A method, device, control box, and storage medium for displaying physical buttons.

Abstract

This invention discloses a method, device, control box, and storage medium for displaying physical buttons, applied to a control box inside an elevator car. The control box has multiple physical buttons with displays distributed on it. The method includes: determining a character representing a control operation used to control the operation of the elevator; receiving a refresh operation triggered by a physical button; assigning a character to a physical button according to the refresh operation to change at least a portion of the characters already assigned to the physical button; and displaying the character on the display of the physical button if the assignment is complete. Each physical button maintains one touch operation without splitting them. Users can perform an internal call by pressing a single physical button, maintaining the simplicity of elevator internal calls, reducing the probability of errors, and updating the function of the physical buttons as the characters are updated, thus expanding the functionality of elevator internal calls. If a physical button malfunctions, its displayed character can be ignored without affecting the elevator internal call function.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the technical field of elevators, and more particularly to a method, device, control panel, and storage medium for displaying physical buttons. Background Technology

[0002] Elevator control panels typically use a design where one physical button corresponds to one floor. Because the elevator car's side walls are relatively narrow, the number of physical buttons that can be accommodated is limited. As the number of floors in a building increases, the number of physical buttons in the control panel also increases, eventually exceeding the capacity of the car's side walls.

[0003] For high-rise buildings, some control panels provide physical buttons including number keys, letter keys, confirmation keys, and cancel keys. When calling the elevator, users use a combination of number keys and letter keys to generate a floor number, press the confirmation key to register the floor, and the floor number is displayed on the screen.

[0004] For example, if a user intends to go to building 13A, they would press the number keys "1", "3" and the letter key "A" in sequence, and then press the OK key.

[0005] This method of calling elevators by splitting the floor numbers, requiring users to press multiple physical buttons in most cases, makes the operation of calling elevators cumbersome and prone to errors. Furthermore, the fixed functions of the physical buttons limit the functionality of calling elevators, and the malfunction of certain physical buttons also affects the use of calling elevators, resulting in low efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This invention provides a method, device, control box, and storage medium for displaying physical buttons, in order to solve the problem of how to improve the efficiency of elevator in-flight calling.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for displaying physical buttons is provided, applied to a control panel inside an elevator car, wherein a plurality of physical buttons carrying displays are distributed on the control panel, the method comprising:

[0008] Identify characters representing control operations used to control the operation of the elevator;

[0009] Receive refresh operation triggered by the physical button;

[0010] The character is assigned to the physical key according to the refresh operation, so as to change at least a portion of the characters already assigned to the physical key;

[0011] If the assignment is complete, the character will be displayed on the screen of the physical button.

[0012] According to another aspect of the present invention, a display device for physical buttons is provided, applied to a control panel inside an elevator car, wherein a plurality of physical buttons carrying displays are distributed on the control panel, the device comprising:

[0013] A character determination module is used to determine a character representing a control operation, which is used to control the operation of the elevator;

[0014] A refresh operation receiving module is used to receive refresh operations triggered by the physical button;

[0015] A character allocation module is used to allocate the character to the physical key according to the refresh operation, so as to change at least a portion of the characters already allocated to the physical key;

[0016] A character display module is used to display the character on the display of the physical button if the assignment is completed.

[0017] According to another aspect of the present invention, a control box is provided, the control box comprising:

[0018] At least one processor; and

[0019] A memory communicatively connected to the at least one processor; wherein,

[0020] The memory stores a computer program that can be executed by the at least one processor, the computer program being executed by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform the physical button display method according to any embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, the computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program being used to cause a processor to execute and implement the physical button display method according to any embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] This embodiment applies to the control panel inside the elevator car. The control panel has multiple physical buttons with displays, which are used to identify characters representing control operations. These control operations are used to control the elevator's operation. The control panel receives refresh operations triggered by the physical buttons. Based on the refresh operations, characters are assigned to the physical buttons to change at least a portion of the assigned characters. If the assignment is complete, the characters are displayed on the physical button's display. Each physical button maintains a single touch operation without splitting them. Users can perform an internal call by pressing a single physical button, maintaining the simplicity of elevator internal calls, reducing the probability of errors, and updating the functions of the physical buttons as the characters are updated. This expands the functionality of elevator internal calls. If a physical button malfunctions, its displayed character is ignored without affecting the elevator internal call function, thus greatly improving the efficiency of elevator internal calls.

[0023] It should be understood that the description in this section is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of the present invention, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the invention. Other features of the invention will become readily apparent from the following description. Attached Figure Description

[0024] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0025] Figure 1 This is a flowchart of a physical button display method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a control box according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 3A and Figure 3B This is an example diagram of assigning characters to physical keys according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 4 This is a flowchart of a physical button display method according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 5 This is an example diagram of updating the characters on physical buttons when taking an elevator, according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a physical button display device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a control box provided in Embodiment 4 of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0032] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the present invention, the technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0033] It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," etc., in the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this invention are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such data can be interchanged where appropriate so that the embodiments of the invention described herein can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion; for example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that comprises a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units not explicitly listed or inherent to such processes, methods, products, or apparatus.

[0034] Example 1

[0035] Figure 1 This is a flowchart of a physical button display method provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. This embodiment can be applied to refreshing and displaying characters controlling the elevator on the physical buttons of the control panel inside the elevator car. The method can be executed by a physical button display device, which can be implemented in hardware and / or software. The physical button display device can be applied to the control panel inside the elevator car.

[0036] The control box can have multiple physical buttons for carrying the display arranged according to factors such as art design. For example, such as... Figure 2 As shown, the control box has 3 (columns) × 4 (rows) of physical buttons 201, and then 2 more physical buttons 201 are distributed between the 3 columns, for a total of 14 physical buttons 201.

[0037] The display on the physical button can be an LED (light-emitting diode) dot matrix, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen, an OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) screen, a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) screen, etc.

[0038] Physical buttons are universal buttons. When the elevator is stopped, the display is off and does not show any content. When the elevator is powered on, the display can change according to the content displayed, and the function of the physical buttons changes accordingly.

[0039] like Figure 2As shown, a control board 202 and a serial bus 203 are provided in the control box. The control board 202 includes components such as a processor (such as a microcontroller) and a memory. The serial bus 203 is connected to the control board and to all physical buttons 201. Each physical button 201 has a unique identifier (such as ID). Based on this identifier, serial data can be sent through the serial bus 203 to change the content displayed on the display of that physical button 201.

[0040] Furthermore, the physical button can be a mechanical press-type button or a touch-type button. This embodiment does not limit this. The signal generated by the physical button is sent to the processor through a serial bus.

[0041] like Figure 1 As shown, the method includes:

[0042] Step 101: Determine the character representing the control operation.

[0043] In this embodiment, some or all of the control operations called in the elevator car can be pre-mapped to characters, wherein the control operations are used to control the operation of the elevator.

[0044] The characters used to indicate control operations may differ for different types of elevators, and even for the same type of elevator, the characters used to indicate control operations may differ at different times. Therefore, these characters can be built into the control box before the elevator leaves the factory, or they can be updated by the elevator's maintenance or management personnel after leaving the factory. This embodiment does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0045] Generally, the number of characters is greater than the number of physical buttons. During the process of the elevator being powered on and starting to run, the control box can read the characters representing the current elevator control operation locally and load the characters representing the control operation into memory, and maintain the characters representing the control operation in memory.

[0046] In one example, the characters representing control operations include at least one of the following:

[0047] 1. Floor sequence

[0048] Among them, such as Figure 3A As shown, the floor sequence includes multiple floors with corresponding floor numbers 301. When registering, floor number 301 indicates that the elevator is called to the floor corresponding to that floor number (control operation).

[0049] Floor numbers are mostly numbers, or a combination of symbols and numbers, such as -1, or a combination of letters and numbers, such as 13A. In some cases, floor numbers can also be a combination of letters and numbers, such as Fu Yi.

[0050] In one scenario, the floor number corresponding to the floor where the elevator car can stop is queried, and the floor number is sorted to obtain the floor sequence.

[0051] In another scenario, you can query the floor numbers of the floors in the current building that support car stops. The floors that support car stops can be all floors of the current building or only some floors of the current building.

[0052] The registered floor number can be found in the floor number corresponding to the floor that supports car stopping. The registered floor number can be changed during elevator operation. The registered floor number is empty when the elevator is initialized or idle. The registered floor number is not empty when the elevator is internally called.

[0053] According to the preset sorting rules, the floor numbers corresponding to the floors that support car stops are sorted with the registered floor numbers to obtain the floor sequence.

[0054] For the same floor number, if its status is unregistered, the floor number will appear once in the floor sequence; if its status is registered, the floor number will appear twice in the floor sequence.

[0055] In one sorting scheme, on the one hand, the floor numbers corresponding to the floors that support car stops are sorted to obtain the first subsequence; on the other hand, the registered floor numbers are sorted to obtain the second subsequence.

[0056] Generally, the first and second subsequences are sorted in ascending order. That is, the smaller the floor number, the earlier the floor number is sorted in the first and / or second subsequences, and vice versa.

[0057] By sorting the second subsequence before the first subsequence, we obtain the floor sequence. The floor sequence then prioritizes displaying the registered floor numbers, making it easier for users to browse the registered floor numbers and improving the efficiency of internal calls.

[0058] For example, if the floor numbers of the floors where a certain elevator stops in the current building are -1, 1-3, 3A, 5-13, 13A, 15-23, 23A, 25-27, then the second subsequence can be formed as -1, 1-3, 3A, 5-13, 13A, 15-23, 23A, 25-27. Figure 3A As shown, if no floor number is registered, the floor sequence is -1, 1-3, 3A, 5-13, 13A, 15-23, 23A, 25-27, etc. Figure 3BAs shown, if the registered floor numbers are 8, 15, and 20, then the first subsequence can be formed as 8, 15, and 20, and the floor sequence can be 8, 15, 20, -1, 1-3, 3A, 5-13, 13A, 15-23, 23A, and 25-27.

[0059] 2. Page-turning symbols used to refresh physical button (control operation) functions.

[0060] Since the number of characters is greater than the number of physical buttons, the displays on all physical buttons simultaneously show a portion of the characters. Refreshing the physical buttons refreshes the characters displayed on the physical button displays, allowing the characters to be displayed in rotation.

[0061] For example, such as Figure 3A As shown, the page turning symbols include page turning symbol 302, which controls the physical buttons to refresh upwards, and page turning symbol 303, which controls the physical buttons to refresh downwards.

[0062] 3. Door control symbol used to control elevator doors (control operation)

[0063] like Figure 3A As shown, the door control symbols include door control symbol 304, which controls the opening of the elevator door, and door control symbol 305, which controls the closing of the elevator door.

[0064] Furthermore, the elevator doors include the car doors and the doors of the waiting halls on each floor. Therefore, controlling the elevator doors includes simultaneously opening the car doors and the doors of the waiting halls on the floors where the car is stopped, and simultaneously closing the car doors and the doors of the waiting halls on the floors where the car is stopped.

[0065] Of course, the characters described above are merely examples. When implementing embodiments of the present invention, other characters representing control operations can be set according to actual circumstances, such as alarm symbols representing alarm operations, etc. The embodiments of the present invention do not limit this. Furthermore, in addition to the characters described above, those skilled in the art can also use other characters representing control operations as needed, and the embodiments of the present invention do not limit this either.

[0066] Step 102: Receive refresh operation triggered by physical button.

[0067] For a relatively short period of time, the displays on all physical buttons simultaneously display some characters. Therefore, this embodiment can set one or more operations as refresh operations, which can be used to refresh the characters displayed on the displays on the physical buttons simultaneously, so that the characters can be displayed in rotation.

[0068] In practical applications, the control box can generate threads and / or processes that monitor the elevator's status and trigger refresh operations. In addition, users can also actively trigger refresh operations by pressing physical buttons, using gestures, etc. This embodiment does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0069] Step 103: Assign characters to physical keys according to the refresh operation, so as to change at least some of the characters already assigned to the physical keys.

[0070] In the actual implementation, the control box has assigned some characters to physical buttons. The so-called assignment refers to establishing a mapping relationship between the identifier of the physical button and the character, and displaying the currently mapped character on the display of the physical button.

[0071] Upon receiving a refresh operation, characters are reassigned to physical keys according to the refresh operation's instructions, thereby changing at least a portion of the characters currently assigned to the physical keys.

[0072] Furthermore, some characters represent control operations that users frequently perform, and these operations are performed frequently. To improve the efficiency of internal calls, their display can be maintained.

[0073] Furthermore, if a physical button malfunctions, the malfunctioning physical button is excluded when assigning characters, and no characters are assigned to the malfunctioning physical button. Since the characters can still be assigned to normally functioning physical buttons, the control operation of the elevator call is not lost.

[0074] In one embodiment of the present invention, the characters include at least one of the following:

[0075] The system includes a floor sequence, a page-turning symbol for refreshing physical buttons, and a door control symbol for controlling the elevator doors; the floor sequence includes floor numbers corresponding to multiple floors.

[0076] In this embodiment, step 103 may include the following steps:

[0077] Step 1031: Assign page turn symbols to designated physical keys to maintain at least a portion of the page turn symbols already assigned to the physical keys.

[0078] In general, there will be multiple page turn symbols, and the operation frequency of page turn symbols is relatively high. However, not all page turn symbols are effective at the same time. Therefore, when refreshing the characters displayed on the physical button's monitor, at least one page turn symbol that matches the refreshed characters can be assigned to a designated physical button, thereby keeping at least one page turn symbol unchanged. If the page turn symbol is invalid in an inappropriate state, some page turn symbols can be canceled to save space and display more other characters.

[0079] Of course, when refreshing the characters displayed by the physical buttons, all page-turning symbols can remain unchanged, and this embodiment does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0080] Furthermore, to facilitate user browsing, each page-turning symbol can be pre-assigned to a specific physical button identifier. This assignment relationship can be set before leaving the factory or updated after leaving the factory. When a page-turning symbol is displayed, the mapping relationship between the page-turning symbol and the identifier of the physical button is established first, thereby assigning the page-turning symbol to the physical button. At this time, when the user browses the control box, they will think that the page-turning symbol has not changed, making it convenient for them to press the physical button where the page-turning symbol is located and reducing the probability of pressing the wrong button.

[0081] For example, if a refresh operation refreshes a physical button to its initial state, a page-turning symbol used to control the physical button to refresh downwards can be assigned to a specific physical button.

[0082] If the refresh operation refreshes the physical buttons to a non-initial state, then the two characters used to control the page turn symbol for refreshing the physical buttons upwards and downwards can be assigned to two specified physical buttons.

[0083] In this example, you can refer to the floor sequence sorting settings to refresh the direction of the physical buttons. Up refresh means refreshing the floor numbers that are before the currently displayed floor number on the physical button's display in the direction of the floor sequence sorting. Down refresh means refreshing the floor numbers that are after the currently displayed floor number on the physical button's display in the direction of the floor sequence sorting.

[0084] In the initial state, the physical button display shows the first n floor numbers in the direction of the floor sequence, where n is a positive integer. Generally, n is less than the number of physical buttons, and n is positively correlated with the number of physical buttons. That is, the more physical buttons there are, the more space is left for floor numbers after excluding the space occupied by other non-floor number characters, resulting in more floor numbers that can be displayed. Conversely, the fewer physical buttons there are, the less space is left for floor numbers after excluding the space occupied by other non-floor number characters, resulting in fewer floor numbers that can be displayed.

[0085] In the non-initial state, the physical button display shows the n floor numbers that are not the first n in the order of the floor sequence.

[0086] In the non-initial state, if the display of the physical buttons shows the last m (m is a positive integer) floor numbers in the direction of the floor sequence, then refreshing downwards means refreshing the physical buttons to the initial state, that is, the display of the physical buttons shows the first n floor numbers in the direction of the floor sequence.

[0087] In this example, the display of the physical buttons maintains the page-turning symbol that refreshes downwards.

[0088] Furthermore, if the refresh operation refreshes the physical buttons to their initial state, the two characters used to control the page turning symbol for refreshing upwards and the page turning symbol for refreshing downwards can be assigned to two designated physical buttons. In this case, refreshing upwards means refreshing the physical buttons to a non-initial state, and the display of the physical buttons shows the last m floor numbers in the direction of the floor sequence. At this time, the display of the physical buttons maintains the page turning symbols for refreshing upwards and refreshing downwards unchanged. This embodiment does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0089] Step 1032: Assign the gate control symbol to the specified physical button to maintain the gate control symbol already assigned to the physical button.

[0090] In general, there will be multiple gate control symbols, and the operation frequency of gate control symbols is relatively high. All gate control symbols are effective at the same time. Therefore, when refreshing the characters displayed on the physical button's display, the gate control symbol can be assigned to a specific physical button to keep the gate control symbol unchanged.

[0091] Furthermore, to facilitate user browsing, each control symbol can be pre-assigned to a specific physical button identifier. This assignment relationship can be set before leaving the factory or updated after leaving the factory. When a control symbol is displayed, the mapping relationship between the control symbol and the physical button identifier is established first, thereby assigning the control symbol to the physical button. At this time, when the user browses the control box, they will think that the control symbol has not changed, making it convenient for them to press the physical button where the control symbol is located, reducing the probability of pressing the wrong button.

[0092] Step 1033: Extract the floor numbers from the floor sequence whose number is less than or equal to the remaining physical buttons according to the refresh operation, and use them as target numbers.

[0093] With page-turning symbols and gate symbols already assigned, these symbols occupy a portion of the physical keys. At this point, the remaining physical keys are not assigned any characters. These remaining physical keys without assigned characters are assigned floor numbers in the floor sequence. Then, according to the instructions of different types of refresh operations, floor numbers less than or equal to the number of remaining physical keys can be extracted from the floor sequence and recorded as target numbers.

[0094] The target number may be partially the same as or completely different from the floor number currently displayed on the physical button's display.

[0095] If the refresh operation is a timeout operation (a timeout operation means that the user's operation on the physical button has timed out), then starting from the first floor number in the floor sequence, extract the floor numbers with the same number as the remaining physical buttons, and use them as the target numbers.

[0096] If the refresh operation is a page-turning operation (a page-turning operation means refreshing the physical buttons in a specified direction), then query the floor number currently assigned to the physical button display as a reference number.

[0097] Attempt to extract floor numbers from the floor sequence that are adjacent to the reference number and whose number is equal to the remaining physical buttons, following the direction indicated by the page-turning operation. If the extraction is successful, use the floor numbers that are adjacent to the reference number and whose number is equal to the remaining physical buttons as the target number.

[0098] Furthermore, since the registered floor numbers are generally inserted into the second subsequence of the floor sequence and do not affect the first subsequence, when the physical buttons are refreshed to a non-initial state, the floor numbers displayed on the physical button's display will remain continuous, allowing users to maintain the inertia of browsing floor numbers, making it easier for users to make decisions when making internal calls, and reducing the probability of pressing the wrong floor number.

[0099] When extraction fails, the following two situations may occur:

[0100] Scenario 1

[0101] If the page-turning operation indicates an upward refresh, and the number of floor numbers adjacent to the reference number is less than the number of remaining physical buttons, it means that the page has been refreshed to the beginning of the floor sequence. At this time, the physical buttons are refreshed to the initial state, and the number of floor numbers starting from the first floor number in the floor sequence that is equal to the number of remaining physical buttons is extracted as the target number.

[0102] Scenario 2

[0103] If the page-turning operation indicates a downward refresh and the number of floor numbers adjacent to the reference number is less than the number of remaining physical keys, it means that the page-turning operation has been refreshed to the end of the floor sequence. In this case, the floor numbers adjacent to the reference number are extracted from the floor sequence along the direction of the page-turning operation and used as the target numbers. At this time, the number of target numbers is less than the number of remaining unassigned physical keys.

[0104] In this situation, the display of the unassigned physical keys does not show any information and appears empty.

[0105] Step 1034: Assign the target number to the remaining physical buttons in sequence to change at least some of the floor numbers already assigned to the physical buttons.

[0106] The target numbers are assigned sequentially to the remaining unassigned physical keys in a certain order, such as from left to right, from top to bottom, or from left to right, from bottom to top, etc., thereby re-establishing the mapping relationship between the target numbers and the remaining unassigned physical keys, thereby changing at least some of the floor numbers already assigned to the physical keys.

[0107] From an overall perspective, given the known methods of assigning page-turning symbols and door-control symbols, and with a given floor sequence, assigning characters to physical buttons can be seen as dividing all characters into multiple pages. Pages can be switched through refresh operations (such as page-turning operations or timeout operations).

[0108] like Figure 3A and Figure 3B As shown, all characters are divided into pages 310, 320, and 330. The initial state of the physical keys is page 310, and the non-initial states are page 320 and page 330.

[0109] Pressing the page-turning symbol that controls the physical button to refresh down on page 310 will switch to page 320. Pressing the page-turning symbol that controls the physical button to refresh down on page 320 will switch to page 330. Pressing the page-turning symbol that controls the physical button to refresh down on page 330 will switch to page 310.

[0110] Pressing the page up button on page 330 will switch to page 320. Pressing the page up button on page 320 will switch to page 310.

[0111] If a timeout is triggered on page 320 or page 330, you can switch to page 310.

[0112] Because the registered floor numbers change frequently, re-dividing all characters every time they change would result in high resource consumption. Therefore, the control box only maintains the current page, that is, the characters currently displayed on the physical button's monitor. When refreshing the physical buttons, other pages are calculated in real time to reduce resource consumption.

[0113] Step 104: If the assignment is complete, the characters will be displayed on the physical button's display.

[0114] When reassigning some characters to physical keys, the character can be sent to the physical key via a serial bus, driving the physical key's display to show the character.

[0115] If the character assigned to the physical key is the floor number, then the status of the floor number can be queried.

[0116] If the floor number is registered, it can be displayed in the first mode on the physical button display.

[0117] If the floor number is in an unregistered state, it can be displayed in a second manner on the physical button display.

[0118] The first and second methods are different display methods. By displaying registered floor numbers and unregistered floor numbers in different ways, the registered floor numbers can be more clearly distinguished from the unregistered floor numbers, allowing users to intuitively observe the registered floor numbers and making it easier for them to make internal call decisions.

[0119] For example, such as Figure 3B As shown, the registered floor numbers are 8, 15, and 20. The first method is that the font color of the registered floor numbers is yellow and the background color of the display of the physical button where the registered floor number is located is red. The second method is that the font color of the unregistered floor numbers is black and the background color of the display of the physical button where the registered floor number is located is transparent, and so on.

[0120] Furthermore, such as Figure 3B As shown, for the same floor number, if its status is registered (such as 8, 15, 20), the floor number appears twice in the floor sequence, and each time it appears, the floor number is displayed in the first way.

[0121] This embodiment applies to the control panel inside the elevator car. The control panel has multiple physical buttons with displays, which are used to identify characters representing control operations. These control operations control the elevator's operation. The control panel receives refresh operations triggered by the physical buttons. Based on the refresh operations, characters are assigned to the physical buttons to change at least a portion of the assigned characters. If the assignment is complete, the characters are displayed on the physical button's display. During elevator in-call, a single physical button maintains one touch operation without splitting the operation. The user can initiate an in-call by pressing a single physical button, maintaining the simplicity of in-call functionality and reducing the probability of errors. Furthermore, the functions of the physical buttons are updated along with the characters, expanding the functionality of the in-call. If a physical button malfunctions, its displayed character is ignored without affecting the in-call function, thus greatly improving the efficiency of elevator in-call.

[0122] Example 2

[0123] Figure 4This is a flowchart of a physical button display method provided in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. This embodiment adds the processes for controlling elevator operation, page turning operation, and timeout operation to the existing embodiment. Figure 4 As shown, the method includes:

[0124] Step 401: Determine the character representing the control operation.

[0125] Among them, the control operation is used to control the operation of the elevator.

[0126] Step 402: Receive refresh operation triggered by physical button.

[0127] Step 403: Assign characters to physical keys according to the refresh operation, so as to change at least some of the characters already assigned to the physical keys.

[0128] Step 404: If the assignment is complete, the characters will be displayed on the physical button's display.

[0129] Step 405: When a key signal generated by a physical key is detected, query the character currently displayed on the physical key as the target object.

[0130] In practical applications, users browse the characters displayed on the physical button display and press the corresponding physical button according to their own or other users' elevator usage needs. At this time, the physical button generates a button signal and sends the button signal to the processor of the control box through the serial bus.

[0131] At this point, you can query the currently active mapping relationship locally, and then query the character mapped to the physical button in that mapping relationship, thereby finding the character currently displayed on the physical button, which is recorded as the target object.

[0132] Step 406: Execute the control operation represented by the target object to control the elevator operation.

[0133] The control box calls the function configured for the target object to generate a control request and sends the control request to the elevator's control system (including the elevator's locally deployed server, edge computing nodes, and cloud server). The elevator's control system processes the control request according to the elevator's control logic. When it confirms that the control operation represented by the target object is legal, it generates a control command and sends the control command to the corresponding subsystem in the elevator (such as the traction system, door system, frequency conversion system, etc.) for processing, thereby executing the control operation and controlling the elevator's operation.

[0134] For example, if the target object is a floor number, the floor number can be registered to control the elevator car to glide to the floor corresponding to the registered floor number.

[0135] At this time, in step 401, if the characters contain a floor sequence and the floor sequence contains a second subsequence consisting of registered floor numbers, the control box will write the registered floor number into the second subsequence in real time.

[0136] The registered floor number is cancelled when the elevator car travels to the floor corresponding to the floor number or when a cancellation operation is triggered for the target object.

[0137] At this point, in step 401, if the characters contain a floor sequence and the floor sequence contains a second subsequence consisting of registered floor numbers, the control box will remove the floor number that has been deregistered from the second subsequence in real time.

[0138] If the target object is a page turn symbol, then perform a page turn operation on the physical keys according to the page turn operation to refresh the characters displayed on the physical keys' monitor.

[0139] If the target object is a door control symbol, then the elevator door will be opened or closed according to the door control symbol.

[0140] Step 407: Perform a timing operation for the current key signal.

[0141] Upon receiving any key signal, the control box can generate a timer (thread) for the current key signal and perform a timing operation to count the specified time.

[0142] Step 408: If a new key signal is received during the timing operation, stop the timing operation.

[0143] If a new key signal is received during the timing operation, the timing operation is stopped, and a new timer is generated for the new key signal, and the timing operation is re-executed.

[0144] Step 409: If the timing operation ends, a timeout operation is triggered.

[0145] If no new key signal is received during the timing operation, the timing operation ends. At this time, a timeout operation can be triggered, which is used to refresh the characters displayed on the physical button's display to the initial state.

[0146] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, the following specific examples illustrate the method for displaying physical buttons in this embodiment.

[0147] like Figure 5As shown, the floor numbers of the floors that a certain elevator in the current building can stop at are -1, 1-3, 3A, 5-13, 13A, 15-23, 23A, and 25-27. When the elevator car stops at the 1st floor, multiple users enter the car and register floor numbers 8, 15, and 20 respectively. At this time, the floor sequence can be formed as 8, 15, 20, -1, 1-3, 3A, 5-13, 13A, 15-23, 23A, and 25-27. All characters are divided into pages 310, 320, and 330. In page 330, a timeout operation is triggered, and the physical button returns to the initial state (i.e., page 310).

[0148] The elevator car ascends and stops on the 2nd floor. A new user enters the car and presses the page-down refresh button on page 310. The physical button displays page 320. On page 320, the user continues to press the page-down refresh button, and the physical button displays page 330. On page 330, the new user presses floor number 19. The control box registers floor number 19 and updates the floor sequence to 8, 15, 19, 20, -1, 1-3, 3A, 5-13, 13A, 15-23, 23A, 25-27. A timeout operation is triggered on page 330, and the physical button returns to the initial state (i.e., page 311).

[0149] The car ascends and stops at the 8th floor. The control panel cancels the registration of floor number 8 and updates the floor sequence to 15, 19, 20, -1, 1-3, 3A, 5-13, 13A, 15-23, 23A, 25-27. At this time, the physical buttons refresh the initial state (i.e., page 312).

[0150] The elevator continues to ascend, stopping at the 15th, 19th, and 20th floors in sequence. The control panel cancels the registration of floor numbers 15, 19, and 20. At this point, the physical buttons refresh the initial state (i.e., page 313).

[0151] Example 3

[0152] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of a physical button display device provided in Embodiment 3 of the present invention. Figure 6 As shown, a control panel used inside an elevator car is provided, with multiple physical buttons displaying various indicators. The device includes:

[0153] The character determination module 601 is used to determine the character representing the control operation, which is used to control the operation of the elevator;

[0154] The refresh operation receiving module 602 is used to receive refresh operations triggered by the physical button;

[0155] The character allocation module 603 is used to allocate the character to the physical key according to the refresh operation, so as to change at least a portion of the characters already allocated to the physical key;

[0156] The character display module 604 is used to display the character on the display of the physical key if the assignment is completed.

[0157] In one embodiment of the present invention, the character includes at least one of the following:

[0158] The floor sequence includes a page-turning symbol for refreshing the physical buttons and a door control symbol for controlling the elevator doors; wherein the floor sequence includes floor numbers corresponding to multiple floors.

[0159] The character determination module 601 includes:

[0160] The first number query module is used to query the floor number corresponding to the floor where the car stops;

[0161] The second number query module is used to query the registered floor number in the floor number corresponding to the floor that supports the car stopping;

[0162] The floor sequence generation module is used to sort the floor numbers corresponding to the floors that support the car stopping with the registered floor numbers to obtain a floor sequence.

[0163] In one embodiment of the present invention, the floor sequence generation module includes:

[0164] The first subsequence generation module is used to sort the floor numbers corresponding to the floors that support the car stopping, and obtain the first subsequence;

[0165] The second subsequence generation module is used to sort the registered floor numbers to obtain the second subsequence;

[0166] The sequence sorting module is used to sort the second subsequence before the first subsequence to obtain the floor sequence.

[0167] In one embodiment of the present invention, the character includes at least one of the following:

[0168] The floor sequence includes a page-turning symbol for refreshing the physical buttons and a door control symbol for controlling the elevator doors; wherein the floor sequence includes floor numbers corresponding to multiple floors.

[0169] The character allocation module 603 includes:

[0170] A page-turning symbol assignment module is used to assign the page-turning symbol to a specified physical key, so as to maintain at least a portion of the page-turning symbols already assigned to the physical key unchanged;

[0171] A gate control symbol assignment module is used to assign the gate control symbol to a specified physical button, so as to maintain the gate control symbol already assigned to the physical button unchanged;

[0172] The target number extraction module is used to extract, according to the refresh operation, the floor numbers of the floor sequence whose number is less than or equal to the remaining physical buttons, as target numbers;

[0173] The target number allocation module is used to sequentially allocate the target number to the remaining physical buttons, so as to change at least a portion of the floor numbers already allocated to the physical buttons.

[0174] In one embodiment of the present invention, the page-turning symbol allocation module includes:

[0175] An initial allocation module is used to allocate the page-turning symbol used to control the physical button to refresh downwards to a specified physical button if the refresh operation refreshes the physical button to the initial state.

[0176] The non-initial allocation module is used to allocate the page-turning symbol used to control the physical button to refresh upward and downward to the specified physical button if the refresh operation refreshes the physical button to a non-initial state.

[0177] In one embodiment of the present invention, the target number extraction module includes:

[0178] The timeout extraction module is used to extract, starting from the first floor number in the floor sequence, a number equal to the remaining physical buttons, as the target number if the refresh operation is a timeout operation.

[0179] The reference number query module is used to query the floor number currently assigned to the physical button display as a reference number if the refresh operation is a page-turning operation.

[0180] The page turning extraction module is used to extract, from the floor sequence, the floor numbers adjacent to the reference number and whose number is equal to the remaining physical buttons, along the direction indicated by the page turning operation, as target numbers;

[0181] The homepage number extraction module is used to extract, starting from the first floor number in the floor sequence, the number of floor numbers whose number is equal to the number of the remaining physical buttons if the direction of the page turning operation is refresh upwards and the number of floor numbers adjacent to the reference number is less than the number of remaining physical buttons, and use them as the target number.

[0182] The last page number extraction module is used to extract the floor number adjacent to the reference number from the floor sequence along the direction of the page turning operation if the direction of the page turning operation is refresh downwards and the number of the floor numbers adjacent to the reference number is less than the number of the remaining physical buttons, and use it as the target number.

[0183] In one embodiment of the present invention, the character display module 604 includes:

[0184] The number status query module is used to query the status of a floor number if the character is a floor number.

[0185] The first mode display module is used to display the floor number in the display of the physical button in a first mode if the status is registered;

[0186] The second display module is used to display the floor number in a second manner on the display of the physical buttons if the status is unregistered.

[0187] In one embodiment of the present invention, it further includes:

[0188] The target object query module is used to query the character currently displayed on the physical button as the target object when a key signal generated by a certain physical button is detected;

[0189] The control operation execution module is used to execute the control operation represented by the target object to control the operation of the elevator.

[0190] In one embodiment of the present invention, the control operation execution module includes:

[0191] The numbering registration module is used to register the floor number if the target object is a floor number, so as to control the elevator car to glide to the floor corresponding to the floor number;

[0192] The registration cancellation module is used to cancel the registration of the floor number when the elevator car slides to the floor corresponding to the floor number or when a cancellation operation triggered for the target object is received.

[0193] A page-turning execution module is used to perform a page-turning operation on the physical button according to the page-turning operation if the target object is a page-turning symbol;

[0194] A door control module is used to control the elevator door to open or close according to the door control symbol if the target object is a door control symbol.

[0195] In one embodiment of the present invention, it further includes:

[0196] The timing operation execution module is used to perform a timing operation in response to the current key signal;

[0197] A stop timing module is used to stop executing the timing operation if a new key signal is received during the execution of the timing operation;

[0198] The timeout operation trigger module is used to trigger a timeout operation if the timing operation ends, and the timeout operation is used to refresh the physical button to its initial state.

[0199] The physical button display device provided in this embodiment of the invention can execute the physical button display method provided in any embodiment of the invention, and has the corresponding functional modules and beneficial effects for executing the physical button display method.

[0200] Example 4

[0201] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of the control box 10, which can be used to implement an embodiment of the present invention, is shown. The components shown herein, their connections and relationships, and their functions are merely examples and are not intended to limit the implementation of the invention described and / or claimed herein.

[0202] like Figure 7 As shown, the control box 10 includes at least one processor 11 and a memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM) 12 or a random access memory (RAM) 13, communicatively connected to the at least one processor 11. The memory stores computer programs executable by the at least one processor. The processor 11 can perform various appropriate actions and processes based on the computer program stored in the ROM 12 or loaded into the RAM 13 from storage unit 18. The RAM 13 can also store various programs and data required for the operation of the control box 10. The processor 11, ROM 12, and RAM 13 are interconnected via a bus 14. An input / output (I / O) interface 15 is also connected to the bus 14.

[0203] Multiple components in the control box 10 are connected to the I / O interface 15, including: an input unit 16, such as a keyboard, mouse, physical buttons, etc.; an output unit 17, such as various types of displays, speakers, etc.; wherein the display may be built into the physical buttons; a storage unit 18, such as a disk, optical disk, etc.; and a communication unit 19, such as a network card, modem, wireless transceiver, etc. The communication unit 19 allows the control box 10 to exchange information / data with other devices through computer networks such as the Internet and / or various telecommunications networks.

[0204] Processor 11 can be a variety of general-purpose and / or special-purpose processing components with processing and computing capabilities. Some examples of processor 11 include, but are not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), various special-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) computing chips, various processors running machine learning model algorithms, a digital signal processor (DSP), and any suitable processor, controller, microcontroller, etc. Processor 11 performs the various methods and processes described above, such as the display method of physical buttons.

[0205] In some embodiments, the method for displaying physical buttons may be implemented as a computer program tangibly contained in a computer-readable storage medium, such as storage unit 18. In some embodiments, part or all of the computer program may be loaded and / or installed on the control box 10 via ROM 12 and / or communication unit 19. When the computer program is loaded into RAM 13 and executed by processor 11, one or more steps of the physical button display method described above may be performed. Alternatively, in other embodiments, processor 11 may be configured to perform the physical button display method by any other suitable means (e.g., by means of firmware).

[0206] Various embodiments of the systems and techniques described above herein can be implemented in digital electronic circuit systems, integrated circuit systems, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application-specific standard products (ASSPs), systems-on-a-chip (SoCs), payload-programmable logic devices (CPLDs), computer hardware, firmware, software, and / or combinations thereof. These various embodiments may include implementations in one or more computer programs that can be executed and / or interpreted on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be a dedicated or general-purpose programmable processor, capable of receiving data and instructions from a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device, and transmitting data and instructions to the storage system, the at least one input device, and the at least one output device.

[0207] Computer programs used to implement the methods of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These computer programs may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, such that when executed by the processor, the computer programs cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be performed. The computer programs may be executed entirely on a machine, partially on a machine, or as a standalone software package, partially on a machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0208] In the context of this invention, a computer-readable storage medium can be a tangible medium that may contain or store a computer program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. A computer-readable storage medium may include, but is not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, apparatus, or devices, or any suitable combination thereof. Alternatively, a computer-readable storage medium may be a machine-readable signal medium. More specific examples of machine-readable storage media include electrical connections based on one or more wires, portable computer disks, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fibers, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0209] To provide user interaction, the systems and techniques described herein can be implemented on a control box having: a display device for displaying information to the user (e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor); and a keyboard and pointing device (e.g., a mouse or trackball) through which the user provides input to the control box. Other types of devices can also be used to provide user interaction; for example, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user can be received in any form (including sound input, voice input, or tactile input).

[0210] The systems and technologies described herein can be implemented in computing systems that include backend components (e.g., as data servers), or computing systems that include middleware components (e.g., application servers), or computing systems that include frontend components (e.g., user computers with graphical user interfaces or web browsers through which users can interact with implementations of the systems and technologies described herein), or any combination of such backend, middleware, or frontend components. The components of the system can be interconnected via digital data communication of any form or medium (e.g., communication networks). Examples of communication networks include local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), blockchain networks, and the Internet.

[0211] A computing system can include clients and servers. Clients and servers are generally located far apart and typically interact through communication networks. The client-server relationship is created by computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship with each other. The server can be a cloud server, also known as a cloud computing server or cloud host, which is a hosting product within the cloud computing service system to address the shortcomings of traditional physical hosts and VPS services, such as high management difficulty and weak business scalability.

[0212] Example 5

[0213] This invention also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the physical button display method provided in any embodiment of this invention.

[0214] In implementing the computer program product, computer program code for performing the operations of this invention can be written in one or more programming languages ​​or a combination thereof. Programming languages ​​include object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, Smalltalk, and C++, as well as conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as C or similar languages. The program code can be executed entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a standalone software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In cases involving remote computers, the remote computer can be connected to the user's computer via any type of network—including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN)—or can be connected to an external computer (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0215] It should be understood that the various forms of processes shown above can be used, with steps reordered, added, or deleted. For example, the steps described in this invention can be executed in parallel, sequentially, or in different orders, as long as the desired result of the technical solution of this invention can be achieved, and this is not limited herein.

[0216] The specific embodiments described above do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this invention. Those skilled in the art should understand that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations, and substitutions can be made according to design requirements and other factors. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, and improvements made within the spirit and principles of this invention should be included within the scope of protection of this invention.

Claims

1. A method for displaying physical buttons, characterized in that, An operating panel used inside an elevator car, the operating panel having multiple physical buttons with displays distributed on it, the method comprising: Identify characters representing control operations used to control the operation of the elevator; Receive refresh operation triggered by the physical button; The character is assigned to the physical key according to the refresh operation, so as to change at least a portion of the characters already assigned to the physical key; If the assignment is completed, the character will be displayed on the display of the physical button; The characters include at least one of the following: The floor sequence includes a page-turning symbol for refreshing the physical buttons and a door control symbol for controlling the elevator doors; wherein the floor sequence includes floor numbers corresponding to multiple floors. The determination of the characters representing control operations includes: Query the floor number corresponding to the floor where the car stops; Search for the registered floor number in the floor number corresponding to the floor that supports the car stopping; The floor numbers corresponding to the floors that support the car's stopping are sorted with the registered floor numbers to obtain a floor sequence, including: The floor numbers corresponding to the floors that support the car stopping are sorted to obtain a first sub-sequence; wherein, the first sub-sequence includes the registered floor numbers; The registered floor numbers are sorted to obtain the second subsequence; The second subsequence is sorted before the first subsequence to obtain the floor sequence.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of assigning the character to the physical key according to the refresh operation, so as to change at least a portion of the characters already assigned to the physical key, includes: The page-turning symbols are assigned to the designated physical keys to maintain at least a portion of the page-turning symbols already assigned to the physical keys unchanged; The gate control symbol is assigned to the designated physical button to maintain the gate control symbol already assigned to the physical button. According to the refresh operation, extract the floor numbers from the floor sequence that are less than or equal to the number of remaining physical buttons, and use them as target numbers; The target number is sequentially assigned to the remaining physical buttons to change at least a portion of the floor numbers already assigned to the physical buttons.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, Assigning the page-turning symbols to designated physical keys to maintain at least a portion of the page-turning symbols already assigned to the physical keys unchanged includes: If the refresh operation refreshes the physical button to its initial state, then the page-turning symbol used to control the physical button to refresh downwards is assigned to the specified physical button. If the refresh operation refreshes the physical button to a non-initial state, then the page-turning symbol used to control the physical button to refresh up and down will be assigned to the specified physical button.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The step of extracting floor numbers from the floor sequence according to the refresh operation, where the number is less than or equal to the remaining physical buttons, as target numbers, includes: If the refresh operation is a timeout operation, then starting from the first floor number in the floor sequence, extract the floor numbers equal to the number of remaining physical buttons, and use them as the target numbers; If the refresh operation is a page-turning operation, then query the floor number currently assigned to the physical button display as a reference number; Extract the floor numbers from the floor sequence that are adjacent to the reference number and whose number is equal to the remaining physical buttons, along the direction indicated by the page-turning operation, and use them as target numbers; If the direction of the page turning operation is refresh upwards, and the number of floor numbers adjacent to the reference number is less than the number of remaining physical buttons, then starting from the first floor number in the floor sequence, extract the floor numbers whose number is equal to the number of remaining physical buttons, and use them as the target number. If the direction of the page-turning operation is refresh downwards, and the number of floor numbers adjacent to the reference number is less than the number of remaining physical buttons, then the floor numbers adjacent to the reference number are extracted from the floor sequence along the direction of the page-turning operation and used as the target number.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Displaying the character on the display of the physical button includes: If the character is a floor number, then query the status of that floor number; If the status is "registered", the floor number is displayed in the display of the physical button in a first manner; If the status is "unregistered", the floor number is displayed in a second manner on the display of the physical button.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, Also includes: When a key signal generated by one of the physical keys is detected, the character currently displayed on the physical key is queried as the target object; Execute the control operation represented by the target object to control the operation of the elevator.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The execution of the control operation represented by the target object to control the elevator operation includes: If the target object is a floor number, then the floor number is registered to control the elevator car to glide to the floor corresponding to the floor number; When the elevator car travels to the floor corresponding to the floor number or receives a cancellation operation triggered for the target object, the registration of the floor number is cancelled; If the target object is a page-turning symbol, then the page-turning operation is performed on the physical button according to the page-turning operation; If the target object is a door control symbol, then the elevator door is opened or closed according to the door control symbol.

8. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, Also includes: Execute a timing operation for the currently mentioned button signal; If a new key signal is received during the timing operation, the timing operation is stopped. If the timing operation ends, a timeout operation is triggered, which is used to refresh the physical button to its initial state.

9. A display device with physical buttons, characterized in that, An operating panel for use inside an elevator car, the operating panel having multiple physical buttons with displays distributed on it, the device comprising: A character determination module is used to determine a character representing a control operation, which is used to control the operation of the elevator; A refresh operation receiving module is used to receive refresh operations triggered by the physical button; A character allocation module is used to allocate the character to the physical key according to the refresh operation, so as to change at least a portion of the characters already allocated to the physical key; A character display module is used to display the character on the display of the physical keys if the assignment is completed; The characters include at least one of the following: The floor sequence includes a page-turning symbol for refreshing the physical buttons and a door control symbol for controlling the elevator doors; wherein the floor sequence includes floor numbers corresponding to multiple floors. The character determination module includes: The first number query module is used to query the floor number corresponding to the floor where the car stops; The second number query module is used to query the registered floor number in the floor number corresponding to the floor that supports the car stopping; The floor sequence generation module is used to sort the floor numbers corresponding to the floors that support the car stopping with the registered floor numbers to obtain a floor sequence; The floor sequence generation module includes: The first subsequence generation module is used to sort the floor numbers corresponding to the floors that support the car stopping to obtain a first subsequence; wherein, the first subsequence includes the registered floor numbers; The second subsequence generation module is used to sort the registered floor numbers to obtain the second subsequence; The sequence sorting module is used to sort the second subsequence before the first subsequence to obtain the floor sequence.

10. A control box, characterized in that, The control box includes: At least one processor; and A memory communicatively connected to the at least one processor; wherein, The memory stores a computer program that can be executed by the at least one processor, the computer program being executed by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform the display method of the physical buttons according to any one of claims 1-8.

11. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the method for displaying the physical buttons as described in any one of claims 1-8.

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