WO2023037035A1

WO2023037035A1 - Aid and rescue by elevator in a residential building

Info

Publication number: WO2023037035A1
Application number: PCT/FI2021/050606
Authority: WO
Inventors: Benjamin Ekström; Viljami PIRTTIMAA
Original assignee: Kone Corporation
Priority date: 2021-09-13
Filing date: 2021-09-13
Publication date: 2023-03-16

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a system for providing access for aid or rescue personnel at a specific location within a multi storey building comprising at least one elevator. A request for aid or rescue has been made by a person at the specific location in the multi storey building. An elevator call service receives a communication from the aid or rescue service, the communication concerning the request received by the aid or rescue service. A rescue mode is activated in the elevator call service, comprising temporarily reserving an elevator within said multi storey building for aid or rescue use only. Elevator service is provided by the reserved elevator to aid or rescue personnel only for using the reserved elevator for traveling to the specific location.

Description

Aid and rescue by elevator in a residential building

Field

The present invention relates to a method, a system and a computer program product related to controlling operation of elevators in particular in residential buildings. More particularly, the invention concerns a method, a system and a computer program product for facilitating ease of access of aid or rescue personnel in a high-rise building by elevator.

Background

During recent years, user applications operable by mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, have become common.

Description of the related art

Patent application US2018/0247070 A discloses an emergency notification system, in which location of an emergency can be provided on a floor plan. An authorized user can use an access control device for locking or unlocking an entry point. An authorized administrator can modify information regarding controlled doors (incl. elevator door) for example for locking, unlocking and momentarily unlocking it. A controller can operate access control devices for example to allow operability of an elevator. Card readers are used for access control of individuals at controlled access points.

Patent application EP3440000 Al discloses pre-set elevator calls, in which the pre-set call is stored in a user profile on a user device and is triggered based on a predefined triggering condition.

Summary

An object is to provide a method and apparatus so as to solve the problem of facilitating quick access for aid or rescue personnel in a specific location within a multi storey building. The objects of the present invention are achieved with a method according to the claim 1. The objects of the present invention are further achieved with a system according to the claim 14 and with a computer program product according to claim 25.

The preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.

According to a first method aspect, a method for providing access for aid or rescue personnel at a specific location within a multi storey building comprising at least one elevator is provided. The method comprises receiving, by a computer-implemented elevator call service, a communication from a computer-implemented aid or rescue service, wherein the communication concerns a request received by the aid or rescue service, and wherein the request has been made by a person at the specific location in the multi storey building. The method comprises activating a rescue mode in the elevator call service, wherein the rescue mode comprises temporarily reserving an elevator within said multi storey building for aid or rescue use only, and providing elevator service by the reserved elevator to aid or rescue personnel only for using the reserved elevator for traveling to the specific location.

According to a second method aspect, said temporarily reserving an elevator in the rescue mode is performed at any one of i) in response to receiving said communication, and ii) upon detecting a triggering condition, such as arrival of aid or rescue personnel in vicinity of the multi storey building, at the multi storey building, at an elevator lobby associated with the temporarily reserved elevator or at the temporarily reserved elevator. According to a third method aspect, said temporarily reserving the elevator comprises postponing or cancelling non-rescue-related elevator calls assigned to the respective elevator and/or re-assigning other non- rescue-related elevator calls currently assigned to the reserved elevator to another elevator.

According to a fourth method aspect, the method further comprises determining a pre-defined departure floor, wherein the pre-determined departure floor is a floor at which the rescue or aid personnel is expected and/or instructed to arrive to the reserved elevator, and moving the reserved elevator to the pre-defined departure floor in response to said reserving the elevator.

According to a fifth method aspect, the pre-defined departure floor is retrieved from at least one first database associated with the elevator call service, and/or the pre-defined departure floor is an entry floor of the multi storey building.

According to a sixth method aspect, the method further comprises determining a pre-defined destination floor, optionally, pre-assigning the pre-defined destination floor for the reserved elevator, and optionally, automatically dispatching the reserved elevator to the pre-defined destination floor upon detecting presence of the aid or rescue personnel in the reserved elevator.

According to a seventh method aspect, the pre-defined destination floor is retrieved from at least one first database associated with elevator call service, and wherein the pre-defined destination floor is a floor associated with the person who made the request for aid or rescue. According to an eighth method aspect, the method comprises sending to the aid or rescue service, by the elevator call service, building access information from which the notification was received, for forwarding the building access information to the aid or rescue personnel.

According to a ninth aspect, the building access information comprises at least one of a/the pre-defined departure floor, a/the pre-defined destination floor, and building information.

According to a ninth aspect, the method further comprises, in response to detecting arrival of the aid or rescue personnel at any one of the multi storey building, the pre-defined departure floor, an elevator lobby at the pre-defined departure floor, the reserved elevator and the pre-defined destination floor, automatically unlocking, by or in response to sending an unlocking request from the elevator call service, an electrical lock locking a door that controls access to the specific location.

According to an eleventh method aspect, the method further comprises providing an elevator call application associated with the elevator call service, the elevator call application providing a user interface to the person, notifying the person, by the user interface, about activating the rescue mode in the elevator call service, and providing, by the user interface, at least one of the following options: cancelling the rescue mode, confirming the rescue mode, and modifying information concerning the specific location, optionally, upon arrival of the aid or rescue personnel, providing by the user interface a notification that the aid or rescue is on its way, and optionally providing by the user interface a notification that the door is unlocked.

According to a twelfth aspect, the method comprises, prior to receiving the communication from the aid or rescue service, sending an elevator call service user identifier to the aid or rescue service for storing it in a register associated with the aid or rescue service, and the communication from the aid or rescue service comprises the elevator call service user identifier.

According to a thirteenth aspect, the method further comprises notifying other residents of the multi storey building about the reservation of the reserved elevator for aid and rescue use only, the reserved elevator thus being temporarily unavailable for normal use.

According to a first system aspect, a system for providing access for aid or rescue personnel at a specific location within a multi storey building comprising at least one elevator is provided. The system comprises a computer-implemented elevator call service providing an interface towards an elevator control system, wherein the elevator call service is configured to receive a communication from a computer-implemented aid or rescue service, the communication concerning a request received by the aid or rescue service, wherein the request has been made by a person at the specific location in the multi storey building, to activate a rescue mode, wherein the rescue mode comprises temporarily reserving an elevator in said multi storey building for aid or rescue use only, and to provide elevator service by the reserved elevator to aid or rescue personnel only for using the reserved elevator for traveling to the specific location.

According to a second system aspect, said a computer-implemented elevator call service is configured to perform said temporarily reserving an elevator in the rescue mode at any one of in response to receiving said communication, and upon detecting a triggering condition, such as any one of: arrival of aid or rescue personnel in vicinity of the multi storey building, at the multi storey building, at an elevator lobby associated with the temporarily reserved elevator or at the temporarily reserved elevator for performing the requested aid or rescue.

According to a third system aspect, said temporarily reserving the elevator comprises postponing or cancelling non-rescue-related elevator calls assigned to the respective elevator and/or re-assigning other non-rescue- related elevator calls currently assigned to the reserved elevator to another elevator.

According to a fourth system aspect, the elevator call service is further configured to determine a pre-defined departure floor, wherein the predetermined departure floor is a floor at which the rescue or aid personnel is expected and/or instructed to arrive to the reserved elevator, and to cause the reserved elevator to be moved to the pre-defined departure floor in response to said reserving.

According to a fifth system aspect, the pre-defined departure floor is retrieved from at least one first database associated with the elevator call service, and/or wherein the pre-defined departure floor is an entry floor of the multi storey building.

According to a sixth system aspect, the elevator call system is further configured to determine a pre-defined destination floor, and optionally, to pre-assign the pre-defined destination floor for the reserved elevator, and optionally, to automatically dispatch the reserved elevator to the predefined destination floor upon detecting presence of the aid or rescue personnel in the reserved elevator.

According to a seventh system aspect, the pre-defined destination floor is retrieved from at least one first database, and wherein the pre-defined destination floor is a floor associated with the person who made the request for aid or rescue. According to an eighth system aspect, the elevator call service is further configured to send to the aid or rescue service building access information for forwarding the building access information to the aid or rescue personnel.

According to a ninth system aspect, the elevator call system is further configured, in response to detecting arrival of the aid or rescue personnel at any one of the multi storey building, the pre-defined departure floor, an elevator lobby at the pre-defined departure floor, the reserved elevator and the pre-defined destination floor, to cause automatically unlocking, by or in response to sending an unlocking request, an electrical lock locking a door that controls access to the specific location.

According to a tenth system aspect, the system further comprises an elevator call application operable in a user device and providing a user interface to the person, wherein the elevator call application is configured to notify the person about activating the rescue mode in the elevator call service, and to provide, in the user interface, at least one of the following options: cancelling the rescue mode, confirming the rescue mode, and modifying information concerning the specific location, optionally, upon arrival of the aid or rescue personnel, to notify the person that the aid or rescue is on its way, and optionally to notify the person that the door is unlocked.

According to an eleventh system aspect, the elevator call service is further configured to notify to other residents of the multi storey building about reservation of the reserved elevator for aid and rescue use only, the reserved elevator thus being temporarily unavailable for normal use. According to a further aspect, a computer program product is provided comprising computer executable code which, when executed by at least one computer or computer system, causes the computer or computer system to perform the method steps of any of the above method aspects.

According to a yet further aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided, comprising computer executable code which, when executed by at least one computer or computer system, causes the computer or computer system to perform the method steps of any of the above method aspects.

The present invention is based on the idea of mutually linking an aid or rescue service and an elevator call service, both operable by respective end user application in a user's mobile device. The link is preferably established based on a request of the user and it is user specific. The link enables automatic interaction between the services so that that when the aid or rescue application receives and forwards an aid or rescue request to the aid or rescue service, the system automatically alerts the elevator call service and reserves an elevator for the aid or rescue use. The elevator call service is capable of providing more detailed information on location of the person in need of aid or rescue than a generic aid or rescue service, that typically only relies on geographical coordinates, which typically are not accurate indoors.

The present invention has several advantages. It improves safety or residents in a high-rise building by facilitating quick access of the aid or rescue personnel to the correct location by reserving the elevator in advance and in some embodiments, also enabling automatic unlocking of doors or gates for the rescue personnel. It also enables the aid or rescue personnel to automatically receive more detailed information on specific location of the person in need to improve certainty that the person can be located quickly within the building. The invention can also reduce anxiety of the person in need by keeping him/her informed in detail level on the status of requested help approaching. By informing other residents of the building about unavailability of the reserved elevator, user experience of the elevator system is improved by reducing unexplained breaks in the normal elevator service.

Brief description of the drawings

In the following the invention will be described in greater detail, in connection with preferred embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings, in which

Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of main logical modules of a system that enables linking two separate services and/or end user applications.

Figure 2 is an exemplary signaling chart concerning registration of an identifier.

Figure 3 is an exemplary signaling chart concerning collaboration between two computer-implemented services to reserve an elevator for aid or rescue use.

Detailed description

In this context, an elevator control system refers to a system that controls one or more elevators or elevator groups in a building. A typical elevator control system comprises one or more elevator controllers.

In this context, an elevator call service refers to a service that provides an interface towards the elevator control system, enabling a user to place remote elevator calls from a user device, preferably a mobile user device. The elevator call service may further provide an interface to one or more building management systems, such as an electronic locking system. In this context, an elevator call application is an application program running on a user device that provides a user interface towards the elevator call service. If the elevator call service also provides interfaces to one or more building management systems, the elevator call application preferably provides interface towards those. For example, the elevator call application may enable locking and/or unlocking one or more doors of the managed building, switching lighting on and/or off in various locations within the managed building, adjusting air conditioning and/or heating, and so on.

In this context, a rescue or aid service refers to a service provided by means of a rescue or aid service application provided in a user device. Typically, a rescue or aid service is separate from an elevator call service and provided by a service provider that is independent from a party providing an elevator call service or a building management system.

Non-limiting examples of a rescue service are for example national emergency response services such as Suomi 112 and SmartLocator, which are applications that automatically provide geographical location obtained by user device's geographical positioning system such as GPS or GNSS for the emergency responders when a user submits an emergency request using such applications.

Non-limiting examples of an aid service is for example a Doro™ secure watch associated service, in which a home care company can receive a home aid request or alarm based on pressing a request or an alarm button on a wearable secure watch or even an automatic alarm based on determining unexpected activity or lack of expected activity of the user. In response to the request or alarm, the home care company may dispatch a home care person to the location. Another aid service is so called trusted neighbor aid, such as Nextdoor™, that can be used to request aid from a trusted neighbor.

Typical elevator call service is based on user registration, so that only registered users can use the elevator call service by placing remote elevator calls via a user interface provided by the elevator call application. In addition to registering users as authorized users for placing elevator calls in certain buildings, elevator groups and/or elevators, elevator call services may also register each user's preferred or most used floors. For example, the elevator call service may register the floor of a residential high-rise building in which the user's apartment is located. This information is associated with the identity of the user. Thus, if it is known or it can be assumed that the user is at home, the elevator call system knows in which floor of the building the user is. Further, the elevator call service may store information on the user's last elevator call request and destination floor thereof. Thus, after performing the elevator travel for the user, the elevator call service knows at least the floor of the building the user is even if that was not the very floor of his/her own apartment.

The figure 1 shows schematically main logical modules of a system that facilitates access for aid or rescue personnel in a multi-storey building. This is achieved by co-operation of a computer-implemented elevator call service and a computer-implemented aid or rescue service.

Both services are operable by a user via an application (11, 21) that runs on the user device (40). Preferably, the user device (40) is a mobile device, such as a smart phone, a smart watch or a tablet computer.

The elevator call service is operable by the user via an elevator call application (11) that provides a user interface for the user and utilizes data communication capabilities of the user device (40) for interfacing the network-based elevator call service backend (15). At least one first database (16) is associated with the elevator call service that stores data needed for operating the service. For example, the at least on first database (16) comprises information about the registered users. According to some embodiments, the at least one first database (16) comprises identifiers that uniquely identifies each registered user of the service, information that associates the user to a specific building in which the elevator call service can be used. According to embodiments, the at least one first database (16) associates the user identifier to a specific floor of the specific building. For example, this specific floor may be the floor in which the user's apartment is. The at least one first database (16) may further store information of latest elevator travel taken by the user using the elevator call application, thus being able to determine with high probability in which floor the user currently is in this building. For example, the user may have used the elevator to travel from his/her apartment to a gym, a sauna or a washing room provided for the residents of the building, that is in a different floor than the apartment.

As known in the art, a backend refers to a part of a computer system or application that is not directly accessed by the user. The backend is typically responsible for storing and manipulating data. The backend typically comprises at least one server or servers, one or more backend applications and at least one database. The backend may also be implemented as a cloud service. A service backend provides backend operations of a service. The user accesses the service via a user application.

A user application running in a user's mobile device utilizes communication capabilities of the user device. As known in the art, the mobile device may have various wireless and/or wireline communication capabilities, including but not restricted to 3G, 4G or 5G cellular network, wireless local area network, or short-range wireless such as Bluetooth™. A typical user device and user application utilize an internet connection for communicating with the backend.

The aid or rescue service is operable by the user via an aid or rescue application (21) that provides a user interface for the user and utilizes data communication capabilities of the user device (40) for interfacing the network-based aid or rescue service backend (25). At least one second database (26) associated with the aid or rescue service is provided, that stores selected information concerning users or user devices (40). When a user uses the aid or service application (21) with his/her mobile device for placing a request for aid or rescue, the application typically obtains a geographical location of the user device (40) and sends this to the aid or rescue service backend (25) for providing information for aid or rescue service personnel about where the requested aid or rescue is needed. However, finding a person in need for aid or rescue in a high-rise building may be difficult and time consuming, if only geographical coordinates are available.

As known in the art, different services as well as applications running on a user's device are typically specialized and logically separate from each other. According to the invention, a link is provided between separate services to enable seamless co-operation of these services.

According to some embodiments, co-operation between two separate service, in particular an elevator call service and an aid or rescue service is enabled by registering an identifier of a user in one service in the other service. Preferably, the identifier of the elevator call service is registered in the aid or rescue service.

When a user downloads an elevator call application in his/her mobile device, a registration process is typically performed in which a user identifier is generated by the elevator call service backend (15) and stored in the at least one first database (16). This identifier can be referred to any time that the user uses the elevator call application for entering a remote elevator call. The identifier may be associated in the at least one first database (with various pieces of data, such as one or more buildings, elevators and/or elevator groups in which use of the elevator call application is enabled for this user. The at least one first database (16) may also store information about the user's preferred floors. A typical example is that for residential use, the at least one first database (16) stores information on the floor at which the user's home is located. Most common elevator travel by the user occurs between a lobby in an entrance floor and the user's home floor, either way. The elevator call service preferably stores information on the user's home floor so that an elevator call can be automatically triggered when the user is coming home or is about to leave for example using geofencing, indoor positioning, short range wireless communication, near field wireless communication and/or a beacon.

The elevator call service may further provide an interface towards a Building Management System (BMS). The BMS may has its own database that comprises more detailed information about the user, for example an identifier of the user's apartment. Via the interface to the BMS, the elevator call application may provide a user interface towards various building management services such as controlling electronic locks, adjusting lighting in the apartment and/or in a corridor between the apartment and elevator, to name a few.

Figure 2 illustrates signaling for registering identifier of a user of the elevator call service in an aid or rescue service according to some embodiments. When a registered user of the elevator call application wishes to register his/her identifier in the aid or rescue service, the user first sends (201) a request to the elevator call service backend (15) for providing the identifier for purpose of submitting this to a third party application. In response to the request, the elevator call service backend optionally generates (203) an identifier for the requesting user, associates it with the existing elevator call service identifier of the user and stores this information in the at least one first database (16). The elevator service backend then either obtains (204) the newly created identifier or simply an existing elevator call service identifier readily stored in the at least first database and returns the identifier in the step 203 to the elevator call application (11) for registering this identifier in the aid or rescue service.

The identifier received by the elevator call application (11) is then provided (206) to the aid or rescue application (21). A link may be automatically operable between the elevator call application (11) and the aid or rescue application (21) in the user's device so that upon receiving the identifier by the elevator call application (11), it is automatically provided to the aid or rescue application (21). Alternatively, the identifier may be manually entered by the user in the user for example by copying the identifier from the user interface of the elevator call application into the user interface of the aid or rescue application. However, automatic linking is preferred, since it is less prone to errors.

The aid or rescue application (21) sends (207) the identifier to the aid or rescue service backend (25) for storing (208) the identifier in the at least one second database associated with the aid or rescue service. The identifier is associated with the respective user and/or user device (40).

Figure 3 illustrates schematically an exemplary signaling that enables, according to some embodiments of the invention, seamless collaboration between the elevator call service and the aid or rescue service upon receiving a request for aid or rescue from the user.

The user activates the aid or rescue application (21) in his/her user device and uses it to send (301) an aid or rescue request to the aid or rescue service backend (25). The aid or rescue application preferably includes the user device's current geographical coordinates in the aid or rescue request. Based on the coordinates, the aid or rescue service determines (302), that the user is at home or at least within the building comprising his/her home and that he/she has a identifier stored in the aid or rescue service that is associated to the elevator call service. The aid or rescue service backend (25) then communicates with the elevator call service backend (15), for example by sending (303) an indication of any suitable form, such as a notification message, to the elevator call service backend (15). The communication provides to the elevator service backend (15) the identifier associated with the user, and, based on receiving the identifier, the elevator call service determines that user associated with the identifier provided by the communication is in need for aid or rescue and activates a rescue mode in the elevator call service in the step 304. According to some embodiments, the elevator call service immediately reserves an elevator in the step upon activating the rescue mode. According to an alternative embodiment, the elevator call service backend (15) enters the rescue mode but waits for a triggering event associated with the aid or rescue personnel before reserving the elevator. According to yet another alternative embodiment, the rescue mode is only triggered upon detecting another triggering event after first receiving the identifier of the user from the service or aid service backend. In either case, reserving the elevator temporarily disables any other use of the reserved elevator. A triggering event for temporarily reserving the elevator may comprise for example determining arrival of aid or rescue personnel in vicinity of the multi storey building, at the multi storey building, at an elevator lobby associated with the temporarily reserved elevator or at the temporarily reserved elevator for performing the requested aid or rescue.

Upon reserving the elevator, the elevator call service backend (15) preferably notifies (35) the user, with help of the elevator call application user interface, about activating the rescue mode in the elevator call service and/or about reserving the elevator for rescue use. Upon receiving the notification, the user interface of the elevator call application may provide further options for the user. For example, the user interface may enable the user to cancel the rescue mode. This may be preferred for example, if the user is not at home nor in the home floor but is actually somewhere else in the same building. In some embodiments, the user interface may request the user to confirm the rescue mode. In some embodiments, the user interface may enable the user to modify information concerning the specific location. This is for example useful when the user is currently in any other floor of the building than his/her own home floor. In the optional step 306, the elevator call application (11) sends any one of: a cancel message, a confirmation message and a message comprising modification instructions to the elevator call application backend (15).

In association to the step of temporarily reserving the elevator, the elevator determines a pre-defined destination floor. In the simplest case, the pre-defined destination floor is the home floor of the user in the respective building that is registered in the at least one first database associated with the elevator call service. If the elevator call application enables modifying the instructions, the pre-defined destination floor may be the one provided by the user in the optional step 306. Further, the pre- defined destination floor may be determined based on information stored in the at least one first database that represents the most recent elevator travel by the user. This option is best applicable is the user has used the elevator call application recently.

The elevator call service may optionally obtain building information. The building information may comprise, for example, any one of a map of the destination floor and/or the departure floor, details of the specific location of the person's home apartment or other location at the destination floor, identification of the person's apartment at the destination floor, identification of the reserved elevator, location of the reserved elevator, access instructions to the specific location etc. The specific location refers to the determined location of the user device and thus also the user within the building. When the elevator call service is associated with a building management system, and/or with an indoor positioning system available in the building, the specific location within the building may also be determined with help of such auxiliary systems.

In the step 307, the elevator call service backend (15) communicates with the aid or rescue service backend (25) for confirming activation of rescue mode and/or for providing building information concerning access to the determined specific location. In some embodiments the confirmation and the building information are sent separately. In some embodiments, confirmation communication comprises the building information. For example, the building information comprises a visual map and/or verbal instructions to access the specific location. The building information received by the aid or rescue service may be forwarded (308) to an application provided to and used by the aid or rescue personnel (30), and/or the building information may be forwarded to an emergency call center, that may also forward at least part of this information to the aid or rescue personnel assigned to respond the task at hand. Temporarily reserving the elevator for rescue use may comprise cancelling or postponing any elevator calls currently assigned to the reserved elevator. Elevator landing calls, which have not been served yet, may be re-assigned from the temporarily reserved elevator to another elevator. Preferably, the elevator call service backend can select an elevator that is not currently occupied by any passengers. If there is no unoccupied elevator available upon activating the rescue mode, the elevator call service backend preferably selects an elevator to be temporarily reserved, brings any passengers currently in this elevator to their current destination and then reserves the elevator. According to some embodiment, a specific elevator in the high-rise building is determined that is most suitable for aid or rescue operation. For example, if elevators of the building have different sized elevator cars, a bigger elevator car may be selected that has sufficient room for special equipment needed by the aid or rescue personnel, such as a stretcher.

According to some embodiments, upon temporarily reserving the elevator, the elevator call service preferably also determines a pre-defined departure floor. The pre-defined departure floor may be retrieved from the at least one database associated with the elevator call service. For example, the pre-defined departure floor is an entry floor of the building from which the aid or rescue personnel is expected to arrive. The reserved elevator may then be sent to the pre-defined departure floor so that it is readily waiting for the aid or rescue personnel upon their arrival.

According to some embodiments, the elevator call service backend may select an elevator that readily on its way to the pre-defined departure floor as the temporarily reserved elevator. Thus, any passengers currently within the elevator are brought to their intended destination, but no new passengers are accepted before the rescue-related pre-set elevator call has been served. According to some embodiments, other residents in the building are informed about temporary reservation of the elevator to rescue use only or temporary unavailability of the elevator by their own elevator call applications. Elevator controller may also cause presenting reservation or unavailability status of the reserved elevator in the departure floor and in other floors using existing information sharing capabilities of the elevator system, such as display devices, operating panels and/or lanterns.

The aid or rescue personnel is dispatched and soon arrives at the site.

According to some embodiments, arrival of aid or rescue personnel is detected based on arrival at or near the multi storey building, at an elevator lobby associated with the reserved elevator or at the reserved elevator for performing the requested aid or rescue. Arrival is preferably detected automatically, but in some circumstances manual steps may be involved. For example, according to some embodiments, the aid or rescue service backend (25) receives an indication (309) about the arrival of the aid or rescue personnel either via the rescue application (30) or from an emergency call center. Alternatively, there may be a detection system available at the building itself that recognizes the aid or rescue personnel for example based on recognizing an a wirelessly detectable tag or device carried by them. If the building has a reception, arrival of the aid or rescue personnel may also be detected based on a reception clerk confirming arrival of the aid or rescue personnel using a user interface of the elevator call service.

As indicated earlier, according to some embodiments, arrival of the rescue personnel may be used as a trigger condition for temporarily reserving the elevator. For ensuring that no unnecessary delay is caused for the aid or rescue personnel, the triggering condition should preferably be such that it triggers temporarily reserving the elevator early enough that the reserved elevator can be provided at the pre-defined departure floor at latest upon arrival of the aid or rescue personnel at the elevator lobby.

When the indication about arrival of the aid or rescue personnel is received by the aid or rescue service, it is forwarded (310) to the elevator call service, which, in response to receiving the indication, enables (311) the reserved elevator for use by the aid or rescue personnel only.

Further, in a building equipped with a BMS system, an electronic locking system or like, the elevator call service backend (15) may cause unlocking at least one door or gate to enable the service personnel to access the specific location. Depending on the implementation and configuration of the systems, either the elevator call service itself can perform the unlocking or it may send a request to a BMS system or an electronic lock system for unlocking one or more locks. The elevator call service is preferably provided with a standardized interface, such as an application programming interface towards the BMS and/or the electronic locking system.

According to some embodiments, when the elevator call service determines the pre-defined destination floor, the elevator call service instructs an elevator controller for pre-assigning the pre-defined destination floor for the reserved elevator. Optionally, upon detecting presence of the aid or rescue personnel in the reserved elevator, the reserved elevator is automatically dispatched to travel to the reserved elevator to the pre-defined destination floor. Presence of the aid or rescue personnel can be detected for example based on detecting a machine- readable identifier that identifies the carrier as an authorized aid or rescue person. Optionally, the reserved elevator is dispatched to travel to the pre-defined destination floor based on an action of the aid or rescue personnel, such as pressing a button provided in a car operating panel or by using an application provided to and used by the aid or rescue personnel (30). Preferably, the aid or rescue personnel may change the pre-defined destination floor for example by using the car operating panel or an elevator call application.

In the step 312 the user is optionally notified about requested help arriving in the building. For example, the notification may indicate that the requested aid or rescue personnel is in the elevator and, if unlocking doors or gates is enabled, indicate that the user's door is now unlocked for the aid or rescue personnel to enter your apartment.

In the following, some unlimiting, practical examples of collaboration between an elevator call service and an aid or rescue service is provided.

In a first exemplary example, the user has an emergency application, such as "Suomi 112" installed in his/her phone. The emergency application can be used for contacting an emergency center with the additional benefit that the application obtains user's geographical coordinates and automatically sends these to the emergency center. However, as noted earlier, geographical coordinates may be inaccurate and are not able to determine the caller's accurate location in a multi storey building. The emergency service uses the emergency call application to communicate with the person calling and who tells that he/she is at home. The emergency service checks its database and determines that there is an elevator call service identifier associated with the person calling for help. The emergency service then obtains the elevator call identifier from its database and sends an indication to the elevator call service that there is an emergency with the user that is associated with this identifier, who is at home. In response to receiving the notification, the elevator call service activates rescue mode and obtains building information from its database for forwarding this to the emergency service. Building information may comprise for example a visual map of the building with fastest route to the resident's apartment (the specific location) and/or textual instructions to access the resident's apartment. Both floor of the apartment and its location within the floor may be included in the information. Further, the building information may comprise information about dimensions of doors and the reserved elevator, which help the emergency personnel determine in advance whether are physical restrictions on size of equipment they may carry with them along the available fastest route.

The elevator call service then calls the elevator down to the first floor, keeping the elevator booked for the emergency personnel until they arrive. Doors of the elevator may be kept open, while the elevator controller controlling operation of the elevator may cause available passenger guidance system to indicate to other potential users that this elevator is temporarily reserved for emergency use and not available for normal use. If an entrance floor at the first floor would be normally locked, the rescue mode may also unlock the entrance door so that the emergency personnel can freely enter the building without delay.

The elevator call service preferably sends a confirmation to the emergency service via the emergency application that the elevator has been reserved, as well as possible further instructions, such as "The fastest route to the apartment at floor 8 is using the elevator. The entrance door has been unlocked/opened. The elevator B is waiting with doors open to bring you to floor 8. The apartment door has been (or will be) unlocked." In one alternative, the apartment door is only unlocked when the emergency personnel is determined to be in the reserved elevator, to avoid keeping the apartment's door unlocked unnecessarily, causing potential safety issues. Other residents of the building may be notified via their own elevator call applications for example that "Elevator B has been reserved for emergency use and is therefore out of use". Upon arrival of the emergency personnel, the elevator drives the emergency personnel to the resident's floor. The elevator is preferably kept in the rescue mode also for the route back, for example for transporting the person to an ambulance waiting.

In a second example, there is collaboration between the elevator call application and a come care service. For example, the resident may wear a Doro™ secure watch that enables him/her to call for help for example if he/she has fallen on the floor and is not able to get up himself/herself. The resident is a registered customer of a home care service provide by a home care company. The home care company thus has information on home address of the user. For the exemplary user, the home care service has also an elevator call service identifier stored in its database, associated to the respective customer (resident). Upon entering a situation in which the resident needs help, he/she presses a help button in the secure watch or otherwise activates a help request in an equivalent product. The help request is automatically forwarded to a home care service that may confirm by any known way that the person who needs help is at home, dispatches a home care person to the location. Based on determining that the user is at home and there is an elevator call service associated and available, the home care service sends a notification to the elevator call service that activates the elevator call rescue mode. An elevator is temporarily reserved for the home aid person and building data is sent to the home care person who is on route. Building data may comprise a visual map of the building with fastest route to the resident's apartment and/or verbal instructions on how to access the resident's apartment.

Meanwhile, the elevator call service calls the reserved elevator down to first door and keeps it reserved for the home care person with doors open. The elevator call service may further unlock entrance door to the building and unlock the resident's apartment door either immediately or only after determining that the home care person is about to arrive, i.e. is traveling to the respective floor with the reserved elevator.

Other residents of the building may receive a notification about temporary reservation and unavailability of the reserved elevator via their own elevator call applications. Unavailability status of the elevator is preferably also provided at least in the departure floor to avoid unauthorized people to enter the reserved elevator while waiting for the home care person to arrive.

The elevator call service may send a confirmation to the home care person, and/or instructions for the home care person on how to access the apartment. For example, the confirmation may comprise information like: "The fastest route to the apartment in floor 8 is by using the elevator A. The entrance door has been opened. The elevator A is waiting with doors open to bring you to floor 8. The apartment door has been/will be unlocked." The confirmation may be sent either to the home care service, or, if the home care person uses his/her own elevator call application, the confirmation may be sent to the home care person's own elevator call application after the home care service has informed the elevator call service about an elevator call service identifier of the home care person sent to perform this task. If the home care person carries a user device with an elevator call application, this user device may be utilized for detecting the home care person as the authorized person for using the reserved elevator. Alternatively, any other known means for detecting presence of the home care person may be utilized.

Upon arrival of the home care person, the elevator drives him/her to the resident's floor. In this example, the elevator may return to normal use immediately after the home care person has been transferred to the resident's floor.

A third example relates to collaboration of the elevator call application with a so called "trusted neighbor" application. A trusted neighbor application provides individual persons a way to request and offer help by verified neighbors. An example of a trusted neighbor application Nextdoor™.

Trusted neighbors have been added to the family's trusted neighbor service profile, and elevator call service has been linked with this service. A child is home alone, while parents are working elsewhere and needs urgent help. The child uses the trusted neighbor application to request help from any trusted neighbor available at the moment. Help may be requested by the child in writing or for example using speech.

The trusted neighbor service sends the aid request to all trusted neighbors in the family's profile, and one of the neighbors happens to be at home and accepts the aid request. In response to accepting the aid request in the trusted neighbor application, the trusted neighbor service sends a notification to the elevator call service. The notification service may comprise both the identifier associated with the child or his/her family and the identifier of the neighbor. Thus, the elevator call service can reserve an elevator temporarily for the trusted neighbor so that he/she can quickly access the child's home. The elevator call service determines the floor at which the neighbor lives using this neighbor's profile information in the elevator call service to determine a departure floor for the elevator call service, and sends a request to the elevator controller for picking up the neighbor at his/her floor. The elevator call system may also determine the child's home floor as a pre-determined destination floor for the reserved elevator and upon detecting that the neighbor has entered the reserved elevator, dispatches the elevator to the pre-determined destination floor. If the elevator call application is capable or associated with a BMS system or an electronic locking system, it may also cause unlocking the child's home apartment door for the trusted neighbor to enter the apartment. Upon bringing the trusted neighbor to the pre-determined destination floor, the elevator is released from the rescue mode to be available for normal use again.

It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that as technology advanced, the basic idea of the invention can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are therefore not restricted to the above examples, but they may vary within the scope of the claims.

Claims

28

Claims

1. A method for providing access for aid or rescue personnel at a specific location within a multi storey building comprising at least one elevator, the method comprising:

- receiving, by a computer-implemented elevator call service, a communication from a computer-implemented aid or rescue service, wherein the communication concerns a request received by the aid or rescue service, and wherein the request has been made by a person at the specific location in the multi storey building,

- activating a rescue mode in the elevator call service, wherein the rescue mode comprises temporarily reserving an elevator within said multi storey building for aid or rescue use only, and

- providing elevator service by the reserved elevator to aid or rescue personnel only for using the reserved elevator for traveling to the specific location.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said temporarily reserving an elevator in the rescue mode is performed at any one of:

- in response to receiving said communication, and

- upon detecting a triggering condition, such as arrival of aid or rescue personnel in vicinity of the multi storey building, at the multi storey building, at an elevator lobby associated with the temporarily reserved elevator or at the temporarily reserved elevator.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said temporarily reserving the elevator comprises postponing or cancelling non- rescue-related elevator calls assigned to the respective elevator and/or re-assigning other non-rescue-related elevator calls currently assigned to the reserved elevator to another elevator.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method further comprises:

- determining a pre-defined departure floor, wherein the predetermined departure floor is a floor at which the rescue or aid personnel is expected and/or instructed to arrive to the reserved elevator, and

- moving the reserved elevator to the pre-defined departure floor in response to said reserving the elevator.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the pre-defined departure floor is retrieved from at least one first database associated with the elevator call service, and/or wherein the pre-defined departure floor is an entry floor of the multi storey building.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the method further comprises:

- determining a pre-defined destination floor,

- optionally, pre-assigning the pre-defined destination floor for the reserved elevator, and

- optionally, automatically dispatching the reserved elevator to the pre-defined destination floor upon detecting presence of the aid or rescue personnel in the reserved elevator.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the pre-defined destination floor is retrieved from at least one first database associated with elevator call service, and wherein the predefined destination floor is a floor associated with the person who made the request for aid or rescue.

8. The method according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the method comprises:

- sending to the aid or rescue service, by the elevator call service, building access information from which the notification was received, for forwarding the building access information to the aid or rescue personnel.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the building access information comprises at least one of a/the pre-defined departure floor, a/the pre-defined destination floor, and building information.

10. The method according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the method further comprises:

- in response to detecting arrival of the aid or rescue personnel at any one of the multi storey building, the pre-defined departure floor, an elevator lobby at the pre-defined departure floor, the reserved elevator and the pre-defined destination floor, automatically unlocking, by or in response to sending an unlocking request from the elevator call service, an electrical lock locking a door that controls access to the specific location.

11. The method according to any of the claims 1 to 10, further comprising: - providing an elevator call application associated with the elevator call service, the elevator call application providing a user interface to the person;

- notifying the person, by the user interface, about activating the rescue mode in the elevator call service; and

- providing, by the user interface, at least one of the following options: cancelling the rescue mode, confirming the rescue mode, and modifying information concerning the specific location;

- optionally, upon arrival of the aid or rescue personnel, providing by the user interface a notification that the aid or rescue is on its way; and

- when dependent on claim 10, optionally providing by the user interface a notification that the door is unlocked. The method according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the method comprises:

- prior to receiving the communication from the aid or rescue service, sending an elevator call service user identifier to the aid or rescue service for storing it in a register associated with the aid or rescue service; and wherein the communication from the aid or rescue service comprises the elevator call service user identifier. The method according to any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the method further comprises:

- notifying other residents of the multi storey building about the reservation of the reserved elevator for aid and rescue use only, the reserved elevator thus being temporarily unavailable for normal use. A system for providing access for aid or rescue personnel at a specific location within a multi storey building comprising at least one elevator, the system comprising:

- a computer-implemented elevator call service providing an interface towards an elevator control system, wherein the elevator call service is configured

- to receive a communication from a computer- implemented aid or rescue service, the communication concerning a request received by the aid or rescue service, wherein the request has been made by a person at the specific location in the multi storey building,

- to activate a rescue mode, wherein the rescue mode comprises temporarily reserving an elevator in said multi storey building for aid or rescue use only, and

- to provide elevator service by the reserved elevator to aid or rescue personnel only for using the reserved elevator for traveling to the specific location. The system according to claim 14, wherein said a computer- implemented elevator call service is configured to perform said temporarily reserving an elevator in the rescue mode at any one of:

- in response to receiving said communication, and

- upon detecting a triggering condition, such as any one of arrival of aid or rescue personnel in vicinity of the multi storey building, at the multi storey building, at an elevator lobby associated with the temporarily reserved elevator or 33 at the temporarily reserved elevator for performing the requested aid or rescue.

16. The system according to claim 14 or 15, wherein said temporarily reserving the elevator comprises postponing or cancelling non-rescue-related elevator calls assigned to the respective elevator and/or re-assigning other non-rescue- related elevator calls currently assigned to the reserved elevator to another elevator.

17. The system according to any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the elevator call service is further configured

- to determine a pre-defined departure floor, wherein the pre-determined departure floor is a floor at which the rescue or aid personnel is expected and/or instructed to arrive to the reserved elevator, and

- to cause the reserved elevator to be moved to the predefined departure floor in response to said reserving.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the pre-defined departure floor is retrieved from at least one first database associated with the elevator call service, and/or wherein the pre-defined departure floor is an entry floor of the multi storey building.

19. The system according to any one of claims 14 to 18, wherein the elevator call system is further configured:

- to determine a pre-defined destination floor; and

- optionally, to pre-assign the pre-defined destination floor for the reserved elevator; and 34

- optionally, to automatically dispatch the reserved elevator to the pre-defined destination floor upon detecting presence of the aid or rescue personnel in the reserved elevator.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the pre-defined destination floor is retrieved from at least one first database, and wherein the pre-defined destination floor is a floor associated with the person who made the request for aid or rescue.

21. The system according to any of claims 14 to 20, wherein the elevator call service is further configured:

- to send to the aid or rescue service building access information for forwarding the building access information to the aid or rescue personnel.

22. The system according to any of claims 14 to 21, wherein the elevator call system is further configured:

- in response to detecting arrival of the aid or rescue personnel at any one of the multi storey building, the pre-defined departure floor, an elevator lobby at the pre-defined departure floor, the reserved elevator and the pre-defined destination floor, to cause automatically unlocking, by or in response to sending an unlocking request, an electrical lock locking a door that controls access to the specific location.

23. The system according to any of the claims 14 to 22, wherein the system further comprises an elevator call application operable in a user device and providing a user interface to the person, wherein the elevator call application is configured: 35

- to notify the person about activating the rescue mode in the elevator call service; and

- to provide, in the user interface, at least one of the following options: cancelling the rescue mode, confirming the rescue mode, and modifying information concerning the specific location;

- optionally, upon arrival of the aid or rescue personnel, to notify the person that the aid or rescue is on its way; and

- when dependent on claim 22, optionally to notify the person that the door is unlocked. The system according to any of claims 14 to 23, wherein the elevator call service is further configured:

- to notify to other residents of the multi storey building about reservation of the reserved elevator for aid and rescue use only, the reserved elevator thus being temporarily unavailable for normal use. A computer program product comprising computer executable code which, when executed by at least one computer or computer system, causes the computer or computer system to perform the method steps of any of claims 1 to 13.