CN108341310B

CN108341310B - Elevator system and display device

Info

Publication number: CN108341310B
Application number: CN201710474363.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 小林径
Original assignee: Toshiba Elevator Co Ltd
Current assignee: Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp
Priority date: 2017-01-25
Filing date: 2017-06-21
Publication date: 2020-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 2037-06-21
Also published as: CN108341310A; HK1256264A1; JP2018118818A; JP6321229B1; SG10201705551SA; MY189050A

Abstract

The present invention relates to an elevator system and a display device that reduce the time required until information for numbering elevators is displayed on a display. An elevator system is provided with: a destination floor registration device that registers a landing call including a destination floor of a user; and an assigned car control device that selects an appropriate numbered elevator from the hall calls registered by the destination floor registration device, and instructs the group management control device to respond to the selected numbered elevator. The assigned car control device periodically acquires response availability information indicating whether or not the corresponding numbered elevator can respond to the registered hall call from each individual control device, and when it is determined from the response availability information that the response is available, transmits numbered elevator information in which the corresponding numbered elevator is an assigned numbered elevator to the destination floor registration device. The destination floor registration device notifies the user of the assigned elevator indicated by the numbered elevator information sent from the assigned car control device.

Description

Elevator system and display device

The present application is based on Japanese patent application 2017-011113 (application date: 1/25/2017), according to which priority is enjoyed. This application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

Embodiments of the invention relate to an elevator system and a display apparatus.

Background

As a system for linking a safety system of a building with a group management system of elevators, there is a system for linking a security gate with a destination floor registration device. In recent years, the system has been introduced into buildings such as office buildings as follows: when a user passes through a security gate installed on a standard floor of a building or the like, information of a security card carried by the user is read, and when the user is authenticated as a legitimate user, the security gate is opened, and a destination floor of the user is automatically registered.

When the destination floor of the user is automatically registered, the elevator number corresponding to the destination floor of the user is determined, and the information of the elevator number is displayed on a display provided on a security gate. Thus, the user can confirm the numbered elevator to be taken by the user when passing through the security gate, and wait before the elevator waiting hall of the numbered elevator.

Disclosure of Invention

However, a predetermined time is required until the numbered elevator corresponding to the destination floor of the user is specified, and there is a possibility that the information of the numbered elevator cannot be displayed on the display until the user passes through the security gate. Accordingly, the user must wait near the exit until the information of the numbered elevators is displayed on the display, and another inconvenience may occur in which the user stays near the exit.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an elevator system and a display device that can reduce the time taken until information for numbering elevators is displayed on a display.

The elevator system of one embodiment is a system comprising: a numbered elevator appropriate for the user is selected from a plurality of numbered elevators according to the user's destination floor, and the selected numbered elevator is made to respond. The elevator system is provided with: a group management control device for performing group management control on the operation of each numbered elevator; a single control device provided for each of the numbered elevators and configured to control an operation of the corresponding numbered elevator in accordance with an instruction from the group management control device; a destination floor registration device that registers a landing call including a destination floor of the user; and an assigned car control device that selects the appropriate numbered elevator from the hall calls registered by the destination floor registration device, and instructs the group management control device to respond to the selected numbered elevator. The allocated car control device periodically acquires response availability information indicating whether the corresponding numbered elevator can respond to the registered hall call from each individual control device, determines whether the selected numbered elevator can respond to the registered hall call based on the acquired response availability information, and transmits numbered elevator information in which the numbered elevator is an allocated numbered elevator to the destination floor registration device when it is determined that the response is available. The destination floor registration device notifies the user of an assigned elevator number indicated by the elevator number information transmitted from the assigned car control device.

According to the elevator system configured as described above, the time taken until the information of the numbered elevators is displayed on the display can be reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of an elevator system according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the user information according to the present embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of the display unit according to this embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the elevator system according to this embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of a system for linking a security gate with a destination floor registration device in a general manner.

Fig. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the elevator system according to this embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing another example of the operation of the elevator system according to the embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing another display example of the display unit according to the embodiment.

Detailed Description

The following describes embodiments with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of an elevator system according to an embodiment. In the present embodiment, a system in which a security gate is interlocked with a destination floor registration device will be described. That is, the following is assumed: the security gate prevents entry of outside persons and also functions as a destination floor registration device.

The security gate 11 shown in fig. 1 is installed on a standard floor of a building such as an office building. The standard floor refers to a floor where users have many trips, such as a hall, in the case of an office building. Although only 1 security gate is shown in fig. 1, the number of security gates is not limited to this, and a plurality of security gates may be arranged in a row. A door 12 for preventing entry is openably and closably attached to an exit side of the safety door 11. A user authentication unit 13 is provided near the entrance of the security gate 11. The user authentication unit 13 reads information of the security card SC held by the user (hereinafter referred to as "user information") and authenticates whether the holder of the security card SC is a legitimate user. The manner of reading the user information from the security card SC may be any manner, such as an electromagnetic induction manner.

The user information is information including at least a user ID for identifying a user who is the owner of the security card SC and destination floor information indicating a destination floor (also referred to as a destination floor) of the user, as shown in fig. 2. For example, according to the user information a1 of fig. 2, it is displayed that the user ID is "user 1", and the destination floor of the user identified by the user ID "user 1" is "floor 5". The user information may further include attribute information indicating an attribute of the user, for example, in addition to the user ID and the destination floor information. The attribute information is information indicating a person (for example, the sex, age, and presence/absence of a wheelchair user) to which the user belongs.

When the user information is read from the security card SC, the user authentication unit 13 determines whether or not the user ID included in the user information matches a user ID registered in advance in a user database (hereinafter referred to as "user DB") 14 provided in the security gate 11, and authenticates whether or not the user is a legitimate user. For example, when the read user information is the user information a1 of fig. 2, the user authentication unit 13 determines whether or not the user ID "user 1" is registered in the user DB 14, and authenticates whether or not the user is a regular user. The user DB 14 may not be provided in the security gate 11, but may be provided separately from the security gate 11 in the form of an external server device that can communicate with the security gate 11.

The user authentication unit 13 registers a hall call to the assigned car control device 50 described later when the holder of the security card SC is authenticated as a regular user as a result of the authentication. Specifically, the user authentication unit 13 registers a hall call including a destination floor indicated by destination floor information included in the read user information. More specifically, the user authentication unit 13 registers a hall call to the installation floor of the elevator response security gate 11 going to the destination floor.

A display unit (display) 15 formed of a liquid crystal panel or the like is provided near the exit of the safety door 11. At least elevator information of the number indicating the elevator assigned to the user (hereinafter referred to as "assigned elevator") is displayed on the display unit 15. For example, as is clear from the display of fig. 3, the user may wait for an elevator before the waiting hall of "X elevator". The display unit 15 may display the number elevator information, and may further display, for example, a direction to a hall where the number-assigned elevator stops. The display unit 15 may be provided separately from the safety door 11 as long as it is provided near the exit of the safety door 11. For example, the display unit 15 may be suspended from a ceiling near the exit of the security gate 11.

A plurality of elevator waiting halls 20 for numbered elevators are provided in front of the security gate 11. In the example of fig. 1, 3 elevators a to C are illustrated as being installed at the same time, but the number of cars is not limited to this, and at least 2 numbered elevators may be installed at the same time.

In the present embodiment, basically, an "elevator" is referred to as a "car", and when a plurality of cars are described, the "elevator is referred to as a" numbered elevator ". In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the distance from the security gate 11 to the hall 20 is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance.

The group management control device 30 is a device for performing group management control of the operation of each numbered elevator. To the group management control device 30, elevator control devices (also referred to as individual control devices) 40A, 40B, and 40C corresponding to the respective numbered elevators are connected, respectively. That is, the group management control device 30 controls the operations of the elevator control devices 40A to 40C to perform group management control on the operation of each numbered elevator. For example, the group management control device 30 outputs an assignment signal instructing a response to a predetermined hall call to the elevator control device 40 corresponding to a predetermined number of elevators.

Each of the elevator control devices 40A to 40C independently controls the operation of each numbered elevator. Specifically, control of a motor for moving the car up and down, opening and closing control of a door, and the like are performed. Each of the elevator control devices 40A to 40C periodically (e.g., every 0.5 second, every 1 second, etc.) transmits, to the group management control device 30 and the assigned car control device 50, status information indicating the operation status (the current position of the car, the operation direction, the door open/close state, the presence or absence of an abnormality, etc.) of the corresponding numbered elevator and response availability information indicating whether or not the assignment signal output from the group management control device 30 is available for response (in other words, indicating whether or not the hall call is available for response).

The assigned car control device 50 periodically acquires the state information and the response availability information from each of the elevator control devices 40A to 40C, and records these pieces of information in a temporary memory, not shown. The status information and the response availability information recorded in the temporary memory are updated each time new status information and response availability information are received.

In response to registration of a hall call including a destination floor from the user authentication unit 13, the assigned car control device 50 selects a numbered elevator appropriate for the hall call from among a plurality of numbered elevators based on the state information recorded in the temporary memory, not shown. The assigned car control device 50 determines whether or not the selected elevator of the appropriate number can respond to the hall call based on response availability information recorded in a temporary memory, not shown. Further, the assigned car control device 50 outputs an assignment command to the group management control device 30, the assignment command instructing that an assignment signal be output to the elevator control device 40 corresponding to the selected elevator with the appropriate number. For example, when the selected elevator of the appropriate number is an elevator a, the assigned car control device 50 outputs an assignment command to the group management control device 30, the assignment command instructing the elevator control device 40A corresponding to the elevator a to output an assignment signal.

The assigned car control device 50 transmits elevator number information in which the selected appropriate elevator number is the assigned elevator number to the security gate 11. The assigned car control device 50 records at least the number elevator information that was transmitted most recently in the form of a log in a temporary memory, not shown. When receiving the numbered elevator information transmitted from the assigned car control device 50, the security gate 11 displays the numbered elevator information on the display unit 15.

Further, the assigned car control device 50 is preferably installed at the same floor as the security gate 11, that is, a standard floor. However, the installation position of the assigned car control device 50 is not limited to this, and any position may be used as long as communication with the security gate 11 is possible. The group management control device 30 may have various functions of the assigned car control device 50.

Here, before the operation of the elevator system of the present embodiment is described, a system in which a security gate is linked with a destination floor registration device will be briefly described.

In a system in which a security gate is interlocked with a destination floor registration device in a general manner, first, for a call registered by the security gate (destination floor registration device), a group management control device selects an appropriate number elevator from a plurality of number elevators in consideration of the operation state of each number elevator. Then, the group management control device outputs a response request for inquiring whether the registered call can be responded to the elevator control device corresponding to the selected elevator with the appropriate number, and if a response to the request is obtained from the elevator control device, the elevator with the number is formally used as the elevator with the assigned number. Then, the group management control device transmits elevator number information indicating the assigned elevator number to the security gate in order to notify the user of the elevator number to be taken.

In this case, although an appropriate number elevator is selected from the plurality of number elevators, a response request asking whether the registered call can be responded is output thereafter, and the number assigned elevator is determined after a response to the effect is obtained, so that there is a possibility that a lot of time is consumed until the number elevator information indicating the number assigned elevator is transmitted to the security gate. As a result, a large amount of time is required until the assigned number elevator is displayed on the display unit provided in the security gate, and there is a possibility that the user may be left in the vicinity of the exit of the security gate.

Therefore, the elevator system according to the present embodiment is configured as follows: the state information and the response possibility information acquired periodically are used to select an appropriate number elevator and determine whether the registered call can be responded, thereby immediately determining the number-allocated elevator. Next, an example of the operation of the elevator system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the elevator system according to the embodiment. In which, the user information including the user ID and the destination floor information is recorded in advance in the security card SC held by the user. Further, the user DB 14 is registered with the user ID of the authorized user in advance. Further, the state information and response availability information periodically acquired from each of the elevator control devices 40A to 40C are recorded in a temporary memory, not shown, in the assigned car control device 50.

First, when the security card SC is placed on the user authentication section 13 provided on the security door 11, the user authentication section 13 reads user information recorded in advance in the security card SC (step S1).

Then, the user authentication unit 13 determines whether or not the user ID included in the read user information matches any one of the user IDs registered in advance in the user DB 14 (step S2). As a result of the determination, if the user ID included in the user information does not match any of the user IDs registered in the user DB 14 (no in step S2), the user authentication unit 13 determines that the holder of the security card SC is not a legitimate user. Thereafter, the user authentication unit 13 displays a message urging the security card SC to be set again on the display unit 15 in a state where the door 12 of the security door 11 is kept closed (step S3), and the process ends here.

On the other hand, when the user ID included in the user information matches the user ID registered in the user DB 14 (yes in step S2), the user authentication unit 13 determines that the holder of the security card SC is a regular user, opens the door 12 of the security gate 11 (step S4), and registers a hall call including the destination floor indicated by the destination floor information included in the read user information (step S5).

When the landing call is registered, the assigned car control device 50 selects an elevator with an appropriate number from among a plurality of elevators with numbers based on the state information recorded in the temporary memory (not shown) (step S6), and determines whether the selected elevator with the appropriate number can respond to the landing call based on the response availability information recorded in the temporary memory (not shown) (step S7). If the selected elevator with the appropriate number cannot respond to the hall call as a result of the determination (no in step S7), the process returns to the above-described step S6, and the assigned car control device 50 reselects another elevator with an appropriate number again.

On the other hand, if the selected elevator with the appropriate number can respond to the hall call as a result of the determination (yes in step S7), the assigned car control device 50 transmits elevator number information in which the selected elevator with the appropriate number is the assigned elevator to the security gate 11 (step S8). At this time, the assigned car control device 50 records the number elevator information transmitted to the security gate 11 in the temporary memory, not shown, in the form of a log.

When the numbered elevator information transmitted from the assigned car control device 50 is received, the security gate 11 displays the numbered elevator information on the display unit 15 (step S9).

At the same time as the transmission of the numbered elevator information, the assigned car control device 50 outputs an assignment command to the group management control device 30, the assignment command instructing the elevator control device 40 corresponding to the selected elevator with the appropriate number to output an assignment signal (step S10).

Upon receiving the assignment command output from the assigned car control device 50, the group management control device 30 outputs an assignment signal to the elevator control device 40 corresponding to the elevator with the appropriate number (step S11). Then, upon receiving the assignment signal output from the group management control device 30, the elevator control device 40 makes the car respond to the registered hall call (step S12), and ends the processing here.

According to the operation of fig. 4 described above, the assigned car control device 50 selects an appropriate numbered elevator and determines whether or not it is possible to respond to a registered hall call using the state information and response possibility information that are periodically acquired, and can immediately identify the assigned numbered elevator and transmit the numbered elevator information to the security gate 11, so that the above-described inadequacy can be eliminated.

Here, a difference between a general system for interlocking a security gate with a destination floor registration device and the elevator system according to the present embodiment will be additionally described with reference to fig. 5 and 6. Fig. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of operations from registration of a hall call to display of numbered elevator information in a system in which a security gate is interlocked with a destination floor registration device in a general manner. Fig. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an example of operations from registration of a hall call to display of numbered elevator information in the elevator system according to the present embodiment.

As described briefly above, in the conventional system, as shown in fig. 5, the group management control device selects an appropriate numbered elevator, communicates with the elevator control device to output a response request, and determines an assigned numbered elevator after receiving a response from the elevator control device.

On the other hand, in the elevator system according to the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 6, the assigned car control device 50 selects an appropriate numbered elevator, and thereafter can determine the assigned numbered elevator without communicating with the elevator control device 40. That is, according to this elevator system, it is possible to omit the processing of the response request and the response necessary in the normal system, and it is not necessary to communicate with the elevator control device 40, and therefore, it is possible to determine the assigned number elevator at once as compared with the normal system.

On the other hand, since the response availability information recorded in the temporary memory (not shown) is not necessarily the latest response availability information (for example, in the case of acquiring the response availability information every 0.5 second, the response availability information before 0.5 second used for determining whether or not the response is available may be different from the current situation), there is a possibility that the operation efficiency of the elevator is slightly lowered as compared with the normal system, but there is a great advantage that the staying of the user near the exit of the security gate 11 can be reduced.

Next, the operation of the elevator system in the following case will be described with reference to the flowchart of fig. 7: immediately after the numbered elevator information is transmitted to the security gate 11 (for example, 0.5 second later), it is known that an abnormality occurs in a predetermined numbered elevator by the state information and the response availability information periodically acquired from the elevator control devices 40A to 40C, and the predetermined numbered elevator cannot respond to the hall call.

The assigned car control device 50 periodically acquires the state information and the response availability information from each of the elevator control devices 40A to 40C. At this time, when it is indicated by the acquired state information and the response availability information that the predetermined number elevator is abnormal and cannot respond to the hall call, the assigned car control device 50 checks whether or not the assigned number elevator indicated by the number elevator information that is recorded in the temporary memory, not shown, in the form of a log and that has been transmitted to the security gate 11 most recently is a number elevator that cannot respond to the hall call (step S21).

If it is confirmed as a result of the confirmation that the assigned-number elevator is not the number elevator which cannot respond to the hall call (no in step S21), the process ends here.

On the other hand, if it is confirmed as a result of the confirmation that the assigned-number elevator is an elevator with a number that cannot respond to a hall call (yes in step S21), the assigned car control device 50 transmits message information to urge the security card SC to be placed again in the user authentication section 13 to the security gate 11 (step S22). Upon receiving the message information transmitted from the assigned car control device 50, the security gate 11 displays the message information on the display unit 15 instead of the numbered elevator information currently displayed on the display unit 15 as shown in fig. 8, closes the door 12 (step S23), and ends the processing here.

According to the operation of fig. 7 described above, even if an abnormality occurs in the assigned-number elevator immediately after the assigned-number elevator is specified, message information prompting the security card SC to be set again and the hall call to be registered again can be displayed on the display section 15 instead of the numbered elevator information. This reduces the possibility that the user will go to an elevator with a number that cannot respond to a hall call by mistake.

Further, the following steps may be added: immediately after the processing of step S21, it is determined whether or not the elapsed time after the numbered elevator information is transmitted to the security gate 11 has exceeded a predetermined time. By adding this step, it is possible to determine whether or not the user has erroneously confirmed the numbered elevator information and has passed through the security gate 11, and it is possible to reduce the possibility of erroneously displaying the message information to the next user.

According to the above-described embodiment, the time required until the information of the numbered elevators is displayed on the display (display unit 15) can be reduced.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in other various forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

Claims

1. An elevator system which selects a numbered elevator suitable for a user from a plurality of numbered elevators according to a destination floor of the user and makes the selected numbered elevator respond, the elevator system comprising:

a group management control device for performing group management control on the actions of the numbered elevators;

a single control device provided for each of the numbered elevators and configured to control an operation of the corresponding numbered elevator in accordance with an instruction from the group management control device;

a destination floor registration device that registers a landing call including a destination floor of the user; and

an assigned car control device that selects the appropriate numbered elevator from the hall calls registered by the destination floor registration device and instructs the group management control device to respond to the selected numbered elevator,

the allocated car control device periodically acquires, from each individual control device, response availability information indicating whether the corresponding numbered elevator can respond to the registered hall call according to the current situation, determines whether the selected numbered elevator can respond to the registered hall call based on the acquired response availability information, and transmits, to the destination floor registration device, numbered elevator information in which the numbered elevator is an allocated numbered elevator when it is determined that the response is available,

the destination floor registration device notifies the user of an assigned elevator number indicated by the elevator number information transmitted from the assigned car control device.

2. Elevator system according to claim 1,

the assigned car control device transmits numbered elevator information in which the numbered elevator is an assigned numbered elevator to the destination floor registration device without confirming to the individual control device corresponding to the numbered elevator whether the selected numbered elevator can respond to the registered hall call.

3. Elevator system according to claim 1,

the allocated car control device periodically acquires status information indicating an operation state of the corresponding numbered elevator from each individual control device so as to be performed together with the acquisition of the response availability information, and selects the appropriate numbered elevator based on the destination floor of the user included in the hall call registered by the destination floor registration device and the acquired status information.

4. Elevator system according to claim 1,

the destination floor registration device is separated from a hall where the elevator with each number stops by a predetermined distance or more.

5. Elevator system according to claim 1,

the destination floor registration device is a security gate.

6. Elevator system according to claim 5,

the destination floor registration device reads a user ID and destination floor information recorded in a security card held by the user from the security card, determines whether the holder of the security card is a regular user based on the read user ID, and registers the hall call including the destination floor indicated by the read destination floor information when the holder of the security card is determined to be a regular user.

7. Elevator system according to claim 1,

when the response availability information periodically acquired from each individual control device immediately after the numbered elevator information is transmitted to the destination floor registration device indicates that the numbered elevator indicated by the transmitted numbered elevator information cannot respond to the hall call, the assigned car control device transmits message information to prompt re-registration of the hall call to the destination floor registration device,

the destination floor registration device notifies the user of message information transmitted from the assigned car control device in place of the numbered elevator information.

8. A display apparatus included in an elevator system, the elevator system comprising: a group management control device for performing group management control on the actions of the plurality of numbered elevators; a single-body control device which is provided for each numbered elevator and controls the operation of the corresponding numbered elevator according to the instruction from the group management control device; and an assigned car control device that selects an appropriate numbered elevator based on a hall call including a destination floor registered in accordance with an operation by a user, and instructs the group management control device to respond to the selected numbered elevator, wherein the assigned car control device periodically acquires response availability information indicating whether or not the corresponding numbered elevator can respond to the registered hall call in accordance with a current situation from each individual control device, determines whether or not the selected numbered elevator can respond to the registered hall call based on the acquired response availability information, and transmits numbered elevator information using the numbered elevator as an assigned numbered elevator if it is determined that a response is possible, the display device being characterized by comprising:

a registration unit that registers the hall call in accordance with an operation by the user; and

and a display unit that displays the assigned elevator number indicated by the elevator number information transmitted from the assigned car control device.