bookmark.
In 606, the information identifying the bookmarks is used to identify the bookmarks in the structure and the activation criteria of the identified bookmarks is used to determine those bookmarks from the identified bookmarks that may be activated. At least one of the activation criteria may be used to determine a set of bookmarks from the identified bookmarks that may be activated. In an embodiment a user identifier of a user within the structure is used to determine the set of bookmarks that are allowed to be activated.
The user identifier may be obtained by an authentication to a service that provides the bookmarks and/or the passageway in the structure. It is conceivable that an authentication to various internet services, e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn may be used to obtain a user identifier of the user for determining the set of bookmarks that are allowed to him/her.
In 608, the set of bookmarks is determined and may be activated as described for example for a single bookmark in
The physical structure may have a virtual representation in the virtual environment. The virtual environment may be defined by a software application executed on a computer. The computer may operate as a server such that the virtual environment may be accessed from computer or mobile phones that are remote from the server. The remote access may be provided by an Internet connection.
The virtual environment that is executed may include a user interface component for displaying the virtual environment to a user. It may be also possible to receive commands via the user interface component for the purpose of defining one or more bookmarks to the virtual environment, e.g. according to the process of
The user interface may be a typical user interface of a computing device that may be controlled to view the virtual environment by the software application. The user interface may be provided by one or more a touch screen, display, buttons and/or a keyboard, for example.
In an embodiment the representation of the physical structure in the virtual environment may include passageways 710 and bookmarks 720 that correspond to the passageways 730 and bookmarks 740 of the physical structure.
In the following, an embodiment including a process for updating information of activated bookmarks in the virtual environment to the bookmarks of the physical structure is described. The process comprises determining a function 724 executed in the virtual environment, determining the passageway 730 of the physical structure that corresponds to the passageway 710 operated on by the function 724 of the bookmark 720 activated in the virtual environment 702, and activating one or more bookmarks 740 of determined the physical structure said activated bookmarks operating on the determined passageway 730.
In the virtual environment, the function of the bookmarks operates on the passageway 710 included in the virtual environment. In the virtual environment, the passageway may be referred to as a virtual passageway. On the other hand in the physical structure the function 744 of the bookmark 740 operates on the passageway 710 located in the physical structure. The passageways and the functions of the virtual environment and the physical structure may be identified by the bookmarks of the virtual environment and the physical structure for determining which function is executed and which passageway the function operates on. The relationship between the passageways in the virtual environment and in the physical structure may be defined by mapping rules. The mapping rules may define one or more bookmarks of the virtual environment that correspond to the one or more bookmarks of the physical structure, whereby correspondence between a passageway of the virtual environment which is operated by a function maybe established to a passageway in the physical structure.
In an embodiment a function executed in the virtual environment indicates a performance level achieved in a software application being executed to realize the virtual environment. The performance level may be mapped by mapping rules to a function operating on the determined passageway of the physical structure. The performance level may be obtained din the virtual environment in response to activation of a bookmark in the virtual environment and execution of the function. The execution of the function changes the operational state of the virtual passageway in the virtual environment. The new operational state on the virtual environment may be used as the performance level. The operational state may be mapped to a performance level according to specific rules. Preferably the performance level represents an improvement in the operational state of the virtual passageway. The improvement may be an increase of a landing zone number in an elevator in the virtual environment, switch lights on/off in the virtual passageway, increasing or decreasing temperature of in the virtual environment, traveled distance in the virtual environment, reaching a location within the virtual environment.
In an embodiment, mapping rules define a mapping of the performance level in the virtual environment to a set of allowed functions of the passageway of the physical structure. In one example, the set of allowed operational states includes a set of allowed landing zones of an elevator.
In an embodiment the virtual environment may include an avatar of a user moving in the virtual environment. The avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. The movement of the avatar in the virtual environment may be used to activate a bookmark similar to the movement of the user within the structure as described in various embodiments herein.
Various embodiments described above including bookmarks in a virtual environment and in a physical structure provide activation of the bookmarks by updating information of activated bookmarks in the virtual environment to the bookmarks of the physical structure.
In 804 one or more bookmarks are obtained. A bookmark includes at least a location of the bookmark within the structure, and a function for operating the passageway, when the bookmark is activated. Step 604 in
In 806 an activation of a bookmark is determined. The activation of the bookmarks may be determined as described above with
In 808 a current operational state of the passageway is determined. The current operational state may be retrieved from a memory or obtained by a query a transportation system of the passageway. Also a future operational state of the passageway is determined on the basis of the function of the activated bookmark. The execution of the function may result in the future operational state of the passageway as described in
In 810 the passageway is controlled towards the determined future operational state, when the current operational state and the future operational state are different. In the event the new operational state of the passageway is the same as the current operational state, the controlling step may be omitted or considered as completed.
The method described in
In 812 the method may end after the controlling for the passageway to reach the future operational state has been performed.
The process may start by activation of the bookmark that includes a function 924 for operating the passageway and a location 922 within a structure, for examples as described in
In 902 an activation time Ta of the bookmark is determined. In 904 the current time Tc, is determined. If the activation time Ta is substantially the current time Tc, the function may be directly queued for execution and the process proceeds to operate the passageway 910 by the functions that are queued for execution. The functions to be executed may be referred to be in a pipeline for processing by a service logic applied to the passageway. The service logic defines how traffic is served through the passageway. The service logic may be for example by a transportation system of the passageway. In the direct queuing, the function is executed 910 from the queue using the service logic of the passageway. In elevators, this service logic may control the elevator between elevator landing zones using a variety of parameters including but not limited to the number of people aboard the elevator and elevator calls from landing zones. In one example the queued function is an elevator call to a landing zone and the elevator call is served using the service logic.
If the activation time is far removed from the current time, for example in the future, the process proceeds to monitor the activation against the current time. The activation time and the current time may be monitored e.g. by a comparison against a threshold values for their difference |Ta−Tc|<th, where th is used as a threshold and it is the absolute value for the difference between the activation time and the current time. In this way the function of the activated bookmark may be performed substantially at a defined time, Ta. The th may be set according to the current queue length. The queue length may be determined on the basis of the functions in the queue. Preferably, the threshold th is set such that the function is queued for execution before the desired activation time. In this way the actual activation of the bookmark and execution of the function may be achieved substantially at the defined activation time.
The activation time may be defined as a criterion, when the bookmark is defined. Defining the activation time as criteria provides timing bookmarks in advance for executing the functions of the bookmarks at a specific time in the future. This allows passageways to be operated based on the prescheduled needs of people to use the passageway. In one example an activation time allows pre-ordering of an elevator to a landing zone. Once the activation time meets the condition set in 906, the elevator call may be received by an elevator control system.
The process of
The apparatus 1000 comprises an interfacing unit 1002, a processing unit 1008, and a memory (M) 1010, that are all being electrically interconnected. The processing unit may comprise a single-core or a multi-core processor. The interfacing unit comprises an input 1004 and an output unit 1006 that provide, respectively, the input and output interfaces to the apparatus. The input and output units may be configured or arranged to send and receive data packets and/or transmissions according to one or more protocols according to communications standards and/or proprietary communications systems including but not limited to: ISA, PCI, Ethernet, and IEEE 802.11 based Wireless Local Area Network and various cellular communications technologies and any other suitable standard/non-standard communication means. The memory may comprise one or more applications that are executable by the handover unit.
The processing unit may be implemented by a central processing unit (CPU) capable of performing further tasks in addition to the tasks for executing the handover. The CPU may comprise a set of registers, an arithmetic logic unit, and a control unit. The handover unit may have dedicated parts of the CPU for performing the handover tasks. The control unit is controlled by a sequence of program instructions transferred to the CPU from the memory. The control unit may contain a number of microinstructions for basic operations. The implementation of micro-instructions may vary, depending on the CPU design. The program instructions may be coded by a programming language, which may be a high-level programming language, such as C, Java, etc., or a low-level programming language, such as a machine language, or an assembler. The electronic digital computer may also have an operating system, which may provide system services to a computer program written with the program instructions. The memory may be a volatile or a non-volatile memory, for example EEPROM, ROM, PROM, RAM, DRAM, SRAM, firmware, programmable logic, etc.
An embodiment provides a computer program embodied on a distribution medium, comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an electronic apparatus, cause the CPU to perform according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The computer program may be in source code form, object code form, or in some intermediate form, and it may be stored in some sort of carrier, which may be any entity or device capable of carrying the program. Such carriers include a record medium, computer memory, read-only memory, electrical carrier signal, telecommunications signal, and software distribution package, for example.
The techniques described herein may be implemented by various means so that an apparatus implementing one or more functions described with an embodiment comprises not only prior art means, but also means for receiving indoor positioning information for positioning a user within a structure including at least one passageway and one or more bookmarks, a bookmark including a location of the bookmark within the structure, and a function for operating the passageway, when the bookmark is activated, determining a location of the user, comparing the location of the user with the locations of the bookmarks, determining at least one bookmark to be activated on the basis of the correspondence of the user's location and the locations of the bookmarks, activating the determined bookmark.
According to another aspect, an apparatus implementing one or more functions described with an embodiment comprises not only prior art means, but also means for operating a passageway within a structure, obtaining one or more bookmarks, a bookmark including a location of the bookmark within the structure, and a function for operating the passageway, when the bookmark is activated, determining an activation of a bookmark, determining a current operational state of the passageway, determining a future operational state of the passageway on the basis of the function of the activated bookmark, controlling the passageway towards the future operational state, when the current operational state and the future operational state are different.
According to an embodiment, there is provided an arrangement comprising a positioning unit for obtaining indoor positioning information for positioning a user within a structure including at least one passageway and one or more bookmarks, a bookmark including a location of the bookmark within the structure, and a function for operating the passageway, when the bookmark is activated; and a control unit operatively connected to the receiver and the positioning unit and configured to execute one or more functionalities described with an embodiment.
According to an embodiment, there is provided an arrangement comprising a control unit for operating a passageway within a structure, a receiver for obtaining one or more bookmarks, a bookmark including a location of the bookmark within the structure, and a function for operating the passageway, when the bookmark is activated, the control unit and the receiver are operatively connected to cause the control unit to execute one or more functionalities described with an embodiment.
More precisely, the various means comprise means for implementing functionality of a corresponding apparatus described with an embodiment and it may comprise separate means for each separate function, or means may be configured to perform two or more functions. For example, these techniques may be implemented in hardware (one or more apparatuses), firmware (one or more apparatuses), software (one or more modules), or combinations thereof. For a firmware or software, implementation can be through modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in any suitable, processor/computer-readable data storage medium(s) or memory unit(s) or article(s) of manufacture and executed by one or more processors/computers. The data storage medium or the memory unit may be implemented within the processor/computer or external to the processor/computer, in which case it can be communicatively coupled to the processor/computer via various means as is known in the art.
It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as the technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are not limited to the examples described above but may vary within the scope of the claims.
This application is a Continuation of PCT International Application No. PCT/FI2014/050050, filed on Jan. 22, 2014, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference into the present application.
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