JP3251228B2 - Elevator control method and device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an elevator control method and apparatus for counting the number of people waiting for an elevator in an elevator hall and performing elevator group management. The present invention relates to an elevator control method and apparatus for counting the number of people.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In elevator operation control, a floor and a time zone in which users are expected to increase are predicted, and programming is performed in an elevator control device so that an elevator car operates efficiently on that floor during the time zone. Had gone by. In addition, operation control is performed by a method in which an elevator administrator manually inputs necessary information.

[0003]

However, the prior art elevator control method and apparatus perform operation control programmed according to a specific floor and time zone regardless of the number of people waiting for the elevator. . For this reason, the elevator cage stops on the specified floor without pressing the call button, and the stopped elevator cages concentrate on the specific floor, resulting in inefficient operation control. There is. Also, if the call button is pressed on a floor that has not been programmed, even if there are no or few elevator cages, only one elevator cage that can arrive at this floor earliest is selected, The problem is that elevator cages with no or few passengers will not stop on that floor.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and detects the number of people waiting for an elevator in an elevator hall, and performs control to stop the required number of elevators based on the result. By
It is an object of the present invention to provide an elevator control method and apparatus capable of improving the operation efficiency.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera installed on a ceiling of an elevator hall on each floor for photographing a person entering and exiting the elevator hall, and a first camera photographed by the camera. An image is compared with a second image captured in advance when no person is present in the elevator hall, and whether or not there is a difference between the first image and the second image is determined. the elevator e but by counting the image processing apparatus to detect that and out of the elevator hall, the number of people who out to the elevator hall on the basis of the detection result
An arithmetic unit for determining the number of people on the floor for each floor ;
In the elevator hall on the floor where the call button was pressed
Obtaining the number of persons from the arithmetic device,
And the weight of each elevator cage
Approximate number of people in each elevator cage
Find the required number of elevator cages based on the value and call
Elevator baskets for the required number in the order of proximity to the designated floor
To call the selected elevator cage.
And a control device for outputting a stop command so as to stop at the floor where the release button is pressed .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the image processing apparatus comprises: a first image memory for storing the first image;
A second image memory for storing the second image, an arithmetic circuit for determining a difference between the first image memory and the second image memory, and detecting a person who has entered and exited the elevator hall from the difference; It is characterized by consisting of.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process for obtaining a first image of the elevator hall in which a state where no person is present in the elevator hall on each floor is obtained in advance, and For the image, a process of defining the entrance and exit areas of the elevator hall, a process of photographing the elevator hall and obtaining a second image of the elevator hall, A process of obtaining a difference from the second image for each of the regions; and, if there is a difference between the entrance region of the first image and the entrance region of the second image, the number of persons in the elevator hall Is increased, and when there is a difference between the exit area of the first image and the exit area of the second image, the number of persons in the elevator hall is reduced, so that the user is in the elevator hall. Man And the process for obtaining the number of people on each floor, the floor of the elevator Ho call button is pressed
Get the number of people in the
Each elevator cage calculated from the weight of the elevator cage
Based on an estimate of the number of people in the elevator
Obtain the required number of baskets, and order them in the order of the floor closest to the called floor.
Select the required number of elevator cages and select this
When the call button is pressed against the elevator car
A process of outputting a stop command to stop the operation.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process for obtaining a first image of the elevator hall, in which a state where no person is present in the elevator hall on each floor is obtained in advance. A process of capturing an image of a state where a person is present to obtain a second image of the elevator hall; a process of determining a difference between the first image and the second image; The ratio between the area value of the region where there is a difference between the image of the second image and the second image and the threshold value obtained from the area value of one person obtained in advance is calculated. an estimate of the number of people in the elevator hall each
The process required for each floor and the call button is pressed
Estimate of the number of people in the elevator hall on
Obtained, the estimated number of people obtained, and each elevator cage
In each of the elevator cages determined from the weight of
Based on the estimated number of people
The required number is calculated in the order of the floor closest to the called floor.
Select the elevator cage of the minute and select this selected elevator
Stop at the floor where the call button was pressed against the basket
And outputting a stop command.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an elevator control device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG.
Is a block diagram showing a configuration of the same embodiment. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a television camera equipped with an optical zoom lens 1a, which is installed on the ceiling of an elevator hall and has a field of view capable of capturing an entire image of the elevator hall. Reference numeral 2 denotes a camera control device, which outputs an image obtained by the television camera 1 according to a signal of an image output request. Further, control is performed to change the focal length of the zoom lens 1a in accordance with a signal for requesting a change in the visual field. Reference numeral 3 denotes a camera platform installed on the ceiling of the elevator hall. The camera platform 3 has a television camera 1 mounted thereon, and can rotate horizontally and vertically by receiving a rotation angle control signal.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a head control device for controlling the rotation angle of the head 3 in response to a rotation angle change request signal. Reference numeral 5 denotes a computer that controls the entire elevator control device, which is connected to a keyboard 6 and a mouse 6a as input devices, has a storage device 7 for storing images, and is installed near an elevator manager. Reference numeral 8 denotes an elevator control device that controls the operation of the elevator from the computer 5. Reference numeral 9 denotes an image processing device that captures an image of the television camera 1 via the camera control device 2 and performs arithmetic processing and the like on the image, and image memories 9a and 9b capable of storing two images; It comprises an operation circuit 9c for performing operations between image memories, an A / D conversion circuit 9d, and a D / A conversion circuit 9e. Reference numeral 10 denotes a monitor that displays an image output from the image processing device 9 and is installed near the elevator manager together with the computer 5. Reference numeral 11 denotes an elevator controlled by the elevator control device. It is assumed that the number of controlled elevators is two or more.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, the image to be processed in the image processing device 9 is a two-dimensional data sequence expressed by the luminance value of each pixel. However, the output image of the television camera 1 is an analog signal, and the image output from the image processing device 9 to the monitor 10 is also an analog signal image. In the following description, it is assumed that the television camera 1 outputs an analog signal of a monochrome image, and the image processing device 9 converts the monochrome image signal into an A / D conversion circuit 9.
Description will be made on the assumption that the processing is performed by setting the luminance value to 8 bits by d. The television camera 1 has a function of automatically adjusting the aperture according to the surrounding illuminance, and outputs an analog image having substantially the same luminance regardless of day or night.

First, an initial setting operation for defining an entrance / exit area of an elevator hall will be described. First, the elevator hall is photographed by the television camera 1. Next, the computer 5 outputs an instruction to the camera control device 2 to capture an image. On the other hand, the camera control device 2
Captures the image from the television camera 1 and outputs it to the image processing device 9. In the image processing device 9, first, the input image is digitized by the A / D conversion circuit 9d and stored in the image memory 9b. Subsequently, the image stored in the image memory 9b is copied to the image memory 9a. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which an image obtained by photographing from the ceiling of the elevator hall by the camera 1 is stored in the image memory 9a. It is assumed that the image range to be captured is a range that can sufficiently cover the entire elevator hall or a person waiting for the elevator in the elevator hall.
In FIG. 2, reference numerals A1, A2, A3, and A4 are areas that define an entrance. An area is defined so as to surround the elevator hall as shown in the figure. The number of people crossing this area is counted to determine the number of people in the elevator hall. Symbol B indicates an enlarged position of the enlarged view shown in FIG. FIG. 3 will be described later.

During the operation of defining the area, the arithmetic circuit 9
c, The image in the image memory 9a is displayed on the monitor 10 via the D / A conversion circuit 9e. The elevator administrator monitors the image (contents of the image memory 9a) shown in FIG.
Using the keyboard 6 or the mouse 6a, the areas A1 and A2 having a width of "U" and having a width so as to surround the elevator hall are defined. At this time, the order of definition is defined in order according to the direction in which a person goes when entering the elevator hall. In this example, the area A1 is defined first, and then the area A2 is defined. The boundary of the defined area is written to the image memory 9a. Next, an area A3 and an area A4 are defined in this order according to the direction in which a person goes when leaving the elevator hall.

The areas A1, A defined by this operation
2, A3, A4 and the image used for the area definition are stored in the storage device 7 via the computer 5. Here, the image stored in the storage device 7 is a base image for detecting a person. Therefore, this image must be an image in which no person exists in the defined area. This image is called an area definition image. The region definition image is read from the storage device 7 by the computer 5 each time the elevator control device operates, and is stored in the image memory 9a.
Is stored in

Next, the operation of counting the number of people entering and leaving the elevator hall will be described. Here, in order to simplify the description, an operation of counting the number of people entering the elevator hall will be described. First, the computer 5 outputs an instruction to capture a new image to the camera control device 2. On the other hand, the camera control device 2
Captures a new image from the television camera 1 and outputs it to the image processing device 9. The image processing device 9 stores the new image in the image memory 9b via the A / D conversion circuit 9d. Subsequently, the arithmetic circuit 9c obtains a difference between the area A1 and the area A2 of the area definition image stored in the image memory 9a and the newly obtained image stored in the image memory 9b.

The phenomena are classified based on the obtained differences. FIG.
Shows the classification of the detected phenomena. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion denoted by reference numeral B shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, reference numerals B-1 to B-5 are enlarged views of images stored in the image memory 9b. The hatched portion indicates a portion where the image has changed due to the passage of a person. The following four phenomena can be obtained from the processing results of the image processing device 9. The phenomenon “0” is a phenomenon in which there is no difference between the region A1 and the region A2 (see FIG. 3A). Phenomenon "1"
Is a phenomenon in which there is a difference in the region A1 and there is no difference in the region A2 (see FIG. 3B). Phenomenon “2” is in area A1
3 and the area A2 (FIG. 3).
(C)). The phenomenon “3” is a phenomenon in which there is a difference in the region A2 and there is no difference in the region A1 (see FIG. 3D).
Whether or not a person has passed is determined in the order in which the above-described phenomena occur, as shown in FIG. 3, the phenomenon “0”, the phenomenon “1”, the phenomenon “2”, the phenomenon “3”, and the phenomenon “0”. Is determined in this order. Next, the operation for making this determination will be described with reference to FIG. In this figure, the variable "n" is a 2-bit counter, which increases each time it is incremented. The variable “G” indicates the classification of the above-described phenomena (any of phenomena “0” to “3”).

First, the arithmetic circuit 9c clears the variable "n" to "0" (step S1). Next, the computer 5 outputs an instruction to capture a new image to the camera control device 2. The camera control device 2 outputs an image captured by the television camera 1 to the image processing device 9. The image processing device 9 obtains a new image by storing the image in the image memory 9b via the A / D conversion circuit 9d (step S2).

Next, the arithmetic circuit 9c calculates the difference between the area definition image stored in the image memory 9a and the newly obtained image. However, a difference is obtained only for the area A1 and the area A2 defined in the area definition image. The difference is obtained by subtracting the luminance value of the image stored in the image memory 9b from the luminance value of the image stored in the image memory 9a. The result of the subtraction is stored in the image memory 9b. When the subtraction is completed for all the pixels in the regions A1 and A2, the arithmetic circuit 9c sets the region A1
For each of A1 and A2, the number of pixels for which the difference in luminance value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value is counted. Here, the “predetermined value” is set in consideration of a difference in luminance value that can be determined to be sufficiently changed. Then, if the number of pixels that exceed the predetermined value exceeds the threshold value, it is determined that the area has a difference from the area definition image. The threshold used here is
This is for removing a noise component, and if it is smaller than this threshold value, it is determined that there is no difference as a noise component. Then, based on the result of this determination, a phenomenon classification G (any of the phenomena “0” to “3” shown in FIG. 3) is obtained (step S4).

Next, the obtained phenomenon classification G is a variable "n".
It is determined whether the value is the same as (step S5). If the value is the same, the process returns to the process of obtaining a new image (step S2). By this processing, the process waits until a new image is changed as compared with the immediately preceding image. Here,
It is assumed that an image is input to the image processing device 9 at a speed higher than the change speed of the phenomena “0” to “3”. Step S5
In step S6, if the phenomenon class G and the variable “n” are not the same, it is determined whether the phenomenon class G is the same as the value obtained by adding “1” to the variable “n” (step S6). If they are not the same, the order of change of the phenomena is not the order shown in FIG. 3, so the process returns to step S1 and repeats the processing.
However, here, the value of the variable “n” is not updated.

In step S6, the phenomenon classification G and "
If n + 1 is the same, the variable "n" is updated by adding "1" to the variable "n" (step S7). This variable “n” represents a phenomenon that is currently occurring. Next, it is determined whether or not the variable "n" is "0" (step S8). If not, the process returns to step S2 and repeats the processing. If the variable "n" is "0" in step S8, it is determined that one person has passed, and an instruction to increase the number of persons in the elevator hall by one is output to the computer 5 (step S9). ). variable"
n ”becomes“ 0 ”because“ 1 ”is sequentially assigned from the initial value“ 0 ”.
Each time, it changes to “1”, “2”, “3”, and finally “1” is added to become “0”. This is only when the phenomena caused by the person moving toward the elevator hall occur in the order of phenomenon “0”, phenomenon “1”, phenomenon “2”, phenomenon “3”, phenomenon “0”. is there. By this operation, it is possible to detect that one person has entered the elevator hall.

The "A" -shaped area A shown in FIG.
1, A2, A3, and A4 may be finely divided in the length direction of each region, and the above-described processing may be performed on each of the finely divided regions. By making the area defined in this way fine, it is possible to improve the detection accuracy when a plurality of people cross the areas A1 and A2 or the areas A3 and A4 at the same time.

In the above description, the operation of processing the detection of a person entering the elevator hall using the areas A1 and A2 has been described. However, the detection of a person exiting the elevator hall is performed in the areas A3 and A4. , The same processing may be performed by replacing the area A1 with the area A3 and the area A2 with the area A4, and the description is omitted here.
However, the difference from the processing of the area A1 and the area A2 is that when the passage of a person is detected, the number of persons is reduced by one.

Next, the computer 5 detects that a person has passed by the processing shown in FIG. 4, and receives an instruction from the arithmetic circuit 9c to increase or decrease the number of persons in the elevator hall.
Counts the number of persons in the elevator hall at the present time from the increase / decrease instruction and outputs the counted number to the elevator control device 8. Next, the operation of the elevator control device 8 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the elevator control device 8. The control method by the elevator control device described here is used when a plurality of elevators are installed.

First, it is detected whether or not the call button of each floor has been pressed (step S1). Next, if the call button has been pressed, the number of persons in the elevator hall on the floor where the call button was pressed is obtained via the computer 5 (step S2). Subsequently, the number of people who are in the elevator cages at the present time is roughly calculated from the weight of the elevator cages (step S3). Next, the required number of elevator cages to be stopped on the called floor is calculated from the number of people in the elevator hall obtained in step S2 and the number of people riding in the elevator obtained in step S3 (step S4). ). Subsequently, the required number of elevator baskets are selected in the order of proximity to the called floor (step S5). Next, a command is sent to the selected elevator car to stop at the called floor (step S6). By this stop command, the required number of elevators 11 can be stopped on the called floor. As described above, the number of persons in the elevator hall of the called floor is detected and the elevator baskets for the number of persons are stopped, so that it is possible to operate efficiently.

As shown in FIG. 6, the number of persons in the elevator hall is determined by using an image of the entire elevator hall as a whole, as shown in FIG. , And the number of persons may be estimated from the difference image. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 9b-1 is an image when no person is present in the elevator hall. Reference numeral 9b-2 is an image obtained by calculating a difference between an image when a person is present in the elevator hall and an image when no person is present. As described above, in the difference image, the number of pixels (the hatched portion shown in FIG. 6) in which the difference is equal to or larger than the predetermined value is counted, and the ratio between the count value and the threshold value is obtained to estimate the number of persons. You may. Here, the threshold to be used may be set based on the number of pixels that is equal to or greater than the above-described predetermined value, using an image when only one person is in the elevator hall. With this operation, an approximate value of the number of people can be obtained.

When the image output from the television camera 1 is a color image, R (red), G (green), B (blue)
Divide each image into G
The above-described processing may be performed using the (green) image.
Further, the above-described processing may be performed on each of the R, G, and B images, or may be performed by converting the image into a monochrome image by the internal processing of the image processing apparatus 9.

[0027]

As described above, according to the first, second and third aspects of the present invention, the television camera is installed at a position where the elevator hall can be overlooked, and the elevator waits in the elevator hall from the obtained image. Since the required number of elevators is obtained and the required number of elevators are stopped based on the result, an effect that efficient operation control of the elevator can be achieved is obtained. In addition, since images of the television camera are sequentially obtained, and even if the number of elevator users changes, the operation can be performed without changing the elevator control program.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, an approximate value of the number of persons existing in the elevator hall is directly obtained, and it is not necessary to count the number of people entering and exiting. Is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an area definition method in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for detecting the passage of a person in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the method for detecting the passage of a person shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the elevator control device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for detecting another person in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... TV camera, 2 ... Camera control device, 3 ...
..Head head, 4 ... Head head control device, 5 ... Computer, 6 ... Keyboard, 7 ... Storage device, 8 ...
Elevator control device, 9 ... image processing device, 10 ...
-Monitor, 11 ... elevator.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Hideo Nakagawa 3-4-1 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside NTT Facilities Corporation (72) Inventor Tsunehiro Sato 3-4 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo No. 1 NTT Corporation Facilities (72) Inventor Shoichi Matsunaga 2-12-19 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Yamatake Honeywell Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Noriaki Sana Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 2-12-19 Yamatake Honeywell Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroshi Ito 2-12-19 Shibuya-ku, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Yamatake Honeywell Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Manabu Yamamoto 2--12 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. 19 Yamatake Honeywell Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-5-39176 (JP, A) JP-A-5-39177 (JP, A) JP-A-8-127476 (JP, A) JP-A-63-258380 (JP, A) JP-A-10-49718 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B66B 1 / 00-3/02

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A camera installed on the ceiling of an elevator hall on each floor for photographing a person entering and exiting the elevator hall, a first image taken by the camera, and a state where no person exists in the elevator hall. An image processing for detecting that a person has entered and exited the elevator hall by comparing a first image and a second image, sometimes comparing a second image taken in advance; wherein by counting the device, the number of people who out to the elevator hall on the basis of the detection result elevators
A computing device that calculates the number of people in the tahall for each floor, and an elevator hall on the floor where the call button is pressed
Obtaining the number of persons from the arithmetic device,
And the weight of each elevator cage
Approximate number of people in each elevator cage
Find the required number of elevator cages based on the value and call
Elevator baskets for the required number in the order of proximity to the designated floor
To call the selected elevator cage.
A control device for outputting a stop command so as to stop on the floor on which the delivery button is pressed, and an elevator control device comprising: 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first image memory stores the first image, a second image memory stores the second image, the first image memory, and the first image memory. 2. The elevator control device according to claim 1, further comprising: an arithmetic circuit that obtains a difference from the second image memory and detects a person who has entered or exited the elevator hall from the difference. 3. The first of the elevator halls in which a state where no person is present in the elevator halls of each floor is photographed in advance.
A process of obtaining an image of the following; a process of defining an entrance and an exit area of the elevator hall with respect to the first image; photographing the elevator hall to obtain a second image of the elevator hall Obtaining a difference between the first image and the second image for each of the regions; and obtaining a difference between an entrance region of the first image and an entrance region of the second image. If there is a difference, the number of persons in the elevator hall is increased, and if there is a difference between the exit area of the first image and the exit area of the second image, the number of persons in the elevator hall is increased. By reducing the number of people, the number of people in the elevator hall is obtained for each floor.
And that process, the elevator hall of the floor call button is pressed
The number of people who have
Each elevator cage calculated from the weight of the
Based on an estimate of the number of people
Find the required number of units, and
Select the required number of elevator cages and select the selected elevator
On the floor where the call button was pressed against the beta basket
A process of outputting a stop command to stop the elevator. A method of controlling an elevator, comprising: 4. A first state of the elevator hall, wherein a state where no person is present in the elevator hall on each floor is photographed in advance.
A process of obtaining a second image of the elevator hall by taking an image of a state where a person is present in the elevator hall; and a first image and a second image of the elevator hall. And a ratio between an area value of a region where the first image and the second image differ from each other and a threshold value obtained from an area value of one person obtained in advance. Calculating the approximate value of the number of persons in the elevator hall for each floor based on the calculation result, and calculating the approximate value of the number of persons in the elevator hall on the floor where the call button is pressed.
Get an estimate of the number of people
All elevators calculated from the calculated value and the weight of each elevator cage
Based on an estimate of the number of people in each of the baskets
The required number of elevator cages,
Select the required number of elevator cages in order from
Call button for this selected elevator car
A process of outputting a stop command so as to stop on the floor where the elevator was pressed .