WO2020049706A1

WO2020049706A1 - Elevator

Info

Publication number: WO2020049706A1
Application number: PCT/JP2018/033133
Authority: WO
Inventors: 雅之稻田
Original assignee: 三菱電機株式会社
Priority date: 2018-09-07
Filing date: 2018-09-07
Publication date: 2020-03-12

Abstract

The purpose of the present application is to obtain an elevator that achieves both user convenience and energy saving. The elevator of the present application comprises: a display device identification unit that identifies a display device that is being viewed by a user; and a display device control unit that performs control such that the display device identified by the display device identification unit out of the display devices is lit, a display device other than the display device identified by the display device identification unit is lit up with lower brightness than the identified display device or turned off, and among the plurality of display devices prepared in a car, the display device that is being viewed by the user and needs for display is displayed, and display devices that are not viewed are turned off, thereby achieving both user convenience and energy saving in a balanced manner.

Description

Elevator

The present application relates to an elevator, and more particularly to an elevator including a plurality of display devices that provide information on a current floor or traveling direction to a user in a car of the elevator.

In the elevator car and at the landing, there are LEDs and liquid crystal display indicators that display operation information such as the current car floor or traveling direction, button lights that indicate the inputted destination floor and car call, a monitor, Many various display devices, such as signage devices, are provided. With the diversification of information display contents and methods, the number and types of display devices are increasing. The number of display devices is not limited to one. Indicators and button lights are mounted for the number of operation panels in the elevator, and button lights are mounted for the number of floors to be stopped. For example, there are a total of four operation panels, one on the left and right on the front door side and one on the left and right sides of the side wall, and when ten destination floors can be selected, 40 button lights are mounted. Therefore, much power is required to operate many display devices.

In order to reduce the power consumption of the elevator, there is a technique for turning off the display device when it is not necessary to operate the display device. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-188253 discloses that, when a car call is made at a landing, the display unit stored in the upper side of the three-sided frame surrounding the landing door is lowered to a position where a user waiting for the car can view. Move to display information. Then, a technique is disclosed in which a camera provided on the display unit determines whether or not the passenger is looking at the display unit. Have been.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-347751, a sensor detects whether there is a car waiting at each floor, and if there is no car waiting, a display for displaying a destination floor installed at the hall and operation information of an elevator are displayed. Turn off indicators such as information devices.

JP 2012-188253 A (paragraphs [0010] to [0011], FIG. 4) JP-A-2006-347751 (paragraphs [0005]-[0006], FIG. 3)

However, according to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when it is determined that the user has not seen the display unit even once, the display unit is stored and the information display is stopped. When there is a plurality of display devices and all the display devices cannot be viewed at the same time, there is a problem that when a user tries to view a display device which has not been viewed before, the information is stored and the information display is stopped. Was.

Further, Patent Literature 2 has a problem that when there is a car waiting customer, the display is turned on uselessly even when the user is not looking at the display.

The present application has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and has as its object to obtain an elevator that achieves both user convenience and energy saving.

The elevator according to the present application includes a camera that captures an image of a user of the elevator, a plurality of display devices that light up and display information, an image acquisition unit that acquires an image from the camera, and an image acquisition unit that uses the image acquired by the image acquisition unit. A direction detection unit that detects a direction in which the user is looking, a display device identification unit that identifies a display device that the user is looking at from the direction detected by the direction detection unit, and a display device identification unit that identifies the display device. The display device control unit controls the display device to be turned on, and the display device other than the display device specified by the display device specifying unit to be turned on or off with lower luminance than the specified display device.

The elevator of the present application is one in which a plurality of display devices prepared in the car are viewed by the user, display devices that need to be displayed are displayed, and display devices that are not viewed reduce the brightness or turn off the light. In addition, both user convenience and energy saving can be achieved.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of an elevator according to a first embodiment of the present application. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the elevator according to the first embodiment of the present application. Schematic diagram for explaining a method of specifying a display device viewed by a user from a direction of a detected line of sight FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a modification of the detailed configuration of the elevator according to the first embodiment of the present application. Configuration diagram showing a detailed configuration of an elevator according to a second embodiment of the present application. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the elevator according to the second embodiment of the present application. Hardware configuration diagram of components of elevator control panel or on-car control device according to

Embodiments

1 and 2

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, the elevator according to the first embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a detailed configuration of the elevator according to the first embodiment of the present application. The car 1 is a car on which an elevator user rides, and its operation is controlled by a control unit 4 provided in a control panel 3 of the machine room 2 to move between floors. At this time, communication with the control unit 4 is performed by the communication unit 10 of the on-car control device 5 provided above the car 1. The control panel 3 is connected to a hoist (not shown) for raising and lowering the car, and controls the hoist. The configuration in which the control panel 3 is installed in the machine room 2 will be described. However, the present invention is also applied to an elevator without a machine room in which the control panel 3 is installed in a hoistway.

First, the configuration inside the car 1 will be described.

The car 1 includes a plurality of display devices 7. The display device 7 is a monitor 71 and an operation panel 72. The monitor 71 displays an image of the security camera 61 for photographing the inside of the car or information on the floor. The operation panel 72 includes an indicator 8 indicating the current floor, and a button 9 indicating the destination floor designated by the user while registering the destination floor by pressing the user.

The display device 7 is not limited to the above, but may be a display device 7 having only an indicator. These display devices 7 can display information by turning on a liquid crystal backlight, or an LED light, a 7-segment light, or the like provided on the back of the button 9.

The car 1 has a camera 6. The cameras 6 are a security camera 61 for photographing the inside of the car 1 and a line-of-sight detection camera 62 such as a pinhole camera for detecting the line of sight of the user. Note that the line-of-sight detection camera 62 is provided near the display device 7. The vicinity means that the user is close to the display device 7 to the extent that the user can recognize the user's line of sight to the display device 7.

These pieces of information from the camera 6 are transmitted to the communication unit 10 of the on-car control device 5.

The on-car control device 5 includes an image acquisition unit 11, a direction detection unit 12, a prediction unit 13, a display device identification unit 14, a display device control unit 15, and a signal transmission unit 16.

The communication unit 10 is provided in the on-car control device 5, and transmits images captured by the security camera 61 and the line-of-sight detection camera 62 to the image acquisition unit 11.

The image acquisition unit 11 is a memory that acquires an image from the camera 6 via the communication unit 10 and stores the image.

The direction detection unit 12 analyzes the direction of the user's face or pupil appearance from the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 11, calculates a vector of the direction the user is looking, detects and outputs the vector as direction information, and outputs the vector. I do. At this time, the output direction information includes information on the user's viewing direction indicated by the start point, which is the position of the user, and the unit vector, and information on the user's visual field range calculated from the start point and the unit vector. This is information including at least one of them. In the case of the security camera 61 in which the camera 6 is provided in the car and the whole car can be photographed, the detection method includes: a direction in which the user turns his / her face from the direction of the user's ear or face; If photographing is possible, it is determined from the direction of the user's pupil. Alternatively, a gaze detection camera 62 may be provided in each of the display devices 7, and the gaze detection direction of the user may be detected by detecting the direction of the user's pupil with each gaze detection camera 62.

The prediction unit 13 acquires the user's gaze direction from the direction detection unit 12, and outputs the predicted user's future viewing direction information and the predicted gaze direction moving speed to the display device identification unit 14 by the transition of the direction. I do. For example, when the direction of the user's line of sight output from the direction detection unit 12 is gradually shifting to the right, the predicted direction is predicted to be further right of the direction being viewed at that time. The moving speed in the direction of the line of sight is transmitted to the display device specifying unit 14.

The display device specifying unit 14 acquires the information on the gaze direction output from the direction detecting unit 12 and the predicting unit 13 and specifies the display device 7 that the user is looking at or is expected to see in the future. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the specifying method. FIG. 2 shows the inside of the car 1 from above. The display device specifying unit 14 previously stores the coordinates of each display device 7 in the car 1 as shown in FIG. For example, the coordinates of the lower left corner of the car 1 in FIG. 2 are (0, 0), the coordinates of the lower right corner are (3.0, 0), the coordinates of the upper left corner are (0, 3.0), and the upper right corner is The coordinates of the corner are set to (3.0, 3.0). In this case, the coordinates of the display device 7 installed on the right side of the car 1 facing the door 17 are (2.5 to 3.0, 3.0). As shown in FIG. 2, a total of six display devices 7 are installed in the car 1. Therefore, the display device specifying unit 14 stores the coordinates of each display device 7.
When acquiring the information on the user's position and the line-of-sight direction from the direction detecting unit 12 and the prediction unit 13, the display device specifying unit 14 intersects the stored position of each display device 7 in the car 1 with the user's line of sight. Is specified as the display device 7 viewed by the user. In FIG. 2, the location of the display device 7 is described in two dimensions. However, the location of the display device 7 is recorded in three dimensions, and the user's line of sight is obtained as a three-dimensional vector, so that the vertical direction is obtained. The display device 7 can be more finely controlled including the above. For the display device 7 that is predicted to be viewed in the future, the information of the moving speed of the line of sight may be taken into consideration from the prediction unit 13, and the information on the number of seconds after which a certain display device 7 is to be viewed may be output.
Note that a configuration without the prediction unit 13 may be employed. In that case, the display device specifying unit 14 specifies the display device 7 that the user is looking at based on the information output from the direction detecting unit 12.

The display device control unit 15 controls the lighting of the display device 7 specified by the display device specifying unit 14 as the display device 7 that the user is looking at or expected to see in the future via the communication unit 10. Further, the display device 7 other than the display device 7 identified as the display device 7 viewed by the user is turned off or the brightness is changed. Regarding the display device 7 expected to be viewed in the future, if the display device specifying unit 14 also outputs time information indicating how many seconds later the display device 7 is to be viewed, the display device 7 may be turned on slightly earlier than that time. Good. By turning on the display device 7 to be viewed next in advance, a natural display state is enabled.

The display device control unit 15 stores in advance the display device 7 that is controlled to be turned on when the door is opened and closed, regardless of the information output from the display device specifying unit 14. The display device 7 to be stored is, for example, an indicator indicating the current floor of the elevator. In this case, the display control unit 15 turns on the indicator at least when the door is opened and closed. Therefore, even if a failure occurs in any of the image acquisition unit 11, the direction detection unit 12, the prediction unit 13, and the display device identification unit 14, the user can always check the indicator when the door is opened and closed, so that the user gets on and off the destination floor. can do. Further, when the security camera 61 photographs the inside of the car 1 including the indicator, the indicator always lights when the door is opened and closed, so that it is possible to record on which floor the user has got on and off. Regardless of the information output from the display device specifying unit 14, the display device control unit 15 also performs control to turn on the light when the door is opened and closed.

The signal transmission unit 16 obtains information of the display device 7 identified as being viewed by the user from the display device identification unit 14, the display device 7 is an operation panel 72, and the operation panel 72 can be pressed. When it is detected that the button 9 has been viewed for a predetermined time or longer, a signal indicating that the button 9 has been pressed is transmitted to the control unit 4. Even when the inside of the car 1 is congested and the user far from the operation panel 72 cannot actually press the button 9 of the elevator, the signal transmission unit 16 can remotely control the button 9 for a predetermined time. Can be.

Next, an operation of the elevator according to the first embodiment, particularly, an operation of controlling the display device 7 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an operation of controlling the display device 7 by the elevator according to the first embodiment.

In the elevator of the present application, when the car 1 arrives at the floor, the control shown in FIG. 3 is started. First, in step S1, it is checked whether a user is in the car 1 of the elevator. As a method of determining whether or not a user is present, a method in which the control unit 4 determines from the output information from the weighing of the car, or a security camera 61 that photographs the inside of the car 1 acquired by the video acquisition unit 11 Alternatively, there is a method of determining the presence or absence of a person by image recognition from the image of the eye-gaze detecting camera 62. If it is not determined in step S1 that there is a user in the car 1, the process returns to step S1 and continues to determine the presence or absence of the user until it is determined that the user is in the car 1.

When it is determined in step S1 that the user is in the car 1, the process proceeds to step S2, and the camera 6 photographs the inside of the car 1 to detect the direction of the line of sight of the user in the car 1.

Subsequently, in step S3, the image acquisition unit 11 of the on-car control device 5 acquires the image of the camera 6 via the communication unit 10.

After step S3, the process proceeds to step S4, in which the direction detecting unit 12 analyzes the image obtained by the image obtaining unit 11 and detects the direction of the user's view from the direction of the user's face or pupil. .

After step S4, the process proceeds to step S5, in which the prediction unit 13 acquires the user's line of sight from the direction detection unit 12, and predicts the user's future line of sight by transition of the direction.

After step S5, the process proceeds to step S6, in which the display device specifying unit 14 acquires the gaze direction information output from the direction detecting unit 12 and the predicting unit 13, and it is predicted that the user is watching or will see in the future. Display device 7 to be specified.

After step S6, the process proceeds to step S7. In step S7, the display device control unit 15 turns on the display device 7 that the user identified by the display device identification unit 14 is watching or is expected to see in the future. Further, the display device control unit 15 controls the display device 7 other than the specified display device to be turned on or off with lower luminance than the specified display device. When information indicating how long the display device 7 is to be viewed after is also output from the display device specifying unit 14, the display device 7 predicted to be viewed in the future is turned on after the lapse of the time or slightly earlier than the time. May be.

After step S7, the process proceeds to step S8, where the signal transmission unit 16 determines whether or not the user has watched the same display device 7, in particular, the button 9 of the operation panel 72 for a predetermined time or more. This time is set to a time sufficient to acquire information from the display device 7, for example, about 3 seconds. When the signal transmission unit 16 determines that the user has been looking at the same button 9 for a predetermined time or longer, the process proceeds to step S9, where the signal transmission unit 16 determines that the button 9 viewed by the user has been pressed. Is transmitted to the control unit 4.

If it is not determined in step S8 that the user has looked at the same button 9 for a predetermined time or longer, the process proceeds to step S10. After transmitting a signal indicating that the button 9 viewed by the user has been pressed to the control unit 4 in step S9, the process proceeds to step S10. In step S10, the control unit 4 determines whether the car has been opened. If it is not determined in step S10 that the door has been opened, there is no entry or exit of the user, so the process returns to step S2, and repeats steps S2 to S10 again to continue controlling the display device 7. If it is determined in step S10 that the door has been opened, there is a possibility that the user has entered or exited, so the process returns to step S1 and determines again whether or not the user is in the car 1. When the display device control unit 15 stores the display device 7 for controlling to be turned on when the door is opened and closed, and when it is determined that the door is opened in step S10, the stored display device 7 is turned on when the door is opened and closed.

By the operations in steps S1 to S10 as described above, the display device 7 in the car 1 is controlled according to the direction of the user's line of sight.

In the above description, the video acquisition unit 11, the direction detection unit 12, the prediction unit 13, the display device identification unit 14, the display device control unit 15, and the signal transmission unit 16 are provided in the on-car control device 5. It may be provided on the panel 3. FIG. 4 shows a configuration diagram in that case. The image acquisition unit 11, the direction detection unit 12, the prediction unit 13, the display device identification unit 14, the display device control unit 15, and the signal transmission unit 16 may be provided on a network server or on a cloud at a location different from the elevator. Good.

As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present application, the user's line of sight is detected, the display device 7 that the user in the car 1 is looking at is turned on, and the display device 7 that is not seen is reduced in luminance. Since the power is turned on or off, power consumption can be reduced while maintaining user convenience.

Embodiment 2 FIG.
Although the display device 7 in the car 1 is controlled in the elevator according to the first embodiment, the display device 7 in the hall 18 may be controlled. The configuration diagram in this case is shown in FIG. The configuration of the same name and reference numeral has the same function as that of the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, the user in the car 1 is photographed by the camera 6, but in the second embodiment, the display of the display device 7 of the hall 18 can be controlled by photographing the user of the hall 18.

Next, the operation of the elevator according to the second embodiment, particularly, the operation of controlling the display device 7 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an operation of controlling the display device 7 by the elevator according to the first embodiment.

In the elevator of the present application, when the elevator starts operating, the control shown in FIG. 6 is started. First, in step S11, it is confirmed whether or not there is a user at the landing 18 of the elevator. As a method of determining whether or not there is a user, there is a method of determining the presence or absence of a person by image recognition from the image of the camera 6 that captures the hall 18 acquired by the image acquisition unit 11. If it is not determined in step S11 that there is a user in the hall 18, the process returns to step S11 and continues to determine whether or not there is a user.

If it is determined in step S11 that the user is at the hall 18, the process proceeds to step S12, where the camera 6 photographs the hall 18 to detect the direction of the line of sight of the user at the hall 18.

Subsequently, in step S13, the image acquisition unit 11 of the control panel 3 acquires the image of the camera 6 via the communication unit 10.

After step S13, the process proceeds to step S14, in which the direction detecting unit 12 analyzes the direction of the user's face or pupil from the image acquired by the image acquiring unit 11, and detects the direction in which the user is looking. .

After step S14, the process proceeds to step S15, in which the prediction unit 13 acquires the user's line of sight from the direction detection unit 12, and predicts the user's future line of sight by transition of the direction.

After step S15, the process proceeds to step S16, in which the display device identifying unit 14 acquires the gaze direction information output from the direction detecting unit 12 and the predicting unit 13 and is predicted to be viewed by the user or to be viewed in the future. Display device 7 to be specified.

After step S16, the process proceeds to step S17, where the display device control unit 15 turns on the display device 7 that the user specified by the display device specifying unit 14 is or is expected to see in the future, and turns on the specified display. The display devices 7 other than the device 7 are controlled to be turned on or turned off with a lower brightness than the specified display device 7.

After step S17, the process proceeds to step S18, where the signal transmission unit 16 determines whether the user has been watching the same display device 7, especially the button 9 of the operation panel 72, for a predetermined time or more. This time is set to a time sufficient to acquire information from the display device 7, for example, about 3 seconds. When the signal transmission unit 16 determines that the user has been looking at the same button 9 for a predetermined time or longer, the process proceeds to step S9, where the signal transmission unit 16 determines that the button 9 viewed by the user has been pressed. Is transmitted to the control unit 4.

If it is not determined in step S18 that the user has looked at the same button 9 for a predetermined time or more, or after step S19, the process returns to step S11, and it is again determined whether there is a user in the hall 18, and Steps S11 to S19 are repeated.

Through the operations in steps S11 to S19 described above, the display device 7 of the hall 18 can be controlled according to the direction of the user's line of sight. In the case of the hall 18, since the possibility that the button cannot be pressed due to congestion is small, the signal transmission unit 16 may be omitted from the configuration of FIG. 5 and steps S18 and S19 may be omitted.

Hereinafter, the hardware configuration of the components included in the control panel 3 or the on-car control device 5 of the elevator according to the first and second embodiments will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a hardware configuration diagram of components included in the elevator control panel 3 or the on-car control device 5 according to the first and second embodiments. 7, the control panel 3 or the on-car control device 5 includes an input device 101, an output device 102, a storage device 103, and a processing device 104.

The input device 101 corresponds to the communication unit 10 and is a network interface to which a video transmitted from the camera 6 is input. This network may be a wired communication network such as a LAN cable or a coaxial cable, or a wireless communication network using wireless communication technology.

The output device 102 corresponds to the communication unit 10 and is a network interface that transmits a signal for controlling the display device 7 from the display device control unit 15 to the display device 7. This network may be a wired communication network such as a LAN cable or a coaxial cable, or a wireless communication network using wireless communication technology.

The storage device 103 is a device that corresponds to the image acquisition unit 11 and stores an image from the camera 6. For example, a nonvolatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as a RAM, a ROM, and a flash memory, a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, and a compact disk are applicable.

The processing device 104 corresponds to the control unit 4, the direction detection unit 12, the prediction unit 13, the display device identification unit 14, the display device control unit 15, and the signal transmission unit 16. The processing device 104 may be dedicated hardware or a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that executes a program recorded in the storage device 103.

When the processing device 104 is dedicated hardware, the processing device 104 corresponds to, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, or a combination thereof. .

When the processing device 104 is a CPU, the functions of the control unit 4, the direction detection unit 12, the prediction unit 13, the display device identification unit 14, the display device control unit 15, and the signal transmission unit 16 are software, firmware, or software and firmware. It is realized by a combination. Software and firmware are described as programs and recorded in the storage device 103. The processing device 104 realizes the function of each unit by reading and executing the program stored in the storage device 103.

The functions of the control unit 4, the image acquisition unit 11, the direction detection unit 12, the prediction unit 13, the display device identification unit 14, the display device control unit 15, and the signal transmission unit 16 are partially realized by hardware. A part may be realized by software or firmware.

For example, the functions of the control unit 4, the image acquisition unit 11, the display device control unit 15, and the signal transmission unit 16 are realized by the processing device 104 as dedicated hardware, and the direction detection unit 12, the prediction unit 13, and the display device identification. The function of the unit 14 may be realized by the processing device 104 being described as a program recorded in the storage device 103 and the processing device 104 reading and executing the program.
As described above, the processing device 104 can realize the above-described functions by hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof.

As described above, in the present application, among the plurality of display devices 7 installed in the car, the display device 7 that is viewed by the user and needs to be displayed is displayed, and the display device 7 that is not viewed is turned off. Therefore, both user convenience and energy saving can be achieved.

Reference Signs List 1 car 2 machine room 3 control panel 4 control unit 5 on-car control device 6 camera 7 display device 8 indicator 9 button 10 communication unit 11 video acquisition unit 12 direction detection unit 13 prediction unit 14 display device identification unit 15 display device control unit 16 Signal transmission unit 17 Door 18 Landing 61 Security camera 62 Eye-gaze detection camera 71 Monitor 72 Operation panel 101 Input device 102 Output device 103 Storage device 104 Processing device

Claims

A camera for photographing elevator users,
A plurality of display devices that illuminate and display information;
An image acquisition unit that acquires an image from the camera,
A direction detection unit that detects a direction in which the user is looking from the video acquired by the video acquisition unit,
A display device identification unit that identifies the display device that the user is looking at from the direction detected by the direction detection unit,
The display device specified by the display device specifying unit of the display device is turned on, and the display devices other than the display device specified by the display device specifying unit are turned on with a lower luminance than the specified display device, Or a display device control unit that controls to turn off the light,
Elevator with.
The elevator according to claim 1, wherein the direction detection unit detects a direction of the user's face from the image from the camera, and detects the direction that the user is looking at.
The elevator according to claim 1, wherein the direction detection unit detects a direction of the user's line of sight from the image from the camera, and detects the direction that the user is looking at.
2. The direction detection unit according to claim 1, wherein the direction detection unit detects a direction of a face and a direction of a line of sight of the user from the image from the camera, and detects the direction that the user is looking at. Elevator.
From the transition of the direction detected by the direction detection unit, further comprising a prediction unit that predicts the direction that the user will see in the future,
The display device identification unit identifies the display device that the user is looking at from the direction detected by the direction detection unit, and displays the display in the direction that the user predicts by the prediction unit in the future. The elevator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the elevator is specified.
The display device control unit stores the display device that is turned on in advance when the elevator door is opened and closed, and controls the stored display device to be turned on when the elevator door is opened and closed. 5. The elevator according to any one of 5.
Further comprising a control unit for controlling the operation of the elevator,
Obtain information on the display device identified as being viewed by the user from the display device identification unit, and the display device is a button that can be pressed, and detects that the button has been seen for a predetermined time or more. When doing, a signal transmission unit that transmits a signal that the button has been pressed to the control unit,
The elevator according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising: