EP4107107A1 - A solution for detecting a maintenance person within an area of a people flow equipment - Google Patents

A solution for detecting a maintenance person within an area of a people flow equipment

Info

Publication number
EP4107107A1
EP4107107A1 EP20919699.7A EP20919699A EP4107107A1 EP 4107107 A1 EP4107107 A1 EP 4107107A1 EP 20919699 A EP20919699 A EP 20919699A EP 4107107 A1 EP4107107 A1 EP 4107107A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
maintenance person
people flow
flow equipment
virtual boundary
area
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
EP20919699.7A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP4107107A4 (en
Inventor
Juha Panula
Mikko RUUSKANEN
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Kone Corp
Original Assignee
Kone Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Kone Corp filed Critical Kone Corp
Publication of EP4107107A1 publication Critical patent/EP4107107A1/en
Publication of EP4107107A4 publication Critical patent/EP4107107A4/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
    • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
    • B66B5/00—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators
    • B66B5/0043—Devices enhancing safety during maintenance
    • B66B5/005—Safety of maintenance personnel
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
    • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
    • B66B25/00—Control of escalators or moving walkways
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
    • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
    • B66B5/00—Applications of checking, fault-correcting, or safety devices in elevators
    • B66B5/0087—Devices facilitating maintenance, repair or inspection tasks
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/20—Administration of product repair or maintenance
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
    • H04W4/021—Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/02—Terminal devices

Definitions

  • the invention concerns in general the technical field of people flow equipment. Especially the invention concerns services of people flow equipment.
  • a remote monitoring entity may receive con tinuously, i.e. around the clock, information from one or more people flow equipment, e.g. elevators escalators, building doors, access gates.
  • the remote monitoring entity may receive fault codes from the one or more people flow equipment and generate automatic service needs, based on the received fault codes, e.g. to maintenance personnel.
  • one or more maintenance op erations may cause generation of one or more unnecessary fault codes to the remote elevator monitoring entity.
  • These unnecessary fault codes may lead to the generation of unnecessary automatic service needs. Therefore, the unnecessary fault codes may decrease the accuracy of the generated service needs and increase unnecessary maintenance visits.
  • An objective of the invention is to present a method, a system, a computer program, and a computer-readable medium for detecting a maintenance per son within an area of a people flow equipment. Another objective of the inven tion is that the method, the system, the computer program, and the computer- readable medium for detecting a maintenance person within an area of a peo ple flow equipment decrease the number of unnecessary maintenance visits.
  • a method for detecting a maintenance person with in an area of a people flow equipment comprising: defining a virtual boundary around the area of the people flow equip ment; receiving position information of a mobile device carried by the mainte nance person; detecting an entry of the maintenance person into the virtual boundary based on the received position information; and generating at least one control signal comprising information representing the detection of the en try of the maintenance person into the area of the people flow equipment to a remote monitoring entity.
  • the method may further comprise: detecting an exit of the maintenance per son from the virtual boundary based on the received position information, and generating at least one further control signal comprising information represent ing the detection of the exit of the maintenance person from the area of the people flow equipment.
  • the method may further comprise defining a dwell time of the maintenance person within the virtual boundary based on a detection time of the entry into the virtual boundary and a detection time of the exit from the virtual boundary.
  • the method may further comprise: detecting, by the remote monitoring entity, one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment during the defined dwell time, and excluding, by the remote monitoring entity, the detect ed one or more unnecessary fault codes from data used to generate one or more service needs associated with said people flow equipment.
  • the position information of the mobile device may be based on at least one of the following: an outdoor position detection system, an outdoor positioning system, an indoor position detection system, an indoor positioning system.
  • the people flow equipment may be an elevator, an escalator, a building door, or an access gate.
  • a system for detecting a maintenance person within an area of a people flow equipment comprising: a remote monitoring entity for monitoring operation of the people flow equipment, a mobile device carried by the maintenance person, a compu ting unit configured to: define a virtual boundary around the area of the people flow equipment; receive position information of a mobile device carried by the maintenance person; detect an entry of the maintenance person into the virtual boundary based on the received position information; and generate at least one control signal comprising information representing the detection of the en try of the maintenance person into the area of people flow equipment to the remote monitoring entity.
  • the computing unit may further be configured to: detect an exit of the mainte nance person from the virtual boundary based on the received position infor mation, and generate at least one further control signal comprising information representing the detection of the exit of the maintenance person from the area of the people flow equipment.
  • the computing unit or the remote monitoring entity may further be configured to define a dwell time of the maintenance person within the virtual boundary based on a detection time of the entry into the virtual boundary and a detection time of the exit from the virtual boundary.
  • the remote monitoring entity may be configured to: detect one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment during the defined dwell time, and exclude the detected one or more unnecessary fault codes from data used to generate one or more service needs associated with said people flow equipment.
  • the position information of the mobile device may be based on at least one of the following: an outdoor position detection sys tem, an outdoor positioning system, an indoor position detection system, an indoor positioning system.
  • the people flow equipment may be an elevator, an escalator, a building door, or an access gate.
  • the com puter program comprises instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method as described above.
  • a computer-readable medium comprising the computer program as described above.
  • Figure 1 illustrates schematically an example of a system according to the in vention.
  • Figure 2 illustrates schematically an example of a virtual boundary defined around an area of a people flow equipment according to the invention.
  • Figure 3 illustrates schematically an example situation, wherein a maintenance person has entered into a virtual boundary.
  • Figure 4 illustrates schematically an example of a method according to the in vention.
  • FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an example of components of a computing unit according to the invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLIFYING EMBODIMENTS
  • the Figure 1 illustrates schematically an example of a system 100 for detect ing a maintenance person within an area of a people flow equipment according to the invention.
  • the system 100 comprises a remote monitoring entity 102 for monitoring operation of a people flow equipment, a mobile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106, and a computing unit 108.
  • the people flow equipment may be an elevator, an escalator, a building door, or an access gate.
  • the maintenance person 106 may carry the mobile device 104 for exam ple in, but not limited to, a pocket, a bag, or a hand.
  • the mobile device 104 may be e.g. a mobile phone or a tablet computer.
  • the remote monitoring entity 102 may be one of the following: a cloud server, a service center, a data center.
  • the remote entity herein means an entity that locates separate from the people flow equipment 200.
  • the computing unit 108 and the remote monitoring entity 102 are communicatively coupled to each other.
  • the remote monitoring entity 102 may receive fault codes from the flow equipment 206 and generate automatic service needs, e.g. maintenance needs, based on the received fault codes, e.g. to the maintenance person 106.
  • the communication between the computing unit 108 and the remote monitor ing entity 102 may be based on one or more known communication technolo gies, either wired or wireless.
  • Some non-limiting examples of the computing unit 108 may e.g. be a server, cloud server, personal computer, laptop com puter, computing circuit, or a network of computing devices.
  • the computing unit 108 may be configured to define a virtual boundary 202, e.g. a geofence, around the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206.
  • the virtual boundary 202 is a virtual perimeter for a geographic area.
  • Geofencing is an operation that triggers an action when a device enters the virtual boundary 202.
  • Figure 2 illustrates an example of the virtual boundary 202 defined around the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206.
  • the area of the people flow equipment 206 may cover entities belonging to the people flow equipment. For example, if the people flow equipment 106 is an elevator, the area 202 of the elevator may cover e.g.
  • an elevator shaft an elevator car, a machine room, an elevator hallway in which one or more landing call panels may be arranged, a test and emergency panel arranged outside the elevator shaft, e.g. inside the machine room, and used for example for performing test drives, and/or an in- spection drive station arranged inside the elevator shaft and used for example performing inspection drives.
  • the computing unit 108 is further configured to receive position information of the mobile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106.
  • the computing unit 108 may receive the position information of the mobile device 104 contin uously or periodically.
  • the position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an outdoor position detection system, e.g. based on cellular net work, such as GSM base station.
  • the position in formation of the mobile 104 device may be based on an outdoor positioning system e.g. Global Positioning System (GPS).
  • GPS Global Positioning System
  • the position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an indoor posi tion detection system, e.g.
  • the position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an indoor positioning system that en ables identification of the specific device that is maintained.
  • the indoor positioning system may be based on one or more radio beacons in stalled in the people flow equipment 206, e.g. in case of an elevator, the one or more beacons may be installed in the machine room and/or in the elevator shaft.
  • Each radio beacon may be used to continuously broadcast radio signals toward its surroundings and the mobile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106 may sense radio signals when the maintenance person approach es the radio beacon broadcasting the radio signals in order to provide the posi tion information of the position information of the mobile device 104.
  • the computing unit 108 is configured to detect an entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 based on the received position infor mation of the mobile device 104. In other words, when the received position in formation indicates that the mobile device 104 is within the virtual boundary, the computing unit 108 may detect that the maintenance person 106 has en tered into the virtual boundary 202. In response to the detection the computing unit 108 is configured to generate to the remote monitoring entity 102 at least one control signal comprising information representing the detection of the en try of the maintenance person 106 into the area 204 of the people flow equip ment 206.
  • the information representing the detection of the entry may com prise, but is not limited to, e.g. the detected entry action and/or a detection time of the entry.
  • Figure 3 illustrates schematically an example situation, wherein the maintenance person 106 has entered into the virtual boundary 202.
  • the mobile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106 is not shown in Figure 3.
  • the computing unit 108 may further be configured to detect an exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202 based on the received position information of the mobile device 104. In other words, when the re ceived position information indicates that the mobile device 104 does not re side within the virtual boundary 202 anymore, the computing unit 108 may de tect that the maintenance person 106 has exited the virtual boundary 202.
  • the computing unit may be configured to generate at least one further control sig nal the remote monitoring entity 102 comprising information representing the detection of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206.
  • the information representing the detection of the exit may comprise, but is not limited to, e.g. the detected exit action and/or a detection time of the exit.
  • the computing unit 108 may further be configured to define a dwell time of the maintenance person 106 within the virtual boundary 202 based on a detection time of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 and a detection time of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202.
  • the dwell time represents the time spent by the maintenance person 106 within the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206, i.e. the dura tion of the maintenance visit.
  • the computing unit 108 may further provide the defined dwell time to the remote monitoring entity 102.
  • the re mote monitoring entity 102 may be configured to define the dwell time of the maintenance person 106 within the virtual boundary 202 based on the detec tion time of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 and the detection time of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202.
  • the defined dwell time may be used to record working hours of the maintenance person 106 at the people flow equipment 206.
  • the remote monitoring entity 108 may be configured to detect one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment 206 during the defined dwell time, i.e. during the maintenance visit by the maintenance person 106 to the people flow equipment 206.
  • the maintenance person 106 may be as sumed to perform one or more maintenance operations of the people flow equipment 206 during the maintenance visit, i.e. during the defined dwell time.
  • the one or more maintenance operations performed by the maintenance per son 106 may cause generation of one or more unnecessary fault codes to the remote monitoring entity 102.
  • the remote monitoring entity 102 may further be configured to exclude the detected one or more unnecessary fault codes, i.e. the fault codes received from the people flow equipment during the mainte nance visit, from data used to generate one or more service needs associated with said people flow equipment 206.
  • the data used to generate the one or more service needs may comprise, e.g. the fault codes received, e.g. continuously, i.e. around the clock, from the people flow equipment.
  • Figure 4 schematically illustrates the invention as a flow chart.
  • the computing unit 108 defines a virtual boundary 202, e.g. a geofence, around the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206.
  • the area of the people flow equipment 206 may cover entities belonging to the people flow equipment.
  • the computing unit 108 receives position information of the mo bile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106.
  • the computing unit 108 may receive the position information of the mobile device 104 continuously or periodically.
  • the position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an outdoor position detection system, e.g. based on cellular network, such as GSM base station.
  • the position information of the mobile 104 device may be based on an outdoor positioning system e.g. GPS.
  • the position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an indoor position detection system, e.g. WLAN, or Bluetooth beacons, to detect that the mobile device of the maintenance person 106 resides inside a building.
  • the position infor mation of the mobile device 104 may be based on an indoor positioning sys tem that enables identification of the specific device that is maintained.
  • the computing unit 108 detects an entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 based on the received position infor mation of the mobile device 104. In other words, when the received position in formation indicates that the mobile device 104 is within the virtual boundary, the computing unit 108 may detect that the maintenance person 106 has en tered into the virtual boundary 202.
  • the computing unit 108 At a step 408 in response to the detection the computing unit 108 generates to the remote monitoring entity 102 at least one control signal comprising infor mation representing the detection of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206.
  • the information represent ing the detection of the entry may comprise, but is not limited to, e.g. the de tected entry action and/or a detection time of the entry.
  • the reason for the maintenance person 106 for residing within the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206 may be e.g. a maintenance visit.
  • the computing unit 108 may further detect an exit of the mainte nance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202 based on the received posi tion information of the mobile device 104.
  • the computing unit may generate at least one further control signal the remote monitoring entity 102 comprising in formation representing the detection of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206.
  • the information repre senting the detection of the exit may comprise, but is not limited to, e.g. the de tected exit action and/or a detection time of the exit.
  • the computing unit 108 may further define a dwell time of the maintenance person 106 within the virtual boundary 202 based on a detection time of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 and a de tection time of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual bounda ry 202.
  • the dwell time represents the time spent by the maintenance person 106 within the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206, i.e. the duration of the maintenance visit.
  • the computing unit 108 may further provide the defined dwell time to the remote monitoring entity 102.
  • the remote moni toring entity 102 may define the dwell time of the maintenance person 106 within the virtual boundary 202 based on the detection time of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 and the detection time of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202.
  • the remote monitoring entity 108 may detect one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment 206 during the defined dwell time, i.e. during the maintenance visit by the maintenance person 106 to the people flow equipment 206.
  • the maintenance person 106 may be assumed to perform one or more maintenance operations of the people flow equipment 206 during the maintenance visit, i.e. during the defined dwell time.
  • the one or more maintenance operations performed by the maintenance person 106 may cause generation of one or more unnecessary fault codes to the remote moni toring entity 102.
  • the remote monitoring entity 102 may further exclude the de tected one or more unnecessary fault codes, i.e. the fault codes received from the people flow equipment during the maintenance visit, from data used to generate one or more service needs associated with said people flow equip ment 206. This may increase the accuracy of the generated service needs, which in turn may decrease the number of unnecessary maintenance visits.
  • the data used to generate the one or more service needs may comprise, e.g. the fault codes received, e.g. continuously, i.e. around the clock, from the peo ple flow equipment.
  • FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an example of components of the computing unit 108 according to the invention.
  • the computing unit 108 may comprise a processing unit 510 comprising one or more processors, a memory unit 520 comprising one or more memories, a communication unit 530 comprising one or more communication devices, and possibly a user interface (Ul) unit 540.
  • the memory unit 520 may store portions of computer program code 525 and any other data, and the processing unit 510 may cause the computing unit 108 to operate as described by executing at least some portions of the computer program code 525 stored in the memory unit 520.
  • the communication unit 530 may be based on at least one known communication technologies, either wired or wireless, in order to exchange pieces of information as described earlier.
  • the communication unit 530 provides an interface for communication with any external unit, such as the mobile device 104, the remote monitoring entity 106, database and/or any external systems.
  • the communication unit 530 may com prise one or more communication devices, e.g. radio transceiver, antenna, etc.
  • the user interface 540 may comprise I/O devices, such as buttons, keyboard, touch screen, microphone, loudspeaker, display and so on, for receiving input and outputting information.
  • the computer program 525 may be stored in a non-statutory tangible computer readable medium, e.g. an USB stick or a CD- ROM disc.

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Abstract

The invention relates to a method for detecting a maintenance person (106) within an area (204) of a people flow equipment (206). The method comprises: defining (402) a virtual boundary around the area of the people flow equipment; receiving (404) position information of a mobile device (104) carried by the maintenance person (106); detecting (406) an entry of the maintenance person into the virtual boundary based on the received position information; and generating (408) at least one control signal comprising information representing the detection of the entry of the maintenance person (106) into the area (204) of the people flow equipment (206) to a remote monitoring entity (102). The invention relates also to a system (100) for detecting a maintenance person (106) within an area of a people flow equipment (206) and a computer program (525) and a computer-readable medium.

Description

A solution for detecting a maintenance person within an area of a people flow equipment
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention concerns in general the technical field of people flow equipment. Especially the invention concerns services of people flow equipment.
BACKGROUND
Typically, a remote monitoring entity, e.g. a service center, may receive con tinuously, i.e. around the clock, information from one or more people flow equipment, e.g. elevators escalators, building doors, access gates. For exam ple, the remote monitoring entity may receive fault codes from the one or more people flow equipment and generate automatic service needs, based on the received fault codes, e.g. to maintenance personnel. During a normal mainte nance visit, e.g. by the maintenance personnel, one or more maintenance op erations may cause generation of one or more unnecessary fault codes to the remote elevator monitoring entity. These unnecessary fault codes, in turn, may lead to the generation of unnecessary automatic service needs. Therefore, the unnecessary fault codes may decrease the accuracy of the generated service needs and increase unnecessary maintenance visits.
Thus, there is a need to develop solutions in order to improve at least partly service accuracy of a people flow equipment.
SUMMARY
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide basic under standing of some aspects of various invention embodiments. The summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention nor to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of exemplifying em bodiments of the invention.
An objective of the invention is to present a method, a system, a computer program, and a computer-readable medium for detecting a maintenance per son within an area of a people flow equipment. Another objective of the inven tion is that the method, the system, the computer program, and the computer- readable medium for detecting a maintenance person within an area of a peo ple flow equipment decrease the number of unnecessary maintenance visits.
The objectives of the invention are reached by a method, system, a computer program, and a computer-readable medium as defined by the respective inde pendent claims.
According to a first aspect, a method for detecting a maintenance person with in an area of a people flow equipment is provided, wherein the method com prises: defining a virtual boundary around the area of the people flow equip ment; receiving position information of a mobile device carried by the mainte nance person; detecting an entry of the maintenance person into the virtual boundary based on the received position information; and generating at least one control signal comprising information representing the detection of the en try of the maintenance person into the area of the people flow equipment to a remote monitoring entity.
The method may further comprise: detecting an exit of the maintenance per son from the virtual boundary based on the received position information, and generating at least one further control signal comprising information represent ing the detection of the exit of the maintenance person from the area of the people flow equipment.
The method may further comprise defining a dwell time of the maintenance person within the virtual boundary based on a detection time of the entry into the virtual boundary and a detection time of the exit from the virtual boundary.
The method may further comprise: detecting, by the remote monitoring entity, one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment during the defined dwell time, and excluding, by the remote monitoring entity, the detect ed one or more unnecessary fault codes from data used to generate one or more service needs associated with said people flow equipment.
Alternatively or in addition the position information of the mobile device may be based on at least one of the following: an outdoor position detection system, an outdoor positioning system, an indoor position detection system, an indoor positioning system. Alternatively or in addition, the people flow equipment may be an elevator, an escalator, a building door, or an access gate.
According to a second aspect, a system for detecting a maintenance person within an area of a people flow equipment is provided, wherein the system comprises: a remote monitoring entity for monitoring operation of the people flow equipment, a mobile device carried by the maintenance person, a compu ting unit configured to: define a virtual boundary around the area of the people flow equipment; receive position information of a mobile device carried by the maintenance person; detect an entry of the maintenance person into the virtual boundary based on the received position information; and generate at least one control signal comprising information representing the detection of the en try of the maintenance person into the area of people flow equipment to the remote monitoring entity.
The computing unit may further be configured to: detect an exit of the mainte nance person from the virtual boundary based on the received position infor mation, and generate at least one further control signal comprising information representing the detection of the exit of the maintenance person from the area of the people flow equipment.
The computing unit or the remote monitoring entity may further be configured to define a dwell time of the maintenance person within the virtual boundary based on a detection time of the entry into the virtual boundary and a detection time of the exit from the virtual boundary.
Moreover, the remote monitoring entity may be configured to: detect one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment during the defined dwell time, and exclude the detected one or more unnecessary fault codes from data used to generate one or more service needs associated with said people flow equipment.
Alternatively or in addition, the position information of the mobile device may be based on at least one of the following: an outdoor position detection sys tem, an outdoor positioning system, an indoor position detection system, an indoor positioning system.
Alternatively or in addition, the people flow equipment may be an elevator, an escalator, a building door, or an access gate. According to a third aspect, a computer program is provided, wherein the com puter program comprises instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method as described above.
According to a third aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable medium comprises the computer program as described above.
Various exemplifying and non-limiting embodiments of the invention both as to constructions and to methods of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific exemplifying and non-limiting embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The verbs “to comprise” and “to include” are used in this document as open limitations that neither exclude nor require the existence of unrecited features. The features recited in dependent claims are mutually freely combinable un less otherwise explicitly stated. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the use of “a” or “an”, i.e. a singular form, throughout this document does not exclude a plurality.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 illustrates schematically an example of a system according to the in vention.
Figure 2 illustrates schematically an example of a virtual boundary defined around an area of a people flow equipment according to the invention.
Figure 3 illustrates schematically an example situation, wherein a maintenance person has entered into a virtual boundary.
Figure 4 illustrates schematically an example of a method according to the in vention.
Figure 5 schematically illustrates an example of components of a computing unit according to the invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLIFYING EMBODIMENTS
The Figure 1 illustrates schematically an example of a system 100 for detect ing a maintenance person within an area of a people flow equipment according to the invention. The system 100 comprises a remote monitoring entity 102 for monitoring operation of a people flow equipment, a mobile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106, and a computing unit 108. The people flow equipment may be an elevator, an escalator, a building door, or an access gate. The maintenance person 106 may carry the mobile device 104 for exam ple in, but not limited to, a pocket, a bag, or a hand. The mobile device 104 may be e.g. a mobile phone or a tablet computer.
The remote monitoring entity 102 may be one of the following: a cloud server, a service center, a data center. The remote entity herein means an entity that locates separate from the people flow equipment 200. The computing unit 108 and the remote monitoring entity 102 are communicatively coupled to each other. The remote monitoring entity 102 may receive fault codes from the flow equipment 206 and generate automatic service needs, e.g. maintenance needs, based on the received fault codes, e.g. to the maintenance person 106. The communication between the computing unit 108 and the remote monitor ing entity 102 may be based on one or more known communication technolo gies, either wired or wireless. Some non-limiting examples of the computing unit 108 may e.g. be a server, cloud server, personal computer, laptop com puter, computing circuit, or a network of computing devices.
The computing unit 108 may be configured to define a virtual boundary 202, e.g. a geofence, around the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206. The virtual boundary 202 is a virtual perimeter for a geographic area. Geofencing is an operation that triggers an action when a device enters the virtual boundary 202. Figure 2 illustrates an example of the virtual boundary 202 defined around the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206. The area of the people flow equipment 206 may cover entities belonging to the people flow equipment. For example, if the people flow equipment 106 is an elevator, the area 202 of the elevator may cover e.g. an elevator shaft, an elevator car, a machine room, an elevator hallway in which one or more landing call panels may be arranged, a test and emergency panel arranged outside the elevator shaft, e.g. inside the machine room, and used for example for performing test drives, and/or an in- spection drive station arranged inside the elevator shaft and used for example performing inspection drives.
The computing unit 108 is further configured to receive position information of the mobile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106. The computing unit 108 may receive the position information of the mobile device 104 contin uously or periodically. The position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an outdoor position detection system, e.g. based on cellular net work, such as GSM base station. Alternatively or in addition, the position in formation of the mobile 104 device may be based on an outdoor positioning system e.g. Global Positioning System (GPS). Alternatively or in addition, the position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an indoor posi tion detection system, e.g. wireless local area network (WLAN), or Bluetooth beacons, to detect that the mobile device of the maintenance person 106 re sides inside a building. Alternatively or in addition, the position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an indoor positioning system that en ables identification of the specific device that is maintained. For example, the indoor positioning system may be based on one or more radio beacons in stalled in the people flow equipment 206, e.g. in case of an elevator, the one or more beacons may be installed in the machine room and/or in the elevator shaft. Each radio beacon may be used to continuously broadcast radio signals toward its surroundings and the mobile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106 may sense radio signals when the maintenance person approach es the radio beacon broadcasting the radio signals in order to provide the posi tion information of the position information of the mobile device 104.
The computing unit 108 is configured to detect an entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 based on the received position infor mation of the mobile device 104. In other words, when the received position in formation indicates that the mobile device 104 is within the virtual boundary, the computing unit 108 may detect that the maintenance person 106 has en tered into the virtual boundary 202. In response to the detection the computing unit 108 is configured to generate to the remote monitoring entity 102 at least one control signal comprising information representing the detection of the en try of the maintenance person 106 into the area 204 of the people flow equip ment 206. The information representing the detection of the entry may com prise, but is not limited to, e.g. the detected entry action and/or a detection time of the entry. The reason for the maintenance person 106 for residing with- in the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206 may be e.g. a maintenance visit. Figure 3 illustrates schematically an example situation, wherein the maintenance person 106 has entered into the virtual boundary 202. For sake of clarity the mobile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106 is not shown in Figure 3.
The computing unit 108 may further be configured to detect an exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202 based on the received position information of the mobile device 104. In other words, when the re ceived position information indicates that the mobile device 104 does not re side within the virtual boundary 202 anymore, the computing unit 108 may de tect that the maintenance person 106 has exited the virtual boundary 202. The computing unit may be configured to generate at least one further control sig nal the remote monitoring entity 102 comprising information representing the detection of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206. The information representing the detection of the exit may comprise, but is not limited to, e.g. the detected exit action and/or a detection time of the exit.
The computing unit 108 may further be configured to define a dwell time of the maintenance person 106 within the virtual boundary 202 based on a detection time of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 and a detection time of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202. The dwell time represents the time spent by the maintenance person 106 within the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206, i.e. the dura tion of the maintenance visit. The computing unit 108 may further provide the defined dwell time to the remote monitoring entity 102. Alternatively, the re mote monitoring entity 102 may be configured to define the dwell time of the maintenance person 106 within the virtual boundary 202 based on the detec tion time of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 and the detection time of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202. According to an example of the invention, the defined dwell time may be used to record working hours of the maintenance person 106 at the people flow equipment 206.
The remote monitoring entity 108 may be configured to detect one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment 206 during the defined dwell time, i.e. during the maintenance visit by the maintenance person 106 to the people flow equipment 206. The maintenance person 106 may be as sumed to perform one or more maintenance operations of the people flow equipment 206 during the maintenance visit, i.e. during the defined dwell time. The one or more maintenance operations performed by the maintenance per son 106 may cause generation of one or more unnecessary fault codes to the remote monitoring entity 102. The remote monitoring entity 102 may further be configured to exclude the detected one or more unnecessary fault codes, i.e. the fault codes received from the people flow equipment during the mainte nance visit, from data used to generate one or more service needs associated with said people flow equipment 206. This may increase the accuracy of the generated service needs, which in turn may decrease the number of unneces sary maintenance visits. The data used to generate the one or more service needs, may comprise, e.g. the fault codes received, e.g. continuously, i.e. around the clock, from the people flow equipment.
Next an example of the method according to the invention is described by re ferring to Figure 4. Figure 4 schematically illustrates the invention as a flow chart.
At a step 402, the computing unit 108 defines a virtual boundary 202, e.g. a geofence, around the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206. The area of the people flow equipment 206 may cover entities belonging to the people flow equipment.
At a step 404, the computing unit 108 receives position information of the mo bile device 104 carried by the maintenance person 106. The computing unit 108 may receive the position information of the mobile device 104 continuously or periodically. The position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an outdoor position detection system, e.g. based on cellular network, such as GSM base station. Alternatively or in addition, the position information of the mobile 104 device may be based on an outdoor positioning system e.g. GPS. Alternatively or in addition, the position information of the mobile device 104 may be based on an indoor position detection system, e.g. WLAN, or Bluetooth beacons, to detect that the mobile device of the maintenance person 106 resides inside a building. Alternatively or in addition, the position infor mation of the mobile device 104 may be based on an indoor positioning sys tem that enables identification of the specific device that is maintained. At a step 406, the computing unit 108 detects an entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 based on the received position infor mation of the mobile device 104. In other words, when the received position in formation indicates that the mobile device 104 is within the virtual boundary, the computing unit 108 may detect that the maintenance person 106 has en tered into the virtual boundary 202.
At a step 408 in response to the detection the computing unit 108 generates to the remote monitoring entity 102 at least one control signal comprising infor mation representing the detection of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206. The information represent ing the detection of the entry may comprise, but is not limited to, e.g. the de tected entry action and/or a detection time of the entry. The reason for the maintenance person 106 for residing within the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206 may be e.g. a maintenance visit.
At a step 410, the computing unit 108 may further detect an exit of the mainte nance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202 based on the received posi tion information of the mobile device 104. The computing unit may generate at least one further control signal the remote monitoring entity 102 comprising in formation representing the detection of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206. The information repre senting the detection of the exit may comprise, but is not limited to, e.g. the de tected exit action and/or a detection time of the exit.
The computing unit 108 may further define a dwell time of the maintenance person 106 within the virtual boundary 202 based on a detection time of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 and a de tection time of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual bounda ry 202. The dwell time represents the time spent by the maintenance person 106 within the area 204 of the people flow equipment 206, i.e. the duration of the maintenance visit. The computing unit 108 may further provide the defined dwell time to the remote monitoring entity 102. Alternatively, the remote moni toring entity 102 may define the dwell time of the maintenance person 106 within the virtual boundary 202 based on the detection time of the entry of the maintenance person 106 into the virtual boundary 202 and the detection time of the exit of the maintenance person 106 from the virtual boundary 202. At a step 412, the remote monitoring entity 108 may detect one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment 206 during the defined dwell time, i.e. during the maintenance visit by the maintenance person 106 to the people flow equipment 206. The maintenance person 106 may be assumed to perform one or more maintenance operations of the people flow equipment 206 during the maintenance visit, i.e. during the defined dwell time. The one or more maintenance operations performed by the maintenance person 106 may cause generation of one or more unnecessary fault codes to the remote moni toring entity 102.
At a step 414, the remote monitoring entity 102 may further exclude the de tected one or more unnecessary fault codes, i.e. the fault codes received from the people flow equipment during the maintenance visit, from data used to generate one or more service needs associated with said people flow equip ment 206. This may increase the accuracy of the generated service needs, which in turn may decrease the number of unnecessary maintenance visits. The data used to generate the one or more service needs, may comprise, e.g. the fault codes received, e.g. continuously, i.e. around the clock, from the peo ple flow equipment.
Figure 5 schematically illustrates an example of components of the computing unit 108 according to the invention. The computing unit 108 may comprise a processing unit 510 comprising one or more processors, a memory unit 520 comprising one or more memories, a communication unit 530 comprising one or more communication devices, and possibly a user interface (Ul) unit 540. The memory unit 520 may store portions of computer program code 525 and any other data, and the processing unit 510 may cause the computing unit 108 to operate as described by executing at least some portions of the computer program code 525 stored in the memory unit 520. The communication unit 530 may be based on at least one known communication technologies, either wired or wireless, in order to exchange pieces of information as described earlier. The communication unit 530 provides an interface for communication with any external unit, such as the mobile device 104, the remote monitoring entity 106, database and/or any external systems. The communication unit 530 may com prise one or more communication devices, e.g. radio transceiver, antenna, etc. The user interface 540 may comprise I/O devices, such as buttons, keyboard, touch screen, microphone, loudspeaker, display and so on, for receiving input and outputting information. The computer program 525 may be stored in a non-statutory tangible computer readable medium, e.g. an USB stick or a CD- ROM disc.
The specific examples provided in the description given above should not be construed as limiting the applicability and/or the interpretation of the appended claims. Lists and groups of examples provided in the description given above are not exhaustive unless otherwise explicitly stated.

Claims

1. A method for detecting a maintenance person (106) within an area (204) of a people flow equipment (206), the method comprising: defining (402) a virtual boundary around the area of the people flow equipment; receiving (404) position information of a mobile device (104) carried by the maintenance person (106); detecting (406) an entry of the maintenance person into the virtual boundary based on the received position information; and generating (408) at least one control signal comprising information repre senting the detection of the entry of the maintenance person (106) into the ar ea (204) of the people flow equipment (206) to a remote monitoring entity (102).
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: detecting (410) an exit of the maintenance person (106) from the virtual boundary (202) based on the received position information, and generating at least one further control signal comprising information rep resenting the detection of the exit of the maintenance person (106) from the area (204) of the people flow equipment (206).
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises defining a dwell time of the maintenance person (106) within the virtual bound ary (202) based on a detection time of the entry into the virtual boundary (202) and a detection time of the exit from the virtual boundary (202).
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the method further comprises: detecting (412), by the remote monitoring entity (102), one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment (206) during the defined dwell time, and excluding (414), by the remote monitoring entity (102), the detected one or more unnecessary fault codes from data used to generate one or more ser- vice needs associated with said people flow equipment (206).
5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the posi tion information of the mobile device (104) is based on at least one of the fol lowing: an outdoor position detection system, an outdoor positioning system, an indoor position detection system, an indoor positioning system.
6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the people flow equipment (206) is an elevator, an escalator, a building door, or an access gate.
7. A system (100) for detecting a maintenance person (106) within an area of a people flow equipment (206), the system comprises: a remote monitoring entity for monitoring operation of the people flow equipment (206), a mobile device (104) carried by the maintenance person (106), a computing unit (108) configured to: define a virtual boundary (202) around the area (204) of the people flow equipment (206); receive position information of a mobile device (104) carried by the maintenance person (106); detect an entry of the maintenance person (106) into the virtual boundary (202) based on the received position information; and generate at least one control signal comprising information repre senting the detection of the entry of the maintenance person (106) into the ar ea (204) of people flow equipment (206) to the remote monitoring entity (102).
8. The system (100) according to claim 7, wherein the computing unit (108) is further configured to: detect an exit of the maintenance person (106) from the virtual boundary (202) based on the received position information, and generate at least one further control signal comprising information repre senting the detection of the exit of the maintenance person (106) from the area (204) of the people flow equipment (206).
9. The system (100) according to claim 8, wherein the computing unit (108) or the remote monitoring entity (102) is further configured to define a dwell time of the maintenance person (106) within the virtual boundary (202) based on a detection time of the entry into the virtual boundary (202) and a detection time of the exit from the virtual boundary (202).
10. The system (100) according to claim 9, wherein the remote monitoring entity (102) is configured to: detect one or more fault codes received from the people flow equipment (206) during the defined dwell time, and exclude the detected one or more unnecessary fault codes from data used to generate one or more service needs associated with said people flow equipment (206).
11. The system (100) according to any of claims 7 to 10, wherein the position information of the mobile device (104) is based on at least one of the following: an outdoor position detection system, an outdoor positioning system, an indoor position detection system, an indoor positioning system.
12 The system according to any of claims 7 to 11, wherein the people flow equipment (206) is an elevator, an escalator, a building door, or an access gate.
13. A computer program (525) comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to any of claims 1 to 6.
14. A computer-readable medium comprising the computer program (525) according to claim 13.
EP20919699.7A 2020-02-19 2020-02-19 A solution for detecting a maintenance person within an area of a people flow equipment Pending EP4107107A4 (en)

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WO2022189691A1 (en) * 2021-03-08 2022-09-15 Kone Corporation A solution for detecting at least one maintenance person in a proximity of a people conveyor system

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MX2007005538A (en) * 2004-11-09 2007-05-21 Inventio Ag Maintenance method and device for an elevator or escalator installation.
JP6731382B2 (en) * 2017-06-29 2020-07-29 株式会社日立ビルシステム Elevator monitoring system
CN109928281B (en) * 2017-12-15 2021-12-31 奥的斯电梯公司 Maintenance of passenger transport system
CN109928280B (en) * 2017-12-15 2021-09-07 奥的斯电梯公司 Maintenance monitoring of passenger transport systems
US11072515B2 (en) * 2018-03-27 2021-07-27 Otis Elevator Company Automated elevator maintenance mode initiation

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