Elevator group management system

Abstract

To provide an elevator group management system that, for an elevator car responding to a landing and destination call, can prevent allocation of the elevator car responding to a landing and destination call to a landing call when an estimated arrival time from the moment the landing call is registered until a user boards at a boarding floor of the landing call and arrives at a destination floor of the landing and destination call is long, and it can be estimated that a large number of users will board at the boarding floor of the landing call before the elevator car arrives at the destination floor of the landing and destination call.SOLUTION: An elevator group management system comprises a determination unit that, when a new landing call registration is accepted, performs exclusion control to prevent an elevator car that is currently responding to a landing destination call from being selected as a car to respond to a new landing call if an estimated arrival time from the moment the landing call registration is accepted until a user boards the elevator car at a landing floor of the landing call and arrives at a destination floor of the landing destination call is greater than or equal to a preset threshold.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to elevator group control systems. [Background technology]

[0002] In elevators, there are two methods for calling a car to a landing: a landing call, in which the car is called to the landing at the boarding floor by specifying the up or down floor direction from the landing to the destination floor, and a landing destination call, in which the car is called to the landing at the boarding floor by specifying the destination floor.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an elevator group management control device that uses both hall calls and hall destination calls. Furthermore, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, when a hall call or hall destination call is registered, a predicted arrival time from when the registration of the hall call or hall destination call is accepted until the arrival at the boarding floor of the hall call or hall destination call is calculated, and an evaluation value is calculated for each candidate car, which is a candidate for assignment that can respond to the hall call or hall destination call, so that a car with a shorter predicted arrival time is evaluated highly. The invention described in Patent Document 1 then prioritizes the car with the best evaluation value among the candidate cars as the car to be assigned to the hall call or hall destination call.

[0004] Here, if a car responding to a platform call arrives at the boarding floor of the platform call before arriving at the boarding floor of the platform call, there is a risk that the car will become full before arriving at the boarding floor of the platform call. In this case, a user who has registered the platform call and is waiting at the boarding floor of the platform call will not be able to board the car. Furthermore, even if a user waiting at the boarding floor of the platform call is able to board the car, there is a risk that the convenience of the user who has registered the platform call will be reduced if the user who registered the platform call gets on the car, as the car will arrive at the destination floor of the platform call before arriving at the destination floor of the platform call.

[0005] Therefore, the invention described in Patent Document 1 lowers the evaluation value of a car responding to a platform call when a new platform call is registered to call a new car and the car responding to the platform call arrives at the boarding floor of the new platform call before arriving at the boarding floor of the new platform call. Also, the invention described in Patent Document 1 lowers the evaluation value of a car responding to a platform call when a new platform call is registered to call a new car and the car responding to the platform call arrives at the boarding floor of the new platform call before arriving at the boarding floor of the platform call. In this way, the invention described in Patent Document 1 prevents a user who has registered a platform call from riding in a car responding to a platform call, and can prevent a decrease in convenience for the user who has registered the platform call. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-55836 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] However, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, even if the evaluation value of a car is lowered, the car is not excluded from candidates for allocation to a new platform call or a new platform call. Therefore, for example, even if the evaluation value of a car responding to an already registered platform call is lowered, if the evaluation value of the car becomes better than the evaluation values ​​of other cars, the car will be assigned to the new platform call. In this case, for a car responding to a platform call, even if the predicted arrival time from the time the platform call registration is accepted until a passenger boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform call is long, the car will be assigned to the platform call. The longer the predicted arrival time, the more passengers are likely to board at the boarding floor of the platform call, which may reduce convenience for the passenger who registered the platform call.

[0008] The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide an elevator group control system that can prevent a car responding to a hall destination call from being assigned to the hall call when the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the hall call is accepted until a user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call and the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call is long, and it can be estimated that a large number of users will board at the boarding floor of the hall call before the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The elevator group control system according to the present disclosure is an elevator group control system that manages a plurality of cars, and includes: a reception unit that receives from users the registration of a hall destination call that calls a car by specifying a destination floor, and a hall call that calls a car by specifying an up or down floor direction; a predicted arrival time calculation unit that calculates a predicted arrival time from when the reception unit receives the registration until the car arrives at the boarding floor where the user will board; and a determination unit that determines a car that will respond to at least one of the hall destination call and the hall call based on the predicted arrival time, wherein the determination unit is characterized in that, when a new hall call registration is received while a car that has been decided to respond to the hall destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the hall destination call, the determination unit performs exclusion control to not determine a car that is currently responding to a hall destination call as the car that will respond to the hall call if the predicted arrival time from when the hall call registration is received until the user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call and arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

[0010] Furthermore, an elevator group control system according to the present disclosure is an elevator group control system that manages a plurality of cars, and includes a reception unit that receives from users registrations of platform destination calls that call a car by specifying a destination floor, and platform calls that call a car by specifying an up or down floor direction, a predicted arrival time calculation unit that calculates a predicted arrival time from when the reception unit receives the registration until the car arrives at the boarding floor where the user will board, and a determination unit that determines a car that will respond to at least one of the platform destination call and the platform call based on the predicted arrival time, and is characterized in that, when a new registration of a platform destination call is received while a car that has been determined to respond to a platform call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform call, the determination unit performs exclusion control that does not determine a car that is currently responding to a platform call as the car that will respond to the platform call if the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the platform call is received until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform call is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] According to the present disclosure, an elevator group control system includes a determination unit that prevents a car responding to a hall call from being assigned to the hall call when a predicted arrival time from the time the registration of the hall call is accepted until a user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call and the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold. This makes it possible to provide an elevator group control system that can prevent a car responding to a hall destination call from being assigned to the hall call when the predicted arrival time from the time the registration of the hall call is accepted until a user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call and the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call is long and it is estimated that a large number of users will board at the boarding floor of the hall call before the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a configuration diagram of an elevator group control system according to a first embodiment, a second embodiment, and a third embodiment. [Figure 2] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of each component of the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 3] 3 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the elevator group control system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] 4 is a specific example of processing by the elevator group control system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of an elevator group control system according to a second embodiment. [Figure 6] 10 is a specific example of processing by the elevator group control system 101 in the second embodiment. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the elevator group control system 102 according to the third embodiment. [Figure 8] 13 is a specific example of processing by the elevator group control system 102 in the third embodiment. [Figure 9] 13 is another specific example of the process of the elevator group control system 102 in the third embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of an elevator group control system 103 according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 11] 13 is a specific example of processing by the elevator group control system 103 in the fourth embodiment. [Figure 12] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of an elevator group control system 103 according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 13] 13 is another specific example of the process of the elevator group control system 103 in the fourth embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] An elevator group control system according to an embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments are merely examples, and the embodiments can be appropriately combined and modified. In the drawings, similar components are designated by the same reference numerals.

[0014] Embodiment 1 An elevator group control system 100 in the first embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of elevator group control systems 100, 101, and 102 in the first, second, and third embodiments. Each configuration of the elevator group control system 100 will be described below, but the same applies to the elevator group control systems 101 and 102. The elevator group control system 100 is a management system for an elevator group in which hall calls and hall destination calls are used together. The elevator group has multiple cars. The elevator group is installed, for example, in a building with multiple floors.

[0015] As shown in FIG. 1, the elevator group control system 100 includes a reception unit 11, a predicted arrival time calculation unit 12, a determination unit 13, a notification unit 14, and a storage unit 15. When a hall call or a hall destination call is registered, the elevator group control system 100 manages an elevator group including multiple cars by determining which car will respond to the hall call or hall destination call. A passenger can travel to a different floor by calling a car to a boarding floor and getting off the car at the destination floor. Here, a car responding to a hall call or hall destination call means that the car moves to the boarding floor of the hall call or hall destination call, a passenger gets on the car at the boarding floor, and the car arrives at the destination floor of the hall call or hall destination call.

[0016] The reception unit 11 receives the registration of a hall call from a user. A hall call is a call for a car to a boarding floor by specifying the up or down floor direction. In other words, when a user moves to a floor that is higher than the boarding floor, the user specifies the up direction. Also, when a user moves to a floor that is lower than the boarding floor, the user specifies the down direction. The user registers a hall call, for example, by pressing a button or the like provided at the boarding floor where the car will be boarded. The reception unit 11 also measures the elapsed time since the hall call was registered.

[0017] The reception unit 11 also receives registration of platform destination calls from users. The user specifies the destination floor and calls a car to the boarding floor. The user registers the platform destination call by specifying the boarding floor and destination floor, for example, using a smartphone application. The reception unit 11 is capable of wireless communication with the user's smartphone. When the reception unit 11 detects that the user's smartphone is approaching the platform for the boarding floor, it determines that the user is waiting at the platform for the boarding floor and directs the car to the boarding floor. The reception unit 11 also measures the elapsed time since the platform destination call was registered.

[0018] When the reception unit 11 receives the registration of a platform call from a user, it acquires the boarding floor where the user will board the car, information on the up and down floor directions from the boarding floor to the destination floor, and the elapsed time since the platform call was registered, and transmits the acquired information as platform call information to the estimated arrival time calculation unit 12, the determination unit 13, and the memory unit 15.

[0019] In addition, when the reception unit 11 receives the registration of a platform destination call from a user, it acquires the boarding floor where the user will board the car, the destination floor where the user will disembark from the car, information on the up and down floor directions from the boarding floor to the destination floor, and the elapsed time since the platform destination call was registered, and transmits the acquired information to the estimated arrival time calculation unit 12, the determination unit 13, and the memory unit 15 as platform destination call information.

[0020] The predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 calculates a predicted arrival time from when the reception unit 11 receives the registration of a hall call or a hall destination call until the car arrives at the boarding floor where the user boards. The predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 receives hall call information and hall destination call information from the reception unit 11. The predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 also receives past predicted arrival times from the memory unit 15. The predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 calculates the predicted arrival time based on, for example, the number of floors between the floor where the car is located and the boarding floor or the destination floor, the time period during which the car is operating, and the elapsed time measured in the past in the same section as the section for which the predicted arrival time is calculated. The calculation of the predicted arrival time by the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 is not limited to the above, and any method can be used. The predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 also transmits the calculated predicted arrival time to the determination unit 13 and the memory unit 15.

[0021] The determination unit 13 determines an assigned car that will respond to a registered hall call or hall destination call. That is, the determination unit 13 receives information regarding the section in which each car can operate from the storage unit 15, and extracts, based on the information, candidates for car assignment that can respond to hall calls and hall destination calls. The determination unit 13 then receives a predicted arrival time from the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12, and determines, from the candidates for assignment, a car that will respond to at least one of a hall destination call and a hall call, based on the predicted arrival time. The determination unit 13 also transmits, to the storage unit 15, information identifying the car that has been determined to respond to the hall call. The determination unit 13 also transmits, to the storage unit 15, information identifying the car that has been determined to respond to the hall destination call.

[0022] The notification unit 14 registers a platform call or a platform destination call, and notifies at least one of passengers waiting at a boarding floor and passengers riding in the car of a stopping factor. The stopping factor includes at least one of information that the floor at which the car will stop is a boarding floor for a platform call, information that the floor is a disembarking floor for a platform call, information that the floor is a boarding floor for a platform destination call, and information that the floor is a disembarking floor for a platform destination call. In other words, the notification unit 14 receives registered platform call information and platform destination call information from the storage unit 15, and notifies passengers waiting at a boarding floor and passengers riding in the car of the stopping factor of the stopping car, thereby preventing passengers from boarding or disembarking by mistake.

[0023] The notification unit 14 can make a notification by any method. For example, the notification unit 14 can make a notification by sound from a speaker, a display on a monitor, a flashing of a warning light, etc. Furthermore, when the notification unit 14 makes a notification by flashing a warning light, for example, the notification unit 14 may make a notification by switching the warning light on and off, or by switching the flashing interval of the warning light.

[0024] The memory unit 15 stores information regarding the number of cars installed and the sections between multiple floors on which each car can operate. The memory unit 15 also receives the predicted arrival time calculated by the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 from the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 and stores it. The memory unit 15 also receives hall call information and hall destination call information from the reception unit 11 and stores it. The memory unit 15 also receives information identifying a car that has decided to respond to a hall call and information identifying a car that has decided to respond to a hall destination call from the determination unit 13. The information stored in the memory unit 15 is also transmitted to the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12, the determination unit 13, and the notification unit 14.

[0025] Next, an example of the hardware configuration of each component in the first embodiment, namely, the reception unit 11, the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12, the determination unit 13, and the storage unit 15, will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of each component in the first embodiment. The following description also applies to the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 described later. Each component of the elevator group control system 100 may be a processing circuit 16 that is dedicated hardware as shown in FIG. 2A, or may be a processor 17 that executes a program stored in a memory 18 as shown in FIG. 2B.

[0026] 2A, when each component of the elevator group control system 100 is a dedicated hardware, the processing circuitry 16 corresponds to, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Array), or a combination thereof. The functions of each component of the elevator group control system 100 may be realized by the processing circuitry 16, or the functions of each unit may be realized by a single processing circuit 16.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 2B , when each component of the elevator group control system 100 is a processor 17, the function of each unit is realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software or firmware is written as a program and stored in memory 18. The processor 17 realizes each function of each component of the elevator group control system 100 by reading and executing the program stored in memory 18. That is, each component of the elevator group control system 100 includes memory 18 for storing a program that, when executed by the processor 17, results in the execution of each step shown in FIGS. 3, 5, 7, and 12, which will be described later. It can also be said that these programs cause a computer to execute the procedure or method of each component of the elevator group control system 100.

[0028] Here, the processor 17 refers to, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), processing device, arithmetic device, processor, microprocessor, microcomputer, or DSP (Digital Signal Processor), etc. The memory 18 may be, for example, a non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), flash memory, EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), or EEPROM (Electrically EPROM), or may be a magnetic disk such as a hard disk or a flexible disk, or may be an optical disk such as a minidisk, CD (Compact Disc), or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc).

[0029] It should be noted that some of the functions of the components of the elevator group control system 100 may be realized by dedicated hardware, and some by software or firmware. In this way, the processing circuitry 16 in the elevator group control system 100 can realize each of the above-mentioned functions by hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of these.

[0030] Next, a processing flow of the elevator group control system 100 according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the elevator group control system 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 also illustrates a processing flow of the elevator group control system 100 when a new hall call registration is accepted while a car that has decided to respond to a hall destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the hall destination call. FIG. 4 also illustrates a specific example of processing by the elevator group control system 100 according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 4, the elevator group includes car A, car B, and car C, and car A and car B can operate from the first floor to the tenth floor. In addition, car C can operate on the first floor and from the eighth floor to the tenth floor, but cannot operate on the second floor to the seventh floor. In addition, in FIG. 4, car A is on the eighth floor and is moving to the fourth floor, which is the boarding floor for the registered hall destination call. In addition, in FIG. 4, car B is located on the ninth floor, and car C is located on the tenth floor. Also, in Figure 4, a new platform call specifying a downward direction is registered on the 6th floor.

[0031] In step S101, the reception unit 11 receives the registration of a new hall call from a user. At this time, the reception unit 11 acquires information on the boarding floor where the user will board the car and the up / down floor direction from the boarding floor to the destination floor, and transmits the acquired information to the determination unit 13. For example, in Fig. 4, the reception unit 11 acquires information that the boarding floor where the user will board the car is the 6th floor, and information that the up / down floor direction from the boarding floor to the destination floor is downward.

[0032] In step S102, the determination unit 13 receives information about the sections in which each car can operate from the storage unit 15, and extracts candidates for car allocation that can respond to the new hall call. For example, in Fig. 4, cars A and B can operate from the 1st floor to the 10th floor, and car C cannot operate from the 2nd floor to the 7th floor, so the determination unit 13 extracts cars A and B as candidates for car allocation that can respond to the new hall call.

[0033] In step S103, the determination unit 13 acquires the boarding hall destination call information of the boarding hall destination call that has already been registered from the storage unit 15, and extracts, from among the car allocation candidates that can respond to the new boarding hall call, a car that has already been determined to respond to the boarding hall destination call and that has moved to the boarding floor of the boarding hall destination call. For example, in Fig. 4, the determination unit 13 extracts car A that has moved to the 4th floor, which is the boarding floor of the registered boarding hall destination call.

[0034] In step S104, the determination unit 13 determines whether or not there is a car moving to the boarding floor of the extracted hall destination call, in which the up / down floor direction specified in the new hall call matches the direction in which the car moving to the boarding floor of the relevant hall destination call is moving. For example, in Fig. 4, the determination unit 13 determines that the directions match because the direction in which car A is moving is downward and the up / down floor direction specified in the new hall call is downward.

[0035] In step S105, if there is a car that satisfies the condition of step S104 (step S104: YES), the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 calculates the predicted arrival time for that car, from the time when the registration of the hall call is accepted, until the user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call, and the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call. For example, in FIG. 4, the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 calculates the predicted arrival time for car A, from the time when a new hall call for the 6th floor is accepted, until the user boards car A at the 6th floor, and the car arrives at the 4th floor. Also, if there is no car that satisfies the condition of step S104 (step S104: NO), the process proceeds to step S108.

[0036] In step S106, the determination unit 13 determines whether or not there is a car for which the predicted arrival time calculated by the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 in step S105 is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value, for the cars that satisfy the conditions in step S104. For example, in Fig. 4, the determination unit 13 determines whether or not the predicted arrival time of car A from the time a new hall call for the 6th floor is accepted until the time the user gets on car A at the 6th floor and the time the car A arrives at the 4th floor is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value.

[0037] The preset threshold value to be compared with the predicted arrival time in step S106 is set to any appropriate value. For example, the determination unit 13 may set the threshold value based on the layout of the platform, the number of elevators, the current location of the user who registered the platform destination call, the characteristics of the user who registered the platform destination call, etc. The characteristics of the user indicate the nature of the user, such as whether or not the user uses a wheelchair, whether or not the user uses a stroller, whether or not the user has luggage, and the user's age. In this case, the user may register their own characteristics when specifying the boarding floor and the destination floor using a smartphone application.

[0038] For example, the determination unit 13 may set the threshold to a smaller value as the number of elevators increases, because the number of remaining elevators that can be handled even after exclusion control is performed is larger. Also, for example, the determination unit 13 may set the threshold to a larger value as the current location of a user who has registered a platform destination call is farther from the platform of the boarding floor, because the time it takes for the user to arrive at the platform of the boarding floor becomes longer.

[0039] In step S107, if there is a car whose predicted arrival time is equal to or greater than a preset threshold (step S106: YES), the determination unit 13 determines to perform exclusion control to prevent a car currently responding to a hall destination call from being selected as a car that will respond to a new hall call. For example, in FIG. 4, if the predicted arrival time of car A calculated in step S106 is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, the determination unit 13 determines to perform exclusion control to prevent car A from being selected as a car that will respond to a new hall call registered on the 6th floor. Furthermore, if there is no car whose predicted arrival time is equal to or greater than the preset threshold (step S106: NO), the process proceeds to step S108.

[0040] In step S108, the determination unit 13 excludes, from among the candidate cars to be assigned that can respond to the new hall call, cars that are determined in step S107 to be subject to exclusion control that prevents the car from being selected as a car that will respond to the new hall call, and then determines the car with the shortest predicted arrival time calculated by the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 as the car to be assigned that will respond to the new hall call. For example, in Fig. 4, between cars A and B, the determination unit 13 excludes car A that is determined in step S107 to be subject to exclusion control that prevents the car from being selected as a car that will respond to the new hall call registered on the 6th floor, and determines car B as the car that will respond to the new hall call. Furthermore, if there are no more candidates for allocation due to the exclusion of a car determined in step S107 to be subject to exclusion control of not selecting a car to respond to the new hall call, the determination unit 13 determines, from among the candidates for allocation extracted in step S102, the car that has the shortest predicted arrival time from the time the registration of the hall call is accepted until it arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call, as the car to be assigned to respond to the new hall call. This concludes the description of the processing flow of the elevator group control system 100 in the first embodiment.

[0041] In this way, the elevator group control system 100 in the first embodiment is provided with a determination unit 13 that, when a new registration of a platform call is accepted while a car that has been decided to respond to a platform destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform destination call, determines to perform exclusion control to not determine the car that is currently responding to the platform destination call as the car that will respond to the platform call if the predicted arrival time from the time the platform call registration is accepted until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform destination call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, and then decides to select a car that will respond to the new platform call from among the allocation candidates after excluding the car in question. With the above configuration, the elevator group control system 100 can prevent a car responding to a hall destination call from being assigned to the hall call, even if the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the hall call is accepted until the user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call and the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall call is long and it can be estimated that a large number of users will board at the boarding floor of the hall call before the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall call. This allows the elevator group control system 100 to prevent a large number of users from boarding at the boarding floor of the hall call in a car responding to the hall destination call, and prevent a decrease in convenience for the user who registered the hall destination call.

[0042] In addition, the notification unit 14 registers a hall call or a hall destination call, and notifies at least one of a user waiting at a boarding floor and a user riding in the car of a stop factor that causes the car to stop. With the above configuration, the elevator group control system 100 can, for example, register a hall call and notify a user waiting at a boarding floor that the next car that will stop at that boarding floor will stop at the boarding floor where the user who registered the hall call is waiting, as the boarding floor of the hall destination call. In this way, the elevator group control system 100 can prevent a user who has registered a hall call and is waiting at a boarding floor from accidentally boarding a car that is responding to a hall destination call. Furthermore, the elevator group control system 100 can, for example, register a hall destination call and notify a passenger aboard a car responding to the hall destination call that the car will stop at a boarding floor for the hall call that is different from the destination floor of the hall destination call before arriving at the destination floor of the hall destination call. This allows the elevator group control system 100 to prevent passengers aboard a car that has registered a hall destination call and is responding to the hall destination call from accidentally getting off at a different floor before arriving at the destination floor of the hall destination call.

[0043] Embodiment 2 An elevator group control system 101 according to a second embodiment will be described. The elevator group control system 100 according to the first embodiment is configured to prevent a large number of passengers from boarding the car responding to the hall destination call at the boarding floor of the hall call when a new hall call registration is accepted while a car that has decided to respond to the hall destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the hall call. The elevator group control system 101 according to the second embodiment differs from the elevator group control system 100 according to the first embodiment in that a large number of passengers are prevented from boarding the car responding to the hall destination call at the boarding floor of the hall call when a new hall destination call registration is accepted while a car that has decided to respond to the hall call is moving to the boarding floor of the hall call. Components similar to those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. Further, detailed descriptions of components similar to those in the first embodiment will be omitted, and components different from those in the first embodiment will be mainly described.

[0044] In the second embodiment, when a car that has decided to respond to a hall call receives the registration of a new hall destination call while moving to the boarding floor of the hall call, the reception unit 11 measures the elapsed time from when the hall call is received to when the new hall destination call is received. The predicted arrival time calculation unit calculates the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the hall destination call is received until the user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call and arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call. The determination unit 13 then calculates a total time by adding up the elapsed time received from the reception unit 11 and the predicted arrival time received from the predicted arrival time calculation unit. The determination unit 13 can regard the total time as the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the hall call is received until the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call. Therefore, by comparing the total time with a preset threshold value, the determination unit 13 can estimate whether or not a large number of users will board at the boarding floor of the platform call by the time the car that has been decided to respond to the platform call responds to the new platform destination call, based on the predicted arrival time from the time when the registration of the platform call is accepted until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform destination call.

[0045] The processing flow of the elevator group control system 101 in the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the elevator group control system 101 in the second embodiment. FIG. 5 also illustrates the processing flow of the elevator group control system 101 when a new registration of a hall destination call is accepted while a car that has decided to respond to a hall call is moving to the boarding floor of the hall call. FIG. 6 is a specific example of processing of the elevator group control system 101 in the second embodiment. In FIG. 6, the elevator group includes car A, car B, and car C, and car A and car B can operate from the first floor to the tenth floor. Furthermore, car C can operate on the first floor and from the eighth to tenth floors, but cannot operate on the second to seventh floors. Furthermore, in FIG. 6, car A is on the seventh floor and is moving to the fifth floor, which is the boarding floor for a registered hall call. Also, when the hall call for floor 5 is registered, car A is on floor 9, and is shown passing through floor 7 on the way to floor 5, which is the hall call boarding floor. Also, in Figure 6, car B is located on floor 8 and moves to floor 9, which is the registered hall call destination floor, and passengers riding in car B disembark on floor 9. Also, in Figure 6, a new hall call is registered specifying floor 3 as the boarding floor and floor 1 as the destination floor.

[0046] In step S201, the reception unit 11 receives the registration of a new hall destination call from a user. At this time, the reception unit 11 acquires information on the boarding floor where the user will board the car, the destination floor where the user will disembark from the car, and the up / down floor direction from the boarding floor to the destination floor, and transmits the acquired information to the determination unit 13. For example, in Fig. 6, the reception unit 11 acquires information that the boarding floor where the user will board the car is the third floor, information that the destination floor where the user will disembark from the car is the first floor, and information that the up / down floor direction from the boarding floor to the destination floor is downward.

[0047] In step S202, the determination unit 13 receives information about the sections in which each car can operate from the storage unit 15, and extracts candidates for allocation of cars that can respond to the new hall destination call. For example, in Fig. 6, cars A and B can operate from the 1st floor to the 10th floor, and car C cannot operate from the 2nd floor to the 7th floor, so the determination unit 13 extracts cars A and B as candidates for allocation of cars that can respond to the new hall destination call.

[0048] In step S203, the determination unit 13 acquires the hall call information of the hall call that has already been registered from the storage unit 15, and extracts, from among the candidates for car allocation that can respond to the new hall destination call, a car that has already been determined to respond to the hall call and is moving to the boarding floor of the hall call. For example, in Fig. 6, the determination unit 13 extracts car A that has moved to the 5th floor, which is the boarding floor for the registered hall call.

[0049] In step S204, the determination unit 13 determines whether or not there is a car moving to the boarding floor of the extracted hall call, in which the up / down floor direction from the boarding floor to the destination floor specified in the new hall destination call matches the moving direction of the car moving to the boarding floor of the hall call. For example, in Fig. 6, the determination unit 13 determines that the directions match because the moving direction of car A is downward and the up / down floor direction from the boarding floor to the destination floor specified in the new hall destination call is downward.

[0050] In step S205, if there is a car that satisfies the condition of step S204 (step S204: YES), the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 calculates the predicted arrival time for that car, from the time when the registration of the hall destination call is accepted, until the user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call, and the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call. For example, in FIG. 6, the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 calculates the predicted arrival time for car A, from the time when a new hall destination call for the third floor is accepted, until the user boards car A at the fifth floor, and the car arrives at the third floor. Also, if there is no car that satisfies the condition of step S204 (step S204: NO), the process proceeds to step S208.

[0051] In step S206, the determination unit 13 receives from the reception unit 11 the elapsed time from when the hall call was accepted to when the new hall destination call was accepted. For example, in FIG. 6, the determination unit 13 receives from the reception unit 11 the elapsed time from when the hall call for the 5th floor was accepted to when the new hall destination call for the 3rd floor was accepted. In FIG. 6, the time when the hall call for the 5th floor was accepted is when car A was located on the 9th floor. Also, in FIG. 6, the time when the new hall destination call for the 3rd floor was accepted is when car A was passing through the 7th floor while moving from the 9th floor to the 5th floor, which is the hall call boarding floor. Also, the determination unit 13 receives from the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 the predicted arrival time calculated by the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 in step S205. Then, for cars that satisfy the conditions of step S204, the determination unit 13 calculates a total time by adding together the elapsed time received from the reception unit 11 and the predicted arrival time calculated by the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 in step S205, and determines whether or not there is a car for which the total time is equal to or greater than a preset threshold. That is, the determination unit 13 regards the total time as the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the hall call is received, until the user boards at the fifth floor, which is the boarding floor for the hall call, and arrives at the third floor, which is the boarding floor for the new hall destination call, and determines whether or not there is a car for which the total time is equal to or greater than a preset threshold.

[0052] In step S206, a preset threshold value to be compared with the total time obtained by adding up the elapsed time and the predicted arrival time calculated by the determination unit 13 is set to an arbitrary value as appropriate, as in the first embodiment.

[0053] In step S207, if there is a car whose total time calculated in step S206 is equal to or greater than a preset threshold (step S206: YES), the determination unit 13 determines to perform exclusion control to prevent the car currently responding to a hall call from being selected as a car that will respond to a new hall destination call. For example, in FIG. 6, the determination unit 13 determines to perform exclusion control to prevent car A from being selected as a car that will respond to a new hall destination call registered on the third floor if the total time calculated in step S206 for car A is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, the total time being the sum of the elapsed time from when the car received a hall call for the fifth floor while on the ninth floor to when the car received the new hall destination call for the third floor while on the seventh floor and the predicted arrival time from when the car received a new hall destination call for the third floor while on the seventh floor. Furthermore, if there is no car whose total time is equal to or greater than the preset threshold (step S206: NO), the determination unit 13 proceeds to step S208.

[0054] In step S208, the determination unit 13 excludes, from among the candidate cars to be assigned that can respond to the new hall destination call, cars for which it has been determined in step S207 that exclusion control will be performed to prevent the car from being selected as a car that will respond to the new hall destination call, and then determines the car for which the predicted arrival time calculated by the predicted arrival time calculation unit 12 is shortest as the car to be assigned that will respond to the new hall destination call. For example, in Fig. 6, between cars A and B, the determination unit 13 excludes car A for which it has been determined in step S207 that exclusion control will be performed to prevent the car from being selected as a car that will respond to the new hall destination call registered on the third floor, and determines car B as the car that will respond to the new hall destination call. Furthermore, if there are no more candidates to be assigned due to the exclusion of a car determined in step S207 to be subject to exclusion control of not selecting a car to respond to the new platform destination call, the determination unit 13 determines, from among the candidates to be assigned extracted in step S202, the car that has the shortest predicted arrival time from the time when the registration of the platform destination call is accepted until arrival at the boarding floor of the platform destination call, as the car to be assigned to respond to the new platform destination call. This concludes the description of the processing flow of the elevator group control system 101 in the second embodiment.

[0055] In this way, the elevator group control system 101 in the second embodiment is provided with a determination unit 13 that, when a new registration of a platform call is accepted while a car that has been decided to respond to a platform call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform call, determines to perform exclusion control to prevent a car that is currently responding to a platform call from being selected as a car that will respond to the platform destination call if the total time obtained by adding together the elapsed time from when the registration of the platform call is accepted to when the registration of the platform call is accepted and the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the platform call is accepted until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, and then selects a car that will respond to the new platform destination call from among the allocation candidates after excluding the relevant car. With the above configuration, the elevator group control system 101 can prevent a car responding to a hall destination call from being assigned to the hall destination call, even if the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the hall call is accepted until the user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call and the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call is long and it can be estimated that a large number of users will board at the boarding floor of the hall call before the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call. This allows the elevator group control system 101 to prevent a large number of users from boarding at the boarding floor of the hall call in a car responding to the hall destination call, and prevent a decrease in convenience for users who have registered the hall destination call.

[0056] The determination unit 13 determines whether there is a car for which the total time obtained by adding together the elapsed time from when the platform call is accepted to when the new platform destination call is accepted and the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the platform destination call is accepted until the passenger boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform destination call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, but is not limited to this. In other words, it is sufficient for the determination unit 13 to be able to calculate the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the platform call is accepted until the passenger boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the new platform destination call. 6, for example, the determination unit 13 may calculate a total time by adding together the predicted arrival time from when car A located on the 9th floor accepts a hall call to when it arrives at floor 5, which is the boarding floor for the hall call, and the predicted arrival time from when car A arrives at floor 5, which is the boarding floor for the hall call, when a user boards car A at floor 5, which is the boarding floor for the hall call, until car A arrives at floor 3, which is the boarding floor for the new hall destination call.The determination unit 13 may then regard this total time as the predicted arrival time from when registration of a hall call is accepted for car A located on the 9th floor, until when a user boards car A at floor 5, which is the boarding floor for the hall call, until car A arrives at floor 3, which is the boarding floor for the new hall destination call.

[0057] Embodiment 3 An elevator group control system 102 according to a third embodiment will be described. The elevator group control system 102 according to the third embodiment differs from the elevator group control system 100 according to the first embodiment in that, when a new hall call registration is accepted while a car that has been determined to respond to a hall destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the hall destination call, and when a boarding floor of the hall call exists in the section from the boarding floor of the hall destination call to the destination floor of the hall destination call, the elevator group control system 102 performs exclusion control to not determine the car that is currently responding to the hall destination call as the car that will respond to the hall call. Components similar to those in the first embodiment are assigned the same reference numerals. Further, detailed descriptions of components similar to those in the first embodiment will be omitted, and components different from those in the first embodiment will be mainly described.

[0058] The processing flow of the elevator group control system 102 in the third embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the elevator group control system 102 in the third embodiment. FIG. 7 also illustrates the processing flow of the elevator group control system 102 when a new hall call registration is accepted while a car that has decided to respond to a hall destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the hall destination call. FIG. 8 is a specific example of processing by the elevator group control system 102 in the third embodiment. In FIG. 8, the elevator group includes car A, car B, and car C, and car A and car B can operate from the first floor to the tenth floor. Car C can operate on the first floor and the eighth to tenth floors, but cannot operate on the second to seventh floors. In FIG. 8, car A is on the sixth floor and is moving to the fourth floor, which is the boarding floor of the registered hall destination call. The destination floor of the registered hall destination call is the fourth floor. In addition, in Fig. 8, car B is located on the 9th floor, and car C is located on the 10th floor. In addition, in Fig. 8, a new hall call specifying a downward direction is registered on the 3rd floor. Note that steps S306 to S310 are similar to steps S104 to S108 in the first embodiment, and therefore detailed explanations will be omitted.

[0059] In step S301, the reception unit 11 receives the registration of a new hall call from a user. At this time, the reception unit 11 acquires information on the boarding floor where the user will board the car and the up / down floor direction from the boarding floor to the destination floor, and transmits the acquired information to the determination unit 13. For example, in Fig. 8, the reception unit 11 acquires information that the boarding floor where the user will board the car is the third floor, and information that the up / down floor direction from the boarding floor to the destination floor is downward.

[0060] In step S302, the determination unit 13 receives information about the sections in which each car can operate from the storage unit 15, and extracts candidates for allocation of cars that can respond to the new hall call. For example, in Fig. 8, cars A and B can operate from the 1st floor to the 10th floor, and car C cannot operate from the 2nd floor to the 7th floor, so the determination unit 13 extracts cars A and B as candidates for allocation of cars that can respond to the new hall call.

[0061] In step S303, the determination unit 13 acquires the boarding hall destination call information of the boarding hall destination call that has already been registered from the storage unit 15, and extracts, from among the car allocation candidates that can respond to the new boarding hall call, a car that has already been determined to respond to the boarding hall destination call and that has moved to the boarding floor of the boarding hall destination call. For example, in Fig. 8, the determination unit 13 extracts car A that has moved to the 4th floor, which is the boarding floor of the registered boarding hall destination call.

[0062] In step S304, the determination unit 13 determines whether or not a boarding floor of the new platform call exists in the section from the boarding floor of the platform destination call to the destination floor of the platform destination call for the car moving to the boarding floor of the extracted platform destination call. For example, in Fig. 8, the determination unit 13 determines that the third floor, which is the boarding floor of the new platform call, exists in the section from the fourth floor, which is the boarding floor of the platform destination call, to the first floor, which is the destination floor of the platform destination call.

[0063] In step S305, if there is a boarding floor for a new platform call in the section from the boarding floor of the platform destination call to the destination floor of the platform destination call for the car moving to the boarding floor of the extracted platform destination call (step S304: YES), the determination unit 13 determines to perform exclusion control to prevent the car currently responding to the platform destination call from being selected as the car that will respond to the new platform call, and proceeds to step S310. For example, in FIG. 8, the determination unit 13 determines to perform exclusion control to prevent car A from being selected as the car that will respond to the new platform call registered on the third floor. Also, if there is no boarding floor for the new platform call in the section from the boarding floor of the platform destination call to the destination floor of the platform destination call (step S304: NO), the process proceeds to step S306. This concludes the description of the processing flow of the elevator group control system 102 in the third embodiment.

[0064] As in the first embodiment, the elevator group control system 102 in the third embodiment is provided with a determination unit 13 that, when a new platform call registration is accepted while a car that has been decided to respond to a platform destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform destination call, determines to perform exclusion control to prevent the car that is responding to the platform destination call from being selected as the car that will respond to the platform call if the predicted arrival time from the time the platform call registration is accepted until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform destination call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, and selects a car that will respond to the new platform call from among the allocation candidates after excluding the relevant car. With the above configuration, the elevator group control system 102 can prevent a car responding to a hall destination call from being assigned to the hall call, even if the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the hall call is accepted until the user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call and the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call is long and it can be estimated that a large number of users will board at the boarding floor of the hall call before the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall destination call. This allows the elevator group control system 102 to prevent a large number of users from boarding at the boarding floor of the hall call in a car responding to the hall destination call, and prevent a decrease in convenience for users who have registered the hall destination call.

[0065] Furthermore, in the third embodiment, when a car that has been determined to respond to a hall destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the hall destination call and a new hall call registration is accepted, if there is a boarding floor for the hall call in the section from the boarding floor of the hall destination call to the destination floor of the hall destination call, the determination unit 13 determines to perform exclusion control to not determine the car currently responding to the hall destination call as the car that will respond to the hall call, and after excluding the car, determines a car that will respond to the new hall call from among the allocation candidates. With the above configuration, the elevator group control system 102 can prevent passengers from boarding a car currently responding to the hall destination call at the boarding floor of the hall call in the section from the boarding floor of the hall destination call to the destination floor of the hall destination call. As a result, the elevator group control system 102 can prevent a decrease in convenience for the user who has registered the hall destination call from arriving at the destination floor of the hall call before arriving at the destination floor of the hall destination call by riding in the car with the user who has registered the hall call.

[0066] Here, if exclusion control is performed in step S305 to prevent a car responding to a hall destination call from being selected as a car that will respond to a new hall call, it is possible that a car that has arrived at the destination floor of the hall destination call and responded to the hall destination call will be selected as a car that will respond to the new hall call. However, the greater the number of floors in the section from the destination floor of the hall destination call to the boarding floor of the new hall call, the higher the possibility that the car will respond to another new hall destination call or hall call in that section. In this case, the waiting time at the boarding floor of the user who registered the new hall call may be extended, which may reduce the convenience of the user who registered the new hall call. Therefore, the determination unit 13 may perform exclusion control to prevent a car that has arrived at the destination floor of the hall destination call and responded to the hall destination call from being selected as a car that will respond to the hall call if the number of floors from the destination floor of the hall destination call to the boarding floor of the hall call is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

[0067] A specific explanation will be given using Fig. 9. Fig. 9 is another example of the processing of the elevator group control system 102 in the third embodiment. In Fig. 9, the elevator group includes car A and car B, and car A and car B can operate from the first floor to the tenth floor. Also in Fig. 9, car A is on the seventh floor and is moving to the fifth floor, which is the boarding floor of the registered hall destination call. Also, the destination floor of the registered hall destination call is the first floor. Also in Fig. 9, car B is on the ninth floor and is moving to the eighth and sixth floors, which are the boarding floors of the registered hall call. Also in Fig. 9, a new hall call specifying a downward direction is registered on the fourth floor. Also, the preset threshold value compared with the number of floors from the destination floor of the hall destination call to the boarding floor of the hall call is set to 2.

[0068] In Figure 9, the determination unit 13 determines that exclusion control will be performed to prevent car A from being selected as the car that will respond to the new hall call registered on the 4th floor, because the 4th floor, which is the boarding floor for the new hall call, exists in the section from the 5th floor, which is the boarding floor for the hall destination call, to the 1st floor, which is the destination floor for the hall destination call. Here, if the predicted arrival time from when a new platform call is received at the 4th floor until car A arrives at the 5th floor, which is the boarding floor of the platform destination call, the user gets on car A, car A arrives at the 1st floor, which is the destination floor of the platform destination call, the user gets off, and car A arrives at the 4th floor, which is the boarding floor of the platform call, is shorter than the predicted arrival time from when a new platform call is received at the 4th floor until car B arrives at the 8th and 6th floors, which are the boarding floors of the platform call, the user gets on car B, and car B arrives at the 4th floor, which is the boarding floor of the platform call, the determination unit 13 determines car A, after responding to the platform destination call, as the car that will respond to the new platform call at the 4th floor. However, if another new platform destination call or platform call is registered in the section between the first floor and the fourth floor, where car A, after responding to the platform destination call, arrives, i.e., on the second and third floors, and car A responds to this new platform destination call or platform call, the predicted arrival time of car A may end up being longer than the predicted arrival time of car B.

[0069] Therefore, in Fig. 9, the determination unit 13 performs exclusion control to not determine car A, which has responded to the hall destination call, as the car that will respond to the new hall call on the fourth floor, because the number of floors from the first floor, which is the destination floor of the hall destination call, to the fourth floor, which is the boarding floor of the new hall call, is three, which is equal to or greater than the preset threshold value of two. With the above configuration, the determination unit 13 can prevent a user who has registered a new hall call from having to wait for a long time at the boarding floor, thereby reducing convenience for the user who has registered the new hall call.

[0070] In the above case, the preset threshold value to be compared with the number of floors from the destination floor of the hall destination call to the boarding floor of the new hall call is set to an arbitrary value as appropriate. For example, the determination unit 13 may set the threshold value based on the characteristics of the user who registered the hall destination call. As described above, the characteristics of the user include, for example, whether or not the user uses a wheelchair, whether or not the user uses a stroller, whether or not the user has luggage, and the user's age.

[0071] For example, if the user who has registered the hall destination call is a wheelchair user, it takes time for the user to board and disembark, and the waiting time of the user waiting at the boarding floor for the new hall call becomes long, so the determination unit 13 may set a small threshold to be compared from the boarding floor of the new hall call to the destination floor of the hall destination call. This allows the elevator group control system 102 to prevent the waiting time of the user who has registered the new hall call at the boarding floor from becoming long, and thereby prevent a decrease in convenience for the user who has registered the new hall call.

[0072] Embodiment 4 An elevator group control system 103 according to a fourth embodiment will be described. The elevator group control system 103 according to the fourth embodiment differs from the elevator group control system 100 according to the first embodiment in that it includes a hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 that calculates a hall destination call occupancy rate, which is the occupancy rate of hall destination calls in a plurality of cars, based on at least one of the number of cars that respond to already registered hall destination calls and the number of floors from the boarding floor of the already registered hall destination call to the destination floor. Components similar to those in the first embodiment are assigned the same reference numerals. Further, detailed descriptions of components similar to those in the first embodiment will be omitted, and components different from those in the first embodiment will be mainly described.

[0073] The elevator group control system 103 according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 10. Fig. 10 is a configuration diagram of the elevator group control system 103 according to the fourth embodiment. As shown in Fig. 10, the elevator group control system 103 according to the fourth embodiment includes a hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19.

[0074] The platform destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 receives from the memory unit 15 the number of cars responding to already registered platform destination calls, the number of floors from the boarding floor of the already registered platform destination call to the destination floor, the number of installed elevators, and information on the section in which each car can operate. The platform destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates a platform destination call occupancy rate, which is the occupancy rate of platform destination calls in multiple cars, based on at least one of the information received from the memory unit 15, the number of cars responding to already registered platform destination calls, and the number of floors from the boarding floor of the already registered platform destination call to the destination floor. The platform destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 transmits the calculated platform destination call occupancy rate to the determination unit 13.

[0075] FIG. 11 is a specific example of the processing of the elevator group control system 103 in the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 11, the elevator group includes car A, car B, and car C. Car A and car B can operate from the first floor to the tenth floor. Car C can operate on the first floor and from the eighth to tenth floors, but cannot operate on the second to seventh floors. In FIG. 11, car A is on the first floor and responds to a registered hall destination call with the boarding floor as the third floor and the destination floor as the tenth floor. In FIG. 11, car B is on the ninth floor and responds to a registered hall destination call with the boarding floor as the seventh floor and the destination floor as the second floor. Car C is located on the tenth floor. In FIG. 11, a new hall call specifying a downward direction has been registered on the sixth floor.

[0076] As described above, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 may calculate the hall destination call occupancy rate based on the number of cars that respond to already registered hall destination calls. In Fig. 11, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates that the hall destination call occupancy rate for the multiple cars is 67% because the number of installed cars is three, namely, car A, car B, and car C, and the number of cars that respond to already registered hall destination calls is two, namely, car A and car B.

[0077] As described above, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 may calculate the hall destination call occupancy rate based on the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of an already registered hall destination call. In Fig. 11, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates that the hall destination call occupancy rate of car A is 70% because the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of a hall destination call for the 10th floor, which is the section in which car A can operate, is 7 floors. Also, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates that the hall destination call occupancy rate of car B is 50% because the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of a hall destination call for the 10th floor, which is the section in which car B can operate, is 5 floors. Also, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates that the hall destination call occupancy rate of car C is 0% because car C has not responded to the hall destination call. Then, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates 40%, which is the average of the hall destination call occupancy rates of car A, car B, and car C, as the hall destination call occupancy rate for the multiple cars.

[0078] Furthermore, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 does not need to calculate the hall destination call occupancy rate of each car. For example, in FIG. 11, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 may sum up the operable sections of car A, car B, and car C to determine the operable section of the elevator group. In FIG. 11, cars A and B can each operate from the 1st floor to the 10th floor, and car C can operate from the 1st floor and the 8th to 10th floors, so the total number of operable sections of cars A, B, and C is 24 floors. In addition, in FIG. 11, the number of floors from the boarding floor of the hall destination call to the destination floor for car A is 7, and the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor for car B is 5. The platform destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates that the platform destination call occupancy rate for multiple cars is 50%, because the total number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor for platform destination calls in cars A and B is 12, while the total number of floors in the sections where cars A, B, and C can operate is 24.

[0079] Furthermore, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 may separately calculate the hall destination call occupancy rate based on the number of cars responding to already registered hall destination calls and the hall destination call occupancy rate based on the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of the already registered hall destination calls. In this case, the determination unit 13 may compare each of the hall destination call occupancy rate based on the number of cars responding to already registered hall destination calls and the hall destination call occupancy rate based on the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of the already registered hall destination calls with a preset threshold value. For example, in FIG. 11, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 may calculate that the hall destination call occupancy rate based on the number of cars responding to already registered hall destination calls is 67%, and may calculate that the hall destination call occupancy rate based on the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of the already registered hall destination call is 40%, which is the average of the hall destination call occupancy rates of cars A, B, and C, and compare each of these with a preset threshold value.

[0080] Next, a description will be given of the processing flow of the elevator group control system 103 in the embodiment 4. Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the elevator group control system 103 in the embodiment 4. Note that, since steps S401 to S403 and steps S406 to S412 are similar to steps S301 to S310 in the embodiment 3, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0081] In step S404, the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates a hall destination call occupancy rate, which is the occupancy rate of hall destination calls in multiple cars, based on at least one of the number of cars responding to already registered hall destination calls and the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of the already registered hall destination call. The hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 transmits the calculated hall destination call occupancy rate to the determination unit 13.

[0082] In step S405, the determination unit 13 determines whether the hall destination call occupancy rate received from the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 is equal to or greater than a preset threshold. If the hall destination call occupancy rate is equal to or greater than the preset threshold (step S405: YES), the determination unit 13 determines not to perform exclusion control, and proceeds to step S412. On the other hand, if the hall destination call occupancy rate received from the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 is less than the preset threshold (step S405: NO), the determination unit 13 proceeds to step S406. This concludes the description of the processing flow of the elevator group control system 103 in the fourth embodiment.

[0083] As in the first embodiment, the elevator group control system 103 in the fourth embodiment is provided with a determination unit 13 that, when a new platform call registration is accepted while a car that has been decided to respond to a platform destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform destination call, determines to perform exclusion control to prevent the car that is responding to the platform destination call from being selected as the car that will respond to the platform call if the predicted arrival time from the time the platform call registration is accepted until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform destination call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, and selects a car that will respond to the new platform call from among the allocation candidates after excluding the relevant car. With the above configuration, the elevator group control system 103 can prevent a car responding to a hall destination call from being assigned to the hall call, even if the predicted arrival time from when the registration of the hall call is accepted until the user boards at the boarding floor of the hall call and the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall call is long and it can be estimated that a large number of users will board at the boarding floor of the hall call before the car arrives at the boarding floor of the hall call. This allows the elevator group control system 103 to prevent a large number of users from boarding at the boarding floor of the hall call in a car responding to the hall destination call, and prevent a decrease in convenience for users who have registered the hall destination call.

[0084] The elevator group control system 103 in the fourth embodiment further includes a hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 that calculates the hall destination call occupancy rate, which is the occupancy rate of hall destination calls among multiple cars, based on at least one of the number of cars responding to already registered hall destination calls and the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of the already registered hall destination call. The determination unit 13 in the fourth embodiment determines not to implement exclusion control when the hall destination call occupancy rate is equal to or greater than a preset threshold. With the above configuration, the elevator group control system 103 can determine whether to continue the exclusion control to avoid conflicts between hall destination calls and hall calls. This allows the elevator group control system 103 to prevent excessive preferential treatment of hall destination calls by restricting the allocation of hall destination call responding cars to hall calls, thereby preventing a decrease in the operation efficiency of the elevator group.

[0085] 12 illustrates a case where a new platform call registration is accepted while a car that has decided to respond to a platform call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform call, but this is not limiting. For example, the platform call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 can similarly calculate the platform call occupancy rate even when a new platform call registration is accepted while a car that has decided to respond to a platform call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform call. In this case, the platform call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates the platform call occupancy rate by adding the platform destination call information before responding to the new platform call to the platform destination call information when the new platform call is responded to.

[0086] A specific explanation will be given using FIG. 13. FIG. 13 is another specific example of the processing of the elevator group control system 103 in the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 13, the elevator group includes car A and car B. Car A can operate from the first floor to the tenth floor. Car B can operate on the first floor and from the eighth to tenth floors, but cannot operate on the second to seventh floors. In FIG. 13, car A is located on the first floor. In FIG. 13, car B is located on the tenth floor. In FIG. 13, a new hall destination call is registered, specifying the third floor as the boarding floor and the tenth floor as the destination floor. For example, in FIG. 13, neither car A nor car B has responded to the hall destination call, and therefore the hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates the hall destination call occupancy rate before responding to the new hall destination call to be 0%. Then, when car A responds to the new car destination call, the car park destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates that the car park destination call occupancy rate of car A is 70%, because the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of the car park destination call is 7 floors compared to the 10 floors that are the section car A can operate on. Also, the car park destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates that the car park destination call occupancy rate of car B is 0%, because car B has not responded to the car park destination call. Then, the car park destination call occupancy rate calculation unit 19 calculates 45%, which is the average of the car park destination call occupancies of car A and car B, as the car park destination call occupancy rate of the multiple cars when the new car park destination call is responded to.

[0087] (Appendix 1) In an elevator group control system that manages multiple cars, a reception unit that receives from a user a hall destination call that calls the car by specifying a destination floor and a hall call that calls the car by specifying an upper or lower floor direction; an arrival prediction time calculation unit that calculates an arrival prediction time from when the reception unit receives the registration until when the car arrives at the boarding floor where the user boards; a determination unit that determines the car that will respond to at least one of the hall destination call and the hall call based on the predicted arrival time, When the determination unit receives a new registration of the platform call while the car that has been determined to respond to the platform destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform destination call, if the predicted arrival time from the time the registration of the platform call is received until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform destination call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, the determination unit performs exclusion control to not determine the platform destination call as the car that will respond to the platform call. An elevator group control system characterized by: (Appendix 2) In an elevator group control system that manages multiple cars, a reception unit that receives from a user a hall destination call that calls the car by specifying a destination floor and a hall call that calls the car by specifying an upper or lower floor direction; an arrival prediction time calculation unit that calculates an arrival prediction time from when the reception unit receives the registration until when the car arrives at the boarding floor where the user boards; a determination unit that determines the car that will respond to at least one of the hall destination call and the hall call based on the predicted arrival time, When the determination unit receives a new registration of the platform destination call while the car that has been determined to respond to the platform call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform call, if the predicted arrival time from the time the registration of the platform call is received until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform destination call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, the determination unit performs exclusion control to not determine the platform call responding to the platform call as the platform destination call. An elevator group control system characterized by: (Appendix 3) When the determination unit receives the new registration of the platform call while the car that has been determined to respond to the platform destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform destination call, and the boarding floor of the platform call exists in a section from the boarding floor of the platform destination call to the destination floor of the platform destination call, the determination unit performs the exclusion control of not determining the car that is responding to the platform destination call as the car that will respond to the platform call. 2. The elevator group control system according to claim 1, (Appendix 4) the determination unit receives the registration of a new platform call when the car that has been determined to respond to the platform destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform destination call, and when the boarding floor of the platform call exists in a section from the boarding floor of the platform destination call to the destination floor of the platform destination call, performs the exclusion control of not determining the car that is responding to the platform destination call as the car that will respond to the platform call, and when the number of floors from the destination floor of the platform destination call to the boarding floor of the platform call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, performs the exclusion control of not determining the car that has arrived at the destination floor of the platform destination call and has responded to the platform destination call as the car that will respond to the platform call. 4. The elevator group control system according to claim 3, (Appendix 5) a platform destination call occupancy rate calculation unit that calculates a platform destination call occupancy rate, which is an occupancy rate of the platform destination calls in the plurality of cars, based on at least one of the number of cars responding to the platform destination calls that have already been registered and the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of the platform destination calls that have already been registered; Furthermore, The determination unit does not perform the exclusion control when the hall destination call occupancy rate is equal to or greater than a preset threshold. 5. The elevator group control system according to claim 1, wherein: (Appendix 6) and a notification unit that registers the platform call or the platform destination call and notifies at least one of the user waiting at the boarding floor and the user riding in the car of a stop factor that is a factor in the car stopping. 6. The elevator group control system according to claim 1, wherein: [Explanation of symbols]

[0088] 100, 101, 102, 103 elevator group control system, 11 reception unit, 12 arrival prediction time calculation unit, 13 determination unit, 14 notification unit, 15 storage unit, 16 processing circuit, 17 processor, 18 memory, 19 hall destination call occupancy rate calculation unit

Claims

1. In an elevator group control system that manages multiple cars, a reception unit that receives from a user a hall destination call that calls the car by specifying a destination floor and a hall call that calls the car by specifying an upper or lower floor direction; an arrival prediction time calculation unit that calculates an arrival prediction time from when the reception unit receives the registration until when the car arrives at the boarding floor where the user boards; a determination unit that determines the car that will respond to at least one of the hall destination call and the hall call based on the predicted arrival time, When the determination unit receives a new registration of the platform call while the car that has been determined to respond to the platform destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform destination call, if the predicted arrival time from the time the registration of the platform call is received until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform destination call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, the determination unit performs exclusion control to not determine the platform destination call as the car that will respond to the platform call. An elevator group control system characterized by:

2. In an elevator group control system that manages multiple cars, a reception unit that receives from a user a hall destination call that calls the car by specifying a destination floor and a hall call that calls the car by specifying an upper or lower floor direction; an arrival prediction time calculation unit that calculates an arrival prediction time from when the reception unit receives the registration until when the car arrives at the boarding floor where the user boards; a determination unit that determines the car that will respond to at least one of the hall destination call and the hall call based on the predicted arrival time, When the determination unit receives a new registration of the platform destination call while the car that has been determined to respond to the platform call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform call, if the predicted arrival time from the time the registration of the platform call is received until the user boards at the boarding floor of the platform call and arrives at the boarding floor of the platform destination call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, the determination unit performs exclusion control to not determine the platform call responding to the platform call as the platform destination call. An elevator group control system characterized by:

3. When the determination unit receives the new registration of the platform call while the car that has been determined to respond to the platform destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform destination call, and the boarding floor of the platform call exists in a section from the boarding floor of the platform destination call to the destination floor of the platform destination call, the determination unit performs the exclusion control of not determining the car that is responding to the platform destination call as the car that will respond to the platform call.

2. The elevator group control system according to claim 1.

4. the determination unit receives the registration of a new platform call when the car that has been determined to respond to the platform destination call is moving to the boarding floor of the platform destination call, and when the boarding floor of the platform call exists in a section from the boarding floor of the platform destination call to the destination floor of the platform destination call, performs the exclusion control of not determining the car that is responding to the platform destination call as the car that will respond to the platform call, and when the number of floors from the destination floor of the platform destination call to the boarding floor of the platform call is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, performs the exclusion control of not determining the car that has arrived at the destination floor of the platform destination call and has responded to the platform destination call as the car that will respond to the platform call.

4. The elevator group control system according to claim 3.

5. a platform destination call occupancy rate calculation unit that calculates a platform destination call occupancy rate, which is an occupancy rate of the platform destination calls in the plurality of cars, based on at least one of the number of cars responding to the platform destination calls that have already been registered and the number of floors from the boarding floor to the destination floor of the platform destination calls that have already been registered; Furthermore, The determination unit does not perform the exclusion control when the hall destination call occupancy rate is equal to or greater than a preset threshold.

3. The elevator group control system according to claim 1 or 2.

6. and a notification unit that registers the platform call or the platform destination call and notifies at least one of the user waiting at the boarding floor and the user riding in the car of a stop factor that is a factor in the car stopping.

3. The elevator group control system according to claim 1 or 2.

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