Elevator call system

Abstract

The application discloses an elevator calling system, which is composed of a server, an elevator and a mobile terminal. The elevator comprises a first elevator and a second elevator, and the server comprises a first server and a second server. The mobile terminal generates a first elevator calling signal for the first elevator and sends the first elevator calling signal to a target server corresponding to the first elevator, and generates a second elevator calling signal for the second elevator and sends the second elevator calling signal to a target server corresponding to the second elevator. The target server is one of the first server and the second server. The target server generates an elevator calling instruction corresponding to the elevator calling signal according to the received elevator calling signal and sends the elevator calling instruction to a target control device. The target control device is a control device of the elevator corresponding to the elevator calling signal. The elevator calling system of the application ensures that the elevator user's elevator registration is not affected even when the server is abnormal.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of elevators, and more specifically to an elevator calling system based on a mobile terminal. Background Technology

[0002] To further enhance the passenger experience, many elevators now offer various registration methods, including those based on mobile devices (such as smartphones). Furthermore, the registration methods used by autonomous mobile entities like robots are also based on mobile devices for elevators. Therefore, the application of mobile device-based elevator registration is gradually expanding. For example, CN201880096967.0 proposes an elevator system comprising a control device, a transmitting device, and a server. In this system, the transmitting device sends a wireless signal to initiate an application. When the application is initiated, a portable terminal sends a first signal to the server to determine the control device and the departure floor. The server then sends a second signal containing the departure floor information. The control device registers the call based on the second signal from the server.

[0003] In existing mobile terminal-based elevator call registration methods, many require a server that communicates with both the mobile terminal and the elevator control system. This server receives call signals registered by passengers using their mobile terminals, generates call commands based on these signals, and sends them to the elevator control system. Therefore, in such applications, the overall architecture typically involves many mobile terminals and many elevators (and correspondingly many elevator control systems) corresponding to a single server, with the server communicating with both the mobile terminals and the elevator control system, thus placing it at the center of the entire call system. This architecture has the following drawbacks: 1. Because it needs to handle many mobile terminals and many elevators simultaneously, it requires a server with very high processing power; 2. If the server fails, passengers can no longer register calls using their mobile terminals, thus its reliability needs improvement.

[0004] Furthermore, it is even more unreasonable for an elevator manufacturer to set up only a single server when it needs to provide mobile elevator calling services for passengers in multiple different countries (sometimes because local laws or regulations do not allow it).

[0005] Therefore, how to reduce the information processing requirements of the server and improve the reliability of the mobile terminal-based elevator calling system has become a pressing technical issue. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The technical problem this invention aims to solve is how to reduce the information processing capacity of the server and improve the reliability of the elevator calling system based on mobile terminals.

[0007] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention discloses an elevator calling system, which consists of a server, an elevator and a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal receives elevator calling signals registered by elevator users and sends them to the server. The server generates an elevator calling command based on the received elevator calling signal and sends it to the elevator control device.

[0008] The elevator includes a first elevator and a second elevator, and the server includes a first server and a second server;

[0009] The mobile terminal generates a first elevator call signal directed to the first elevator and sends it to the target server corresponding to the first elevator. The mobile terminal generates a second elevator call signal directed to the second elevator and sends it to the target server corresponding to the second elevator. The target server is one of the first server and the second server.

[0010] The target server generates an elevator call command corresponding to the received elevator call signal and sends it to the target control device, which is the elevator control device corresponding to the elevator call signal.

[0011] Preferably, each elevator has at least two optional servers that can be selected as target servers; the mobile terminal stores a pre-established first relationship table that reflects the correspondence between elevators and optional servers; the mobile terminal first determines the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal, then determines the optional server corresponding to the elevator call signal according to the first relationship table, and finally selects one of the optional servers as the target server.

[0012] Preferably, the mobile terminal counts the total number of times each optional server is selected as the target server, or the number of times it is selected as the target server within a given time period, and then selects the optional server with the fewest selections as the target server.

[0013] Preferably, the server feeds back to the mobile terminal the target elevator information that the elevator call signal has been successfully registered; the mobile terminal calculates the registration success rate of each optional server based on the feedback result from the server, and then selects the optional server with the highest success rate as the target server.

[0014] Preferably, each elevator has at least two selectable servers that can be chosen as target servers; the mobile terminal stores a pre-established second relationship table that reflects the correspondence between elevators, selectable servers and their priorities; the mobile terminal first determines the elevator corresponding to the call signal, then determines the selectable server corresponding to the elevator according to the second relationship table, and finally selects the selectable server with the highest priority as the target server.

[0015] Preferably, when establishing the second relationship table, the mobile terminal determines the priority of the server based on the communication distance between the elevator or mobile terminal and the optional server; the shorter the communication distance between the elevator or mobile terminal and the optional server, the higher the priority of the optional server; the longer the communication distance between the elevator or mobile terminal and the optional server, the lower the priority of the optional server.

[0016] Preferably, the mobile terminal adjusts the priority of the optional server based on its operating status.

[0017] Preferably, the mobile terminal accumulates the total number of times each optional server is selected as a target server or counts the number of times each optional server is selected as a target server within a given time period, and adjusts the priority of each optional server according to the number of times, so that the optional server with a smaller number of times has a higher priority.

[0018] Preferably, the server feeds back to the mobile terminal the target elevator information that the elevator call signal has been successfully registered; the mobile terminal counts the registration success rate of each optional server and adjusts its priority according to the registration success rate, so that the optional server with the higher success rate has a higher priority.

[0019] Preferably, the server determines its load intensity based on its operating status and feeds back its load intensity to the mobile terminal; the mobile terminal selects the optional server with the lowest load intensity among the optional servers as the target server.

[0020] Preferably, the server accumulates the total number of times it has been selected as a target server or counts the number of times it has been selected as a target server within a given time period, and uses the number of times as its load intensity.

[0021] Preferably, the server provides feedback information to the mobile terminal at any time between receiving the elevator call signal from the mobile terminal and completing the elevator call command transmission, so that the mobile terminal can use it when it receives the elevator call signal again.

[0022] Preferably, when the server malfunctions, it no longer provides feedback information to the mobile terminal; the mobile terminal starts timing from the moment it sends the elevator call signal to the target server, and determines that the target server is malfunctioning when no feedback information is received after a given time.

[0023] Preferably, when the mobile terminal determines that the target server is abnormal, it suspends the target server's eligibility as an optional server for the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal.

[0024] Preferably, when the mobile terminal determines that the target server is abnormal, it continuously sends an elevator call signal containing specific information to the abnormal target server until it receives feedback information from the target server that was determined to be abnormal; when the target server that has previously been abnormal and has recovered receives and recognizes the elevator call signal containing specific information, it only provides feedback information to the mobile terminal that sent the elevator call signal containing specific information; the mobile terminal that determined that the target server was abnormal restores the target server's eligibility as an optional server for the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal.

[0025] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial technical effects: effectively reducing the processing power requirements of a single server; and significantly improving the reliability of the elevator call system. Detailed Implementation

[0026] In this application, the elevator user can be either a passenger in the traditional sense or an autonomous mobile entity such as a robot that can move autonomously to ride the elevator. The mobile terminal can be a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone or a smartwatch, or a calling unit in a robot that can establish communication with a server and call the elevator.

[0027] Example 1: In this example, the elevator calling system consists of a server and a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal receives the elevator calling signals registered by elevator users and sends them to the server. The server generates an elevator calling command based on the received calling signals and sends it to the elevator control device.

[0028] The elevator includes a first elevator and a second elevator, and the server includes a first server and a second server.

[0029] The mobile terminal generates a first elevator call signal directed to the first elevator and sends it to the target server corresponding to the first elevator. The mobile terminal generates a second elevator call signal directed to the second elevator and sends it to the target server corresponding to the second elevator. The target server is one of the first server and the second server.

[0030] The target server generates an elevator call command corresponding to the received elevator call signal and sends it to the target control device, which is the elevator control device corresponding to the elevator call signal.

[0031] In the above architecture, the difference lies in the fact that the first elevator can be exactly the same as the second elevator, or not exactly the same, or even completely different. The intersection of the set of the first elevator and the set of the second elevator can be a non-empty set, the set of the first elevator and the set of the second elevator can be equal, or one can be a (proper) subset of the other.

[0032] When the first elevator is not completely identical to the second elevator, the service elevators of the first server and the second server are not completely identical. This means that the intersection of the service elevators of the first server and the service elevators of the second server is a non-empty set, that is, at least one elevator is both a service elevator of the first server and a service elevator of the second server.

[0033] When the intersection of the set of the first elevator and the set of the second elevator is a non-empty set, and one set does not contain the other, for multiple elevators, by setting up multiple servers, and each server not serving all elevators, the processing capacity requirement is significantly lower than the processing capacity requirement of a single server serving all elevators. In this case, the elevator call system utilizes multiple servers to distribute the service load that would originally be handled by a single server for all elevators, thus reducing the processing capacity requirements on the servers.

[0034] When the intersection of the set of the first elevator and the set of the second elevator is a non-empty set, since the elevators located in the intersection have multiple selectable servers, other non-faulty servers are selected to perform their intended functions when some selectable servers fail. Therefore, it can still be ensured that passengers' elevator call registration based on mobile terminals will not affect the passengers' elevator experience.

[0035] Example 2: In this example, each elevator has at least two selectable servers that can be chosen as target servers; the mobile terminal stores a pre-established first relationship table that reflects the correspondence between the elevator and the selectable servers;

[0036] The mobile terminal first determines the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal, then determines the optional server corresponding to the elevator according to the first relationship table, and finally selects one of the optional servers as the target server.

[0037] The mobile terminal can determine the elevator corresponding to the call signal in ways including but not limited to the following:

[0038] Method 1: The elevator user directly inputs the target elevator they want to take into the information using their mobile terminal, and the mobile terminal parses the input information to obtain the elevator.

[0039] Method 2: When an elevator user activates a pre-installed app on their mobile phone to register an elevator call by scanning a QR code located on the floor, the mobile terminal obtains the target elevator information from the QR code. In this case, the target elevator information is independent of the user's input information and is obtained through other means; the mobile terminal directly obtains the target elevator information in an appropriate manner.

[0040] The method by which the mobile terminal obtains information about the target elevator is also applicable to other subsequent embodiments.

[0041] Example 3: This example further explains the selection method of the mobile terminal from the optional servers based on Example 2.

[0042] The selection of the target server from the available servers can be done in one or more of the following ways:

[0043] Method 1: Count the total number of times each optional server is selected as the target server or the number of times it is selected as the target server within a given time period, and then select the optional server with the fewest selections as the target server.

[0044] Method 2: The server feeds back to the mobile terminal the target elevator information that the elevator call signal has been successfully registered; the mobile terminal counts the registration success rate of each optional server, and then selects the optional server with the highest success rate as the target server.

[0045] Example 4: In this example, an elevator has multiple selectable servers that can be chosen as target servers.

[0046] The mobile terminal stores a pre-established second relation table that reflects the correspondence between elevators, optional servers and their priorities;

[0047] The mobile terminal first identifies the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal, then determines the available server corresponding to the elevator according to the second relationship table, and finally selects the available server with the highest priority as the target server.

[0048] It should be noted that in this embodiment, the optional servers correspond to elevators, and the priorities correspond to the optional servers. Since a server may simultaneously be an optional server for two or more elevators, when server A is an optional server for elevator #1, its priority is X; when server A is an optional server for elevator #2, its priority is Y. Clearly, the priority not only corresponds to the server but also to the elevator it corresponds to. That is, an optional server corresponds to an elevator, and the priority of an optional server simultaneously corresponds to both the optional server and the elevator it corresponds to. Therefore, the scope of the optional server's priority here covers all optional servers corresponding to the elevator to which that optional server is located. The priority of the same server may have different priorities in different scopes.

[0049] Example 5: This example, based on Example 4, explains the initial value of the priority and subsequent adjustments.

[0050] When establishing the second relationship table, the mobile terminal determines the priority of the server based on the communication distance between the elevator or mobile terminal and the optional server; the shorter the communication distance between the elevator or mobile terminal and the optional server, the higher the priority of the optional server; the longer the communication distance between the elevator or mobile terminal and the optional server, the lower the priority of the optional server.

[0051] The mobile terminal adjusts the priority of the optional servers based on their operational status; this application does not limit the specific adjustment method. Two exemplary adjustment methods are given below:

[0052] Method 1: Accumulate the total number of times each optional server is selected as the target server or count the number of times each optional server is selected as the target server within a given time period, and adjust its priority according to the number of times each optional server is selected (the smaller the number, the higher the priority).

[0053] Method 2: The server feeds back to the mobile terminal the target elevator information indicating that the elevator call signal has been successfully registered; the mobile terminal calculates the registration success rate of each selectable server and adjusts its priority based on the success rate (the higher the success rate, the higher the priority). The server provides feedback information to the mobile terminal at any time between receiving the elevator call signal from the mobile terminal and completing the transmission of the elevator call command to the elevator control device, for the mobile terminal to use when calculating the success rate the next time it receives an elevator call signal.

[0054] Example 6: This example further explains the selection method of the mobile terminal from the optional servers based on Example 2.

[0055] In this embodiment, the server determines its load intensity based on its operating status and feeds back its load intensity to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal selects the server with the lowest load intensity among the available servers as the target server.

[0056] The server accumulates the total number of times it has been selected as a target server or counts the number of times it has been selected as a target server within a given time period, and uses the number of times as its load intensity.

[0057] The server provides feedback information to the mobile terminal at any time between receiving the elevator call signal from the mobile terminal and completing the transmission of the elevator call command to the elevator control device, so that the mobile terminal can use it when it receives the elevator call signal again.

[0058] It should be noted that in this embodiment, the optional server corresponds to the elevator, and the load intensity only corresponds to the optional server. Load intensity is a measure of the load on the server during operation, and its scope applies to all servers, regardless of the elevator to which the server is an optional server. Thus, even if a server is an optional server for different elevators simultaneously, its load intensity is unique and the same. This differs from the priority in the previous embodiments.

[0059] Example 7: In this example, when the server is abnormal, it no longer provides feedback information to the mobile terminal; the mobile terminal starts timing from the moment it sends the elevator call signal to the target server, and determines that the target server is abnormal when no feedback information is received after a given time.

[0060] When the mobile terminal determines that the target server is abnormal, it suspends the target server's eligibility as an optional server for the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal.

[0061] When a mobile terminal determines that a target server is abnormal, it continuously sends a call signal containing specific information to the target server that is abnormal until it receives feedback information from the target server that is determined to be abnormal.

[0062] When a target server that has experienced an anomaly and has recovered receives and recognizes an elevator call signal containing specific information, it will only provide feedback information to the mobile terminal that sent the elevator call signal containing specific information.

[0063] The mobile terminal that determines that the target server is abnormal restores the target server's eligibility as an optional server for the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal.

Claims

1. An elevator calling system, comprising a server, an elevator, and a mobile terminal, wherein the mobile terminal receives elevator call signals registered by elevator users and sends them to the server, and the server generates a call command based on the received call signals and sends it to the elevator control device, characterized in that, The elevator includes a first elevator and a second elevator, and the server includes a first server and a second server; The mobile terminal generates a first elevator call signal directed to the first elevator and sends it to the target server corresponding to the first elevator. The mobile terminal generates a second elevator call signal directed to the second elevator and sends it to the target server corresponding to the second elevator. The target server is one of the first server and the second server. The target server generates an elevator call command corresponding to the received elevator call signal and sends it to the target control device, which is the control device of the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal. Each elevator has at least two optional servers that can be selected as target servers. The mobile terminal stores a pre-established first relationship table that reflects the correspondence between elevators and optional servers. The mobile terminal first determines the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal, then determines the optional server corresponding to the elevator call signal according to the first relationship table, and finally selects one of the optional servers as the target server. The server sends feedback to the mobile terminal about the target elevator information, indicating that the elevator call signal has been successfully registered. The server determines its load intensity based on its operating status and feeds back its load intensity to the mobile terminal. When the server malfunctions, it will no longer provide feedback information to the mobile terminal; the mobile terminal starts timing from the moment it sends the elevator call signal to the target server, and determines that the target server is malfunctioning if no feedback information is received after a given time; when the mobile terminal determines that the target server is malfunctioning, it will suspend the target server's eligibility as an optional server for the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal.

2. The elevator calling system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mobile terminal counts the total number of times each optional server is selected as the target server, or the number of times it is selected as the target server within a given time period, and then selects the optional server with the fewest selections as the target server.

3. The elevator calling system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mobile terminal calculates the registration success rate of each optional server based on the feedback results from the server, and then selects the optional server with the highest success rate as the target server.

4. The elevator calling system according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each elevator has at least two selectable servers that can be chosen as target servers; The mobile terminal stores a pre-established second relationship table that reflects the correspondence between elevators, optional servers and their priorities; The mobile terminal first determines the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal, then determines the available server corresponding to the elevator according to the second relationship table, and finally selects the available server with the highest priority as the target server.

5. The elevator calling system according to claim 4, characterized in that, When establishing the second relationship table, the mobile terminal determines the priority of the server based on the communication distance between the elevator or the mobile terminal and the optional server; The shorter the communication distance between the elevator or mobile terminal and the optional server, the higher the priority of the optional server; The longer the communication distance between the elevator or mobile terminal and the optional server, the lower the priority of the optional server.

6. The elevator calling system according to claim 4, characterized in that, The mobile terminal adjusts the priority of the optional server based on its operational status.

7. The elevator calling system according to claim 6, characterized in that, The mobile terminal accumulates the total number of times each optional server is selected as a target server or counts the number of times each optional server is selected as a target server within a given time period, and adjusts the priority of each optional server according to the number of times, so that the optional server with the fewer times has a higher priority.

8. The elevator calling system according to claim 6, characterized in that, The server feeds back to the mobile terminal the target elevator information that the elevator call signal has been successfully registered; the mobile terminal counts the registration success rate of each optional server and adjusts its priority according to the registration success rate, so that the optional server with the higher success rate has a higher priority.

9. The elevator calling system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The server determines its load intensity based on its operating status and feeds back its load intensity to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal selects the server with the lowest load intensity among the available servers as the target server.

10. The elevator calling system according to claim 9, characterized in that, The server accumulates the total number of times it has been selected as a target server or counts the number of times it has been selected as a target server within a given time period, and uses the number of times as its load intensity.

11. The elevator calling system according to any one of claims 3 or 8 to 10, characterized in that, The server provides feedback information to the mobile terminal at any time between receiving the elevator call signal from the mobile terminal and completing the elevator call command transmission, so that the mobile terminal can use it when it receives the elevator call signal again.

12. The elevator calling system according to claim 1, characterized in that, When the mobile terminal determines that the target server is abnormal, it continuously sends a call signal containing specific information to the target server that is abnormal until it receives feedback information from the target server that is determined to be abnormal. When a target server that has experienced an anomaly and has recovered receives and recognizes an elevator call signal containing specific information, it will only provide feedback information to the mobile terminal that sent the elevator call signal containing specific information. The mobile terminal that determines that the target server is abnormal restores the target server's eligibility as an optional server for the elevator corresponding to the elevator call signal.