WO2024079379A1

WO2024079379A1 - Method for controlling an operational mode of an elevator, an elevator control system implementing the method, and a computer program thereto

Info

Publication number: WO2024079379A1
Application number: PCT/FI2022/050679
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mika Kemppainen; Johannes Rastas; Juha-Matti Kuusinen
Original assignee: Kone Corporation
Priority date: 2022-10-12
Filing date: 2022-10-12
Publication date: 2024-04-18

Abstract

A method for controlling an operational mode of an elevator (E) belonging to an elevator system (100) is provided, the method, performed by an elevator control system (110), comprises: evaluating (310) data indicative of a situational awareness of a group of passengers in a predefined area (220) at a floor; and generating (320) a control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator (E) in accordance with an evaluation result of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area (220) at the floor. Also an elevator control system (110) and a computer program are provided.

Description

METHOD FOR CONTROLLING AN OPERATIONAL MODE OF AN ELEVATOR, AN ELEVATOR CONTROL SYSTEM IMPLEMENTING THE METHOD, AND A COMPUTER PROGRAM THERETO

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention concerns in general the technical field of elevators. More particularly, the invention concerns controlling of an elevator system.

BACKGROUND

A performance of an elevator system is usually optimized from a perspective of a user experience wherein a parameter in the optimization is a waiting time of the service or a waiting time to reach a destination. Sometimes energy consumption in a provision of the service is also taken into account alone or as an additional parameter. These approaches are establishing themselves as important ways of setting the elevator system to operate in a desired way. However, the existing approaches are only based on efficiency thinking in one way or another and does not take into account a situation of an individual willing to use the service provided by the elevator system. As a result, the elevator system is incapable of providing service in accordance with a need of one or more individuals residing at landings.

Thus, there is room for introducing alternative approaches for setting an operational mode of the elevator system.

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, a control system, and a computer program for controlling an operational mode of an elevator.

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

According to a first aspect, a method for controlling an operational mode of an elevator belonging to an elevator system is provided , the method, performed by an elevator control system, comprises: evaluating data indicative of a situational awareness of a group of passengers in a predefined area at a floor, generating a control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator in accordance with an evaluation result of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area at the floor.

The evaluating of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area may be performed by detecting an urgency of a service need from the elevator system based on the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area at the floor. For example, the control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator may be generated to cause setting of the elevator to an energy saving mode in response to a detection in the evaluating that the group of passengers are detected to need non-urgent service from the elevator system. Moreover, the setting of the elevator to the energy saving mode may cause at least one of the following: de-prioritizing at least one elevator call to the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a travel speed of an elevator car of the elevator selected to serve the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a number of elevators belonging to the elevator system to serve the floor the group of passengers resides. In response to setting of the elevator to an energy saving mode a control signal may be generated to a user interface of the elevator system residing at the floor the group of passengers resides, the control signal causes an output of data with the user interface indicative on the energy saving mode. The method may further comprise: receiving an input data from the user interface of the elevator system residing at the floor the group of passengers resides; generating a control signal to cancel the energy saving mode of the elevator in response to a detection that the input data received from the user interface indicates a request to cancel of the energy saving mode of the elevator.

Still further, the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers may be obtained from at least one of: a sensor system generating measurement data obtained from the predefined area at the floor; a user interface system of the elevator system. For example, an analysis to the measurement data obtained from the predefined area at the floor may be performed by: identifying a number of passengers from the measurement data; applying a machine-learning model to generate a detection result descriptive on an urgency of a service need from the elevator system for each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data; and generating the evaluation result of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers by combining detection results generated for each of the number of passengers. The machine-learning model may e.g. be trained to classify each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data to a number of urgency classes based on behavioral markers derivable from the measurement data.

According to a second aspect, an elevator control system for controlling an operational mode of an elevator belonging to an elevator system is provided, the elevator control system is configured to: evaluate data indicative of a situational awareness of a group of passengers in a predefined area at a floor, generate a control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator in accordance with an evaluation result of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area at the floor.

The elevator control system may e.g. be configured to perform the evaluating of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area by detecting an urgency of a service need from the elevator system based on the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area at the floor. The elevator control system may be configured to generate the control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator to cause setting of the elevator to an energy saving mode in response to a detection in the evaluating that the group of passengers are detected to need non-urgent service from the elevator system. Moreover, the elevator control system may be configured to, in response to the setting of the elevator to the energy saving mode, cause at least one of the following: de-prioritizing at least one elevator call to the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a travel speed of an elevator car of the elevator selected to serve the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a number of elevators belonging to the elevator system to serve the floor the group of passengers resides.

For example, the elevator control system may be configured to, in response to setting of the elevator to an energy saving mode a control signal, generate a control signal to a user interface of the elevator system residing at the floor the group of passengers resides, the control signal causes an output of data with the user interface indicative on the energy saving mode. The elevator control system may further be configured to: receive an input data from the user interface of the elevator system residing at the floor the group of passengers resides; generate a control signal to cancel the energy saving mode of the elevator in response to a detection that the input data received from the user interface indicates a request to cancel of the energy saving mode of the elevator.

Still further, the elevator control system may be configured to obtain the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers from at least one of: a sensor system generating measurement data obtained from the predefined area at the floor; a user interface system of the elevator system. The elevator control system may e.g. be configured to perform an analysis to the measurement data obtained from the predefined area at the floor by: identifying a number of passengers from the measurement data; applying a machinelearning model to generate a detection result descriptive on an urgency of a service need from the elevator system for each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data; and generating the evaluation result of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers by combining detection results generated for each of the number of passengers. The elevator control system may be configured to train the machine-learning model to classify each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data to a number of urgency classes based on behavioral markers derivable from the measurement data.

According to a third aspect, a computer program is provided, the computer program comprising instructions to cause an elevator control system to execute the steps of the method according to the first aspect as defined above.

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 an elevator system according to an example.

Figure 2 illustrates schematically an implementation arranged in a building according to an example.

Figure 3 illustrates schematically a method according to an example.

Figure 4 illustrates schematically an elevator control system 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 of an elevator system 100 suitable for implementing the present invention. The elevator system 100 depicted in Figure 1 comprises only one elevator, but it may consist of a plurality of elevators forming a group of elevators. Moreover, only some components of the elevator system 100 are shown in Figure 1 for clarity reasons. The elevator system 100 may be implemented to a multi-floor premises, such as to a building or a ship or anything similar.

The elevator system 100 is controlled by an elevator controller 110 which is configured to have an overall responsibility of an operation of the elevator system 100 in an extent assigned to it. For example, the elevator controller 120 may generate control signals to one or more elevator drive systems 120 generating a control to components of an elevator machinery. Moreover, the elevator controller 120 may control a plurality of other entities belonging to the elevator system 100 in a known manner.

The elevator controller 110 may also receive input from a variety of sources. For example, a source may be a sensor system 130 of the elevator system 100 wherein the sensor system 130 may comprise one or more sensors and a controller for the sensor system. For sake of clarity it shall be understood that the elevator controller 110 may receive input from a plurality of sensor systems configured to generate data to be analyzed by the elevator controller 110. Naturally, it may be arranged so that the controller of the sensor system 130 performs the analysis of the data captured by the respective sensor system 130 and generates a result of the analysis to the elevator controller 110 for further use.

In accordance with the present invention at least one sensor system 130 is configured to generate data from which situational awareness information may be generated. The situational awareness information refers to data indicative of passenger’s personal situation at the time of a measurement with the sensor system 130 which data is generated through an analysis. In accordance with some embodiments of the invention the situational awareness information may be generated to represent the situation of a plurality of passengers residing in a predefined measurement area of the sensor system 130, such as in a lobby area of the elevator at a floor.

Moreover, the elevator system 100 may comprise a user interface system 140 which is used for receiving input from passengers, or individuals in the building, and for outputting data to passengers, or individuals in the building. The user interface system 140 may comprise a number of devices arranged e.g. at floors the elevator system serves wherein the devices may be button(s), keyboard(s), touch screen(s), display(s), audio signalling device(s), and the like. The devices may be communicatively connected to a controller of the user interface system 140, which, in turn, may be communicatively connected to the elevator control system 110. Naturally, the user interface system 140 may be implemented so that the Ul devices are directly controlled from the elevator control system 110. As said, the user interface system 140 allows to receive and output data from and to passengers, such as to provide information on an operational mode, or state, of the elevator system 100. In accordance with some implementations, user devices of the passengers, such as mobile terminals, may be configured to as devices providing user interface to the elevator system 100. This may e.g. be implemented so that an application software providing the user interface to the elevator system 100 is installed in the user device and executed there. The application software may be configured to communicate with the controller of the user interface system, such as the elevator control system 110, over the user terminal.

In accordance with some example embodiments one or more user interfaces 140 may be used for receiving input from the group of passengers which input may be used as the situational awareness information to be used in the same manner as the data obtained with sensors.

Figure 2 illustrates schematically an example of an arrangement in which the sensor system 130 is applied to obtain measurement data from a predefined area at a floor served by one or more elevators E of an elevator system 100. The floor in question may be equipped with one or more sensors 210 in order to obtain the measurement data. In accordance with an example embodiment the sensors 210 may e.g. be image capturing devices capable of generating image data to be analyzed in a manner as is described in the forthcoming description. The term image capturing device shall be understood in a broad manner and at least to comprise digital cameras, depth cameras, thermal image cameras, and the like. The measurement data obtained from the sensors 210 may be delivered to the elevator control system 110 for analysis or the analysis may be performed by a mediator device, such as the controller of the sensor system 130 as mentioned in the foregoing description. The analysis may be performed to measurement data descriptive on a predefined area 220 in the space. The predefined area 220 may be defined by configuring an analysis software to perform the analysis only to the measurement data representing the area 220 or the sensors 210 may be arranged so that they generate measurement data only from the predefined area, which is then analyzed. In the latter case it may be considered that the operative area of the respective sensor 210, or sensors 210, define the predefined area 220. It is also worthwhile to understand that a plurality of floors in the premises may be equipped in the same manner as shown in Figure 2.

Still further, Figure 2 illustrates a user interface device 230 of the user interface system as described for receiving input from users of the elevator system 100, but also for outputting information to the users. The user interface device 230 may be implemented in any known manner e.g. as described in the foregoing description. Correspondingly, the users, or the passengers, may provide input to the elevator system 100 through the respective user interface device 230. The elevator control system 110 may also be arranged to analyze the data received from the user interface system 140 as described herein. In other words, also the data received from the user interface system 140 may be considered as measurement data being indicative of the situational awareness of a group of passengers in a predefined area 220 at the floor.

Some aspects of the invention relate to a method for controlling an operational mode of an elevator E belonging to an elevator system 100. An example of such a method is schematically illustrated in Figure 3. The method as shown in Figure 3 may e.g. be performed by an elevator control system 110, or any corresponding control system having access to the data and configured to perform as is described herein. First, in the step 310 as referred in Figure 3 the elevator control system 110 having access to the data indicative of a situational awareness of a group of passengers in a predefined area 220 at a floor may be configured to evaluate 310 the data and to generate an evaluation result of the evaluation 310. The evaluating 310 of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area 220 may be performed by detecting, or evaluating, an urgency of a service need from the elevator system 100 based on the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area at the floor. In other words, the elevator control system 110 may be arranged to obtain the data e.g. from the sensor system 130 or from the user interface system 140, or from both, and to analyse the data in accordance with one or more predefined rules to generate a conclusion indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers evaluated. More specifically, the analysis may comprise a determination of a number of passengers from the obtained data and an analysis of them separately. The analysis may comprise a detection of a predefined pattern of behavior of each person identified to be a potential passenger and an evaluation of an urgency of a service need based on the data indicative of the situational awareness with respect to each person. As a non-limiting example it may be detected that a person is talking with another person and does not indicate any attention with respect to the elevator E, such as the person(s) is following one or more output device of the elevator in which e.g. information on a floor the elevator is currently serving and/or the person(s) are not showing any interest in providing input to the elevator system 100. This kinds of detections may e.g. be based on an analysis of consecutive images captured with the sensor system 130 at a monitored floor, and a predefined area 220 therein. The solution may even be taken on a level at which a more detailed analysis is performed to each possible passenger which may e.g. comprise an analysis of a motion of each passenger, a look at a face of each passenger, and so on. In addition to the analysis of the data received from the sensor system 140 data obtained from the user interface system 140, i.e. received through the user interfaces 230, may be utilized. For example, if it is detected that a person interacts with the user interface 230 and indicates that he/she needs elevator service an evaluation result from step 310 may be generated wherein the evaluation result may cause an immediate generation of an elevator call. The person in question may be monitored after the interaction with the sensor system 130 and in case the analysis of the sensor data indicates, such as confirms, that the person may be in a hurry, e.g. based on the behavior, a priority of the generated elevator call may be increased by the elevator control system 110. Correspondingly, if the data obtained from the sensor(s) 210 indicates that the person actually behaves that he/she is not (anymore) willing to enter the elevator car soon, the priority of the generated elevator call may be decreased. For example, if the person receives/initiates a telephone call which is detected from the sensor data (e.g. based on an identification of a mobile terminal near a head of the person from consecutive images captured with the sensor(s) 210 of the sensor system 130), it may be assumed that the person is not willing to enter the elevator car, e.g. because the call connection may be lost in the elevator car and/or he/she is not willing to publicly talk in the mobile terminal in the elevator car. For sake of completeness, it is worthwhile to mention that in case there are a plurality of persons in the predefined area 220 it may be arranged that the analysis, or the evaluation, is performed person-by-person, but the person specific results of the evaluations may be combined together in order to generate an aggregate value on the situational awareness. For the generation of the aggregate value statistical mathematical methods may be applied to the individual values, such as counting an average from the individual values and that value is used for further needs as is described in the forthcoming description. Alternatively or in addition, the aggregate evaluation result may be based on a situational awareness value of a number of persons, such as only one person, e.g. in a manner that if at least one value exceeds a predefined reference value, a detection of a need of an elevator service in a predefined time window may be generated in a form of an evaluation result, and even an elevator call to the floor in question with a predefined priority may be generated.

The evaluation 310 of the data indicative of the situational awareness under the step of evaluation 310 may be performed by applying a predefined evaluation algorithm to the data obtainable from the number of sources, such as from the sensor system 130 and/or from the user interface system 140. The algorithm may be arranged to compare derived values indicative of the situational awareness to respective one or more reference values to find correspondence with a predefined accuracy. The evaluation 310 may also be based on a machine-learning model trained for the task. For example, such a machinelearning model may take the sensor data and/or data obtainable from the user interface system 140 as an input and process it in order to generate an evaluation result indicative of a situational awareness with respect to the one or more persons residing in a monitored area 220. As said, the methods, such as algorithms or models, may be configured to perform the evaluation 310 of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area by detecting, i.e. evaluating, an urgency of a service need from the elevator system 100 based on the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area at the floor, and to generate an evaluation result accordingly. The group may consist of one or more persons or assumed passengers in the area 220.

Moreover, the method in accordance with the invention continues by generating 320 a control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator E in accordance with at least the evaluation result derived based on data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area 220 at the floor. The control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator may be generated 320 to cause setting of the elevator to an energy saving mode in response to a detection in the evaluating that the group of passengers are detected to need non-urgent service from the elevator system. In other words, the aim is to determine if an energy saving mode may be set on the basis of the evaluation 310 of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area 220 at the floor. For example, the setting of the elevator E to the energy saving mode may e.g. cause at least one of the following : de-prioritizing at least one elevator call to the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a travel speed of an elevator car of the elevator E selected to serve the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a number of elevators belonging to the elevator system 100 to serve the floor the group of passengers resides. In some embodiments, it may further be arranged that in response to setting of the elevator E to an energy saving mode a further control signal is generated to a user interface 230 of the elevator system 100 residing at the floor the group of passengers resides, wherein the further control signal causes an output of data with the user interface 230 indicative on the energy saving mode. Outputting of such data may draw attention from the group of assumed passengers at least in the monitored area 220, which, in turn, may lead to a receipt of an input data from the user interface 230 of the elevator system 100 residing at the floor the group of passengers resides. In other words, one or more assumed passengers may be willing to indicate that they actually need service from the elevator system 100 e.g. contrary to the evaluation performed by the elevator control system 110 and based on the received input over the user interface 230 the elevator control system 110 may be configured to generate a still further control signal to cancel the energy saving mode of the elevator E in response to a detection that the input data received from the user interface 230 indicates a request to cancel of the energy saving mode of the elevator E.

For sake of completeness it is worthwhile to mention, as already described in the foregoing description, that the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers may be obtained from various sources. The data may be received from the sensor system 130 configured to generate measurement data from the predefined area 220 at the floor. Alternatively or in addition, the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers may be received from a user interface system 140 of the elevator system 100. In accordance with some example embodiments, an analysis to the measurement data obtained from the predefined area at the floor may be performed by: identifying a number of passengers from the measurement data; applying a machine-learning model to generate a detection result descriptive on an urgency of a service need from the elevator system for each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data; and generating the evaluation result based on the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers by combining detection results generated for each of the number of passengers. This corresponds to a process performed to a group of assumed passengers in which there are one or more assumed passengers. When the machine-learning model is applied to it is trained to classify each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data to a number of urgency classes based on behavioral markers derivable from the measurement data as already mentioned in the foregoing description.

As already mentioned, the aspects of the present invention described herein are mainly done by referring to an implementation in which the controlling entity is an elevator control system 110 of an elevator system 100 as shown in Figure 1 . However, as already mentioned, the functionality of the control system 110 may also be integrated to another computing device or arranged as a separate computing device to the elevator system 100. An example of such an apparatus configurable to implement the operation of the computing device, and, thus, the elevator control system 110, is schematically illustrated in Figure 4. In other words, the elevator control system 110 may be configured to perform the method according to the invention as described with the examples in the foregoing description. Thus, the apparatus of Figure 4 may be configured to perform a controlling of an operational mode of an elevator E. For sake of clarity, it is worthwhile to mention that the block diagram of Figure 4 depicts some components of an entity that may be employed to implement a functionality of the apparatus. The apparatus of Figure 4 comprises a processor 410 and a memory 420. The memory 420 may store data, such as pieces of data as described, but also computer program code 425 causing the arranging of management of the elevator system 100 in the described manner. The apparatus may further comprise a communication interface 430, such as a wireless communication interface or a communication interface for wired communication, or both to communicate with other entities as described. The communication interface 430 may thus comprise one or more modems, antennas, and any other hardware and software for enabling an execution of the communication e.g. under control of the processor 410. Furthermore, I/O (input/output) components 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, and/or providing output to the user of the apparatus 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 loudspeaker, a display, or a touchscreen. The components of the apparatus may be communicatively connected to each other via data bus that enables transfer of data and control information between the components. The memory 420 and at least a portion of the computer program code 425 stored therein may further be arranged, with the processor 410, to cause the apparatus to perform at least a portion of a method as is described herein. 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 I or may provide permanent I semi-permanent I dynamic I cached storage.

The computer program code 425 may comprise computer-executable instructions that implement functions that correspond to steps implemented in the method when loaded into the processor 410 of the respective control system 110. 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, such as a computer, to perform a method as described. 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 implementing the control system 110 to perform the method.

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.

For sake of completeness it is worthwhile to mention that the entity performing the method in the role of the control system 110 may also be implemented with a plurality of apparatuses, such as the one schematically illustrated in Figure 4, as a distributed computing environment corresponding to a control system. For example, one of the apparatuses may be communicatively connected with the other apparatuses, and e.g. share the data of the method, to cause another apparatus to perform at least one other portion of the method. As a result, the method performed in the distributed computing environment generates the control signal indicative of the assignment of the responsibility as described. For example, some steps of the method may be shared between an elevator control system and a computing device e.g. configured to analyze data obtained from the sensor system 130 and/or the user interface system 140.

The invention as described herein provides an improvement in an operation of elevator systems 100 in a sense that the elevator systems 100 are enabled to change their mode automatically in accordance with a sophisticated evaluation of a need of a service from the elevator system 100 by assumed passengers.

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 controlling an operational mode of an elevator (E) belonging to an elevator system (100) , the method, performed by an elevator control system (110), comprises: evaluating (310) data indicative of a situational awareness of a group of passengers in a predefined area (220) at a floor, generating (320) a control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator (E) in accordance with an evaluation result of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area (220) at the floor.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the evaluating (310) of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area (220) is performed by detecting an urgency of a service need from the elevator system (100) based on the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area (220) at the floor.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator is generated (320) to cause setting of the elevator (E) to an energy saving mode in response to a detection in the evaluating that the group of passengers are detected to need non-urgent service from the elevator system (100).

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the setting of the elevator (E) to the energy saving mode causes at least one of the following: de-prioritizing at least one elevator call to the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a travel speed of an elevator car of the elevator selected to serve the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a number of elevators (E) belonging to the elevator system (100) to serve the floor the group of passengers resides.

5. The method according to the claim 3 or 4, wherein in response to setting of the elevator (E) to an energy saving mode a control signal is generated to a user interface (230) of the elevator system (100) residing at the floor the group of passengers resides, the control signal causes an output of data with the user interface (230) indicative on the energy saving mode.

6. The method according to the claim 5, the method further comprises: receiving an input data from the user interface (230) of the elevator system (100) residing at the floor the group of passengers resides, generating a control signal to cancel the energy saving mode of the elevator (E) in response to a detection that the input data received from the user interface (230) indicates a request to cancel of the energy saving mode of the elevator (E).

7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers is obtained from at least one of: a sensor system (130) generating measurement data obtained from the predefined area (220) at the floor; a user interface system (140) of the elevator system (100).

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein an analysis to the measurement data obtained from the predefined area (220) at the floor is performed by: identifying a number of passengers from the measurement data, applying a machine-learning model to generate a detection result descriptive on an urgency of a service need from the elevator system (100) for each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data, and generating the evaluation result of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers by combining detection results generated for each of the number of passengers.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the machine-learning model is trained to classify each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data to a number of urgency classes based on behavioral markers derivable from the measurement data.

10. An elevator control system (110) for controlling an operational mode of an elevator (E) belonging to an elevator system (100) , the elevator control system (110) is configured to: evaluate (310) data indicative of a situational awareness of a group of passengers in a predefined area (220) at a floor, generate (320) a control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator (E) in accordance with an evaluation result of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area (220) at the floor.

11. The elevator control system (110) according to claim 10, wherein the elevator control system (110) is configured to perform the evaluating (310) of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area (220) by detecting an urgency of a service need from the elevator system (100) based on the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers in the predefined area (220) at the floor.

12. The elevator control system (110) according to claim 11 , wherein the elevator control system (110) is configured to generate (320) the control signal to set the operational mode of the elevator to cause setting of the elevator (E) to an energy saving mode in response to a detection in the evaluating that the group of passengers are detected to need non-urgent service from the elevator system (100).

13. The elevator control system (110) according to claim 12, wherein the elevator control system (110) is configured to, in response to the setting of the elevator (E) to the energy saving mode, cause at least one of the following: deprioritizing at least one elevator call to the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a travel speed of an elevator car of the elevator selected to serve the floor the group of passengers resides; reducing a number of elevators (E) belonging to the elevator system (100) to serve the floor the group of passengers resides.

14. The elevator control system (110) according to the claim 12 or claim 13, wherein the elevator control system (110) is configured to, in response to setting of the elevator (E) to an energy saving mode a control signal, generate a control signal to a user interface (230) of the elevator system (100) residing at the floor the group of passengers resides, the control signal causes an output of data with the user interface (230) indicative on the energy saving mode.

15. The elevator control system (110) according to the claim 14, the elevator control system (110) further configured to: receive an input data from the user interface (230) of the elevator system (100) residing at the floor the group of passengers resides, generate a control signal to cancel the energy saving mode of the elevator (E) in response to a detection that the input data received from the user interface (230) indicates a request to cancel of the energy saving mode of the elevator (E).

16. The elevator control system (110) according to any of the preceding claims 10 to 15, wherein the elevator control system (110) is configured to obtain the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers from at least one of: a sensor system (130) generating measurement data obtained from the predefined area (220) at the floor; a user interface system (140) of the elevator system (100).

17. The elevator control system (110) according to the claim 16, wherein the elevator control system (110) is configured to perform an analysis to the measurement data obtained from the predefined area (220) at the floor by: identifying a number of passengers from the measurement data, applying a machine-learning model to generate a detection result descriptive on an urgency of a service need from the elevator system (100) for each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data, and generating the evaluation result of the data indicative of the situational awareness of the group of passengers by combining detection results generated for each of the number of passengers.

18. The elevator control system (110) according to claim 17, wherein the elevator control system (110) is configured to train the machine-learning model to classify each of the number of passengers identified from the measurement data to a number of urgency classes based on behavioral markers derivable from the measurement data.

19. A computer program comprising instructions to cause an elevator control system (110) to execute the steps of the method according to any of the claims

1 to 9.