JP7491872B2 - How to support elevator maintenance operations - Google Patents

Description

The present invention generally relates to assisting with elevator maintenance work.

Maintenance work to maintain the condition of an elevator generally involves checking the elevator's running condition and the deterioration state of its components, as well as adjustments, refueling, part replacement, and other work as necessary. Workers carry maintenance terminals, which incorporate business management tools (e.g., tools for managing maintenance work schedules and work content, and registering work results) and maintenance tools (e.g., tools for operating, adjusting, or measuring the elevator being maintained).

Whether or not a worker has completed the work for that day is determined based on the work specified in the maintenance work schedule, the maintenance tool usage log, the generated data files, the input of work data (achievement), etc. Therefore, when multiple workers are performing maintenance work simultaneously in parallel, it is necessary to integrate the progress of each worker to prevent work from being duplicated or not being completed. To address this issue, a technology is known that centrally manages the location information and photographed images of each worker and shares the information to change the allocation of work in real time to compensate for each other's delays in progress (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2020-194420 A

However, in the above mentioned cases, work is deemed to have been carried out when the worker moves to the location where the equipment to be maintained is located, or when the instrument to be inspected comes into the worker's field of vision, but this does not guarantee that specific maintenance work has actually been carried out on the target equipment.

A method for supporting elevator maintenance work includes the following steps (A) to (B).
(A) When a computer receives historical data transmitted from a maintenance terminal of any one of a plurality of workers among a plurality of maintenance terminals each configured to transmit historical data associated with the maintenance work of a worker maintaining an elevator, the computer performs the following steps (a1) to (a4).
(a1) The computer identifies which of a plurality of work items for elevator maintenance work the received performance data corresponds to.
(a2) The computer registers the received performance data for the identified work item in progress information including information indicating the work status for each of a plurality of work items.
(a3) The computer compares all of the performance data registered in the progress information for the work item with completion conditions that are conditions necessary for the work item to be considered completed.
(a4) The computer sets the task status for the task item to a task status according to the result of the comparison.
(B) The computer transmits progress display information, which is information representing the progress of the maintenance work including a plurality of work items and the work status of each work item and is information based on the progress information, to each of a plurality of maintenance terminals.

The performance data transmitted from each maintenance terminal is any one of a first type of performance data, which is data read from the elevator to the maintenance terminal, a second type of performance data, which is data representing a history of operations performed on the maintenance terminal by the worker, and a third type of performance data, which is data acquired by the maintenance terminal in accordance with the actions of the worker. For each of the multiple work items, the completion condition includes a performance data type that indicates which type of performance data is required, from the first type to the third type.

It ensures that the work status for each work item is accurate, allowing multiple workers to share the exact progress of maintenance work.

1 shows the overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 shows an example of a work schedule table. 2 shows an example of data flow between an elevator, a maintenance terminal, and a maintenance support system. 13 shows an example of a progress table. The flow of the determination process at the time of work completion is shown. 2 shows the configuration of a data processing unit.

In the following description, an "interface device" may be one or more communication interface devices. The one or more communication interface devices may be one or more homogeneous communication interface devices or two or more heterogeneous communication interface devices.

In the following description, "memory" refers to one or more memory devices, typically a primary storage device. At least one of the memory devices in the memory may be a volatile memory device or a non-volatile memory device.

In the following description, a "persistent storage device" may be one or more persistent storage devices, which are an example of one or more storage devices. A persistent storage device may typically be a non-volatile storage device (e.g., an auxiliary storage device), and more specifically, may be, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a non-volatile memory express (NVME) drive, or a storage class memory (SCM).

In the following description, a "storage device" may be at least one of memory and persistent storage devices.

In the following description, a "processor" may be one or more processor devices. The at least one processor device may typically be a microprocessor device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but may also be other types of processor devices such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The at least one processor device may be a single-core or multi-core. The at least one processor device may be a processor core. The at least one processor device may also be a broader processor device such as a circuit that is a collection of gate arrays written in a hardware description language that performs part or all of the processing (e.g., an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device), or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)).

In the following explanation, data (information) that produces an output for an input may be described using expressions such as "xxx table," but the data (information) may be a table of any structure, or may be a neural network that generates an output for an input, or a learning model such as a genetic algorithm or random forest. Therefore, a "xxx table" can be referred to as "xxx data" ("xxx information"). In the following explanation, one table may be divided into two or more tables, or all or part of two or more tables may be one table.

In the following description, common reference symbols will be used when describing elements of the same type without distinguishing between them, and reference symbols will be used when describing elements of the same type with distinction between them.

In the following description, the "maintenance support system" may be a physical computer system (one or more physical computers) or a logical computer system (e.g., a virtual computer, a container, or a system as a cloud computing service) realized on a physical computer system (e.g., a cloud platform). The physical computer system includes an interface device, a storage device, and a processor connected to them.

Below, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows the overall system configuration for one embodiment of the present invention.

When multiple workers perform maintenance work on the elevator 3 in parallel, the maintenance support system 1 manages the progress of the maintenance work (the work status for each work item) and notifies each worker's maintenance terminal 2, and each worker's maintenance terminal 2 displays the progress indicated by the notification. This allows each worker to perform the work while checking the progress of the maintenance work. In addition to the first type of performance data, which is data read from the control panel 31 of the elevator 3 to the maintenance terminal 2, the maintenance support system 1 also receives data generated by the worker carrying the maintenance terminal 2 performing the work (for example, second type of performance data, which is data representing the operation history of the maintenance terminal 2, and third type of performance data, which is data representing the operation history of the worker), from the maintenance terminal 2, and confirms that the work has been performed reliably based on the set of the first type to third type of data. This makes it possible to prevent work from being left unperformed.

Specifically, the maintenance support system 1 receives data from the maintenance terminal 2 carried by each worker who maintains the elevator 3, which is not input to the maintenance terminal 2 and is acquired by the maintenance terminal 2 when the worker performs maintenance work using the maintenance terminal 2, and manages the data in a centralized manner. The maintenance support system 1 stores the data received from the maintenance terminal 2, determines which work item and type the data corresponds to, and updates the work status for the work item depending on whether all types of performance data required for the work item have been obtained. When all types of performance data required for each work item have been stored, the work status indicates completion. The maintenance support system 1 notifies the maintenance terminal 2 of each worker of progress data indicating the progress according to the work status of each work item. The maintenance terminal 2 has a sensor group (one or more sensors) that grasps the position and movement state of the worker carrying the maintenance terminal, and the data acquired by the sensor group or the data as a result of analysis of the data may be a third type of performance data (data indicating the worker's operation history). Furthermore, each work item may be associated with an importance level, and the maintenance support system 1 may determine whether or not to complete the maintenance work based on the work status and importance level of each work item.

By implementing such a configuration and processing, when multiple workers perform maintenance work simultaneously in parallel, each worker can check the overall progress at any time. Also, when all types of required performance data for each work item have been stored, the work status indicates completion, preventing work from being left unfinished or in progress. Furthermore, it is possible to respond flexibly by ensuring that work items with high importance are completed according to the importance (e.g. urgency) of the work item, while also rescheduling work items with low importance according to the situation.

This embodiment is described in detail below.

The system in Figure 1 is broadly divided into three parts: a maintenance support system 1, a maintenance terminal 2, and an elevator 3.

The maintenance support system 1 includes the following elements:
A work schedule table 11 showing a work schedule (the contents of work and work days assigned to each worker, etc.);
A worker table 12 representing the attributes and skills of workers,
A progress table 13 in which performance data, which is data input or acquired through work performed by a worker, is registered;
- a property table 14 with information on customers, maintenance contracts and elevators 3;
A data processing unit 15 that processes data output from the maintenance support system 1 to the maintenance terminal 2 and data received from the maintenance terminal 2; and
A communication processing unit 16 that processes communication between the maintenance support system 1 and the maintenance terminal 2;
The tables 11 to 14 are stored in a storage device of the maintenance support system 1. The communication processing unit 16 is realized by an interface device. The data processing unit 15 is realized by a processor. As shown in FIG. 6, the data processing unit 15 has a communication unit 61 that performs communication via the communication processing unit 16, an identification unit 62 that identifies a work item or a worker, a registration unit 63 that registers data in at least one of the tables 11 to 14, a comparison unit 64 that compares a registered performance data group with a performance data type, a work end control unit 65 that determines whether or not the work end is permitted, and a reliability determination unit 66 that determines the reliability of the registered performance data. These functions 61 to 66 may be realized by the processor as the data processing unit 15 executing a computer program.

The maintenance terminals 2 include, for example, a maintenance terminal 2P for a worker P and a maintenance terminal 2Q for a worker Q. The reference symbols of the elements of the maintenance terminal 2α (α is P or Q) are suffixed with α. The maintenance terminal 2 is a mobile information processing terminal, and includes an interface device, a storage device, and a processor connected to them, which are not shown. The maintenance terminal 2 includes the following elements:
A first communication unit 21 that communicates with the maintenance support system 1;
A second communication unit 22 that communicates with the control panel 31 of the elevator 3;
A sensor group 23 which is one or more sensors that detect the movement, rotation, position, etc. of the maintenance terminal 2;
An I/O (Input/Output) unit 24 including an input unit for operating the maintenance terminal 2 and an output unit for outputting data received from the first communication unit 21 or the second communication unit 22 and data detected by the sensor group 23;
A storage unit 25 in which data is stored, and
A control unit 26 that processes data in the maintenance terminal 2;
The first communication unit 21 and the second communication unit 22 are realized by an interface device. The sensor group 23 is connected to the processor and may include a position sensor (e.g., a GPS module), an air pressure sensor, an acceleration sensor, and a gyro sensor. At least one sensor in the sensor group 23 may include an external sensor (e.g., an electromyograph). The I/O unit 24 may include a UI (User Interface) unit such as a touch panel, and an interface (e.g., a port) for data input/output between an external device. The memory unit 25 is realized by a storage device. The control unit 26 is realized by a processor.

The elevator 3, which is the subject of maintenance work, has a control panel 31. The control panel 31 communicates with the maintenance terminal 2, receives commands output from the maintenance terminal 2, and returns various data in the control panel 31 and controls the operation of the elevator 3. The elevator 3 may be remotely monitored by a monitoring system (not shown), but the data sent from the control panel 31 to the maintenance terminal 2 during maintenance work on the elevator 3 may be different from the data sent to and received from the monitoring system for the elevator 3. The maintenance support system 1 may also function as the monitoring system (i.e., may remotely monitor the elevator 3). There may be multiple elevators 3. An "elevator" is typically an elevator or an escalator.

Figure 2 shows an example of a work schedule table 11.

The work schedule table 11 indicates the date of the maintenance work (which may be in precise units of hours, minutes, and seconds), the site number indicating the work site, the elevator 3 number, and the ID (e.g., symbol or name) of the worker who will perform the maintenance work on that unit. If there are multiple workers, information indicating who is the leader may be included in the work schedule table 11 (or the worker table 12). The identification unit 62 of the maintenance support system 1 refers to the object table 14 using the site number and the elevator 3 number as keys to identify the detailed specifications of the elevator 3 that is the target of the maintenance work. The work schedule table 11 has multiple work contents (an example of multiple first work items) of the maintenance work. Each work content is subdivided into one or multiple work items (an example of one or multiple second work items). Each work item is linked to the importance, procedure, and performance data type (format) of the work.

In this example, on February 15, 2021, work A, work B, and work C are scheduled to be assigned to Unit 01 of Site 12345. By clarifying the detailed specifications of Unit 01 of Site 12345 by referring to the property table 14, work A is decomposed into two items, work items A1 and A2, and the importance, procedure, and performance data type of work item A1 are set as W1, FA1, (DA1, LA1, SA1), respectively, and the importance, procedure, and performance data type of work item A2 are set as W2, FA2, (DA2, LA2, SA2), respectively. Similarly, work items are also subdivided for each of Work B and Work C, and the importance, procedure, and performance data type are set for each work item.

Here, the type of performance data refers to the type of performance data that is obtained by carrying out the work procedure of the work item and is required to consider the work complete.

For example, as work procedures FA1 and FA2 proceed, equipment data (first type of performance data) DA1 and DA2 are obtained from the elevator 3, operation history data (second type of performance data) LA1 and LA2 are obtained by operating the maintenance terminal 2, and action history data (third type of performance data) SA1 and SA2 (e.g., data obtained from the sensor group 23) are obtained by the actions of the worker.

In this way, when work item A1 is performed according to the work procedures, three types of data (DA1, LA1, SA1) should be collected as performance data, and when work item A2 is performed according to the work procedures, three types of data (DA2, LA2, SA2) should be collected as performance data.

Therefore, the type of performance data varies depending on the contents of the work procedure, and may be, for example, as follows:
A case where, like work item B1, the work procedure FB1 does not involve maintenance terminal operation, and only input data DB1 obtained by visual inspection of the elevator 3, etc., should be collected as performance data.
A case where, as in the case of work item B2, operation history data LB2 of the maintenance terminal 2 and multiple types of equipment data DB21 and DB22 from the elevator 3 are to be collected as performance data by the work procedure FB2.

For maintenance work that includes such work contents A to C, the control unit 26 of the maintenance support system 1, for example, may refer to the worker table 12 and assign an appropriate worker. In this example, two workers, P and Q, are assigned as the workers.

The work schedule information represented by the work schedule table 11 as described above may be transmitted to each maintenance terminal 2 and displayed. This information may be at least a part of the information contained in the table 11, and may include, for example, the work date, site number, machine number, worker list (which may include who the leader is), work content, work items, importance, and procedures. This allows the work schedule to be shared with each worker.

Figure 3 shows an example of the data flow between the elevator 3, the maintenance terminal 2, and the maintenance support system 1, specifically showing the data flow for task A among tasks A to C for unit 01 at site 12345 shown in Figure 2.

On the day of the work, workers P and Q decide on the division of work according to the work content, work environment, skills, etc., and then carry out the work. Here, worker P is the leader and performs the following:
Worker P performs the work item A1 using the maintenance terminal 2P.
Worker Q performs work item A2 using maintenance terminal 2Q.

First, the worker P performs a predetermined operation according to the work procedure FA1 of the work item A1, and outputs an operation command ca1 to the control panel 31 of the elevator 3 using the maintenance terminal 2P carried by the worker P. In the maintenance terminal 2P carried by the worker P, operation history data la1 is generated by the control unit 26P and stored in the memory unit 25P.

Meanwhile, the control panel 31 of the elevator 3 receives the operation command ca1 output from the maintenance terminal 2P of the worker P and returns the equipment data da1 to the maintenance terminal 2P. The maintenance terminal 2P receives the equipment data da1, and the equipment data da1 is stored in the memory unit 25P by the control unit 26.

Furthermore, when the worker P performs a predetermined operation according to the work procedure FA1, the action history data sa1 is obtained by the sensor group 23P of the maintenance terminal 2P, and the action history data sa1 is stored in the memory unit 25P by the control unit 26.

Similarly, when worker Q performs work according to work procedure FA2 of work item A2, operation history data la2, device data da2, and action history data sa2 are obtained and stored in memory unit 25Q by control unit 26Q.

In this way, the operation history data la1, operation history data la2, device data da1, device data da2, action history data sa1, and action history data sa2 obtained by carrying out the inspection work A are transmitted, for example, instantly from the maintenance terminals 2P and 2Q to the maintenance support system 1. In the maintenance support system 1, the communication unit 61 performs reception processing, the identification unit 62 discriminates the received data, and the registration unit 63 stores the data in the progress table 13.

Furthermore, the comparison unit 64 of the maintenance support system 1 sequentially combines the data stored in the progress table 13 and performs a work completion determination process (described later) for the work instruction. Information representing the results of this process is sent, for example, from the communication unit 61 through the communication processing unit 16 to each of the maintenance terminals 2P and 2Q, and the information is displayed on the I/O unit 24P of the maintenance terminal 2P and the I/O unit 24Q of the maintenance terminal 2Q.

Figure 4 shows an example of the progress table 13 after updating according to the work completion determination process.

The progress table 13 represents, for each work item, the work content, work item, importance, procedure, performance data type (all necessary types of performance data), uploaded data (received performance data), work status, completion date and time, and worker. The progress table 13 may be created and stored by the registration unit 63, for example, based on the work schedule table 11. The work content, work item, importance, procedure, and performance data type in the progress table 13 may be information obtained from the work schedule table 11 and registered in the progress table 13. In addition, the actual data type and uploaded data entities may exist outside the progress table 13, and a pointer to the entity may be registered in the progress table 13. The registration of the data as an entity and the registration of the pointer to the entity may be the registration of the uploaded data (actual data).

The maintenance support system 1 constantly monitors the progress of work on Unit 01 at site 12345 according to the work schedule table 11 shown in Figure 2.

That is, the comparison unit 64 checks whether the performance data groups (da1, la1, sa1) (da2, la2, sa2)... from the maintenance terminals 2P and 2Q match the performance data types (DA1, LA1, SA1) (DA2, LA2, SA2)... for the work items A1, A2,... of Work A, Work B, Work C that make up the maintenance work on Unit 01 at site 12345. If the comparison unit 64 finds a matching performance data group, the registration unit 63 considers that the work item corresponding to that performance data group has been completed, sets the work status of that work item to "Completed", and enters the work completion date and time and the worker into the progress table 13 according to the reception date and time of the performance data group and the transmission source maintenance terminal 2.

Here, worker P uses the maintenance terminal 2P to perform procedure FA1, which causes the maintenance terminal 2P to transmit operation history data la1, equipment data da1, and action history data sa1 to the maintenance support system 1. Also, worker Q uses the maintenance terminal 2Q to perform procedure FA2, which causes the maintenance terminal 2Q to transmit operation history data la2, equipment data da2, and action history data sa2 to the maintenance support system 1. Therefore, in the maintenance support system 1, the performance data types (DA1, LA1, SA1) for work item A1 are satisfied, and the performance data types (DA2, LA2, SA2) for work item A2 are satisfied. Therefore, the comparison unit 64 considers that each of work items A1 and A2 has been completed, and the registration unit 63 updates the work status to "completed", and registers information indicating the date and time of reception of the performance data group and information indicating the worker who performed the work in the progress table 13. In addition, the information of the worker identified as the leader from the work schedule table 11 (or the worker table 12) may be highlighted.

Furthermore, worker P is still working on work item B2, and the maintenance terminal 2P has already uploaded the performance data db22 corresponding to the performance data type DB22 to the maintenance support system 1. Therefore, for work item B2, the performance data db22 and information representing the worker are registered in the progress table 13. However, the performance data corresponding to the performance data type DB21 and LB2 have not yet been received. Therefore, the registration unit 63 updates the work status of work item B2 from "uncompleted" to "in progress".

For each work item other than work items A1, A2, and B2, data corresponding to the performance data type has not yet been received. Therefore, worker information is not registered in the progress table 13, and the work status is "incomplete."

The work progress status represented by the progress table 13 can be checked by the maintenance terminals 2P and 2Q at any time by referring to the maintenance support system 1. Alternatively, the communication unit 61 of the maintenance support system 1 may transmit the information represented by the progress table 13 (information representing the work progress status) to each of the maintenance terminals 2P and 2Q via the communication processing unit 16, and each of the maintenance terminals 2P and 2Q may receive the information at the first communication unit 21, process the information at the control unit 26, and then display the work progress status on the I/O unit 24.

In this way, when work is performed according to preset work instructions, data obtained during the work is successively stored in the progress table 13 of the maintenance support system 1, allowing the progress of the work to be confirmed. Even when multiple workers are performing maintenance work on a specific maintenance target, the results of the work performed using each worker's terminal are stored in the maintenance support system 1 as needed, allowing the progress of maintenance work on the entire target to be managed, and workers P and Q can each keep track of the work that has been completed and the remaining tasks. This prevents duplicate work and omissions, and allows for efficient work to be performed in cooperation with each other.

Figure 5 shows the flow of the determination process when work is completed.

When either or both of workers P and Q finish work at the site, the communication unit 61 of the maintenance support system 1 receives a work completion notification from at least one of the maintenance terminals 2P and 2Q. The work completion control unit 65 judges whether all work items for the work day are "completed" (i.e., whether performance data for all work items is stored in the progress table 13) (S501). That is, for example, work items that should be performed during the work day are registered in the work schedule table 11, and therefore work items that should be performed during the work day are also registered in the progress table 13. That is, in S501, it is judged whether all work items have been completed according to schedule.

If the determination result of S501 is true (S501: YES), that is, if the work performance data for all work items is stored in the progress table 13, it is assumed that all instructions have been completed, and the work end control unit 65 permits the end of the maintenance work for that day. For example, the work end control unit 65 notifies the maintenance terminal 2 of each worker of the work end permission via the communication unit 61.

If the result of the determination in S501 is false (S501: NO), that is, if some of the work performance data for the work item is not stored in the progress table 13, the work completion control unit 65 checks the importance of the uncompleted work item (the work item whose work status is "uncompleted" or "work in progress") (S502). In the following explanation, the importance is assumed to be W1>W2>W3 (W1 is the most important).

If there is an uncompleted work item with an importance level of W1, the work completion control unit 65 does not permit the work at the site to be completed for that day (S503). For example, the work completion control unit 65 notifies at least the maintenance terminal 2P (the maintenance terminal 2 of the leader worker P) via the communication unit 61 of the uncompleted work item with an importance level of W1 and that the work on that work item will be completed by the end of the day.

If there are no uncompleted work items with importance W1 but there are uncompleted work items with importance W2, the work completion control unit 65 notifies at least the maintenance terminal 2P (the maintenance terminal 2 of the leader worker P) through the communication unit 61 that the work can be completed if the superior is contacted and approval is obtained (S504). When the work completion control unit 65 receives information indicating that the superior's approval has been obtained from the notified maintenance terminal 2 through the communication unit 61 (or when information indicating approval is received from the superior's information processing terminal) (S505), the work completion control unit 65 notifies the maintenance terminal 2 of each worker of the work completion permission through the communication unit 61. The superior of the worker of the maintenance terminal 2 that sent the work completion notification and the superior's contact information are identified from the worker table 12 by the identification unit 62. The worker table 12 indicates the relationship between the workers and the contact information of each worker.

If there are no incomplete work items with importance levels W1 or W2, but there are incomplete items with importance levels W3, the work completion control unit 65 decides that the work of the incomplete items with importance levels W3 can be completed by handing them over as the next task (S506), and sends a notification of this decision to each worker's maintenance terminal 2 via the communication unit 61.

In this way, it is possible to ensure that high-priority work items are completed, while also making it possible to reschedule low-priority work items according to the situation. While it is possible to flexibly respond to the execution and rescheduling of work, it is also possible to prevent work from being left uncompleted, as data based on work procedures is directly confirmed.

The above description can be summarized, for example, as follows. The following summary may include supplementary explanations to the above description and modified examples of the above embodiment.

The maintenance terminal 2 of each worker who maintains the elevator 3 transmits performance data, which is data associated with the maintenance work, along with the maintenance work of the worker of the maintenance terminal 2. When the communication unit 61 receives performance data transmitted from any one of the multiple maintenance terminals 2, the identification unit 62 identifies which of the multiple work items of the elevator maintenance work to which the performance data corresponds. The registration unit 63 registers the received performance data for the identified work item in the progress table 13, which includes information representing the work status for each of the multiple work items. The comparison unit 64 compares all performance data registered in the progress table 13 for the work item with the completion condition, which is a condition necessary for the work of the work item to be considered completed, and the registration unit 63 sets the work status for the work item to a work status according to the result of the comparison. The communication unit 61 transmits progress display information, which is information representing the maintenance work progress including the multiple work items and the work status of each work item (information based on the progress table 13), to each of the multiple maintenance terminals 2. In each maintenance terminal 2, the I/O unit 24 displays the maintenance work progress indicated by the progress display information. The performance data transmitted from each maintenance terminal 2 is one of the following: a first type of performance data (equipment data) which is data read from the elevator 3 to the maintenance terminal 2; a second type of performance data (work history data) which is data representing the history of the operation of the maintenance terminal 2 by the worker; and a third type of performance data (behavior history data (typically sensor data)) which is data acquired by the maintenance terminal 2 in accordance with the worker's behavior. For each of the multiple work items, the completion condition includes a performance data type which indicates which type of performance data is required from the first type to the third type. For each work item, a work status according to the result of comparing the performance data type with the registered type of performance data is maintained, so that the accuracy of the work status for each work item is guaranteed, and thus multiple workers can share the accurate progress of the maintenance work. In particular, for example, when there is a work item on the work schedule for which it has not been decided which worker will be performing the work (for example, when which worker will be responsible for which work item is dynamically decided by, for example, a leader depending on the work progress), the point that "the work status for each work item is guaranteed to be accurate, and thus multiple workers can share the accurate progress of the maintenance work" is useful in an environment where it is adopted to dynamically decide which worker will be responsible for which work item depending on the work progress. Also, multiple elevators may be the target of maintenance.

The determination of "which of the multiple work items for elevator maintenance work the received performance data corresponds to" may be made, for example, by the worker inputting (e.g. selecting) the work item for which work has been started into the maintenance terminal 2, and the identification unit 62 may determine that the performance data received from the maintenance terminal 2 while the work item is being input corresponds to that work item. The determination of the corresponding work item may also be made based on values (e.g. position, direction of movement, etc.) included in the performance data of a third party.

In addition, from the third type of performance data, it is possible to identify the worker's behavior, such as changes in the worker's posture (e.g., based on data from an electromyograph) or acceleration (e.g., based on data from an acceleration sensor).

In addition, the destination of the progress display information may be at least the maintenance terminal 2 of the leader, and does not have to be the maintenance terminal 2 of a worker other than the leader.

The performance data transmitted from each maintenance terminal 2 includes information (e.g., an ID) representing the worker who owns that maintenance terminal 2, and the identification unit 62 may identify the worker from the performance data, or the identification unit 62 may identify the worker by referring to the worker table 12 (which may, for example, include information representing the ID of the maintenance terminal 2 of each worker) using the ID of the transmission source maintenance terminal 2 as a key. The identification unit 62 identifies the worker corresponding to the maintenance terminal 2 that transmitted the received performance data, and the registration unit 63 registers the identified worker in the progress table 13. In this way, when at least one piece of performance data is received for a work item, information representing the worker is registered in the progress table 13.

When a comparison of a completion condition with all registered performance data shows that the completion condition is met, the registration unit 63 sets the work status of the work item with which the completion condition is associated to a state indicating completion, and registers the completion date and time at which the completion condition was met in the progress table 13. The progress display information includes information indicating the worker for the work item for which performance data has been received, and includes information indicating the completion date and time for the work item whose work status indicates completion. This allows each worker to share when which work item was completed, and which work items have at least been started and which worker is in charge of them.

The progress display information may include information indicating who among multiple workers is the leader. This allows each worker other than the leader to identify who the leader is and, if necessary, to inquire about work instructions from the leader.

Each of the multiple work items is associated with an importance level. When the communication unit 61 receives a notification of work completion from at least one of the multiple maintenance terminals 2, the work completion control unit 65 determines whether or not to permit work completion based on the work status and importance level of each work item, and performs processing according to the result of the determination. This allows for flexible responses according to the importance level and work status.

One embodiment has been described above, but this is merely an example for the purpose of explaining the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to only this embodiment. The present invention can also be implemented in various other forms.

For example, when at least one of the first type of performance data and the second and third types of performance data has been registered for each work item, the reliability determination unit 66 of the maintenance support system 1 may determine whether the first type of performance data is reliable based on the at least one type of performance data (i.e., the second and/or third types of performance data). If the result of the determination is true and the result of the comparison is that the completion condition is satisfied, the registration unit 63 may set the work status to a state meaning completion. This further ensures the accuracy of the actual work being performed. Specifically, for example, when the worker positions represented by the obtained action history data are the same for multiple elevators 3 in different locations (e.g., floors), or when the operation history data represents few operation contents for some elevators 3, there is a risk that the first type of performance data for one elevator 3 is a copy of the first type of performance data for another elevator 3. In such cases, it is expected that the work status will be prevented from becoming a state meaning completion.

1 Maintenance support system

Claims (5)

A method for supporting elevator maintenance work, comprising:
(A) When a communication unit of the maintenance support system receives performance data transmitted from a maintenance terminal of any one of a plurality of workers among a plurality of maintenance terminals each configured to transmit performance data associated with the maintenance work of a worker who maintains an elevator, the performance data being associated with the maintenance work of the worker,
(a1) an identification unit of the maintenance support system identifies to which work item of a plurality of work items of elevator maintenance work the received performance data corresponds;
(a2) a registration unit of the maintenance support system registers the received performance data for the identified work item in progress information including information representing a work status for each of the plurality of work items;
(a3) a comparison unit of the maintenance support system compares all of the performance data registered in the progress information for the work item with a completion condition that is a condition required for the work item to be considered completed;
(a4) the registration unit sets the work status for the work item to a work status corresponding to the result of the comparison;
(B) the communication unit transmits progress display information, which is information representing a maintenance work progress including the plurality of work items and a work status of each work item and is information based on the progress information, to each of the plurality of maintenance terminals;
the performance data transmitted from each maintenance terminal is any one of a first type of performance data which is data read from the elevator to the maintenance terminal, a second type of performance data which is data representing a history of operations performed by an operator on the maintenance terminal, and a third type of performance data which is data acquired by the maintenance terminal in accordance with the actions of the operator;
For each of the plurality of work items, the completion condition includes a performance data type indicating which type of performance data is required among first, second, or third types of performance data;
Method. In (a1), the identification unit identifies a worker corresponding to the maintenance terminal that is a transmission source of the received performance data,
In (a2), the registration unit registers the worker identified in (a1) in the progress information;
If the result of the comparison in (a3) is that the completion condition is satisfied, in (a4), the registration unit sets the work status to a state indicating completion, and registers the completion date and time, which is the date and time when the completion condition is satisfied, in the progress information;
the progress display information includes information indicating a worker for a work item for which performance data has been received, and includes information indicating a completion date and time for a work item whose work status is a status indicating completion;
The method of claim 1. the progress display information includes information indicating which of the plurality of workers is a leader,
The method of claim 2. An importance level is associated with each of the plurality of work items;
(C) when a communication unit of the maintenance support system receives a notification of work completion from at least one of the plurality of maintenance terminals, a work completion control unit of the maintenance support system determines whether or not to permit work completion based on the work status and importance of each work item, and performs processing according to the result of the determination.
The method of claim 1. (a2) When the first type of performance data and at least one of the second type and third type of performance data have been registered for the work item, a reliability determination unit of the maintenance support system determines whether the first type of performance data is reliable based on the at least one type of performance data;
If the result of the determination is true and the result of the comparison in (a3) is that the completion condition is satisfied, in (a4), the registration unit sets the work status to a status indicating completion.
The method of claim 1.

Images