Elevator control device, elevator control system and elevator control method

Abstract

To improve elevator operation efficiency by enabling an autonomous mobile body riding on a departure floor to smoothly move to a target floor in a short time when the autonomous mobile body uses a double deck type elevator.SOLUTION: An elevator control device according to an embodiment includes: an information processing unit by which, when landing call information in which a departure floor and a destination floor designating a target floor are designated is received from the autonomous mobile body and if the departure floor is a floor on which only one of the upper car and the lower car can land and, in addition, the destination floor is a floor on which only the other of the upper car and the lower car can land, first call information in which an intermediate floor between the departure floor and the destination floor is designated as the departure floor and second call information in which the intermediate floor is designated as the departure floor and the target floor is designated as the destination floor are generated based on the landing call information; an allocation unit that allocates the same elevator to the first call information and the second call information; and a transmission unit that transmits the first call information and the second call information to a control panel of an assigned elevator.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] An embodiment of the present invention relates to an elevator control device, an elevator control system, and an elevator control method. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent elevator control systems, autonomous mobile objects such as robots are operated by having them ride in elevator cars to perform various tasks and move to a destination floor, etc. In addition, so-called double-deck elevators in which two cars are connected vertically have been known. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6569819 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2-193878 [Patent Document 3] JP 2002-173272 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, an autonomous mobile body that boards a lower car at a floor where only the lower car lands, such as the lowest floor, cannot get off at a floor where only the upper car lands, such as the top floor. For this reason, for example, the autonomous mobile body must get off at a floor one floor lower than the top floor where the lower car lands and generate call information again specifying the top floor as the destination floor, which may lengthen the travel time of the autonomous mobile body to the destination floor and reduce elevator operation efficiency.

[0005] One of the objectives of this embodiment is to provide an elevator control device, elevator control system, and elevator control method that, when an autonomous moving body uses a double-deck elevator, enables an autonomous moving body that boards at a departure floor to move smoothly to a destination floor in a short time, thereby improving elevator operation efficiency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An elevator control device of an embodiment is an elevator control device that controls the raising and lowering of a car, which is composed of an upper car and a lower car connected vertically, and can accommodate an autonomous moving body that can move autonomously within an elevator hoistway.The elevator control device includes: a call information processing unit that, when receiving hall call information from the autonomous moving body, specifying a departure floor and a destination floor specifying a target floor, and when the departure floor is a floor where only one of the upper car or the lower car can land and the destination floor is a floor where only the other of the upper car or the lower car can land, generates first call information based on the hall call information, with an intermediate floor between the departure floor and the destination floor as the destination floor, and second call information that specifies the intermediate floor as the departure floor and the target floor as the destination floor; an allocation unit that allocates elevators of the same car to the first call information and the second call information; and a transmission unit that transmits the first call information and the second call information to a control panel of the assigned elevator. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an overall configuration of an elevator control system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the robot according to the embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server in a robot cloud according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server in the elevator cloud according to the embodiment. [Diagram 5]FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hall call information, the first call information, and the second call information according to the embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the controller according to the embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a control panel according to the embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the robot management DB according to the embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the movement of a car in the embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the flow of the elevator control process at the time of boarding according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0009] (Embodiment) Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment mainly includes control panels 100A, 100B provided for elevators 2A, 2B, controllers 150A, 150B provided for elevators 2A, 2B, a control room 160, a server 210 in an elevator cloud 200, a server 310 in a robot cloud 300, and a monitoring center 400.

[0010] In this embodiment, two elevators 2A, 2B are installed in a building 3 such as an office building or an apartment building. The elevators 2A, 2B each have a car 50A, 50B in the hoistway 20A, 20B. In addition, each hoistway 20A, 20B also has a hoist and a counterweight (not shown). The cars 50A, 50B and the counterweight are supported so as to be able to rise and fall on a pair of guide rails (not shown) erected in the hoistway 20A, 20B, respectively, and rise and fall via ropes.

[0011] The car 50A has an upper car 50Aa and a lower car Ab connected vertically. In addition to the user 5A, a robot 500A serving as an autonomous moving body can also ride in each of the upper car 50Aa and the lower car Ab. The car 50B has an upper car 50Ba and a lower car Bb connected vertically. In addition to the user, a robot 500B serving as an autonomous moving body can also ride in each of the upper car 50Ba and the lower car Bb. In this way, both of the elevators 2A and 2B of this embodiment are so-called double-deck elevators.

[0012] The upper cars 50Aa, 50Ba and the lower cars 50Ab, 50Bb are provided with operation panels 4A, 4B, cameras 7A, 7B, and load sensors 8A, 8B, respectively. The operation panels 4A and 4B receive various operations from users and issue various notifications to the upper cars 50Aa and 50Ba and the lower cars 50Ab and 50Bb. The operation panels 4A and 4B are provided with push buttons, non-contact sensors, speakers, liquid crystal displays, etc. (all not shown) for specifying destination floors and opening and closing the doors of the upper cars 50Aa and 50Ba and the lower cars 50Ab and 50Bb. The operation panels 4A and 4B are also connected to the control panels 100A and 100B by wire or wirelessly. When the users 5A and 5B press the destination floor push button or when a non-contact sensor detects the destination floor, a destination floor call is sent to the control panels 100A and 100B.

[0013] The cameras 7A and 7B photograph the interiors of the upper cars 50Aa and 50Ba and the lower cars 50Ab and 50Bb, and transmit the captured images to the control panels 100A and 100B. When the doors of the upper cars 50Aa and 50Ba and the lower cars 50Ab and 50Bb are open at the platform, the cameras 7A and 7B are capable of capturing images of the platform and transmit the captured images to the control panels 100A and 100B.

[0014] The load sensors 8A and 8B are provided on the bottom surfaces of the upper cages 50Aa and 50Ba and the lower cages 50Ab and 50Bb, and detect the weights of the upper cages 50Aa and 50Ba and the lower cages 50Ab and 50Bb. When a user 5A or a robot 500A or 500B is in the upper cages 50Aa and 50Ba or the lower cages 50Ab and 50Bb, the load sensors 8A and 8B detect the weights of the upper cages 50Aa and 50Ba and the lower cages 50Ab and 50Bb themselves, as well as the weight of the user 5A and the robots 500A and 500B. The load sensors 8A and 8B send the detected weights as detection signals to the control panels 100A and 100B.

[0015] Control panels 100A, 100B and controllers 150A, 150B are provided inside the elevator shafts 20A, 20B, respectively. The control panels 100A, 100B are connected wirelessly or by wire to operation panels 4A, 4B provided in the elevator cars 50A, 50B.

[0016] The control panels 100A and 100B control the operation of the cars 50A and 50B in the elevators 2A and 2B, respectively. The control panels 100A and 100B are connected to the controllers 150A and 150B, respectively, by wire or wirelessly.

[0017] Each of the controllers 150A, 150B is connected to a server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 via a network. The controllers 150A, 150B are intermediate devices having an interface function and a hub function for controlling communication between the control panels 100A, 100B and the server 210, and for intermediate various signals exchanged between the control panels 100A, 100B and the server 210. Details of the control panels 100A, 100B and the controllers 150A, 150B will be described later.

[0018] The manager of building 3 sits in the control room 160 and issues various instructions to the control panels 100A and 100B. The manager of the control room 160 also receives various instructions by e-mail or the like from the control panels 100A and 100B via a PC or terminal device.

[0019] The server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 issues various controls for the cars 50A, 50B of the elevators 2A, 2B to the control panels 100A, 100B via the controllers 150A, 150B, and receives various requests and data from the control panels 100A, 100B via the controllers 150A, 150B. The server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 is connected to a monitoring center 400 (an in-house server) and a server 310 in the robot cloud 300 via a network. The server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 is an example of an elevator control device.

[0020] In this embodiment, when the server 210 receives call information, if the call information is transmitted from the robot 500 and the cars 50A, 50B are of a double-deck type elevator 2, it generates first call information and second call information from the call information and performs a process of assigning the elevator number of the elevator 2.

[0021] An in-house server (not shown) is installed in the monitoring center 400. The in-house server is a server installed in an affiliated company of the elevator 11, and collects information required for maintenance management and remote monitoring of the elevator 2 from the elevators 2A and 2B. This allows a maintenance person to deal with the occurring malfunction by referring to the information required for maintenance management collected in the in-house server of the monitoring center 400 when a function or service is executed through the elevator cloud 200, and it is also possible to access the in-house server of the monitoring center 400 as necessary to refer to building and elevator information, or for the maintenance person to obtain information required for elevator management.

[0022] The server 310 in the robot cloud 300 receives call information, various requests, and various data from the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200. The server 310 in the robot cloud 300 is connected to multiple robots 500A, 500B, and 500C in the building 3 via a network, and transmits various instructions to each of the multiple robots 500A, 500B, and 500C. The server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 and the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 will be described in detail later.

[0023] The number of elevators is not limited to two, and may be one, or three or more elevators may be provided in the building 3. Therefore, the number of elevator shafts 20A, 20B, cars 50A, 50B, control panels 100A, 100B, and controllers 150A, 150B also varies according to the number of elevators 2A, 2B. Here, when the two elevators 2A, 2B, the two elevator shafts 20A, 20B, the two cars 50A, 50B, the two control panels 100A, 100B, and the two controllers 150A, 150B are not distinguished from one another, they are referred to as the elevator 2, the elevator shaft 20, the car 50, the control panel 100, and the controller 150.

[0024] Moreover, when the upper car 50Aa of the car 50A and the upper car 50Ba of the car 50B are not distinguished from each other, they are referred to as the upper car 50a, and when the lower car 50Ab of the car 50A and the lower car 50Bb of the car 50B are not distinguished from each other, they are referred to as the lower car 50b. Furthermore, when the operation panels 4A and 4B, the cameras 7A and 7B, and the load sensors 8A and 8B are not distinguished from each other, they are referred to as the operation panel 4, the camera 7, and the load sensor 8.

[0025] Next, the robot 500 will be described. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a robot 500 according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the robot 500 mainly includes a camera 506, various sensors 505, a control unit 501, a communication unit 502, a driving unit 503, and a storage unit 510.

[0026] The camera 506 captures images of the surroundings of the robot 500 and transmits the captured images to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300. The robot 500 may be configured to further transmit the captured images to the control panel 100.

[0027] The various sensors 505 include, for example, a human sensor, an acceleration sensor, a load sensor, and the like, but are not limited to these.

[0028] The storage unit 510 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM or a RAM. A robot basic program 511 is stored in the storage unit 510. The robot basic program 511 is a program received from the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 and stored in the storage unit 510.

[0029] The robot basic program 521 is a program that defines the operation of the robot 500 in the elevator 2. For example, the robot basic program 521 defines processes such as cleaning and inspection of the elevator 2. In addition, in the robot basic program 521, a destination floor for the robot 500 to disembark is defined for each robot 500.

[0030] The communication unit 502 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the robot 500 and the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 . In this embodiment, the communication unit 502 transmits to the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 hall call information specifying the departure floor, the destination floor which is the destination floor, and the fact that the type is a robot.

[0031] The driving unit 503 drives the robot 500 to move. The control unit 501 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU). During normal operation of the elevator 2, the control unit 501 reads and executes a robot basic program 511 from the storage unit 510, thereby executing various operations in the elevator 2.

[0032] The above configuration of the robot 500 is just an example, and the robot 500 may further include an audio output unit such as a speaker and an input unit such as a touch panel.

[0033] Next, the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a server 310 in a robot cloud 300 according to an embodiment. The server 310 mainly includes a control unit 311, a communication unit 312, and a storage unit 320 as a typical computer configuration.

[0034] The storage unit 320 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM, a RAM, etc. The storage unit 320 stores a robot basic program 321 and a robot operation control program 325.

[0035] The robot basic program 321 is a program that defines the operation of the robot 500 in the elevator 2. For example, the robot basic program 321 defines processes such as cleaning and inspection of the elevator 2. In addition, in the robot basic program 321, a destination floor for the robot 500 to disembark is defined for each robot 500.

[0036] The robot operation control program 325 is a program to be transmitted to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 in response to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, and is stored as robot operation control programs 115, 225 stored in the memory unit 110 of the control panel 100 described below and the memory unit 220 of the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200.

[0037] The communication unit 312 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the server 310 and the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, and communication processing between the server 310 and the robot 500.

[0038] In this embodiment, the communication unit 312 receives platform call information from the robot 500 and transmits the received platform call information to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200.

[0039] The control unit 311 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU). The control unit 311 controls various elevator-related processes for the robot 500. In this embodiment, the control unit 311 transmits the robot operation control program 325 stored in the storage unit 320 to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 in response to a request from the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200. In addition, when the robot operation control program 325 is updated, the control unit 311 transmits an update program for the robot operation control program 325 to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200.

[0040] In response to a request from the robot 500, the control unit 311 transmits the robot basic program 321 stored in the storage unit 320 to the robot 500. In addition, when the robot basic program 321 is updated, the control unit 311 transmits an update program for the robot basic program 321 to the robot 500.

[0041] Next, the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 will be described. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 according to the embodiment. The server 210 mainly includes a control unit 211, a communication unit 212, and a storage unit 220 as a typical computer configuration.

[0042] The storage unit 220 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM, a RAM, etc. The storage unit 220 stores a travel control program 222 and a robot operation control program 225.

[0043] The operation control program 222 and the robot operation control program 225 are update programs for each program stored in the storage unit 110 of the control panel 100. Note that, for each of the operation control program 222 and the robot operation control program 225, different programs may be prepared for each building 3 and each elevator 2.

[0044] The communication unit 212 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the server 210 and the controller 150, and communication processing between the server 210 and the server 310 in the robot cloud 300.

[0045] In this embodiment, the communication unit 212 receives the hall call information generated by the robot 500 from the server 310 in the robot cloud 300. The communication unit 212 also transmits the first call information and the second call information generated from the hall call information by a call information processing unit 2111 described later, and an allocation instruction, to the controller 150 of the elevator 2 allocated by an allocation unit 2112 described later.

[0046] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hall call information, the first call information, and the second call information according to the embodiment. As shown in Fig. 5, the platform call information is composed of a type, a departure floor, and a destination floor. The type is the type of the issuer of the platform call information, and is set to either a user or a robot. The departure floor is the floor where the user or robot specified by the type boards the car 50. The destination floor is the destination floor where the user or robot specified by the type disembarks from the car 50. Here, the platform call information is sometimes referred to as a platform call registration. FIG. 5 shows an example of call information in which the robot 500 starts from the lowest floor, the first floor, and the destination floor, the eighth floor.

[0047] Returning to Fig. 4, the control unit 211 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU). When the operation control program 222 and the robot operation control program 225 are updated, the control unit 211 transmits them to the control panel 100 via the controller 150. When the robot operation control program 225 is updated, the control unit 211 receives the updated robot operation control program 225 from the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 and stores it in the storage unit 220.

[0048] As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 211 includes a call information processing unit 2111 and an allocation unit 2112. When the call information processing unit 2111 receives the platform call information via the communication unit 212, and when the departure floor is a floor where only one of the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b can land, and the destination floor is a floor where only the other of the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b can land, the call information processing unit 2111 generates the first call information and the second call information based on the platform call information. Here, the call information processing unit 2111 generates the first call information and the second call information from the platform call information at the time when the platform call information is received via the communication unit 212, that is, at the stage when the robot 500 transmits the platform call information.

[0049] Here, the first call information is call information in which an intermediate floor between the departure floor and the destination floor specified in the platform call information is specified as the destination floor. The second call information is call information in which the intermediate floor is specified as the departure floor and the destination floor, which is the destination floor specified in the platform call information, is specified as the destination floor. The structure of the first call information and the second call information is composed of a type, a departure floor, and a destination floor, similar to the platform call information.

[0050] In this embodiment, "one of the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b" is referred to as the lower car 50b, and "the other of the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b" is referred to as the upper car 50a.In addition, in this embodiment, the departure floor at which only the lower car 50b can land is referred to as the lowest floor, and the destination floor at which only the other upper car 50a can land is referred to as the top floor.Then, the intermediate floor is referred to as the floor one floor below the top floor (hereinafter referred to as the "top floor - 1 floor").

[0051] In addition to an example of the platform call information, Fig. 5 also shows examples of the first call information and the second call information generated from the platform call information. In the example shown in Fig. 5, the departure floor is the lowest floor, 1st floor, and the top floor is the 8th floor. Therefore, the intermediate floor, 1st floor minus the top floor, is the 7th floor. That is, in the example of Fig. 5, the call information processing unit 2111 sets the types of the first call information and the second call information to the robot. The call information processing unit 2111 generates the first call information with the departure floor being the lowest floor, the 1st floor, and the destination floor being the intermediate floor, the 7th floor, which is the floor obtained by subtracting one floor from the top floor, which is the destination floor (target floor) of the call information (i.e., the top floor - 1st floor). The call information processing unit 2111 generates the second call information with the departure floor being the intermediate floor, the 7th floor, which is the top floor - 1st floor, which is the destination floor (target floor) of the call information, and the destination floor being the 8th floor, which is the top floor, which is the destination floor (target floor) of the call information.

[0052] The allocation unit 2112 allocates an elevator of the same car to the first call information and the second call information generated by the call information processing unit 2111. For this reason, the robot 500 that gets off at an intermediate floor based on the first call information only needs to wait for the car 50 of the elevator 2 of the same car in order to move to the destination floor based on the second call information, and therefore does not need to move to the elevator 2 of a different car at the landing.

[0053] Next, the controller 150 will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the controller 150 according to the embodiment.

[0054] As shown in FIG. 6, the controller 150 mainly includes a control unit 151, a communication unit 152, and a storage unit 155 as a typical computer configuration.

[0055] The control unit 151 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU), and controls the operation of the communication unit 152 . The memory unit 155 is composed of a storage medium (i.e., a memory device) such as a ROM or RAM, and temporarily stores the operation control program 112, the robot operation control program 115, and update programs for updating these programs, which are stored in the control panel 100.

[0056] The communication unit 152 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the control panel 100 and the controller 40, and communication processing between the controller 150 and the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200. For example, when the communication unit 152 receives an operation signal transmitted from the control panel 100, it transmits the operation signal to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200.

[0057] In this embodiment, the communication unit 152 receives first call information and second call information from the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, and transmits the received first call information and second call information to the control panel 100.

[0058] Next, the control panel 100 will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the control board 100 according to the embodiment. The control panel 100 has a typical computer configuration, and mainly includes a control unit 120, a communication unit 102, and a storage unit 110, as shown in FIG.

[0059] 7, the control panel 100 is connected to a fire sensor 103, a seismometer 104, a load sensor 8, and a camera 7 by wire or wirelessly. The fire sensor 103 and the seismometer 104 are provided, for example, in the car 50 or in the elevator shafts 20A and 20B. The load sensors 8 (8A, 8B) are provided in the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b of the car 50 as described above. The camera 7 is provided near the ceilings of the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b so as to be able to capture images of the interior of the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b, and the landing when the doors of the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b are open.

[0060] The fire sensor 103 detects the occurrence of a fire in the elevator 2 and sends a detection signal to the control unit 120. The seismometer 104 detects the occurrence of an earthquake and sends a detection signal to the control unit 120. Here, the detection signal indicating the occurrence of a fire is also called a fire control signal. Moreover, the detection signal indicating the occurrence of an earthquake is also called an earthquake control signal.

[0061] The storage unit 110 is a storage medium (i.e., a memory device) such as a ROM or a RAM. The storage unit 110 stores a robot management database 111 (hereinafter referred to as the “robot management DB 111”), a robot operation control program 112, and a robot operation control program 115. The memory unit 110 also stores the weight of the car 50 itself and the weight of the car 50 when the robot 500 is riding in the car 50.

[0062] The robot management DB 111 is a database for managing the robots 500 that use the elevator 2. The robot management DB 111 is a database that associates a robot ID, weight, riding state, and car information. Here, the robot ID is information for identifying the robot 500. The weight is the weight of the robot 500 of the robot ID. The riding state is information indicating whether the robot 500 of the robot ID is currently riding in the car 50. The car information is information indicating whether the car 50 in which the robot 500 of the robot ID is currently riding is the upper car 50a or the lower car 50b.

[0063] Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of the robot management DB 111 according to the embodiment. The example in Fig. 8 shows that the robot 500 with the robot ID "A001" is riding in the lower car 50b of the car 50, and the weight of the robot 500 is "xx kg". Also, it shows that the robot 500 with the robot ID "A002" is not riding in the car 50 (for example, at the boarding area), and the weight of the robot 500 is "yy kg".

[0064] The robot 500 notifies the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 of its own status together with its robot ID at regular intervals or when the riding status changes, and stores the robot status in the robot management DB 111. The server 310 in the robot cloud 300 that receives the notification then notifies the control panel 100 of the robot ID, the current riding status, and the current car information via the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 and the controller 150, and the control unit 120 registers them in the record of the corresponding robot ID in the robot management DB 111.

[0065] Returning to Fig. 7, the operation control program 112 is a program that realizes the main functions required for the operation control of the elevator 2. Here, the main functions include, for example, a function for driving and controlling the hoisting machine, a safety function for controlling the speed of the car 50, a function for controlling the opening and closing of the doors of the car 50, a function for controlling the lighting of the car 50, a function for registering hall calls and destination floor calls (also called car calls) based on call information, and the like.

[0066] The robot operation control program 115 is a function that realizes robot operation control, that is, operation control of the elevator 2 when the robot 500 uses the elevator 2. Robot operation refers to a situation in which the elevator is operated with the robot 500 on board under either of the operating conditions of robot-only operation or non-robot-only operation. Robot-only operation is operation in which only the robot 500 is on board the car 50. Non-robot-only operation is operation in which the robot 500 and the user 5 are on board together in the car 50. The robot operation control program 115 is configured to be able to realize control of robot-only operation and control of non-robot-only operation.

[0067] The communication unit 102 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the control panel 100 and the controller 150. The communication unit 102 also transmits and receives various instructions and notifications to and from a mobile terminal or a PC of a manager in the control room 160. In this embodiment, the communication unit 102 receives first call information and second call information from the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150.

[0068] The control unit 120 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU) and mainly includes an operation control unit 121 and a robot operation control unit 122, as shown in FIG.

[0069] The control unit 120 reads out the operation control program 112 and the robot operation control program 115 from the storage unit 110 and executes them, thereby generating an operation control unit 121 and a robot operation control unit 122 on the main memory.

[0070] The robot operation control unit 122 executes a function to realize operation control of the elevator 2 when the robot 500 uses the elevator 2. Specifically, the robot operation control unit 122 executes control of robot-only operation in which only the robot 500 rides in the car 50 and operates the elevator 2, and control of non-robot-only operation in which the robot 500 and the user 5 can ride in the car 50 together and operate the elevator 2. The robot operation control unit 122 stores in the memory unit 110 whether the robot-only operation or non-robot-only operation has been executed.

[0071] In addition, elevators 2 dedicated to robot operation and elevators 2 not dedicated to robot operation may be installed together in the building 3.

[0072] The operation control unit 121 performs the main functions required for controlling the operation of the elevator 2, such as a function to drive and control the hoist, a safety function such as controlling the speed of the car 50, a function to control the opening and closing of the doors of the car 50, a function to control the lighting of the car 50, and a function to register hall calls and destination floor calls based on call information.

[0073] In this embodiment, when the communication unit 102 receives first call information and second call information from the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150, the operation control unit 121 first moves the elevator car 50 based on the first call information.

[0074] Specifically, the operation control unit 121 moves the elevator car 50 so that the lower car 50b lands at the departure floor specified in the first call information, opens the door of the lower car 50b, and allows the robot 500 at the landing to board the lower car 50b. When the robot 500 boards the lower car 50b, the operation control unit 121 closes the door of the lower car 50b. Hereinafter, opening the door will be referred to as "opening the door" and closing the door will be referred to as "closing the door".

[0075] Then, the operation control unit 121 moves the elevator car 50 so that the lower car 50b lands on the intermediate floor specified as the destination floor in the first call information. Then, after the lower car 50b lands on the intermediate floor as the destination floor, the operation control unit 121 opens the door of the lower car 50b, allows the robot 500 to disembark, and then closes the door.

[0076] Next, the operation control unit 121 moves the car 50 based on the second call information. Specifically, the operation control unit 121 moves the car 50 so that the upper car 50a lands on the intermediate floor, which is the departure floor, specified by the second call information, and opens the door. When the robot 500 at the boarding area gets on the upper car 50a, the operation control unit 121 closes the door and moves the car 50 so that the upper car 50a lands on the destination floor (i.e., the target floor) specified by the second call information. After that, the operation control unit 121 opens the door of the upper car 50a.

[0077] A specific operation will be described below with reference to FIG. Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the movement operation of the car 50 in the embodiment. Fig. 9 shows an example of an elevator 2 from the lowest floor 1 to the highest floor 8. Fig. 9 also shows an example in which the hall call information shown in Fig. 5 is transmitted from the robot 500, and the first call information and the second call information shown in Fig. 5 are generated by the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200.

[0078] As shown in Figure 9(a), the operation control unit 121 moves the elevator car 50 so that the lower car 50b lands at 1F, which is the departure floor specified in the first call information, opens the door of the lower car 50b, and allows the robot 500 at the platform to board the lower car 50b.

[0079] When the robot 500 gets on the lower car 50b, the operation control unit 121 closes the door of the lower car 50b as shown in FIG. 9(b), and moves the car 50 so that the lower car 50b lands on the 7th floor, which is an intermediate floor between the top floor and the 1st floor, specified as the destination floor in the first call information. That is, at this time, the upper car 50a has arrived at the 8th floor, which is the top floor. Then, the operation control unit 121 opens the door of the lower car 50b, allows the robot 500 to disembark, and then closes the door. The disembarked robot 500 waits motionless at the location of the boarding area where the robot disembarked.

[0080] Next, as shown in Fig. 9(c), the operation control unit 121 moves the upper car 50 down by one floor and opens the door so that the upper car 50a lands on the seventh floor, which is the departure floor specified by the second call information. Then, the robot 500 waiting at the landing gets on the upper car 50a.

[0081] When the robot 500 at the platform gets on the upper car 50a, the operation control unit 121 closes the door and moves the upper car 50a up by one floor so that the upper car 50a lands on the top floor, the eighth floor, which is the destination floor (i.e., the destination floor) specified by the second call information. After that, the operation control unit 121 opens the door of the upper car 50a. This allows the robot 500 in the upper car 50a to get off at the top floor, the eighth floor, which is the destination floor, as shown in FIG. 9(d).

[0082] Next, an elevator control process performed by the elevator control system 1 according to the embodiment configured as above will be described. Fig. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of an elevator control process according to an embodiment. In Fig. 10, it is assumed that the top floor is the eighth floor, and the hall call information, the first call information, and the second call information shown in Fig. 5 are used.

[0083] It is assumed that the elevator 2 is in operation (S101). Also, it is assumed that the control panel 100 is executing robot operation (S102). Here, either robot-dedicated operation or non-robot-dedicated operation may be performed.

[0084] At this time, the robot 500 at the platform transmits platform call information specifying the departure floor, the destination floor (i.e., the destination floor) and the type "robot" to the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 (S103).

[0085] When the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 receives the platform call information from the robot 500, the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 transmits the received platform call information to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 (S104).

[0086] In the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, when the communication unit 212 receives the hall call information from the server 310 in the robot cloud 300, the call information processing unit 2111 executes the call information processing to generate the first call information and the second call information from the hall call information as described above (S105). Then, the allocation unit 2112 allocates the elevator 2 that moves the car 50 based on the first call information and the elevator 2 that moves the car 50 based on the second call information to the same elevator (S106). Next, in the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, the communication unit 212 transmits the first call information, the second call information, and an allocation instruction to the controller 150 of the elevator 2 allocated by the allocation unit 2112 (S107).

[0087] When the controller 150 receives the first call information, the second call information, and the allocation instruction from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, it transmits the received first call information, the second call information, and the allocation instruction to the control panel 100 (S108).

[0088] In the control panel 100, when the first call information, the second call information, and the allocation instruction are received from the controller 150, the operation control unit 121 first sends a movement instruction to the elevator 2 (the car 50) based on the first call information (S109). Specifically, the operation control unit 121 drives the car 50. As a result, in the elevator 2, the car 50 moves to the lowest floor, the first floor, which is the departure floor specified by the first call information (S110). As a result, the lower car 50b lands on the first floor, and the upper car 50a lands on the second floor. Then, the control panel 100 opens the door of the lower car 50b, and the robot 500 at the landing gets on the lower car 50b (S111). After that, the door of the lower car 50b closes.

[0089] Next, the elevator car 50 moves the lower car 50b upward to the destination floor specified in the first call information minus one floor, i.e., the 7th floor (S112). At this time, the upper car 50a lands on the 8th floor, which is the top floor. Then, the control panel 100 opens the door of the lower car 50b, and the robot 500 in the lower car 50b disembarks from the lower car 50b (S113). The door of the lower car 50b is then closed. The disembarking robot 500 waits at the location of the platform where it disembarked.

[0090] Next, the control panel 100 sends a movement command to the car 50 based on the second call information (S114), and causes the car 50 to descend by one floor (S115). That is, the upper car 50a moves to the departure floor designated by the second call information, which is the top floor minus one floor, i.e., the seventh floor. Then, the control panel 100 opens the door of the upper car 50a, and the robot 500 waiting at the boarding area gets on the upper car 50a (S116). After that, the door of the upper car 50a closes.

[0091] Next, the control panel 100 sends a movement command to the car 50 based on the second call information (S117), and raises the car 50 by one floor (S118). That is, the upper car 50a moves to the top floor, i.e., the eighth floor, which is the destination floor specified by the second call information. Then, the control panel 100 opens the door of the upper car 50a, and the robot 500 in the upper car 50a gets off (S119).

[0092] In this manner, in this embodiment, the robot 500 transmits platform call information, in which the departure floor and the destination floor are specified, to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, and the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives the platform call information from the robot 500 and transmits the received platform call information to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200. The server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 is provided with: a call information processing unit 2111 which, when receiving hall call information from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, generates, based on the hall call information, first call information specifying an intermediate floor between the departure floor and the destination floor as the destination floor and second call information specifying the intermediate floor as the departure floor and the target floor as the destination floor, when the departure floor is a floor at which only one of the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b can land and the destination floor is a floor at which only the other of the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b can land; an allocation unit 2112 which allocates an elevator of the same car to the first call information and the second call information; and a communication unit 212 which transmits the first call information and the second call information to the control panel 100 of the assigned elevator 2 via the controller 150. When the control panel 100 receives first call information and second call information from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, it moves the elevator car based on the first call information, and then moves the elevator car 50 based on the second call information.

[0093] Specifically, in this embodiment, when the control panel 100 receives the first call information and the second call information from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the control panel 100 moves the elevator 50 so that one of the elevators 50 lands on the departure floor specified in the first call information, and after one of the elevators 50 lands on the departure floor, the control panel 100 moves the elevator 50 so that one of the elevators 50 lands on the intermediate floor as the destination floor specified in the first call information, and the control panel 100 moves the elevator 50 so that the other of the elevators 50 lands on the intermediate floor as the departure floor specified in the second call information, and after the other lands on the intermediate floor, the control panel 100 moves the elevator 50 so that the other lands on the destination floor as the destination floor specified in the second call information. Also, in this embodiment, the departure floor is the lowest floor, the destination floor is the top floor, and the intermediate floor is the top floor minus 1.

[0094] That is, according to this embodiment, the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 generates the first information and the second information from the hall call information at the stage when the hall call information is issued. Then, the server 210 assigns the elevator 2 of the car 50 moving based on the first call information and the elevator 2 of the car 50 moving based on the second call information as the same elevator number. Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the robot 500 uses the double-deck type elevator 2, the robot 500 only needs to wait for the arrival of the car 50 of the same elevator 2 after getting off at an intermediate floor, so it only needs to wait at the location of the hall where it got off. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the robot 500 that boarded at the departure floor can move to the destination floor in a short time and smoothly, and the elevator operation efficiency can be improved.

[0095] (Modification) There are various modifications to the above embodiment. In the above embodiment, the intermediate floor is the top floor minus one floor, but this is not limited to this. Any floor can be the intermediate floor as long as it is a floor on which both the upper car 50a and the lower car 50b can land.

[0096] In this case, the intermediate floor may also be a destination floor specified by another hall call.

[0097] In the above embodiment, the floor on which only the lower car 50b can land is defined as the lowest floor, but if there are other floors on which only the lower car 50b can land, such as a double-deck system, this is not limited to the lowest floor.

[0098] In the above embodiment, the floor on which only the upper car 50a can land is defined as the top floor, but if there are other floors on which only the upper car 50a can land due to a double-deck system or the like, this is not limited to the top floor.

[0099] In addition, in the above embodiment, the lowest floor is the first floor and the top floor is the eighth floor, but the lowest floor is not limited to the first floor, and the top floor is not limited to the eighth floor.

[0100] In the above embodiment, the case where the elevator car 50 moves upward has been described as an example, but the present invention can also be applied to the case where the elevator car 50 moves downward. In this case, the departure floor can be the top floor, and the destination floor can be the bottom floor. Furthermore, in this case, the intermediate floor can be one floor above the bottom floor (bottom floor + 1 floor).

[0101] Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and spirit of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0102] 1...Elevator control system, 2, 2A, 2B...Elevator, 3...Building, 4, 4A, 4B...Operation panel, 5A...User, 7, 7A, 7B...Camera, 8, 8A, 8B...Load sensor, 20, 20A, 20B...Hoistway, 50, 50A, 50B...Cab, 50a, 50Aa, 50Ba...Upper cage, 50b, 50Ab, 50Bb...Lower cage, 100, 100A, 100B...Control panel, 120, 151, 211, 311, 501...Control unit, 102, 152, 212, 312, 502...Communication unit, 103...Fire sensor, 104...Seismometer, 110, 155, 220, 320 ,510...memory unit, 111...robot management DB, 112,222...operation control program, 115,225,325...robot operation control program, 121...operation control unit, 122...robot operation control unit, 150,150A,150B...controller, 160...control room, 200...elevator cloud, 210...server (elevator control device), 300...robot cloud, 310...server, 321,511...robot basic program, 500,500A,500B,500C...robot, 503...drive unit, 2111...call information processing unit, 2112...allocation unit.

Claims

1. An elevator control device that controls the elevation and descent of a car in which an autonomous mobile body capable of autonomously moving in an elevator shaft can ride and in which an upper car and a lower car are connected vertically, a call information processing unit that, when receiving from the autonomous moving body hall call information specifying a departure floor and a destination floor specifying a target floor, generates, based on the hall call information, first call information specifying an intermediate floor between the departure floor and the destination floor as the destination floor, and second call information specifying the intermediate floor as the departure floor and the target floor as the destination floor, when the departure floor is a floor at which only one of the upper car and the lower car can land and the destination floor is a floor at which only the other of the upper car and the lower car can land; an allocation unit that allocates an elevator of the same car to the first call information and the second call information; a transmitting unit that transmits the first call information and the second call information to a control panel of the assigned elevator; An elevator control device comprising:

2. The departure floor is the lowest floor, The destination floor is the top floor.

2. The elevator control device according to claim 1.

3. The intermediate floor is one floor below the top floor. The elevator control device according to claim 2.

4. The departure floor is the top floor, The destination floor is the lowest floor.

2. The elevator control device according to claim 1.

5. The intermediate floor is one floor above the lowest floor.

5. The elevator control device according to claim 4.

6. The intermediate floor is the destination floor specified in another destination floor call, 5. An elevator control device according to claim 2 or 4.

7. An elevator control system comprising: an elevator control device that controls the elevation and descent of a car that is capable of autonomously moving within an elevator shaft and has an upper car and a lower car connected vertically; a control panel that is connected to the elevator control device via a network and controls the elevator based on instructions from the elevator control device; the autonomous moving body; and an autonomous moving body server that is connected to the autonomous moving body and the elevator control device via a network, The autonomous mobile body transmits hall call information, in which a departure floor and a destination floor that specifies a destination floor are specified, to the autonomous mobile body server; the autonomous mobile body server receives the hall call information from the autonomous mobile body, and transmits the received hall call information to the elevator control device; The elevator control device includes: A receiving unit that receives the hall call information from the autonomous mobile object server; a call information processing unit which, when receiving the hall call information, generates, when the departure floor is a floor at which only one of the upper car or the lower car can land and the destination floor is a floor at which only the other of the upper car or the lower car can land, first call information that specifies an intermediate floor between the departure floor and the destination floor as the destination floor, and second call information that specifies the intermediate floor as the departure floor and the target floor as the destination floor, based on the hall call information; an allocation unit that allocates an elevator of the same car to the first call information and the second call information; a transmitting unit that transmits the first call information and the second call information to a control panel of the assigned elevator, When the control panel receives the first call information and the second call information from the elevator control device, the control panel moves the car based on the first call information, and then moves the car based on the second call information. Elevator control system.

8. when the control panel receives the first call information and the second call information from the elevator control device, the control panel moves the one of the cars so that it lands on the departure floor specified in the first call information, moves the one of the cars so that it lands on the intermediate floor as the destination floor specified in the first call information after the one of the cars lands on the departure floor, moves the one of the cars so that it lands on the intermediate floor as the departure floor specified in the second call information, and moves the one of the cars so that it lands on the intermediate floor as the departure floor specified in the second call information after the other of the cars lands on the intermediate floor, 8. The elevator control system of claim 7.

9. The departure floor is the lowest floor, The destination floor is the top floor.

9. The elevator control system of claim 8.

10. The intermediate floor is one floor below the top floor.

10. The elevator control system of claim 9.

11. The departure floor is the top floor, The destination floor is the lowest floor.

9. The elevator control system of claim 8.

12. The intermediate floor is one floor above the lowest floor.

12. The elevator control system of claim 11.

13. The intermediate floor is the destination floor specified in another destination floor call, 12. An elevator control system according to claim 9 or 11.

14. An elevator control method executed in an elevator control system including: an elevator control device that controls the elevation and descent of a car that can autonomously move within an elevator shaft and has an upper car and a lower car connected vertically; a control panel that is connected to the elevator control device via a network and controls the elevator based on instructions from the elevator control device; the autonomous moving body; and an autonomous moving body server that is connected to the autonomous moving body and the elevator control device via a network, a step of the autonomous mobile body transmitting hall call information, in which a departure floor and a destination floor that specifies a destination floor, to the autonomous mobile body server; a step of the autonomous mobile body server receiving the hall call information from the autonomous mobile body and transmitting the received hall call information to the elevator control device; The elevator control device receives the hall call information from the autonomous mobile object server; generating, when the elevator control device receives the hall call information, in a case where the departure floor is a floor at which only one of the upper car or the lower car can land and the destination floor is a floor at which only the other of the upper car or the lower car can land, first call information, based on the hall call information, specifying an intermediate floor between the departure floor and the destination floor as the destination floor, and second call information, specifying the intermediate floor as the departure floor and the target floor as the destination floor; the elevator control device allocating an elevator of the same car to the first call information and the second call information; The elevator control device transmits the first call information and the second call information to a control panel of an assigned elevator; When the control panel receives the first call information and the second call information from the elevator control device, the control panel moves the car based on the first call information, and then moves the car based on the second call information; An elevator control method comprising:

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