JPS6251583A - Traffic flow detector for elevator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to an elevator traffic flow detection device, and in particular to an elevator suitable for detecting the number of passengers getting on and off an elevator car and the dynamics of passengers in the car. This invention relates to a traffic flow detection device.

[Background of the invention]

Institute of Electronics and Communication Engineers technical report TE80 published November 1980
In the measurement system described in the paper titled ``Real-time measurement of the flow of people using rITV images using 73 harmonics,'' As the number of people is captured as one group, it is easy to miscount the number of people. Furthermore, according to the method for counting the number of people passing by, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 54-65075, it is stipulated that persons below a certain height are not considered to be passing persons. It has the drawbacks of being large and expensive.

On the other hand, in the elevator car abnormality detection device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-207266, a method is proposed that detects changes in the brightness distribution state inside the car, but this method is limited to detecting abnormalities in the elevator car. The function of detecting traffic flow is not taken into account.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and its purpose is to use an imaging device to monitor passengers in the elevator car while the elevator is running, such as the presence or absence of passengers in the elevator car, the number of passengers, and abnormality detection. An object of the present invention is to provide an elevator traffic flow detection device that is capable of monitoring the number of passengers getting on and off the car and the direction of movement while the elevator is stopped, and transmitting this information to a group management control device, etc. .

[Summary of the invention]

The first feature of the present invention is that a solid-state image sensor is installed at an arbitrary position in the elevator car in the column direction and the row direction, respectively, with at least the inside of the car as a visual field among the inside of the car and the hall side. a plurality of imaging devices arranged in an array; a first means for using the imaging device as a first area sensor for obtaining grayscale information of the entire interior of the car while the elevator is running; and the first area sensor. a first monitoring means for detecting the number of passengers and the dynamics of the passengers from the density information from the elevator and changes over time of the density information, and transmitting an abnormality in the car to a central monitoring device; A second means for using the imaging device as an area sensor of fFS2 that extracts only grayscale information from arbitrary plural rows, and detecting the number of passengers getting on and off from the density difference of the grayscale information from the plurality of rows from the second area sensor. and a second monitoring means for transmitting information to the elevator group management control device. The second feature further includes a second imaging device that operates in the same manner as the second area sensor, which is formed by arranging a plurality of solid-state imaging devices in at least two rows set at the entrance and exit of the elevator hall. and a third monitoring means for detecting the number of people passing through the entrance/exit of the hall from the difference in density of the grayscale information in the plurality of rows from the second imaging device, inputting the number of passengers getting on and off the hall, and calculating the number of customers waiting in the elevator. The point is that it has a configuration that is sized.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7 to 9, and FIGS. 4 to 6.

FIG. 1 is a functional schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the elevator traffic flow detection device of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is an elevator car, 2 is a ceiling, and an imaging bag is placed near the center of the ceiling 2. (in the embodiment, both) are provided so that the states are L&M. The imaging device 3 has a configuration in which a plurality of solid-state imaging devices are arranged in each column direction and in a row direction, and a lens system is integrally configured with these. The video output 5 of the imaging device 3 and the output control signal 7 of the microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as microcomputer) 6 are connected to an A-D converter 8, and an output 8a of the A-D converter 8
A control signal 9 from the microcomputer 6 is connected to a switching circuit 10. Further, one of the outputs of the switching circuit 10 is connected to the memory 11 and the other to the memory 12, and the output is connected to the microcomputer 6 via a pass line 13 for control.

Next, the operation shown in FIG. 1 will be briefly explained.

While the elevator is running, the elevator rider uses the imaging device 3 installed near the center of the ceiling 2 inside the car 1 as a first area sensor that uses the entire grayscale information inside the car 1.

On the other hand, when the elevator is stopped, that is, when getting on and off, the imaging device 3 is placed in any of the multiple rows (
In the embodiment, the imaging device 3 is used as a second area sensor using only two rows (4a and 4b) to detect the number of passengers getting on and off and the direction of movement.

Since the video output 5 captured by the imaging bag v13 is an analog signal, it is processed by the A-D converter 8 and converted into a digital signal. This converted output 8a of the A-D converter 8
The switching circuit 10 is controlled by the control signal 9 from the microcomputer 6.
is stored in memory 11 or memory 12 via
Here, the information stored in the memory 11 is the gray level information obtained by the first area sensor when the elevator is running, and the information stored in the memory 12 is the gray level information when the elevator is stopped. It is assumed that the gray level information is obtained by the second area sensor.

While the elevator is running, the microcomputer 6 detects information on changes in concentration within the elevator seat 1 based on the density information stored in the memory 11, and if the change is different from normal, it determines that there is an abnormality and sends it to central monitoring. Room and elevator group management control bag! (not shown).

On the other hand, when the elevator is stopped, the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator is detected based on the a-pass information stored in the memory 12, and the detected number of people is transmitted to the elevator group management control device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the process for detecting traffic flow in the microcomputer 6 of FIG. 1. Here, an example in which the process is applied to elevators installed in parallel will be described. Processing starts at step s1, and step S
Set the initial value with 2.

In step S3, it is checked whether the elevator is running or stopped, and if it is determined that the elevator is running, the imaging device 3 is used as a first area sensor in step S4. do. in particular,
Since the elevator is running, the entrance/exit door is closed, and therefore, the temporal change in shading throughout the interior of the car 1 is extracted with high resolution in step S5. Subsequently, in step S6, the presence or absence of passengers in the vehicle 1, the number of passengers 2, or the presence or absence of an abnormality is detected. If an abnormality in the car 1 is detected in step S6.

If a so-called violent act by a passenger or a mischievous act by a child by jumping is detected, an abnormality alarm is immediately activated in step s7, and this information is transmitted to the central monitoring room in step S8.

Note that if it is determined in step S3 that the elevator is not running, that is, it is stopped, then in step S9 the predetermined two rows of elements of the imaging device 3 are used, and in step S10 the elevator car is Extract the concentration difference near the entrance and exit of No. 1. That is, the imaging device 3 is used as a second area sensor, and the density difference near the entrance and exit of the elevator is extracted in step S10. And step 8.1
The direction and number of moving objects are detected in Step 1, and the calculated values are sent to the central monitoring room in Step S8 and to the elevator group management control device in Step S12. I can drive well.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, while the elevator is running, the area inside the elevator car 1 is automatically monitored, while when the elevator is stopped, the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator car 1 and the direction of movement are monitored in one image. Detection can be performed by switching between bags [3] and the system configuration is relatively simple.

Hereinafter, the above-described detection method will be explained in detail using FIGS. 3 to 5. Figure 3 is the imaging bag shown in Figure 1! A block diagram showing an example for explaining the operation when f3 is used as a first area sensor or a second area sensor,
The same parts as in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. Figure 4 is a time chart of each part signal of Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a time chart of the signals of each part of Figure 3.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific operation in the figure.

First, a specific method for grasping the dynamics of people and objects in the car 3 and detecting abnormalities using the imaging bag 3 as a first area sensor will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. In FIG. 3, the charge accumulated in the imaging device 3 (changes depending on the amount of light (5t, , Iim period, separation [11i1
N204゜yo7, --n lt Ii'rl period ff
No. 1 21. The other one is separated into a video signal 22. Video signal 2
2 is converted into a digital quantity by an A-D converter 8, and sequentially stored in memories 11 and 12 by a signal from an address generation circuit 30.
and processed by the microcomputer 6. Further, a signal from the elevator door opening/closing device 40 is also input to the microcomputer 6.

The waveforms of the respective signal outputs 5, 22, and 21 obtained by the block diagram of FIG. 3 are shown in <a), (b), and (c) of FIG. 4, respectively.

Then, the video signal 22 is used to monitor passengers in the carriage 1 shown in FIG. 1. Here, the presence or absence of passengers is monitored.

Includes number of people and anomaly detection.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a specific detection method, in which an arbitrary pixel (n pixels) within the vehicle 1 is detected by the first area sensor (hereinafter referred to as 3a).
For example, the time t=to in FIG. 5(a)
Let's consider the change over time of what is obtained at t:'' t1 in Figure (b).

As an initial operation, (a) set the pixel at Noshi=shi0 to 41,
Assuming that the pixels at t = t s in (b) are 42,
When these temporal changes are obtained through the amplifier 50, the results are shown in Fig. 5 (
As shown in c), grayscale information can be obtained as a video signal 22.

In other words, at t'::t o, object A is in the upper left [fifth
(a)] has moved to the lower right at t = t i as shown by A' in Fig. 5(b), and the difference is as shown in Fig. 5(c). ) as shown in 1
The degree difference becomes A-VL. In other words, when viewed on a single screen, if there is a large change vertically or horizontally like this, it can be regarded as violent movement and can be determined to be abnormal.

Furthermore, regarding the movement of the object, the initial values are shown in Figure 5 (a
) as shown in Fig. 5(b), which is a normal spherical radius when 1 = 11.

The spherical surface D' is approximately twice as large. This is because the image pickup device 3 is installed on the ceiling 2, so when viewed as a screen, the density difference becomes D-VL as shown in FIG. 5(c), resulting in a dull shape.

In this way, if the area changes from small to large or from large to small (in the same place), lateral, or up and down, it can be determined that it is a child's jumping spring or a person's squatting. in any case,
Even if the movement of each object in the elevator car 1 occurs in various states, it can be easily investigated by the method shown in FIG.

Next, the imaging device 713 is connected to a second area sensor (hereinafter referred to as 3b).
A specific method for detecting the number of passengers getting on and off and the direction of movement when the elevator is stopped will be explained using FIGS. 3 to 6. Note that here, the function and configuration of the second area sensor 3b will be explained to avoid duplication of explanation.

In the block diagram shown in FIG. 3, a counter 23 is added to the synchronization signal 21 from the synchronization separation circuit 20 to obtain a function as a second area sensor 3b. In other words, as mentioned repeatedly, the second area sensor 3b operates under the condition that the elevator enters the stopped state from the running state. Specifically, in FIG. Information about the line (column) that you want to retrieve at the same time as the door opens, for example, if it is 10 lines or 50 lines, then 10 lines or 50 lines.
Count the value on the line with counter 23.

The microcomputer 6 checks the number via the counter 23 and outputs the required line.

Here, the output is the shaded area 2 in FIG. 4(b).
The video signal 22 is 4.25. and.

When the address generation circuit 30 starts operating, only one line of this output signal is taken into the memories 11 and 12. By performing such an operation, the second area sensor 3b
The function as a function is ensured.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the detection operation of a moving object, and the method of detecting the boarding and disembarking states of 0 and 1, that is, the number of persons and the direction of movement, is as follows.
First, before the moving object 400 passes through any two lines (columns) 4a or 4b of the first area sensor 3a at time to, the imaging device obtained from the second area sensor 3b! The video signal of No. 3 has the same constant bell voltage v! .

It becomes VLz.

However, the difference in concentration Vt, = (VLI-V+,z
) is the first order which becomes almost zero as shown in Figure 6,
While the moving object 400 is passing through the second area sensor 3b at time t1, the line 4 of the second area sensor 3b is
A density difference occurs between lines a and 4b, and the density information of line 4a as the video signal 22 changes as shown in FIG. Therefore, the density difference VL shows a negative value.Subsequently, at time tδ, while the moving object 400 passes through the lines 4a and 4b at the same time, the video signal (shade information) 22 similarly changes as shown in FIG. Change. Therefore, the density difference VL becomes almost zero. Next, at time L8, the moving object 400
is passing through line 4a and passing through line 4b,
Only the video signal 22 on line 4a changes, so
The density difference Vt shows a positive value. Furthermore, at time t4, the moving object 400 has passed through both lines 4a and 4b, so the density difference VL becomes zero, similar to the passing plane at time to. As a result of the above process, when the moving object 400 moves in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 6, the m degree difference changes in the order of negative and positive.

Conversely, when moving in the opposite direction to the arrow, the changes occur in the order of positive and negative.

In this way, the moving direction of the moving object 400 can be detected. In addition, when n moving objects pass simultaneously in the horizontal direction, the number of moving objects 400 is detected because n concentration change points exist on the lines 4a and 4b of the second area sensor 3b. can do.

As described above, as shown in the above embodiment, the passing direction of the object 400 moving along the two lines 4a and 4b of the second area sensor 3b using only an arbitrary number of lines of the first area sensor 3a having high resolution. By determining the difference between two pieces of grayscale information that change moment by moment, not only the direction of movement of the moving object 400 but also the number thereof can be accurately detected.

The operation of the second area sensor 3b has been explained above using FIGS. 3 to 6.
What state b should be in will be explained using FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of selecting a plurality of arbitrary rows in the second area sensor 3b, (a) is when it is set inside the car, and (b) is when it is set inside the car and on the hall side. When set, (c) shows the case where it is set on the hole side.

That is, the basic idea is that the imaging device B is attached to the ceiling 2 of the elevator car 1! 13 to monitor the inside and outside areas of the car 1, it can be used as the first area sensor 3a, and when used as the second area sensor 3b, the monitoring line can be set as shown in FIG. , ), row 4a near the car door
, 4b. Further, as shown in FIG. 7(b), one row 4a can be set near the car door, and the row 4b can be set near the elevator door of the elevator hall 15. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7(c), column 4
It is also possible to set both a and 4b near the elevator door of the hall 15.

By doing so, as explained using FIG. 6, the number of passengers getting on and off and the direction of movement can be detected.

According to the embodiment of the present invention described above, since the imaging device 3 is switched and used as the first area sensor 3a and the second area sensor 3b, one imaging device v! 1
3, it is possible to detect the number of passengers and the movement of passengers in the elevator while it is running and transmit it to the central monitoring room, and when the elevator is stopped, the number of passengers getting on and off and the direction of movement can be detected and transmitted to the central monitoring room. It can be transmitted to the monitoring room and group management control device, allowing for multipurpose use.

Therefore, compared to the case of an ITV area sensor, the processing time for extracting changes in the sensor density difference is significantly shortened. Furthermore, the entire system is simplified and is also highly economical.

It should be noted that the present invention can be applied not only to elevators but also to various directions.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are explanatory diagrams showing other embodiments of the present invention, respectively.

FIG. 8 shows a group of elevators arranged side by side in an arbitrary building, the elevator on the left has its door open, the other elevators have their doors closed, and 16 is an elevator hall. By the way, an imaging device 3 is provided inside the elevator car 1, and when the elevator is running (door closed), the interior of the car 3 is monitored as a first area sensor 3a, and when the elevator is stopped, it is monitored. The second area sensor 3b detects the number of passengers getting on and off at the entrance/exit of the car 3.

However, in FIG. 8, the elevator hall 16
A second imaging device (not shown) has a plurality of solid-state imaging devices arranged in at least two rows at the left and right entrances and operates in the same manner as the second area sensor described above.
is set, and the number of people passing through the entrance/exit is detected by the same method as explained in FIG. There is.

Therefore, by inputting these data into the elevator group management control table [17], the elevators can be operated efficiently.

In FIG. 9, the second imaging device explained in FIG. 8 is set in any hall 15 of the elevator, and as shown by the arrow in FIG. It is designed to detect the movement of a person's skin, such as from front to back or back to front, from the difference in density over time.

Therefore, according to FIG.
In addition, it can also detect the movement of people in the hall, making it possible to use it for multiple purposes.

It goes without saying that if the field of view that can be monitored by the imaging device 3 is narrow, the field of view to be monitored may be widened by freely swinging the imaging devices 1 and 3 using a swinging mechanism.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, while the elevator is running, the imaging device monitors the passengers in the elevator car, such as whether or not there are passengers in the elevator car, the number of passengers, and abnormality detection. While the car is stopped, the number of passengers getting on and off the car,
The direction of movement can be monitored and this information can be transmitted to the group management control device, etc. Moreover, the processing time for extracting changes in the sensor concentration difference can be greatly shortened and the entire system can be simplified. This has the effect of being able to be applied to various fields.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the elevator traffic flow detection device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the processing for detecting traffic flow by the microcomputer of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the operation when the imaging device shown in FIG. 1 is used as a first area sensor or a second area sensor, and FIG. Charts, Figure 5, Figure 3 is a diagram explaining the specific operation, Figure 6 is a diagram explaining the detection operation of a moving object, Figure 7 is
The figure is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of selecting a plurality of arbitrary columns in the second area sensor, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are explanatory diagrams each showing other embodiments of the present invention. 1... Elevator car, 2... Ceiling, 3...
・Imaging device, 4...floor, 6...microcomputer, 8...
・A-D converter, 10... switching circuit, 11.12...
・Memory, 13...Pass line, 15.16...Hall, 17...Group management control device, 20...Synchronization separation circuit, 30...Address generation circuit, 40...Elevator door Switchgear, 50...Amplifier, 400...
Moving objects, 4a, 4b... (1 other person) No. 2 No. 2 No. 7 <b) CC)

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A plurality of solid-state image sensors are set at arbitrary positions in the elevator car, and are provided in the column direction and the row direction, respectively, with at least the inside of the car as a field of view, among the inside of the car and the hall side. a first means for using the imaging device as a first area sensor for obtaining grayscale information of the entire interior of the car while the elevator is running; a first monitoring means for detecting the number of passengers and the dynamics of the passengers from grayscale information and changes over time of the grayscale information and transmitting an abnormality in the car to a central monitoring device; and when the elevator is stopped, the imaging device a second means for using as a second area sensor that extracts only grayscale information from arbitrary plural rows, and detecting the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator from the density difference of the grayscale information from the plurality of rows from the second area sensor. A traffic flow detection device for an elevator, comprising: second monitoring means for transmitting information to a group management control device. 2. The elevator traffic flow detection device according to claim 1, wherein the arbitrary plurality of rows are set near the door in the car. 3. The elevator traffic flow detection device according to claim 1, wherein the arbitrary plurality of rows are set to be near the door in the car and on the hall side. 4. The elevator traffic flow detection device according to claim 1, wherein all of the plurality of arbitrary rows are set to be on the hall side. 5. The elevator traffic flow detection device according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein the imaging device includes a swinging mechanism. 6. A plurality of solid-state image sensing devices arranged at an arbitrary position in the elevator car in a row direction and a column direction with at least the inside of the car as a field of view between the inside of the car and the hall side. a first image pickup device, and a first area sensor that uses the first image pickup device as a first area sensor to obtain grayscale information of the entire inside of the car while the elevator is running.
and a first means for detecting the number of passengers and the dynamics of the passengers from the density information from the first area sensor and changes over time of the density information, and transmitting abnormalities in the car to a central monitoring device. monitoring means; and second means for using the first imaging device as a second area sensor that captures only grayscale information from arbitrary plural rows while the elevator is stopped;
a second monitoring means for detecting the number of passengers getting on and off from the density difference in the density information of the plurality of rows from the second area sensor and transmitting the detected number to the elevator control device; A second imaging device having a plurality of solid-state imaging devices arranged in the same manner as the second area sensor, and a density difference in the density information of the plurality of rows from the second imaging device are used to detect passage through the entrance and exit of the hall. 1. A traffic flow detection device for an elevator, comprising: third monitoring means for detecting the number of people getting on and off the elevator, and inputting the number of passengers to obtain the number of waiting passengers in the elevator.