JP6210921B2 - Elevator apparatus and elevator predictive vehicle allocation control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an elevator apparatus and an elevator predictive vehicle allocation control method for improving convenience for passengers using a communication terminal.

  As a prior art, passengers can browse the operation status (waiting time and congestion) of an elevator using a communication terminal, and can further issue an operation command (call registration, etc.) to the elevator based on an operation request from the communication terminal. There is an elevator device equipped with an information server (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Further, the following is a conventional technique related to display of waiting time or car information. As a related art regarding the waiting time, there is a waiting time display device that displays waiting times of a plurality of elevators by operating a call button for waiting time display (see, for example, Patent Document 2). As another conventional technique related to the waiting time, there is an information display device that displays the waiting time of a car on a landing when a call button is operated (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

  Furthermore, as a prior art related to the display of car information, there is a car guidance device that notifies a degree of congestion of an elevator and a car candidate that is not crowded with a hall display (see, for example, Patent Document 4). As another conventional technique related to the display of car information, there is a display system that displays information about an assigned car based on a destination floor input by a user (see, for example, Patent Document 5).

  Further, as a conventional technique related to call registration, there is a display device that displays a predicted waiting time of a car assigned according to call registration (see, for example, Patent Document 6).

JP 2005-193998 A Japanese Patent No. 3672974 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-65973 International Publication No. 12/147160 Pamphlet JP 2007-191263 A Japanese Patent No. 4948547

However, the prior art has the following problems.
In the invention according to Patent Document 1, it takes time and effort to select an elevator to be boarded from among a plurality of elevator candidates when a passenger transmits an operation command. In addition, there is a time lag between the time when the user receives the operation information and the time when the elevator transmits the operation command, which increases the waiting time. Moreover, it was the structure which requires a personnel number detection system. Furthermore, it has been difficult to set the degree of elevator allocation in response to an operation request depending on the number of operation requesters.

  Patent Document 2 has a problem that an optimal car cannot be preferentially dispatched from among elevators extending over a plurality of control devices in response to a display request for waiting time. Further, Patent Document 3 has a problem that it cannot know the waiting time of other elevators and that the waiting time is not known unless a call is registered.

  Further, Patent Document 4 has a problem that it cannot know the waiting time and cannot dispatch a car based on a passenger search request. Further, Patent Document 5 has a problem that the waiting time is not known unless a call is input, and only information about the assigned car can be seen.

  Furthermore, Patent Document 6 has a problem that information about the car cannot be viewed unless a call is input.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain an elevator apparatus and an elevator predictive vehicle allocation control method capable of improving passenger convenience using a communication terminal. .

  The elevator apparatus according to the present invention transmits usage information including information on a boarding floor for boarding an elevator based on an operation by a user, and information on expected arrival times of a plurality of elevators as a response to the usage information Based on the communication terminal that receives the service information including and displays the screen, the status information of each elevator received from the plurality of elevator control devices that control the operation of each of the plurality of elevators, and the usage information received from the communication terminal The service information including at least information related to the estimated arrival time is generated and returned to the communication terminal, and the elevator selected by the user from the plurality of elevators is predicted based on the state information and the usage information, and the prediction is performed. The operation instruction to dispatch the elevator to the boarding floor for the user to board is generated. And, those comprising a server device for transmitting operation commands to the elevator control device corresponding to the predicted elevator.

  Further, the elevator predictive vehicle allocation control method according to the present invention transmits usage information including information related to a boarding floor for boarding an elevator based on an operation by a user, and, as a response to the usage information, a plurality of elevators Received from the communication terminal that receives the service information including information related to the estimated arrival time and displays it on the screen, the status information of each elevator received from the plurality of elevator control devices that control each of the plurality of elevators, and the communication terminal Elevator predictive vehicle allocation control executed by an elevator device including a server device that provides service information to a communication terminal based on usage information and generates operation commands for a plurality of elevator control devices to perform vehicle allocation control The server device uses a small amount of information based on state information and usage information. A step of generating service information including information on at least expected arrival time and returning the service information to the communication terminal; and a step of predicting an elevator selected by the user from a plurality of elevators based on the state information and the usage information And generating an operation command for dispatching the predicted elevator to the boarding floor for the user to board, and transmitting the operation command to the elevator control device corresponding to the predicted elevator. is there.

  According to the present invention, for the usage information transmitted from the communication terminal by the user, the server device returns service information corresponding to the usage information to the communication terminal, and based on the usage information and the service information, the user Predicting a car that will be selected and performing a vehicle allocation process based on a prediction result, thereby obtaining an elevator apparatus and an elevator predictive vehicle allocation control method capable of improving the convenience of passengers using a communication terminal it can.

It is a block diagram of the elevator apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of a series of control operation | movement of the elevator apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of a screen display of the communication terminal used with the elevator apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an elevator apparatus and an elevator predictive vehicle allocation control method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an elevator apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The elevator apparatus according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a plurality of elevator control apparatuses 1, a communication terminal 3, a transmission / reception apparatus 4, and a server apparatus 5.

  Here, each of the plurality of elevator control devices 1 is a control unit that performs operation control of each car, and performs operation control of the car based on an operation command from the operation command generation unit 7 described later. It becomes.

  The communication terminal 3 is possessed by the user 2 who rides in the elevator car, and has a function of providing service information to the user 2 as well as a function of transmitting an operation input by the user 2. The transmission / reception device 4 has a function of transmitting / receiving data between the communication terminal 3 and the server device 5.

  Further, the server device 5 includes a service information totaling unit 6 and an operation command generating unit 7. Then, the service information totaling unit 6 totals the elevator service information based on the information received from the communication terminal 3 and the information received from the elevator control device 1, and provides the communication terminal 3 and the operation command generation unit 7. Send necessary information.

  On the other hand, the driving command generation unit 7 generates a driving command based on the elevator service information received from the service information totaling unit 6 and transmits the driving command to each of the plurality of elevator control devices 1.

  Next, in the first embodiment, the flow when the user 2 who operates the communication terminal 3 uses the elevator after obtaining the estimated arrival time of the elevator car as the elevator service information is shown in the flowchart. It explains using. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of a series of control operations of the elevator apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  The plurality of elevator control devices 1 installed in the building in advance periodically transmit service information regarding the corresponding elevator car to the service information totaling unit 6 in the server device 5 (step S1). . The service information related to this elevator car includes information on the pressing state of the hall call button on each floor of the controlled elevator, information on the destination floor assigned to the car, information on the load factor of the car, or these information. Information on the estimated arrival time of the car to each floor is included.

  The service information totaling unit 6 totals each service information received from each elevator control device 1 and stores it in the memory. The estimated arrival time of the car may be calculated on the service information totaling unit 6 side based on other service information.

  First, the user 2 who wants to use the elevator uses the communication terminal 3 and the service information totaling unit 6 via the transmission / reception device 4 in order to obtain the estimated arrival time of each car on his / her boarding floor. The own boarding floor information (corresponding to usage information) is transmitted to (step S2).

  Here, as a specific example of the communication terminal 3, for example, a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or a mobile phone, a device that notifies information by voice, such as an earphone device, or an operating instrument that is installed on a wall or floor Is mentioned.

  Next, the service information totaling unit 6 generates the estimated arrival time of each car corresponding to the received boarding floor information as service information and transmits it to the communication terminal 3 of the user 2 (step S3).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a screen display example of communication terminal 3 used in the elevator apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Specifically, when the user 2 transmits his / her boarding floor information as usage information, the estimated arrival time of each car, which is service information corresponding thereto, is displayed on the screen.

  The waiting time of each of the five elevators is displayed on the screen of the communication terminal 3 for the user 2 scheduled to board on the first floor, and the user 2 is one of the five elevators. Operation keys for enabling selection are displayed in the lower part of the screen. The user 2 can check the screen of the communication terminal 3 as shown in FIG. 3 displayed corresponding to the usage information transmitted by himself / herself and select a car to be boarded.

  Note that the operation keys for selection are not necessarily required, and the vehicle allocation process is executed based on the assumption that the car with the shortest estimated arrival time is selected, as will be described by the processes in steps S4 to S6 described later. It is also possible to make it.

  In this Embodiment 1, it has a series of processes of step S4-step S6 as a process performed in parallel with step S3 which provides the service information to the user 2. FIG. First of all, the service information totaling unit 6 simultaneously transmits the transmission information to the communication terminal 3 in step S3, and outputs two pieces of information including information about the user's 2 boarding floor information and the estimated arrival time of each car. It transmits to the production | generation part 7 (step S4).

  After step S4, the operation command generation unit 7 predicts and calculates an elevator (for example, a car with the shortest estimated arrival time) that the user 2 is likely to get on (will select) from the received two pieces of information. Furthermore, the driving command generation unit 7 generates a driving command for moving the car corresponding to the prediction result to the passenger's boarding floor, and transmits the generated driving command to the corresponding elevator control device 1 (step S5). )

  On the other hand, the elevator control device 1 that has received the operation command performs an elevator car allocation process based on the received operation command (step S6). In this dispatch process, instead of simply dispatching a car, only an empty car may be dispatched.

  Finally, referring to the estimated arrival time of each car acquired in step S3, the user 2 gets on a desired elevator (usually a car with a short estimated arrival time) that has been dispatched in steps S4 to S6. (Step S7).

  By performing the series of processes as described above, information on the estimated arrival time can be provided to the user 2. Furthermore, it is assumed that the car 2 having the shortest estimated arrival time is selected by the user 2 who has seen the estimated arrival time information before the elevator to be boarded is selected (including the case where the selection is not performed). The vehicle allocation process is executed.

  As a result, after the user 2 obtains service information (estimated arrival time information) using the communication terminal 3, the user 2 gets in the car that has already been dispatched and has the shortest expected arrival time with a small waiting time. Can do. Furthermore, the user does not necessarily need to perform a process of searching for and selecting an optimum elevator from a plurality of elevators. Therefore, the elevator apparatus according to the first embodiment eliminates the time required for selection and performs the vehicle allocation process in advance, so that it is possible to further reduce the time until the user gets on the elevator.

  Note that the “boarding floor information” described as the usage information transmitted by the user using the communication terminal in step S2 is not limited to information for notifying his / her boarding floor. For example, information indicating the moving direction (rising or descending) can be added together with the own boarding floor.

  In addition to the boarding floor, the current position information of the user 2 (that is, information necessary for the user 2 to travel to the boarding position of the elevator on the boarding floor) may be transmitted. In that case, in S5, the driving command generation unit 7 predicts the elevator on which the user 2 gets on the basis of a comparison between the estimated arrival time of the car and the time required for movement from the current position to the boarding position. be able to.

  Specifically, taking the display state of FIG. 3 as an example, if it takes 1 minute 30 seconds to move from the current position to the boarding position, the user 2 gets on the elevator 1 with an estimated arrival time of 45 seconds. Rather than predicting it as an elevator, it is possible to predict the elevator 2 with the estimated arrival time of 1 minute 30 seconds as an elevator on which the user 2 gets. As a result, it is possible to perform an appropriate vehicle allocation process in consideration of the time taken to move from the current position to the boarding position.

  When the current position information of the user 2 is obtained, the service information totaling unit 6 determines the time at which the user 2 arrives at the boarding position instead of the estimated arrival time starting from the current time in step S3. It is also conceivable that the estimated arrival time starting from is generated as service information and transmitted to the communication terminal 3.

  Moreover, in the process of step S5, based on the usage information from one user 2, the elevator which the user 2 is likely to get on is predicted, and the driving | operation command which performs a dispatch process was produced | generated. However, it is also possible to count a prediction result based on usage information from a plurality of users 2 and generate a driving command for performing a vehicle allocation process when the count value reaches a predetermined threshold. By performing such processing, when it becomes a situation where a plurality of users 2 are expected to board, appropriate dispatch processing can be performed to reduce wasted calls and reduce waiting time during congestion Can be connected.

Further, the operation keys for selecting an elevator shown in the lower part of the display screen in FIG. 3 can be used as follows.
(1) When the selection operation is not performed, it can be considered that the car having the shortest estimated arrival time is selected. As a result, the user 2 can obtain the service information (estimated arrival time information) using the communication terminal 3 and then, without performing a selection operation, has already been dispatched with a low waiting time. You can get in the car for a short time.

(2) When a car other than the car with the shortest expected arrival time is selected, in step S5, the operation command that has already been generated in anticipation of the car with the shortest expected arrival time being selected is deleted. Thus, the operation command for the car actually selected by the user 2 can be recreated. As a result, useless calls based on incorrect predictions can be reduced.

  Furthermore, the service information described in step S3 and step S4 is only the estimated arrival time, but it is also possible to include additional information of each elevator together with the estimated arrival time. As an example, the service information totaling unit 6 can display information related to the expected number of people in the car (the estimated number of people in the car) or information indicating whether or not the car is empty together with the estimated arrival time. Service information can be generated.

  When such additional information is displayed on the communication terminal 3 together, the user 2 can select a desired car in consideration of the additional information together with the estimated arrival time. .

Further, when such additional information is included in the service information, the driving command generation unit 7 predicts an elevator on which the user 2 gets (selects) by the following process. Can do.
(1) Without considering additional information, the car with the shortest expected arrival time is predicted as an elevator that the user 2 is likely to get on.

(2) The additional information is converted into an evaluation value corresponding to the estimated arrival time, and the additional information is also taken into account, and the elevator is predicted as the user 2 is likely to get on. Specifically, the estimated number of passengers is converted to 10 seconds per person, and the estimated arrival time plus the converted value is used as the evaluation value, and the elevator with the lowest evaluation value is predicted as the elevator that the user 2 is likely to get on. can do.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the user transmits its own usage information from the communication terminal to the server device, and the server device returns service information corresponding to the usage information to the communication terminal. At the same time, based on the usage information and service information, a car that the user will select is predicted, and the vehicle allocation process is performed. As a result, the user can check the service information corresponding to the transmitted usage information on the communication terminal, and can get on the car that has been dispatched based on the prediction result with a small waiting time.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Elevator control apparatus, 2 user, 3 communication terminal, 4 transmission / reception apparatus, 5 server apparatus, 6 service information totaling part, 7 operation command production | generation part.

Claims (7)

Based on the operation by the user, transmitting the use information including information about boarding floor for boarding the elevator, as a response to said usage information, receives the service information including information about the expected arrival time of a plurality of elevators A communication terminal that displays the screen
The service including at least information related to the estimated arrival time based on status information of each elevator received from a plurality of elevator control devices that control the operation of each of the plurality of elevators and the usage information received from the communication terminal The information is generated and returned to the communication terminal, and an elevator selected by the user from the plurality of elevators is predicted based on the state information and the usage information, and the predicted elevator is used as the usage An elevator apparatus comprising: a server device that generates an operation command for dispatching to the boarding floor for a person to board, and transmits the operation command to an elevator control device corresponding to the predicted elevator. The elevator apparatus according to claim 1,
When the server device receives the same usage information from more than a predetermined number of users based on the usage information received from a plurality of communication terminals for each of the plurality of users, Generate elevator equipment. The elevator apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The server device generates the operation command by predicting an elevator with the shortest estimated arrival time as an elevator selected by the user from the plurality of elevators. The elevator apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The communication terminal transmits the usage information including information on the current location of the user,
The said server apparatus considers the movement time from the said present position to the elevator boarding position of the said boarding floor, the elevator selected by the said user is estimated, and the said operation command is produced | generated. The elevator apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The server device generates the service information based on the status information and the usage information so as to include information related to the estimated number of passengers in each elevator in addition to information related to the estimated arrival time. The elevator having the shortest evaluation time is selected by the user from among the plurality of elevators, with a value obtained by adding a time-converted value corresponding to the estimated number of passengers to the estimated arrival time as an evaluation time. An elevator apparatus that generates the operation command by predicting as an elevator to be operated. In the elevator apparatus of any one of Claim 1 to 5,
When any one of the elevators is selected and operated by the user based on the service information displayed on the display screen , the communication terminal uses the selection signal for specifying the selected elevator as the selection signal. Sent to the server device,
When the operation command already created based on the prediction result is not the operation command for the elevator specified by the selection signal, the server device cancels the already generated operation command and is specified by the selection signal. A new operation command for dispatching the elevator to the boarding floor for the user to board is generated, and the new operation command for the elevator control device corresponding to the elevator specified by the selection signal is generated. Send elevator equipment. Based on the operation by the user, transmitting the use information including information about boarding floor for boarding the elevator, as a response to said usage information, receives the service information including information about the expected arrival time of a plurality of elevators A communication terminal that displays the screen
The service information is provided to the communication terminal based on the status information of each elevator received from a plurality of elevator control devices that control the operation of each of the plurality of elevators and the usage information received from the communication terminal. And an elevator predictive vehicle allocation control method executed by an elevator device comprising a server device that generates an operation command for the plurality of elevator control devices and performs vehicle allocation control,
In the server device,
Based on the status information and the usage information, generating the service information including at least information related to the estimated arrival time and returning the service information to the communication terminal;
Predicting an elevator selected by the user from the plurality of elevators based on the state information and the usage information;
Generating a driving command for dispatching the predicted elevator to the boarding floor for the user to board, and transmitting the driving command to an elevator control device corresponding to the predicted elevator. Elevator predictive vehicle allocation control method.

Images