EP2653424B1

EP2653424B1 - Call registration device of elevator

Info

Publication number: EP2653424B1
Application number: EP10860801.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ayako Nagata; Shinichi Kuroda; Nobukazu Takeuchi
Original assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Current assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Priority date: 2010-12-14
Filing date: 2010-12-14
Publication date: 2019-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 2030-12-14
Also published as: CN103221325A; JPWO2012081082A1; WO2012081082A1; EP2653424A4; JP5626362B2; KR101537456B1; KR20130101118A; EP2653424A1; CN103221325B

Description

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a call registration device of an elevator.

Background Art

In an elevator which performs car call registrations by button operations, car call registrations by button operations are sometimes difficult, for example, in the case where the sense of sight of a user is impaired, a user is carrying luggage or in the case where the elevator is very crowded. Therefore, there has hitherto been known an elevator provided with a voice call registration device which permits call registrations by voice input without requiring manual button operations. When a voice spoken by a user is inputted to a voice input section of a microphone and the like, this call registration device of an elevator recognizes the inputted voice and performs a call registration of a destination floor spoken by the user. However, in such a call registration device of an elevator, due to the effect of environmental noises and the like in places where voice input is performed, there is a possibility that the destination floor spoken by the user is wrongly recognized and hence wrongly registered, that is, a call registration is performed to a destination floor which is different from the destination floor spoken (intended to be registered) by the user.
Therefore, in conventional call registration devices of an elevator, there are known call registration devices of an elevator which are such that when a user consecutively speaks words representing the destination floor of a call registration which becomes an object of cancellation and words determined in advance for cancellation, the call registration of the destination floor in question can be canceled (refer to Patent Literature 1, for example). In this voice call registration device described in Patent Literature 1, in the case where it is judged by use of a speaker authentication technique by the sound quality of voices that the same user as the user who performed a call registration spoke the voice to the effect of cancellation, the cancellation of the call registration is performed.
In other cases, in an elevator which performs call registrations by voice input from a voice remote control device to which an ID number peculiar to each user is assigned, there are also known call registration devices of an elevator which are such that when a user speaks words determined in advance for cancellation in this voice remote control device, the call registration can be canceled (refer to Patent Literature 2, for example). In this call registration device of an elevator described in Patent Literature 2, from a peculiar ID number assigned to a voice remote control device carried by each user, it is possible to identify which user performed a call registration of which destination floor. Therefore, in the case where a voice to the effect of cancellation has been inputted to a voice remote control device, the call registration to be cancelled is determined on the basis of the ID number of the voice remote control device in question.
Furthermore, in call registration devices of an elevator which perform call registrations by voice input, there have hitherto been also known call registration devices of an elevator which are such that a button for canceling a call registration of each destination floor is provided for each floor (refer to Patent Literature 3, for example). In this call registration device of an elevator described in Patent Literature 3, next to each destination floor button for performing a call registration of each floor, a button for canceling the call registration of the destination floor is provided for each floor. And when a call registration of an unintended destination floor has been performed by voice input, the user can cancel the call registration of the unintended destination floor in question by operating a cancel button corresponding to the unintended destination floor in question. As a call registration device for an elevator similar to this, for example, as described in Patent Literature 4, there is also known a call registration device of an elevator which is such that one cancel button is provided and at the time of a cancellation, this cancel button and a call registration button for the destination floor to be cancelled are simultaneously operated.
Moreover, in call registration devices of an elevator which perform call registrations by voice input, there are also known call registration devices of an elevator which are such that in order to prevent wrong registrations by wrong recognition of voices, the number of voice call registrations which become what is called useless calls is counted and in the case where voice call registrations which become useless calls are performed a predetermined number of times or more, the call registrations are canceled (refer to Patent Literature 5, for example). Here, what is called a useless call refers to, for example, what is called a back call (a call registration in which a floor present in a direction reverse to the movement direction of the elevator is a destination floor), a call registration of a floor at which the elevator in question is presently stopped, and the like.

Citation List

Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-010073
Patent Literature 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-053336
Patent Literature 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-255243
Patent Literature 4: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-061279
Patent Literature 5: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 03-095082

Document US 4 558 298 describes an elevator call entry system comprising microphones, oral message recognizing units and voice print recognizing units. A hold unit stores for certain time the most recent one of the speaker recognition parameters. The call to a floor is canceled when the voiceprint of the voice command calling for a call entry to said floor is coincident with data of the voice command calling for its cancellation.
Document JP S57 51664 A describes a control device for an elevator. The control device enables registering a call by voice command. The call registration may be held for a predetermined time and the destination call may be corrected.

Summary of invention

Technical Problem

However, in the conventional call registration device of an elevator described in Patent Literature 1, call registrations to be cancelled are determined by using a voice recognition technique as well as a speaker authentication technique. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare in advance a phonemic model for performing speaker authentication or to obtain a phonemic model by learning each time, posing the problem that this preparation requires complicated troublesome work and the problem that a device for performing a process to obtain a phonemic model each time is necessary, making the configuration complex. And because in order to perform speaker authentication, it is necessary to perform computations to extract characteristic parameters of voice, the configuration becomes complex also in this respect. Furthermore, another problem is that, in the case where the destination floor of a call registration which is an object of cancellation is wrongly recognized or speaker authentication is unsuccessful, there is a possibility that a call registration which is not intended to be cancelled is canceled.
The conventional call registration device of an elevator described in Patent Literature 2 is predicated on that each user performs a call registration using a voice remote control device, and there occurs the problem that this call registration device cannot be applied to an elevator in which such a voice remote control device is not used. Another problem is that some users do not perform their call registrations again when their destination floors have already been registered, and for such users, when an original call registrant cancels the call registration in question, a call registration of a floor at which the users expect the elevator to stop can suddenly be canceled.
Furthermore, in the call registration devices of an elevator described in Patent Literature 3 and Patent Literature 4, a call registration which becomes an object of cancellation is designated by button operations on an operating panel. For this reason, a space for installing at least one or more cancel buttons on an operating panel is required and at the same time, the problem that installation costs are necessary arises. Also, even though voice input is used in most of the cases where button operations are difficult, the cancellation of a call registration must be performed by button operations and, therefore, there occurs the problem that performing canceling operations of a call registration becomes difficult in the case where button operations are difficult.
And in the call registration device of an elevator described in Patent Literature 5, because it is impossible to cancel a call registration which does not satisfy conditions determined in advance for useless calls, in the case where a call registration of a destination floor which does not become a useless call has been wrongly registered, there occurs the problem that this call registration cannot be canceled.
The present invention has been made to solve such problems as described above and the first object of the invention is to provide a call registration device of an elevator of a simple configuration which can appropriately cancel a call registration by voice input without the wrong cancellation of a call registration which is not intended to be cancelled by wrong voice recognition and the like.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a call registration device of an elevator of a simple configuration which can prevent in advance an unnecessary call registration, such as a wrong registration, from being performed during a call registration by voice input.

Means for Solving the Problems

A call registration device of an elevator according to claim 1.
Also, a call registration device of an elevator according to claim 3.

Advantageous Effect of Invention

The call registration device of an elevator of the present invention has an advantageous effect of enabling appropriate cancellation of a call registration by voice input using a simple configuration without wrong cancellation of a call registration which is not intended to be cancelled by wrong voice recognition and the like.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the call registration device of an elevator related to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a flowchart showing the operations of the call registration device of an elevator related to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the call registration device of an elevator related to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the operations of the call registration device of an elevator related to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Description of Embodiments

The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each of the drawings, like numerals refer to like or corresponding parts and overlaps of description of these parts are appropriately simplified or omitted.

Embodiment 1

Figures 1 and 2 relate to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the call registration device of an elevator, and Figure 2 is a flowchart showing the operations of the call registration device of an elevator.
In Figure 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a voice input section which receives voice input spoken by a user of the elevator. This voice input section 1 is composed of a device which converts sound waves to electrical signals, such as a microphone. The voice input section 1 is installed in a hall of the elevator, which is not shown, and in a place in the car of the elevator, which is not shown, where a user easily inputs voices. Voices inputted to the voice input section 1 are converted to voice signals by the voice input section 1 and are then outputted.
The voice signals outputted from the voice input section 1 are inputted to a voice recognition section 2. This voice recognition section 2 performs voice recognition processing by conducting the comparative checking of a voice inputted to the voice input section 1 against voice data which is stored in advance in a storage section 3.
Broadly classified two kinds of voice data; destination registration vocabulary voice data and call registration canceling vocabulary voice data are stored in advance in the storage section 3. The destination registration vocabulary voice data are voice data which are voice signals (voice waveform data) of a destination registration vocabulary representing destination floors of call registration (the destination registration vocabulary is, for example, "first" or "first floor" representing the first floor and "second" or "second floor" representing the second floor. Also, instead of the floor numbers, the destination registration vocabulary may be the floor names, such as "main floor" representing the main floor, and the names of representative facilities present on the floor).
The call registration canceling vocabulary voice data are voice data which are voice signals (voice waveform data) of a call registration canceling vocabulary which is a specific vocabulary for canceling a call registration (for example, "cancel" or "deregister"). A vocabulary different from the destination registration vocabulary is set as this call registration canceling vocabulary. Furthermore, the call registration canceling vocabulary is set in such a manner as not to include a vocabulary representing specific floors included in the destination registration vocabulary.
First, the voice recognition section 2 converts a voice signal (analog) from the voice input section 1 into a digital signal by performing analog-digital conversion (AD conversion). Next, a speech zone which is a voice part spoken by the user is cut out of this converted voice signal (digital). And by performing an acoustical analysis which involves conducting the comparative checking of this cut-out voice signal of the speech zone against the destination registration vocabulary voice data and call registration canceling vocabulary voice data stored in the storage section 3, voice recognition is performed by making a judgment as to whether or not the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 matches any of the destination registration vocabulary voice data and the call registration canceling vocabulary voice data.
Voice recognition results by this voice recognition section 2 are outputted to a voice call registration section 4. In the case where in the voice recognition section 2, the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 was judged to match a destination registration vocabulary, information on destination floors represented by the destination registration vocabulary in question is included in the voice recognition results outputted from this voice recognition section 2. On the other hand, in the case where in the voice recognition section 2, the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 was judged to match a call registration canceling vocabulary, information to the effect that a voice of the call registration canceling vocabulary was inputted to the voice input section 1 is included in the voice recognition results outputted from this voice recognition section 2.
The voice call registration section 4 outputs a call registration request or a call registration canceling request to an elevator control device 5 on the basis of the voice recognition results outputted from the voice recognition section 2. Here, the elevator control device 5 governs the control of the whole operation of the elevator. Naturally, objects of control by this elevator control device 5 include call registrations and responses to call registrations in an elevator.
In the case where the voice recognition results in the voice recognition section 2 are such that the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 matched the destination registration vocabulary, the voice call registration section 4 outputs a call registration request to the destination floor in question to the elevator control device 5 on the basis of the information on destination floors included in the voice recognition results in question. The elevator control device 5 which has received the call registration request from the voice call registration section 4 performs a call registration of the destination floor designated by the call registration request in question in accordance with the call registration request in question. At the same time, the voice call registration section 4 outputs the information on destination floors of the outputted call registration request to a notification section 6.
This notification section 6 is intended for notifying users of various kinds of information regarding the situation of the elevator, including voice recognition results, call registration results, and cancellation results of call registrations, which will be described later. The notification section 6 is installed in an elevator hall and a car where the voice input section 1 is installed. The notification section 6 is composed of a voice rumbling device, such as a speaker, and an indication device, such as a liquid crystal display. And the notification section 6 can notify users of various kinds of information by making a voice announcement from this voice rumbling device in the case where a voice rumbling device is provided, and by causing an indication device to indicate character information and image information in the case where this indication device is provided.
The notification section 6 which has received information regarding the destination floor of a call registration request from the voice call registration section 4, notifies users of voice recognition results by a voice announcement and a screen indication on the basis of this received information. On this occasion, a voice announcement and a character indication are conceivable as specific contents to be notified to users; for example, "X-floor will be registered" (X is a numeral representing a destination floor). From the contents of the notification from the notification section 6, a user can get to know whether or not the destination floor intended by the user has been recognized.
Here, in the case where in checking a voice inputted to the voice input section 1 in the voice recognition section 2 against the destination registration vocabulary of the storage section 3, a threshold value for the likelihood of a judgment that the two are matched is provided, and in the case where the likelihood of not less than the threshold value was not obtained, the voice recognition section 2 may output a voice recognition result that a voice inputted to the voice input section 1 does not match any of predetermined vocabulary stored in the storage section 3 and is incapable of being recognized. In the case where the voice recognition result reveals that the voice is incapable of being recognized, as a matter of course, a call registration is not performed. In this case, by sending information to the notification section 6 to the effect that the voice recognition result reveals that the voice is incapable of being recognized, a message to the effect that voice recognition is impossible (for example, "the voice cannot be recognized") may be given by the notification section 6 to the user.
Also here, information regarding voice recognition results is sent from the voice call registration section 4 to the notification section 6, and the notification section 6 notifies the user of the voice recognition results on the basis of the information from the voice call registration section 4. In this respect, the configuration may be such that information regarding call registration results is sent from the elevator control device 5, and not from the voice call registration section 4 to the notification section 6, and the notification section 6 notifies the user of the call registration results on the basis of the information from the elevator control device 5.
In this case, the configuration may be such that after a judgment is made in the elevator control device 5 as to whether or not the destination floor of a call registration request from the voice call registration section 4 is a floor at which the elevator cannot stop and hence a call registration is not permitted for the destination floor, the elevator control device 5 causes the notification section 6 to give a message corresponding to the judgment result to the user. Specifically, the configuration may be such that in the case where a call registration of the destination floor designated by the call registration request was possible, a registration confirming message (for example, "X-floor will be registered") is given from the notification section 6 and in the case where the destination floor of a call registration request is a floor at which the elevator cannot stop and is incapable of a call registration, a message about the impossibility of a registration (for example, "the registration could not be performed" and "the elevator cannot stop at X-floor" ) is given from the notification section 6.
On outputting a call registration request to the elevator control device 5, the voice call registration section 4 simultaneously holds the destination floor of the call registration request in question in a registered floor holding section 4a. In addition, on outputting a call registration request to the elevator control device 5, the voice call registration section 4 simultaneously (that is, at the same time with holding the destination floor of the call registration request in question in a registered floor holding section 4a), starts the measurement of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, which is a predetermined period of time (for example, 2 to 3 seconds). Also within this period of time in which a cancellation is possible, the voice recognition section 2 performs voice recognition processing by conducting the comparative checking of a voice inputted to the voice input section 1 against the voice data stored in advance in the storage section 3.
And in the case where a voice recognition result that a voice matching the call registration canceling vocabulary was inputted to the voice input section 1 is obtained in the voice recognition section 2 before the period of time in which a cancellation is possible elapses, the voice call registration section 4 outputs to the elevator control device 5 a call registration canceling request for canceling a call registration of the destination floor held in the registered floor holding section 4a at that point of time. The elevator control device 5, which has received the call registration canceling request from the voice call registration section 4, cancels the call registration of the destination floor designated by the call registration canceling request in question in accordance with the call registration canceling request in question. At the same time, the voice call registration section 4 outputs to the notification section 6 the outputted information regarding the destination floor of the call registration canceling request.
The notification section 6 which has received the information regarding the destination floor of the call registration canceling request from the voice call registration section 4 notifies the user that the call registration was canceled by a voice announcement and a screen indication on the basis of this received information. On this occasion, as specific contents to be notified to the user, conceivable are a voice announcement and a character indication, for example, "the registration of X-floor has been canceled" and "the registration of X-floor has been deleted." From the notification contents from the notification section 6, the user can get to know whether or not the call registration of the destination floor which was intended by the user to be cancelled has been canceled.
On outputting the call registration canceling request to the elevator control device 5, the voice call registration section 4 finishes the measurement of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible and erases the destination floor held in the registered floor holding section 4a. Also in the case where the period of time in which a cancellation is possible elapsed without the output of the voice recognition result from the voice recognition section 2 that a voice matching the registration canceling vocabulary is inputted to the voice input section 1, the voice call registration section 4 finishes the measurement of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible and erases the destination floor held in the registered floor holding section 4a.
And in the case where a voice recognition result that a voice matching the destination registration vocabulary was inputted to the voice input section 1 is obtained again in the voice recognition section 2, the voice call registration section 4 outputs a call registration request to the elevator control device 5, and the destination floor of the call registration request is held in the registered floor holding section 4a. As described above, the registered floor holding section 4a constitutes the destination floor holding section which holds the most up-to-date destination floor of the call registration request outputted from the voice call registration section 4 to the elevator control device 5.
In this embodiment, the call registration device of an elevator operates in accordance with a series of operations of the flow shown in Figure 2.
First, in Step S1 it is ascertained whether or not there was an input of a voice spoken by a user to the voice input section 1. In the case where there was no voice input to the voice input section 1, the flow proceeds to Step S13, where the flow comes to an end. On the other hand, in the case where there was a voice input to the voice input section 1, the flow proceeds to Step S2. In Step S2, the voice recognition section 2 performs voice recognition by conducting the comparative checking of the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 against the voice data stored in the storage section 3.
In succeeding Step S3, as a result of the voice recognition in Step S2, it is ascertained whether or not the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 matches the destination registration vocabulary and the voice recognition section 2 recognized a destination floor. In the case where the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 did not match the destination registration vocabulary and hence destination floor was not recognized, the flow proceeds to Step S13, where the flow comes to an end. On the other hand, in the case where the voice recognition section 2 recognized a destination floor, the flow proceeds to Step S4.
In Step S4, on the basis of the voice recognition results in the voice recognition section 2, the voice call registration section 4 outputs to the elevator control device 5 a call registration request to the destination floor recognized in Step S3, and the elevator control device 5 performs a call registration of the destination floor in question. Also, at the same time, the voice call registration section 4 sends information regarding the destination floor in question to the notification section 6, and the notification section 6 performs notification to the effect that "X-floor will be registered" and the like. After that, the flow proceeds to Step S5, where the voice call registration section 4 stores and holds the information on the destination floor of the call registration request outputted to the elevator control device 5 in the registered floor holding section 4a.
In succeeding Step S6, the voice call registration section 4 starts the measurement of the period time in which a cancellation is possible. And in the case where a voice input to the voice input section 1 is performed within this period time in which a cancellation is possible, the flow proceeds from succeeding Step S7 to Step S8, where the voice recognition section 2 performs voice recognition by conducting the comparative checking of the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 against the voice data stored in the storage section 3. In the case where as a result of the voice recognition in Step S8, the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 matches the call registration canceling vocabulary and the voice recognition section 2 recognized the call registration canceling vocabulary (a call registration canceling keyword), the flow proceeds from Step S9 to Step 10.
In Step S10, the voice call registration section 4 outputs to the elevator control device 5 the call registration canceling request to cancel the call registration of the destination floor held in the registered floor holding section 4a on the basis of the voice recognition results in the voice recognition section 2, and the elevator control device 5 cancels the call registration of the destination floor in question. And at the same time, the voice call registration section 4 sends to the notification section 6 information to the effect that the call registration of the destination floor in question was canceled, and the notification section 6 performs notification to the effect that "X-floor has been canceled" (a cancel response).
And the flow proceeds to Step S11, where the voice call registration section 4 finishes the measurement of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible and resets the period of time in which a cancellation is possible. In succeeding Step S12, the voice call registration section 4 erases the information on the destination floor held in the registered floor holding section 4a. After Step S12, the flow proceeds to Step S13, where a series of operations of the flow comes to an end.
On the other hand, in the case where in Step S7 there was no voice input to the voice input section 1 within the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, or in the case where although there was a voice input to the voice input section 1 within the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 in Step S9 did not match the call registration canceling vocabulary and the voice recognition section 2 did not recognize the call registration canceling vocabulary, the flow proceeds from these steps to Step S11, where the period of time in which a cancellation is possible is reset and subsequently, the information on the destination floor held in the registered floor holding section 4a is erased (Step S12). Thereafter, the flow proceeds to Step S13, where a series of operations of the flow come to an end.
In Step S6, upon start of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, in order to inform users of that call registrations can be canceled, an announcement of starting the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, for example, "please, speak "cancel" for cancelation" may be made from the notification section 6. In the case where without the cancellation of a call registration, that is, when the period of time in which a cancellation is possible has elapsed without going through Step S10, the call registration in question is determined. Therefore, in the case where the period of time in which a cancellation is possible has elapsed without going through Step S10, it is possible to make an announcement about the determination of a registration, for example, "X-floor has been registered" from the notification section 6 in Step S11 or Step S12.
In the above-described flow, in Step S9 it was ascertained only whether or not within the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, a voice matching the call registration canceling vocabulary was inputted to the voice input section 1. In this respect, however, in the case where a voice was inputted to the voice input section 1 within the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, the operation maybe such that it is ascertained not only whether or not the inputted voice matches the call registration canceling vocabulary, but also whether or not the inputted voice matches the destination registration vocabulary in the same manner as in Step S3.
And in the case where a voice matching the destination registration vocabulary was inputted to the voice input section 1 within the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, the operation may be such that it is judged that the user spoke a right destination floor for corrective purposes because the last voice registration was wrong, and after the cancellation of the call registration of the destination floor held in the present registered floor holding section 4a, the flow returns to Step S4, where a call registration of a newly recognized destination floor is performed.
In this case, however, it is also possible to judge that another user simply spoke the destination floor subsequently. In the case where such a judgment is made, the configuration may be such that because it is advisable to keep the call registration of the destination floor held in the present registered floor holding section 4a as it is, the flow returns to Step S4 simply after Steps S11 and S12 are carried out and a call registration of a newly recognized destination floor is performed.
In the case where a voice matching the destination registration vocabulary is inputted to the voice input section 1 within the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, it is also conceivable to wait until the relevant period of time in which a cancellation is possible comes to an end, to return to Step S4 after waiting until the call registration becomes determined or canceled, and to perform a call registration of a newly recognized destination floor.
The above description in this embodiment was given of the configuration and operations common to both the case where the voice input section 1 is installed in a hall and the case where the voice input section 1 is installed in a car. However, here, in the case where the voice input section 1 is installed in a car as required by the invention, it is desirable to consider the point that during a run of the car noises such as run noises increase and the point that because the space in which voices are spoken is opened/closed due to the opening and closing of the door, sounds and the like change in the car.
First, for the point that during a run of the car noises such as run noises increase, it is conceivable to prevent wrong registrations by noises, such as run noises, by ensuring that a call registration by voice input and a cancellation of a call registration are refused during a run of the car.
Next, for the effect of changes in sounds and the like due to the opening and closing of the door of the car, to begin with, it is required to use different voice data in voice recognition in the case where the door of the car is open and in the case where the door of the car is closed. That is, both destination registration vocabulary voice data and call registration canceling vocabulary voice data when the door is open and destination registration vocabulary voice data and call registration canceling vocabulary voice data when the door is closed are stored in advance in the storage section 3. And voice data to be used in voice recognition are switched according to the open and closed conditions of the door.
It is also conceivable to refuse a call registration and a cancellation of a call registration by voice input in the case where the door of the car is closed. That is, it is ensured that only when the door of the car is open, a call registration and a cancellation of a call registration by voice input are accepted. By doing this, only the destination registration vocabulary voice data and call registration canceling vocabulary voice data when the door is open need to be stored in advance in the storage section 3, and this results in a decrease in the stored data volume.
This concept that only when the door of the car is open, a call registration and a cancellation of a call registration by voice input are accepted, means that specifically, in the flow of Figure 2, the ascertainment in Step S1 is started after the door of the car became fully open. And the door closing is started after a lapse of a time during which the time necessary for a call registration by voice input (for example, 10 seconds) can be sufficiently ensured.
Here, it is assumed that an announcement of starting the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, which is made at the start of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible in order to inform a user of the fact that a call registration can be canceled, is made from the notification section 6 by a voice announcement. In this case, the time from the full opening of the door of the car to the start of door closing is set at a period of time which is at least longer than a total of the time necessary for making an announcement of starting the period of time in which a cancellation is possible and a predetermined period of time in which a cancellation is possible. By setting the time like this, even when a wrong registration occurred, it is possible to ensure a period of time for a user to cancel the wrong registration. And furthermore, control may be carried out so that door closing is not started during the period of time in which a cancellation is possible.
Even in the case where it is ensured that only when the door of the car is open, a call registration and a cancellation of a call registration by voice input are accepted, in order to prevent a user from being locked in the car, it is desirable to exceptionally accept a call registration by voice input in the case where the door of the car is closed and even a single call registration has not been performed. Furthermore, in order to inform a user of whether or not it is possible to perform a call registration by voice input, it may be ensured that before the start of Step S1 of Figure 2, an announcement of starting a registration, for example, "please, speak your destination floor" is made from the notification section 6.
Although the forgoing is predicated on that the notification section 6 is composed of a voice rumbling device, such as a speaker, and an indication device, such as a liquid crystal display, it is also possible to use the lighting-up condition of a call registration button installed in the car as part of this notification section 6. That is, when a voice is inputted and a destination floor is recognized by the voice recognition section 2, for example, by causing the registration button of the destination floor in question to blink, it is possible to inform the user of the fact that the destination floor has been recognized. This blinking of the call registration button continues until the period of time in which a cancellation is possible elapses. And in the case where during the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, a voice of the call registration canceling vocabulary is inputted and the call registration in question has been canceled, the light of the registration button in question is caused to go out. And in the case where the period of time in which a cancellation is possible has elapsed and a call registration has been determined, the call registration button in question is caused to light up.
In the call registration device of an elevator configured as described above, the most up-to-date destination floor of a call registration request outputted from the voice call registration section is held by the registered floor holding section which is the destination floor holding section and a predetermined call registration canceling keyword is spoken within the period of time in which a cancellation is possible after a call registration, whereby it is possible to cancel a call registration performed immediately before that. For this reason, call registrations which other users have already registered are prevented from being wrongly canceled and it is possible to appropriately cancel call registrations by voice input.
A keyword not including words representing destination floors is used as a call registration canceling keyword spoken at the time of a cancellation. For this reason, a call registration which becomes an object of cancellation is not wrongly recognized and hence there is no possibility that a call registration of a destination floor which is not intended to be cancelled is wrongly canceled.

Embodiment 2

Figures 3 and 4 relate to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the call registration device of an elevator, and Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the operations of the call registration device of an elevator.
In addition to the configuration of Embodiment 1 described above, Embodiment 2 described here is provided with an elevator information obtaining section which obtains information and the like regarding floors at which the elevator can stop from the elevator control device and a registration possibility judgment section which judges whether or not a call registration of a destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section is possible, on the basis of the information obtained by the elevator information obtaining section from the elevator control device. And even in the case where a call registration is judged to be possible by the registration possibility judgment section, a call registration request is not immediately outputted to the elevator control device, but instead the call registration request is held in the voice call registration section as a provisional registration. It is ensured that when the period of time in which a cancellation is possible has elapsed without the cancellation of this provisional registration, the call registration request is outputted to the elevator control device.
That is, an elevator information obtaining section 7 shown in Figure 3 obtains information regarding floors at which an elevator can stop from an elevator control device 5. And this elevator information obtaining section 7 outputs the obtained information regarding floors at which an elevator can stop to a registration possibility judgment section 8. The registration possibility judgment section 8 outputs a provisional call registration request to a voice call registration section 4 on the basis of voice recognition results outputted from the voice recognition section 2.
In the case where the voice recognition results in the voice recognition section 2 are to the effect that the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 matched the destination registration vocabulary, this registration possibility judgment section 8 makes a judgment as to whether or not a call registration of the destination floor represented by the destination registration vocabulary in question is possible. And the information regarding the floors at which an elevator can stop obtained by the elevator information obtaining section 7 is used in this judgment. And the judgment results on the possibility of the call registration of the destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section 2 are outputted to the notification section 6 together with the information on the destination floor in question.
On the basis of the information from the registration possibility judgment section 8, the notification section 6 gives a response message indicating that the registration is acceptable (for example, "X-floor will be registered") to the user if a call registration of the destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section 2 is possible. If a call registration of the destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section 2 is impossible, the notification section 6 gives a response message indicating that the registration is unacceptable (for example, "X-floor cannot be registered") to the user. In this manner, from the notification contents from the notification section 6, the user can get to know whether or not the destination floor spoken by the user has been rightly recognized and is a floor capable of being registered (a floor at which the elevator can stop).
In the case where on the basis of the information regarding floors at which the elevator can stop, the registration possibility judgment section 8 judged that a call registration of the destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section 2 is possible, the registration possibility judgment section 8 outputs a provisional call registration request to the destination floor in question to the voice call registration section 4. The voice call registration section 4 which has received this provisional call registration request performs a provisional call registration to the destination floor in question by storing the destination floor of the provisional call registration request in question in a provisional call storage section 4b. And at the same time, the voice call registration section 4 starts the measurement of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, which is a predetermined period of time (for example, 2 to 3 seconds).
And in the case where a voice recognition result that a voice matching the call registration canceling vocabulary was inputted to the voice input section 1 is obtained in the voice recognition section 2 before the period of time in which a cancellation is possible elapses, the voice call registration section 4 cancels the provisional call registration by erasing the destination floor information held by the provisional call storage section 4b. On this occasion, a message, for example, "the registration of X-floor has been canceled" and "the registration of X-floor has been deleted" is given to the user by the notification section 6.
On the other hand, in the case where the period of time in which a cancellation is possible has elapsed without obtaining a voice recognition result that a voice matching the call registration canceling vocabulary was inputted to the voice input section 1 in the voice recognition section 2, the provisional call registration is determined at the point of time when the period of time in which a cancellation is possible has elapsed. That is, the voice call registration section 4 outputs the call registration request to the destination floor held by the provisional call storage section 4b to the elevator control device 5. The elevator control device 5 which has received the call registration request from the voice call registration section 4 performs a call registration of the destination floor designated by the call registration request in question in accordance with the call registration request in question. After the determination of the provisional call registration, the voice call registration section 4 erases the destination floor information stored in the provisional call storage section 4b.
Here, the voice call registration section 4 obtains the information on the destination floor recognized in the voice recognition section 2 from the provisional call registration request outputted from the registration possibility judgment section 8. And the provisional call storage section 4b constitutes the destination floor holding section which holds the most up-to-date destination floor obtained by the voice call registration section 4.
Although in this embodiment a provisional call registration is performed in the voice call registration section 4 on the basis of the provisional call registration request outputted by the registration possibility judgment section 8, the registration possibility judgment section 8 and the voice call registration section 4 may be integrated into one.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, the elevator information obtaining section 7 and the registration possibility judgment section 8 are provided, and a provisional call registration is performed in the voice call registration section 4 after a judgment is made as to whether or not it is possible to perform a call registration of the destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section 2. However, it is not always necessary to provide the elevator information obtaining section 7 and the registration possibility judgment section 8. In this case, it is necessary only that the voice call registration section 4 perform a provisional call registration for the recognized destination floor on the basis of voice recognition results by the voice recognition section 2.
Moreover, in the configuration of Embodiment 1 in which a provisional call registration is not performed, the configuration may be such that the elevator information obtaining section 7 and the registration possibility judgment section 8 are provided and after a judgment is made as to whether or not it is possible to perform a call registration of the destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section 2, the voice call registration section 4 outputs to the elevator control device 5 a call registration request for which it was judged that a call registration is possible.
In this case, the configuration may be such that the elevator information obtaining section 7 obtains also the information regarding the destination floor of the call registration which has already been registered from the elevator control device 5 and the registration possibility judgment section 8 makes a judgment that a registration is impossible for a call registration in which the same floor as the destination floor of the call registration which has already been registered is a destination floor. By doing this, even when a call registration in which the same floor is a destination floor has already been performed by other users, it is possible to prevent call registrations performed by other users from being wrongly canceled.
Other configurations of this embodiment not described above are the same as in Embodiment 1 and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.
In carrying out this embodiment, the call registration device of an elevator operates in accordance with a series of operations of the flow shown in Figure 4.
First, in Step S21 the elevator information obtaining section 7 obtains information regarding floors at which the elevator can stop from the elevator control device 5. Because succeeding Steps S22 to S24 are the same as Steps S1 to S3 in the flowchart of Figure 2 of Embodiment 1, descriptions thereof are omitted. In the case where in Step S24 the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 matches the destination registration vocabulary and the voice recognition section 2 recognized the destination floor, the flow proceeds to Step S25.
In Step S25, on the basis of the information regarding floors at which the elevator can stop, which is obtained by the elevator information obtaining section 7, the registration possibility judgment section 8 makes a judgment as to whether or not the destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section 2 (represented as X-floor) is a floor for which a call registration is possible. In the case where this X-floor was judged to be not a floor for which a call registration is possible, the flow proceeds to Step S26. And in Step S26, after giving a response message indicating that the registration is unacceptable (for example, "X-floor cannot be registered") to the user from the notification section 6, the flow proceeds to Step S37, where a series of operations of the flow comes to an end.
On the other hand, in the case where in Step S25 the destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section 2 (X-floor) was judged by the registration possibility judgment section 8 to be a floor for which a call registration is possible, the flow proceeds to Step S27. In this Step S27, the registration possibility judgment section 8 outputs a provisional call registration request to the destination floor recognized by the voice recognition section 2 to the voice call registration section 4. Also at the same time, the registration possibility judgment section 8 sends information regarding the destination floor in question to the notification section 6, and the notification section 6 gives a response message indicating that the registration is acceptable, such as "X-floor will be registered."
In succeeding Step S28, the voice call registration section 4 stores the destination floor of the provisional call registration request outputted from the registration possibility judgment section 8 in Step S27 in the provisional call storage section 4b, thereby performing a provisional call registration to the destination floor in question. In succeeding Step S29, the voice call registration section 4 starts the measurement of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible. And in the case where within this period of time in which a cancellation is possible there was a voice input to the voice input section 1, the flow proceeds from succeeding Step S30 to Step S31, where the voice recognition section 2 performs voice recognition by conducting the comparative checking of the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 against the voice data stored in the storage section 3. In the case where as a result of the voice recognition in this Step S31, the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 matches the call registration canceling vocabulary and the voice recognition section 2 recognized the call registration canceling vocabulary (a call registration canceling keyword), the flow proceeds from Step S32 to Step S33.
In Step S33, the voice call registration section 4 sends to notification section 6 information to the effect that the provisional call registration to the destination floor stored in the provisional call storage section 4b was canceled, and the notification section 6 performs notification (a cancel response to a provisional call) of for example, "X-floor has been canceled." And the flow proceeds to Step S35, where the voice call registration section 4 resets the period of time in which a cancellation is possible by finishing the measurement of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible. Also in succeeding Step S36, the voice call registration section 4 erases the information on the destination floor stored and held in the provisional call storage section 4b. After Step S36, the flow returns to Step S37, where a series of operations of the flow comes to an end.
On the other hand, the flow proceeds to Step S34 in the case where in Step S30 there was no voice input to the voice input section 1 within the period of time in which a cancellation is possible or in the case where although there was a voice input to the voice input section 1 within the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, in Step S32 the voice inputted to the voice input section 1 did not match the call registration canceling vocabulary and hence the voice recognition section 2 did not recognize the call registration canceling vocabulary.
In this Step S34, the voice call registration section 4 determines the provisional call registration and outputs the call registration request to the destination floor held in the provisional call storage section 4b to the elevator control device 5. The elevator control device 5 which has received the call registration request from the voice call registration section 4 performs a call registration of the destination floor designated by the call registration request in question in accordance with the call registration request in question. And the flow proceeds to Step S35, where the period of time in which a cancellation is possible is reset and moreover the information on the destination floor held in the registered floor holding section 4a is erased (Step S36). Thereafter, the flow proceeds to Step S37, where a series of operations of the flow comes to an end.
In the call registration device of an elevator configured as described above, the same effect as in Embodiment 1 can be produced and, in addition to this, the call registration of the destination floor in question is held in a condition of a provisional call registration until the lapse of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, when the call registration of the destination floor recognized immediately before that can be canceled. And only after the period of time in which a cancellation is possible has elapsed, the provisional call registration in question is determined and a call registration request is outputted to the elevator control device. For this reason, even when a provisional call registration is canceled during the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, this has no effect on the call registration registered in the elevator control device. Therefore, with a simple configuration it is possible to prevent in advance unnecessary call registrations, such as wrong registrations, from being performed during call registration by voice input. Furthermore, it is possible to more positively prevent call registrations already registered by other users from being wrongly canceled.

Industrial Applicability

The present invention can be used in a call registration device of an elevator in which call registration is performed by voice recognition using a voice input section which receives the input of voices spoken by elevator users.

Description of Symbols

1: voice input section
2: voice recognition section
3: storage section
4: voice call registration section
4a: registered floor holding section
4b: provisional call storage section
5: elevator control device
6: notification section
7: elevator information obtaining section
8: registration possibility judgment section

Claims

A call registration device of an elevator configured to perform a call registration by voice recognition using a voice input section (1) configured to receive input of a voice spoken by a user of the elevator, comprising:
a storage section (3) which stores in advance, as destination registration vocabulary voice data, voice data of a predetermined destination registration vocabulary representing destination floors of call registration and stores in advance, as call registration canceling vocabulary voice data, voice data of a predetermined call registration canceling vocabulary which is used to cancel a call registration, is different from the destination registration vocabulary, and does not include the destination registration vocabulary;

a voice recognition section (2) configured to perform the voice recognition by making a judgment as to whether or not the voice inputted to the voice input section (1) matches any of the destination registration vocabulary voice data and the call registration canceling vocabulary voice data, both stored in the storage section (3);

a voice call registration section (4) configured to, in the case where the voice inputted to the voice input section (1) is judged to match the destination registration vocabulary voice data, output to an elevator control device a call registration request to a destination floor represented by the destination registration vocabulary of the destination registration vocabulary voice data which the voice matches;

a destination floor holding section (4a) configured to hold the most up-to-date destination floor of the call registration request outputted from the voice call registration section (4); and

a notification section (6) configured to notify the user of at least one of a result of the voice recognition by the voice recognition section (2) and a result of the call registration,

wherein in the case where within a predetermined period of time in which a cancellation is possible after the holding of the most up-to-date destination floor in the destination floor holding section (4a), a voice which matches the call registration canceling vocabulary voice data is inputted to the voice input section (1), the voice call registration section (4) is configured to output to the elevator control device a call registration canceling request which cancels the call registration of the destination floor held by the destination floor holding section (4a),

wherein the voice input section (1) is provided in the interior of a car of the elevator,

wherein the storage section (3) stores both the destination registration vocabulary voice data and the call registration canceling vocabulary voice data when a door is open and the destination registration vocabulary voice data and the call registration canceling vocabulary voice data when the door is closed in advance, and

wherein the voice recognition section (2) is configured to switch voice data to be used in the voice recognition according to the open and closed conditions of the door.
The call registration device of an elevator according to claim 1, further comprising:
an elevator information obtaining section (7) configured to obtain information regarding an already registered destination floor of a call registration from the elevator control device; and
a registration possibility judgment section (8) configured to, in the case where the voice inputted to the voice input section (1) is judged to match the destination registration vocabulary voice data, make a judgment, on the basis of the information obtained by the elevator information obtaining section (7), as to whether or not a destination floor represented by the destination registration vocabulary of the destination registration vocabulary voice data which the voice matches is the same as the already registered destination floor of the call registration, and output a judgment result to the voice call registration section (4),
wherein the voice call registration section (4) is configured to output to the elevator control device the call registration request to the destination floor which is judged by the registration possibility judgment section (8) to be not the same as the already registered destination floor of the call registration.
A call registration device of an elevator configured to perform call registration by voice recognition using a voice input section (1) configured to receive input of a voice spoken by a user of the elevator, comprising:
a storage section (3) configured to store in advance, as destination registration vocabulary voice data, voice data of a predetermined destination registration vocabulary representing destination floors of call registration and stores in advance, as call registration canceling vocabulary voice data, voice data of a predetermined call registration canceling vocabulary which is used to cancel a call registration, is different from the destination registration vocabulary, and does not include the destination registration vocabulary;

a voice recognition section (2) configured to perform the voice recognition by making a judgment as to whether or not the voice inputted to the voice input section (1) matches any of the destination registration vocabulary voice data and the call registration canceling vocabulary voice data, both stored in the storage section (3);

a voice call registration section (4) configured to, in the case where the voice inputted to the voice input section (1) is judged to match the destination registration vocabulary voice data, obtains information on a destination floor represented by the destination registration vocabulary of the destination registration vocabulary voice data which the voice matches;

a destination floor holding section (4b) configured to hold the most up-to-date destination floor obtained by the voice call registration section (4); and

a notification section (6) configured to notify the user of a result of the voice recognition by the voice recognition section (2),

wherein in the case where within a predetermined period of time in which a cancellation is possible after the holding of the most up-to-date destination floor in the destination floor holding section (4b), a voice which matches the call registration canceling vocabulary voice data is not inputted to the voice input section (1), the voice call registration section (4) is configured to output to an elevator control device a call registration request to the destination floor held by the destination floor holding section (4b),

wherein the voice input section (1) is provided in the interior of a car of the elevator,

wherein the storage section (3) stores both the destination registration vocabulary voice data and the call registration canceling vocabulary voice data when a door is open and the destination registration vocabulary voice data and the call registration canceling vocabulary voice data when the door is closed in advance, and

wherein the voice recognition section (2) is configured to switch voice data to be used in the voice recognition according to the open and closed conditions of the door.
The call registration device of an elevator according to claim 3, further comprising: an elevator information obtaining section (7) configured to obtain information on floors for which a call registration from the elevator control device is permitted; and a registration possibility judgment section (8) configured to, in the case where the voice inputted to the voice input section (1) is judged to match the destination registration vocabulary voice data, make a judgment, on the basis of the information obtained by the elevator information obtaining section (7), as to whether or not a destination floor represented by the destination registration vocabulary of the destination registration vocabulary voice data which the voice matches is a floor for which a call registration is permitted, and output a judgment result to the voice call registration section (4) and the notification section (6),
wherein the voice call registration section (4) is configured to obtain information on the destination floor which is judged by the registration possibility judgment section (8) to be a floor for which a call registration is permitted, and
wherein the notification section (6) is configured to notify the user of the judgment result by the registration possibility judgment section (8).
The call registration device of an elevator according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein when the most up-to-date destination floor is held in the destination floor holding section (4b) and the period of time in which a cancellation is possible starts, the notification section (6) is configured to notify the user of an announcement of starting the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, to inform the user that a cancellation of a call registration is allowed.
The call registration device of an elevator according to claim 5,
wherein the notification section (6) is configured to notify, by voice, the announcement of starting the period of time in which a cancellation is possible, and
wherein the time from a full opening of the door of the car to the start of door closing is set to be longer than a total of the period of time in which a cancellation is possible and a time required to notify, by voice, the announcement of starting the period of time in which a cancellation is possible.