WO2022084571A1

WO2022084571A1 - Guidance solution

Info

Publication number: WO2022084571A1
Application number: PCT/FI2020/050686
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tommi Huotari; Heikki Kuosmanen
Original assignee: Kone Corporation
Priority date: 2020-10-20
Filing date: 2020-10-20
Publication date: 2022-04-28

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for guiding people, the method, performed by a control device (140), comprises: generating (310) a first control signal to at least one illuminator (150) for generating an illumination, the illumination indicating a waiting area (160) for allocating a number of the people to an illuminated waiting area (160); receiving (320) status information indicating a change in a service provision to the number of people allocated to the illuminated waiting area (160), and generating (330) a second control signal for changing the illumination of the illuminated waiting area (160) for guiding at least the number of people in accordance with the change in the service provision. The invention also relates to an apparatus, a system, and a computer program product.

Description

GUIDANCE SOLUTION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention concerns in general the technical field of guidance systems. More particularly, the invention concerns guiding people.

BACKGROUND

Guiding people in spaces is an important task to enable effective people flow. Traditionally the guiding is done with signs informing people about topics being relevant from people flow point of view. Such signs may e.g. show information with respect to exit doors, elevators, escalators, autowalks, emergency related information, and so on.

Also some guiding mechanisms are used in a context of waiting areas, such as in waiting areas of elevators, e.g. in lobbies. For example, markings may be arranged on the floor for indicating appropriate locations to wait for a service from the elevator system. For example, passengers may be grouped in accordance with their destinations by arranging waiting areas accordingly. This kind of approach also serves the current need to maintain social distance between people and groups of people in order to inhibit a spread of diseases, such as COVID-19.

The existing solutions have a drawback that they are static in nature and people residing in the waiting area are not informed on a progress of a service provision, or a remaining waiting time, in any manner. Hence, there is need to introduce novel approaches in this regard.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide basic understanding of some aspects of various invention embodiments. The summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention nor to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of exemplifying embodiments of the invention.

An object of the invention is to present a method, an apparatus, a system, and a computer program product for guiding people.

The objects of the invention are reached by a method, an apparatus, a system, and a computer program product as defined by the respective independent claims.

According to a first aspect, a method for guiding people is provided, the method, performed by a control device, comprises: generating a first control signal to at least one illuminator for generating an illumination, the illumination indicating a waiting area for allocating a number of the people to an illuminated waiting area; receiving status information indicating a change in a service provision to the number of people allocated to the illuminated waiting area; and generating a second control signal for changing the illumination of the illuminated waiting area for guiding at least the number of people in accordance with the change in the service provision.

The change in the service provision may represent a detection of a change in one of the following: a waiting time of the service provision; an order of providing the service.

Moreover, the status information may represent a service provision of an elevator system to the waiting area.

The number of people may be allocated to the illuminated waiting area in accordance with a destination call provided by the number of people to the elevator system.

Further, the second control signal may be defined to cause the change in the illumination by at least one of the following manner: a change in a colour of the waiting area, a change in a pattern representing the waiting area, a change in a visualization of the waiting area, a change in a position of the illumination.

Still further, at least the first control signal may be generated so that the illuminated waiting area comprises a plurality of sub-areas, the plurality of subareas each defining a personal area for the number of people.

According to a second aspect, an apparatus for guiding people is provided, the apparatus configured to: generate a first control signal to at least one illuminator for generating an illumination, the illumination indicating a waiting area for allocating a number of the people to an illuminated waiting area; receive status information indicating a change in a service provision to the number of people allocated to the illuminated waiting area; and generate a second control signal for changing the illumination of the illuminated waiting area for guiding at least the number of people in accordance with the change in the service provision.

The apparatus may be configured to represent the change in the service provision as a detection of a change in one of the following: a waiting time of the service provision; an order of providing the service.

The apparatus may also be configured to apply the status information in a representation of a service provision of an elevator system to the waiting area.

Moreover, the apparatus may be configured to allocate a number of people to the illuminated waiting area in accordance with a destination call provided by the number of people to the elevator system.

Further, the apparatus may be configured to define the second control signal to cause the change in the illumination by at least one of the following manner: a change in a colour of the waiting area, a change in a pattern representing the waiting area, a change in a visualization of the waiting area, a change in a position of the illumination. Still further, the apparatus may be configured to generate at least the first control signal so that the illuminated waiting area comprises a plurality of subareas, the plurality of sub-areas each defining a personal area for the number of people.

According to a third aspect, a system for guiding people is provided, the system comprising: at least one illuminator; and an apparatus according to the second aspect as defined in the foregoing description.

The system may be arranged to be communicatively connected to an elevator system.

According to a fourth aspect, a computer program product for guiding people is provided which computer program product, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus to perform the method according to the first aspect as defined in the foregoing description.

The expression "a number of” refers herein to any positive integer starting from one, e.g. to one, two, or three.

The expression "a plurality of” refers herein to any positive integer starting from two, e.g. to two, three, or four.

Various exemplifying and non-limiting embodiments of the invention both as to constructions and to methods of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific exemplifying and non-limiting embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

The verbs “to comprise” and “to include” are used in this document as open limitations that neither exclude nor require the existence of unrecited features. The features recited in dependent claims are mutually freely combinable unless otherwise explicitly stated. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the use of “a” or “an”, i.e. a singular form, throughout this document does not exclude a plurality. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 illustrates schematically at some aspects of a guidance system according to an example.

Figures 2A and 2B illustrate schematically at least some aspects relating to waiting areas according to examples.

Figure 3 illustrates schematically a method according to an example.

Figure 4 illustrates schematically an apparatus according to an example.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLIFYING EMBODIMENTS

The specific examples provided in the description given below should not be construed as limiting the scope and/or the applicability of the appended claims. Lists and groups of examples provided in the description given below are not exhaustive unless otherwise explicitly stated.

Figure 1 illustrates schematically an example embodiment of a guidance system for providing guidance to one or more persons roaming in a space of the guidance system. The guidance system may e.g. be configured to control accessing, or using, of a predefined entity by guiding persons accordingly. In Figure 1 , such an entity is referred with 1 10 and it may e.g. be a gate or a door, an elevator, or anything similar. An operation of the entity may be controlled by an entity controller 120. For the purposes of describing at least some aspects of the present invention the entity 110 is considered to be an elevator (denoted also with 1 10) and the entity controller 120 is considered to be an elevator controller (denoted also with 120) in the following description. A person enters in the space, such as in the building, and may generate a request to use the elevator 110 i.e. a service request is generated. The generation of the service request may occur either automatically, e.g. by identifying the person, or in response of an interaction between the person and a user interface 130. The user interface 130 may be a part of the elevator system or a part of the guidance system. In the non-limiting example embodiment the guidance system comprises its own controller 140, called as a control device, as shown in Figure 1 , but the control operations for the elevator system and for the guidance system may be arranged in the same controller. The elevator system and the guidance system may be communicatively connected to each other e.g. by arranging the communication between the elevator controller 120 and the control device 140 of the guidance system.

Furthermore, the guidance system in accordance with at least one example embodiment may comprise at least one illuminator 150 controllable with the control device 140. The illuminator 150 herein may refer to any apparatus by means of which it is possible to generate at least one illuminated area 160 in the space, such as on a floor within the space. The illuminated area 160 herein refers to an illuminated waiting are 160 into which the person in question may be directed to in accordance with the service he/she needs. For example, in response to the interaction with the user interface 130 the user interface 130 may be configured to generate in indication, such as a visual representation, indicating the waiting area 160 the person shall enter to in order to wait her/his service, such as an elevator ride. The illuminator 150 as the apparatus may be a projector controllable with the control unit 140 by means of which it is possible to generate at least one light beam so as to generate the illuminated waiting area 160 on the floor. The projector as the illuminator may reside above the floor or below the floor if the floor is transparent to an extent that the illumination may be seen from the other side of the floor than where the illuminator resides. Alternatively or in addition, the illuminator 150 may be established so that the floor comprises illuminable areas implemented e.g. by applying light emitting diodes (LED) or any similar sources of light e.g. so that at least a portion of the floor is implemented with an applicable display, such as an interactive floor solution. Still further, according to at least some example embodiments the illuminator 150 is advantageously controllable so as to allow a change in an illumination at least from a first state to a second state. The change in the illumination of the waiting area 160 may e.g. refer to a change in an illumination pattern, a change in colour, a change in a visualization of the waiting area 160 (cf. static light vs. blinking light), and so on.

Generally speaking, the illuminator 150 may be configured to generate the illumination according to a need. Figures 2A and 2B illustrate schematically some non-limiting examples how the illuminated waiting areas 160 may be formed. In Figure 2A it is shown illuminations by means of which it is possible do group a plurality of person to two waiting areas 160. In other words, in accordance with a service need the person in question may be allocated to either one of the waiting areas 160. As a result, a plurality of persons may reside in the same waiting area 160. In case, a social distance is emphasized the waiting areas 160 may be defined through illumination so that persons are guided more accurately. This may be achieved either by defining such waiting areas 160 which are individual for each person (Fig 2B, denotations WA2, WA3). This may be achieved e.g. by defining the illuminated waiting areas 160 so that there is room only for one person to stand, for example. In this kind of approach, a grouping, if needed, may be done in the control unit 140 so that the plurality of individual waiting areas 160 are defined to belong to the same group and the illumination may e.g. be controlled in a centralized manner. Figure 2B also illustrates another possible implementation in which the waiting area 160 is illuminated so that the waiting area 160 illuminate sub-areas (denoted with SA1 , SA2, SA3, SA4) inside an outline of the waiting area 160 for indicating spots for the persons to stand during the waiting e.g. in order to guarantee a social distance between the persons. For example, the sub-areas may be illuminated with different colour than the waiting area 160 itself. For sake of clarity, it is hereby mentioned that the illuminations disclosed in Figures 2A and 2B are non-limiting examples and other illumination methods may be used in the context of the present invention. Next, a method for guiding people according to an example embodiment is described by referring to Figure 3. The method may be performed by the guidance system of Figure 1 wherein the method is now described from a perspective of the control unit 140. The method may be initiated in response to a receipt of a signal by the control unit 140 of the guidance system, the signal carrying data indicating either directly or indirectly that the guidance system is requested to provide guidance to a person needing service from an entity 110. Such an entity 1 10 may be an elevator system wherein persons may be provided with information in relation to a waiting for the service. In response to a receipt of such a service request the control unit 140 may be, e.g. by communicating with a controller 120 of the entity 110, configured to generate 310 a first control signal to at least one illuminator 150 for generating an illumination in order to provide information to the person in question. In accordance with at least some example embodiments the illumination may be generated for indicating a waiting area 160 for allocating the person in question to an illuminated waiting area 160. As mentioned before, depending on an implementation one or more persons may be allocated to the same waiting area 160 based on at least one rule, such as collecting persons with the same destination of a travel with the elevator to the same waiting area, or collecting persons having the same priority to use the entity 1 10 to the same waiting area, or anything similar. In response to the generation 310 of the first control signal the person is assumed to enter the illuminated waiting area 160. During the service provision a status of the entity 110, or in the entity, may change. For example, the entity 1 10 providing at least part of the service may become aware of its capability to provide the service, such as being capable of determining an instant of time to provide the service. For example, the elevator providing service to pending service calls may be able to calculate in instant of time of being capable of allocating an elevator car to pick up one or more persons residing in a certain waiting area 160. In response to the receipt 320 of the status information the control unit 140 may be configured to detect that there has occurred a change in a service provision for the number of people allocated to the illuminated waiting area. The detection may be based an internal operation performed by the control unit 140 or that the received status information indicates this directly or indirectly. In response to the detection of the change, the control unit 140 may be configured to generate 330 a second control signal for changing the illumination of the illuminated waiting area 160 for guiding at least the number of people in accordance with the change in the illumination in the waiting of the service provision. The change in the illumination may e.g. be done so that it provides the at least one person status information with respect to the waiting time. For example, the first control signal may cause the illumination so that the person enters a correct waiting area 160 corresponding to her/his service request. The illumination may e.g. be provided with a spot having a certain first colour. In response to a detection of a change in a service provision, such as an elevator system has assigned an elevator car to provide the service to a certain group of people, the second control signal may cause a change in the illumination, such as changing a colour of the spot to another from the first colour. Any other ways of highlighting the change for informing the person(s) may be applied to.

Generally speaking, the detection of the change with respect to service provision may be performed in a variety of ways based on the status information. As mentioned, the status information may itself comprise a piece of data indicating the change and causing a generation of the second control signal. Alternatively or in addition, the control unit 140 may be configured to receive the status information and analyse it e.g. by comparing it with at least one previous piece of status information in order to make a decision if a change has occurred or not. Depending on the entity 1 10 and its operation type and service type the change in the service provision may reflect a variety of aspects. E.g. in a context of an elevators the change may represent a change in the waiting time in some manner. For example, the change may be detected if the service may be provided within a predefined time window. On the other hand, the change in the service provision may represent a change in an order the service may be provided to a waiting area 160, or waiting areas 160, in question. For example, the illumination may e.g. be arranged to inform the person(s) on the order the service is provided to the plurality of waiting areas 160, and any change therein may be indicated with the change in the illumination. Still further, the indication of the change may be related to a fill level of an elevator car arriving in the space where the persons are waiting for the service, and/or its relation to a generation to an illumination. The fill level related indication may e.g. instruct the persons who are waiting for the service that they need to give room to persons arriving to the space in the elevator car prior to entering the elevator car in question. This may be achieved by causing that the position of the illumination is moved away from the elevator doors, for example. Alternatively, if the fill level of the elevator car indicates that the elevator car is empty, or close to that, the change in the service provision may cause that the illumination for the persons, such as the ones being served first, is changed accordingly, e.g. that the illumination is moved closer to the elevator doors, for example. The described way to use the information representing the fill level of the elevator car as the status information, or change in it, and as a consequence to generate the second control signal for changing the illumination, i.e. the position of the illumination, with respect to a predetermined entity, such as the elevator door, may have remarkable advantages e.g. in improving an efficiency in loading the elevator car, but also, and at the same time, to guarantee necessary social distances when loading or unloading the elevator car. Hence, managing the order of service provision as described is advantageous.

A further aspect to above described non-limiting examples of applying the guiding solution is that it may also be applied in a context of so-called through- type-cars (TTC) i.e. elevator cars comprising a plurality of entrances. In such an environment the guiding with the illumination scheme may be arranged so that a criteria, or a rule, is implemented which applies an illumination scheme in which the loading order of people into car may be guided so that people passing each other / people groups passing each other during loading is minimized. This kind of approach may e.g. take into account the destinations and the entrance to be used in the destination floor so that other persons traveling to another destination are not passed by more than necessary. This kind of arrangement may be arranged to providing an applicable illumination also inside the elevator car so that the ones guided first in the elevator find an optimal position to stand in the car before the other persons are loaded in the elevator car.

As derivable from the foregoing description by generating control signals for the at least one illuminator 150 it is possible to generate a number of illuminations, and to change the illuminations accordingly. As a result, it is possible to share information to at least one person with respect to service provision. Further, the illumination provides a way to deliver information on the service provision of at least one waiting area with respect to at least one other service are. In other words, by applying an applicable illumination scheme, such as by using different colours or shapes or both of these representing different waiting times or an order of the service, the persons residing in the different waiting areas 160 may compare their position with respect to others on a basis of the illumination.

For example, an apparatus, i.e. the control unit 140, configured to perform at least a part of a method as described herein may refer to a computing device, such as a server device, a laptop computer, a PC, or any similar data processing device, as schematically illustrated in Figure 4. In other words, Figure 4 illustrates schematically as a block diagram a non-limiting example of the apparatus applicable to perform the method in cooperation with other entities. The apparatus may thus be the control unit referred with 140 in Figure 1 , or the controller 120, or for example. For sake of clarity, it is worthwhile to mention that the block diagram of Figure 4 depicts some components of a device that may be employed to implement an operation of the apparatus. The apparatus comprises a processor 410 and a memory 420. The memory 420 may store data and computer program code 425. The apparatus may further comprise communication means 430, such as a modem or a similar, for wired and/or wireless communication with other entities. Furthermore, I/O (input/output) components 440 may be arranged, together with the processor 410 and a portion of the computer program code 425, to provide a user interface for receiving input from a user, such as from a technician of the system, and/or providing output to the user of the system when necessary. In particular, the user I/O components may include user input means, such as one or more keys or buttons, a keyboard, a touchscreen, or a touchpad, etc. The user I/O components may include output means, such as a display or a touchscreen. The components of the apparatus may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 450 that enables transfer of data and control information between the components.

The memory 420 and a portion of the computer program code 425 stored therein may be further arranged, with the processor 410, to cause the apparatus, i.e. the control unit 140, to perform a method as described in the foregoing description. The processor 410 may be configured to read from and write to the memory 420. Although the processor 410 is depicted as a respective single component, it may be implemented as respective one or more separate processing components. Similarly, although the memory 420 is depicted as a respective single component, it may be implemented as respective one or more separate components, some or all of which may be integrated/removable and/or may provide permanent / semi-permanent / dynamic / cached storage.

The computer program code 425 may comprise computer-executable instructions that implement functions that correspond to at least some steps of the method when loaded into the processor 410. As an example, the computer program code 425 may include a computer program consisting of one or more sequences of one or more instructions. The processor 410 is able to load and execute the computer program by reading the one or more sequences of one or more instructions included therein from the memory 420. The one or more sequences of one or more instructions may be configured to, when executed by the processor 410, cause the apparatus to perform the method be described herein. Hence, the apparatus may comprise at least one processor 410 and at least one memory 420 including the computer program code 425 for one or more programs, the at least one memory 420 and the computer program code 425 configured to, with the at least one processor 410, cause the apparatus to perform the method as described at least in part. The computer program code 425 may be provided e.g. a computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable non-transitory medium having the computer program code 425 stored thereon, which computer program code 425, when executed by the processor 410 causes the apparatus to perform the method. The computer-readable non-transitory medium may comprise a memory device or a record medium such as a CD-ROM, a DVD, a Blu- ray disc, or another article of manufacture that tangibly embodies the computer program. As another example, the computer program may be provided as a signal configured to reliably transfer the computer program.

Still further, the computer program code 425 may comprise a proprietary application, such as computer program code for causing an execution of the method in the manner as described in the description herein.

Any of the programmed functions mentioned may also be performed in firmware or hardware adapted to or programmed to perform the necessary tasks.

In the foregoing description it is mainly referred to that the illumination is established in a waiting area residing in a lobby. However, the present invention is also applicable in other environments, such as inside an elevator car wherein the waiting areas 160 during the travel may be indicated in the described manner and a change in the status information, such as an arrival of the destination, may be indicated in the waiting area wise, to the passengers through the change of the illumination.

Furthermore, the description of at least part of the invention is given from the point of a control unit 140 of the guidance system. As already mentioned, the entity performing the operations of the control unit 140 may be any other, such as the controller 120 of the entity 1 10 for which the guidance is generated. Moreover, at least some aspects of the present invention may relate to a system for providing the guidance, the system comprising at least some entities of the guidance system, but also other entities. For example, the system may refer to an elevator system comprising the guidance system as described. The specific examples provided in the description given above should not be construed as limiting the applicability and/or the interpretation of the appended claims. Lists and groups of examples provided in the description given above are not exhaustive unless otherwise explicitly stated.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1 . A method for guiding people, the method, performed by a control device (140), comprises: generating (310) a first control signal to at least one illuminator (150) for generating an illumination, the illumination indicating a waiting area (160) for allocating a number of the people to an illuminated waiting area (160), receiving (320) status information indicating a change in a service provision to the number of people allocated to the illuminated waiting area (160), and generating (330) a second control signal for changing the illumination of the illuminated waiting area (160) for guiding at least the number of people in accordance with the change in the service provision.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the change in the service provision represents a detection of a change in one of the following: a waiting time of the service provision; an order of providing the service.

3. The method of any of claims 1 or 2, wherein the status information represents a service provision of an elevator system to the waiting area.

4. The method of any of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein the number of people is allocated to the illuminated waiting area in accordance with a destination call provided by the number of people to the elevator system.

5. The method of any of the preceding claims 1 to 4, wherein the second control signal is defined to cause the change in the illumination by at least one of the following manner: a change in a colour of the waiting area (160), a change in a pattern representing the waiting area (160), a change in a visualization of the waiting area (160), a change in a position of the illumination.

6. The method of any of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein at least the first control signal is generated so that the illuminated waiting area (160) comprises a plurality of sub-areas, the plurality of sub-areas each defining a personal area for the number of people.

7. An apparatus (140) for guiding people, the apparatus (140) configured to: generate (310) a first control signal to at least one illuminator (150) for generating an illumination, the illumination indicating a waiting area (160) for allocating a number of the people to an illuminated waiting area (160), receive (320) status information indicating a change in a service provision to the number of people allocated to the illuminated waiting area (160), and generate (330) a second control signal for changing the illumination of the illuminated waiting area (160) for guiding at least the number of people in accordance with the change in the service provision.

8. The apparatus (140) of claim 7, wherein the apparatus (140) is configured to represent the change in the service provision as a detection of a change in one of the following: a waiting time of the service provision; an order of providing the service.

9. The apparatus (140) of any of claims 7 or 8, wherein the apparatus (140) is configured to apply the status information in a representation of a service provision of an elevator system to the waiting area.

10. The apparatus (140) of any of the preceding claims 7 to 9, wherein the apparatus (140) is configured to allocate a number of people to the illuminated waiting area in accordance with a destination call provided by the number of people to the elevator system.

11 . The apparatus (140) of any of the preceding claims 7 to 10, wherein the apparatus (140) is configured to define the second control signal to cause the change in the illumination by at least one of the following manner: a change in a colour of the waiting area (160), a change in a pattern representing the 17 waiting area (160), a change in a visualization of the waiting area (160), a change in a position of the illumination.

12. The apparatus (140) of any of the preceding claims 7 to 1 1 , wherein the apparatus (140) is configured to generate at least the first control signal so that the illuminated waiting area (160) comprises a plurality of sub-areas, the plurality of sub-areas each defining a personal area for the number of people.

13. A system for guiding people, the system comprising: at least one illuminator (150), and an apparatus according to any of claims 7 to 12.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the system is arranged to be communicatively connected to an elevator system.

15. A computer program product for guiding people which, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 6.