JP2002293484A - Elevator control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an elevator control device for accurately detecting the existence of passengers waiting for an elevator and the number of the passengers from image data for an elevator hall or an elevator car interior acquired by using an image input device. SOLUTION: The elevator control device comprises image input means arranged on a ceiling or a wall of an elevator hall for detecting the number of waiting passengers in the elevator hall and controlling the operation of the elevator car, the image input means being constructed of a wide angle lens and an image sensor for forming the image obtained via the wide angle lens. A first area where the waiting passengers in front of a door corresponding to each elevator in the elevator hall are held ready and a second area where walkers apart from the door is freely movable are set up so that the number of the waiting passengers in the first area corresponding to each elevator is detected by using image sensor data in each area on the image sensor corresponding to the first area.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention detects the number of waiting and passengers of an elevator from image data in an elevator hall or an elevator car obtained by using an image input device, and controls the elevator car to move up and down or to dispatch vehicles. The present invention relates to an elevator control device to be controlled.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an elevator car having a sufficient number of passengers is preferentially allocated to a crowded floor by detecting the number of passengers in an elevator car and the number of passengers in the elevator car using an image sensor. A device that performs control such as causing the control is performed.

As an apparatus for detecting the number of people in a hall or a car using such an image sensor and controlling an elevator, for example, an apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-31448 is known. Conventional example). FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the elevator control device described in this publication. In the figure, 1 is an image input means, 29 is a current image, 33 is a background image memory, 34 is a threshold value adjusting means,
9b is a person extracting means, 10b is a number counting means, 35 is a number of people, 32 is a background image updating means, and 31 is an original background image memory.

An outline of the operation will be described. The difference between the image obtained by the image input means 1 and taken in the current image memory 29 and the image stored in the background image memory 33 is obtained. This difference information is obtained by using the threshold value set by the threshold value adjusting means 34 and the human part extracting means 9b.
Extracts a human outline. The number of persons 35 is detected by the number counting means 10b based on the contour of the person. Here, as a method of counting the number of people, a method is used in which the area of the person extracted by the person extracting means 9b is divided by the average area occupied by each person. The background image is automatically updated by the background image updating means 32. At this time, by using the original background image memory 31, accuracy degradation due to ghost which is an error occurring at the time of difference is eliminated.

[0005] In addition, a control device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-286377 is known as a control device for detecting the number of elevator halls and stopping the required number of elevators (second prior art). Example). FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the elevator control device described in this publication. In the figure, 5a is a zoom lens, 6a is a television camera, 42a and 42b are image memories, 42c
Is an arithmetic circuit, 18a is an elevator control device, and 24 is an elevator.

An outline of the operation will be described. An image of the entire elevator hall is taken at any time by the television camera 6a via the zoom lens 5a. The image when no person exists and the current image are stored in the image memory 42a, respectively.
Are captured and stored in the image memory 42b. Based on these two image data stored in the image memories 42a and 42b, the arithmetic circuit 42c calculates a difference in a region near the entrance and exit of the hall, and detects the number of persons present in the elevator hall from the difference pattern. Here, the number of persons is counted by detecting entry and exit from the direction of movement of the person in the entrance / exit area. Based on the detected number of persons, the elevator control device 18a issues a stop command to procure the required number of elevators 24. And the like.

[0007]

The conventional elevator control device is configured as described above, and there remains a problem in the accuracy of detecting the number of people. First, in the first conventional example, a human part is extracted by performing a luminance difference between two pieces of image data, and the number of persons is counted by dividing the area by the average area occupied by one person. Therefore, in an environment such as an elevator hall where a large number of illuminators are installed or in an environment where direct sunlight shines through windows, not only people but also their shadows are detected as human parts. As a result, there is a problem that the area of the human part becomes large and counts more than actual. At this time,
There is also a method of setting the area per person in consideration of the shadow part. However, since the length of the shadow differs depending on the position where the person is, and the sunlight varies depending on the time and season, it is necessary to set it including it. It is difficult.

Further, in the second conventional example, not the area but the entrance and exit of the elevator hall is detected and the number of persons is counted. Although the method of image difference is used, the target is the person part. Since it is not the area but the direction of travel, there is no effect of the shadow increasing the area of the human part. However, if multiple people come to the elevator hall at the same time, the difference image in the entrance area
Since one large lump is detected as having entered the hall, there is a problem that the count of the number of people becomes smaller than it actually is. In addition, even if the entrance and exit of the hall can be accurately detected in the entrance / exit area and the number of persons existing in the hall can be grasped, the number of persons including those who do not actually get on the elevator is included. There is also a problem that it becomes impossible to accurately detect a waiting customer and to arrange an elevator so that there is no leftover.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can accurately detect the number of elevator waiters and passengers from image data in an elevator hall or an elevator car obtained by using an image input device. It is an object to provide an elevator control device.

[0010]

An elevator control apparatus according to the present invention has an image input means disposed on a ceiling or a wall of an elevator hall, detects the number of waiting persons in the elevator hall, and controls the operation of the elevator car. In the control device, the image input means comprises a wide-angle lens and an image sensor on which an image obtained through the wide-angle lens is formed, and a waiting customer in front of a door corresponding to each elevator in the elevator hall waits. The first area for the, and the second area in which the pedestrian away from the door can freely move, set the image sensor data in each area on the image sensor corresponding to the first area, to each elevator The number of waiting guests in the corresponding first area is detected.

In the elevator control device for arranging the image input means on the ceiling or the wall of the elevator car, detecting the number of passengers of the elevator car, and controlling the operation of the elevator car, the image input means is a wide-angle lens and a wide-angle lens. And an image sensor that forms an image obtained through a first area including a door and a second area adjacent to the door in the elevator car, corresponding to the first and second areas. From the image sensor data in each area on the image sensor to perform, the open / closed state of the door in the first area and the position of the passenger in the second area are simultaneously detected, and the passenger in the second area detects the door in the first area. When the vehicle is about to collide, the speed at which the door closes is controlled to be lower than the speed during normal operation.

Furthermore, a first database relating to the relationship between the amount of change in exposure time of the image sensor and the amount of change in luminance on the image sensor, the luminance value of the target object on the image sensor and the luminance value corresponding to the shadow thereof And a second database relating to the relationship, the first, based on the database of two, in the area on the image sensor corresponding to the predetermined area set in the elevator hall or elevator car, the target object and The shadow is separated.

[0013]

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an elevator control apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an image input means for capturing the brightness of a wide area of interest as an image, 2 denotes an area dividing means for dividing the image captured by the image input means 1 into one or a plurality of areas, and 3 denotes an area division. The number of people detecting means for detecting the presence of a human body and the number of people for each area divided by the means 2 and the number of people for each area of each floor detected by the number of people detecting means 4 are collected by the number of people 4. This is an elevator elevating control means for determining and controlling which floor should be dispatched.

Here, the image input means 1 is composed of a wide-angle lens 5 that transmits light in a wide area of interest and an image sensor 6 that connects the light as an image. The area dividing means 2 includes an area dividing unit 7 for dividing an image on the image sensor 6 into one or a plurality of areas, and the number and size of area divisions according to the shape of the target elevator hall, the number of cars, and the like. It comprises an area setting section 8 for setting the height and the like. In addition, the number-of-people detecting means 3 includes an area dividing unit 7.
And a human body detecting unit 9 for extracting a human body by image processing for each area divided by the above, and dividing the human part extracted on the image by an average area occupied by one person for each area. Number detection unit 10 for estimating the number of people and people
Occupied area setting unit 11 for setting the average area occupied by one person
It is composed of Elevator lift control means 4
Is a control judging unit 12 for judging which car should be dispatched to which floor by aggregating all the people in each area on each floor detected by the person detecting unit 10, and based on the result. The lift control unit 13 actually performs group control.

Next, the operation of the number-of-people detecting means will be described by taking an elevator hall as an example. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which the present elevator control device is applied to an elevator hall. In the figure, 14 is an elevator hall, 15 is an elevator door, 16 is a human body detection sensor corresponding to the image input unit 1, the area division unit 2, and the number of people detection unit 3, and 17 is a group of people data in each area on each floor. , Control judging unit 12 that judges car dispatch
Is a control judging device having a built-in elevator controller 18 for controlling the group of cars. Also one
9a and 19b are a waiting person and a pedestrian, respectively.
a and 20b are a waiting area and a passage area, respectively.

The operation will be described. First, luminance information of a wide area to be processed is captured as an image by the image sensor 6 via the wide-angle lens 5, and the image is divided into one or a plurality of areas by the area dividing unit 7. At the time of division, the number and size of the areas are set by the area setting unit 8. For example, when there are six elevator cars as shown in FIG. 2, the waiting area 20a is set in front of each elevator with a size suitable for the number of elevators and the frequency of use. At the same time, a passage area 20b, which is different from the waiting area 20a and through which the pedestrian 19b passes, is set. In this way, by distinguishing the type of area and excluding the person in the passage area 20b from the waiting guests 19a, the number of waiting guests 19a can be grasped more accurately. The setting in the area setting unit 8 as described above may be performed before installation in the elevator hall, or tuning may be performed after installation.

Next, for each of the divided areas as described above, a human body is extracted by a human body detecting section 9 based on a difference between images.
The number of persons in each area is estimated by dividing the extracted area of the human body part by the average area occupied by one human body set by the occupation area setting unit 11 in the number detection unit 10. At this time, the human body 1 captured by the image sensor 6
The area of a person decreases as the distance from the human body detection sensor 16 increases, and the wider the wide-angle lens 5 is used, the more the image is compressed in the peripheral portion. Therefore, the occupied area setting unit 11 removes the influence of the area difference due to the position by setting the area of one human body for each distance from the sensor or each area divided by the area dividing unit 7.

As described above, the data of the number of persons detected for each area on each floor is collected in the control determination unit 17 in FIG. 2 to determine which elevator car should be allocated to which floor. . For example, if the waiting customers are concentrated on a certain floor, the vehicle is preferentially dispatched to that floor, and if there is no waiting customer even if there is a call, the floor is judged to be passed. Furthermore, if the number of people in the car is also detected, for example, even if a certain car is called, if the car is crowded and it is likely to cause unloading, it is possible to control such as allocating a car with a sufficient number of passengers Become. The elevation control unit 18 performs group control based on the control content determined in this manner.

As described above, according to the present invention, a wide-range image obtained through a wide-angle lens is divided into areas for each elevator car platform, and the number of waiting passengers is detected separately from passers-by for each area. As a result, it is possible to control the elevator group precisely and precisely.

Embodiment 2 FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a case where an elevator control apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention is applied to detection of the number of people in an elevator car. Compared with the first embodiment, a collision avoidance unit is newly added. Accordingly, a door opening / closing detecting unit and a door opening / closing control unit are added to the block configuration of FIG. The same or corresponding portions as those described in the conventional example or the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a door opening / closing detection unit 22 which detects opening / closing of a door and a position of a human body, and particularly controls a state that a door is not closed when a person is close to the door. It comprises a door opening / closing control section 23 for controlling the door based on the human body position data detected by the human body extracting section 9a and the door data from the door opening / closing detecting section 22.

Next, the control operation of the collision avoiding means will be described. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a situation where the present elevator control device is installed in an elevator car. (A),
(B) shows the situation at the time of elevating and stopping, respectively.
The same reference numerals are given to the same or the same corresponding parts as those already described in the conventional example or the embodiment, and the description is omitted. In the figure, 20c is one of the divided areas, 24 is an elevator car, and 25 is a passenger.

The basic control operation of detecting the number of persons from the luminance information of the target space and performing elevator control is the same as that described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted. Here, only the collision avoiding means 21 will be described.
Since the target space is a car of an elevator, for example, as shown in FIGS.
By setting some areas such as c in the area setting unit 8a and dividing the area by the area dividing unit 7a, the human body extracting unit 9a grasps not only the presence of the human body but also whether the position is near or far from the door. be able to.

If an area for detecting the door itself is set in the area setting section 8a, the door opening / closing detection section 22
, The open / closed state of the door can be detected from the difference between the images in the same manner as in the case of the human body. In other words, the state where the door is closed is captured as a background image, and there is no difference if the door is closed when there is a difference from the current image, but there is a difference output if it is open or in the middle of opening and closing. Therefore, the open / closed state of the door can be distinguished. Here, the background image of the difference is in a state where the door is closed, but may be acquired in a state where the door is open.

In this manner, the door opening / closing controller 23 controls the human body based on the human body position data for each area obtained by the human body extracting section 9a and the door opening / closing state obtained by the door opening / closing detecting section 22. Door opening and closing control to avoid collision with the door. For example, in the case of FIG. 4A, in the output of the human body extracting unit 9a, a person exists in the area 26 close to the door, but since the door is not open, the door open / close detecting unit 22 determines that the door is closed. No special control is performed in the unit 23, and the collision avoiding means 21 does not function. On the other hand, if the human body is in the area near the door while the door is being opened or closed or is completely open as in (b), the possibility that a person is pinched by the door increases the possibility of occurrence. , Door opening and closing control unit 2
The collision is avoided by performing control such as automatically opening or closing the door at step 3.

As described above, the present invention detects the position of a human body and the opening / closing of a door by using an image sensor installed in an elevator car, so that the human body is close to the door and the door is open or is being opened or closed. State is detected,
By automatically opening or closing the door at a low speed, a collision such as a person being pinched by the door can be avoided.

Third Embodiment FIG. 5A is a control flowchart of the shadow separating means performed by the above-described human body extracting section 9 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 2B and 2C both show an outline of an image sensor-related database used in automatic exposure. In FIG. 7B, the horizontal axis represents the change in the exposure time, and the vertical axis represents the change in the luminance value on the image. 2 in the figure
Reference numerals 6a, 26b, and 26c show relationships when the luminance of the target object is a high level, a medium level, and a low level, respectively. Further, in FIG. 3C, the horizontal axis represents the exposure time, and the vertical axis represents the luminance value on the image. 27, 2
Numeral 8 indicates the relationship between the target object and its shadow.

Next, the operation of the shadow separating means based on the image sensor data according to the present invention will be described. First, at a certain exposure time, an image is captured by the image input unit 1 (step S501), and the area dividing unit 7 or 7a
, An initial average luminance value L0 is calculated for each of the divided areas (step S502). Here, the accumulation time is changed (step S503), the image is fetched again (step S504), and the average luminance is calculated for each area in the same manner as in step S502, and this is set as the changed average luminance value L1 (step S505). At this time, each average luminance value L0,
From L1 and the exposure time when each value was obtained, FIG.
By obtaining the relationship between the change amount of the exposure time and the change amount of the luminance value on the image as shown in (b), 26a, 26b, 26
c, that is, the actual luminance (brightness) of the target object is determined (step S506). Based on the determination here, the relationship 27 between the exposure time and the brightness value of the target object and the relationship 28 between the exposure time and the brightness value of the shadow of the target object in FIG. Among the pixels, a pixel having a luminance of 28 is set as a pixel corresponding to the shadow of the target object (step S507). According to this setting, even if the human body is extracted as a human body by the difference in the human body extraction unit 9 or 9a, step S
Pixels set as shadows in 507 are excluded from the detection of the number of persons by the number of persons detection unit 10.

As described above, the present invention provides an elevator hall,
Or, in a sensor installed in the car and detects the number of people using the image, at the time of image capture, the actual luminance value of the target object is determined from the amount of change in luminance on the image with respect to the amount of change in exposure time, By estimating the pixels that will be the shadow of the same target object from the luminance value using a database and excluding those pixels in the detection of the number of persons, the influence of the shadow can be prevented and the number of persons can be detected with high accuracy.

[0029]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since it is possible to distinguish and detect a waiting person and a pedestrian in a form corresponding to the elevator car, fine and efficient elevator group control. Becomes possible.

According to the second aspect, the position of the person and the opening / closing of the door are simultaneously detected, and the speed of opening / closing and closing the door is controlled, so that a problem such as a person being pinched by the door can be avoided. Can be.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is no problem that a shadow portion of a person is detected as a person.
It is possible to detect the number of people with high accuracy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an elevator control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an installation state of an elevator control device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention in an elevator hall.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an elevator control device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are explanatory diagrams showing how an elevator control device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention is installed in an elevator car, wherein FIG. 4A is a vertical movement with the door closed, and FIG. This shows the situation when the vehicle is stopped during opening and closing.

FIG. 5 relates to control contents of a shadow separating unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention, where (a) is a control flowchart,
(B) is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the change amount of the exposure time and the change amount of the luminance on the image, and (c) is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the exposure time and the luminance value of the target object and its shadow.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an elevator control device according to a first conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an elevator control device according to a second conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 image input means, 2 area division means, 3 person detection means, 4 elevator control means, 5 wide angle lens, 6 image sensor, 7, 7a area division section,
8, 8a area setting unit, 9, 9a human body extraction unit,
10 Number detection section, 11 Occupied area setting section, 12
13 control judging unit, 13 elevating control unit, 14 elevator hall, 15 elevator door, 16 human body detection sensor 17 control judging device, 18 elevating control device, 19a
Waiter, 19b Pedestrian, 20a Waiting area, 2
0b passage area, 20c area, 21 collision avoidance means, 22 door open / close detecting section, 23 door open / close control section, 2
4 Elevator car, 25 Passenger, 26 Characteristic curve (26a high level, 26b medium level, 26c low level) showing the relationship between the change in exposure time and the change in luminance on the image 27 Exposure time and image on target object Characteristic curve showing the relationship between the exposure value and the brightness value 28 The characteristic curve showing the relationship between the exposure time and the brightness value on the shadow image of the target object

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3F303 CB22 CB24 CB31 3F307 DA11 EA18 EA21 EA39 5L096 AA03 AA06 BA02 CA05 CA18 DA02 FA52 FA59 GA08 GA51

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An elevator control device for arranging image input means on a ceiling or a wall of an elevator hall and detecting the number of waiting persons in the elevator hall to control the operation of the elevator car, wherein the image input means is a wide-angle lens. And an image sensor on which an image obtained through the wide-angle lens is formed, a first area for waiting for a waiter in front of a door corresponding to each elevator in the elevator hall, and a door A second area in which a distant pedestrian can move freely is set. From the image sensor data in each area on the image sensor corresponding to the first area, the first area corresponding to each elevator is set. An elevator control device characterized in that the number of waiting passengers is detected. 2. An image input means is arranged on a ceiling or a wall of an elevator car, and detects the number of passengers of the elevator car,
An elevator control device that controls the operation of an elevator car, wherein the image input unit includes a wide-angle lens and an image sensor on which an image obtained through the wide-angle lens is formed, and includes a door in the elevator car. A first area and a second area adjacent to the door are set, and from the image sensor data in each area on the image sensor corresponding to the first and second areas, the opening / closing state of the door in the first area And simultaneously detect the position of the passenger in the second area, when the passenger in the second area is about to collide with the door in the first area, the closing speed of the door is lower than the speed during normal operation. An elevator control device, which controls so as to be slow. 3. A first database relating to a relationship between an amount of change in exposure time of the image sensor and an amount of change in luminance on the image sensor, and corresponds to a luminance value of a target object on the image sensor and its shadow. A second database relating to the relationship with the luminance value, based on the first and second database, the area on the image sensor corresponding to a predetermined area set in the elevator hall or the elevator car 3. The elevator control device according to claim 1, wherein the target object and its shadow are separated.