Automatic door control device, door control unit determination device, automatic door device, control method of automatic door device, and program for controlling door control unit determination device

Abstract

To provide an automatic door control device and the like which allow the number of optical sensors used to be reduced when an automatic door device is installed in a space with multiple openings.SOLUTION: An automatic door control device 24 has multiple door controllers 28A, 28B and 28C which are associated with multiple sliding doors 14A, 14B and 14C and each of which performs control to open / close an associated sliding door 14, and a detection range which consists of multiple detection spots, each of which is associated with any of the multiple sliding doors 14, and is located around multiple openings, and the device includes a detection unit 18 which outputs detection information when detecting a person or an object in the detection range, and a determination unit 30 which determines a door controller to be operated out of the multiple door controllers 28. The determination unit 30 determines that the door controller 28 of a sliding door 14 which is associated with a detection spot at which the person or the object has been detected, out of the multiple detection spots, is the door controller 28 to be operated.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an automatic door control device, a door control unit determination device, an automatic door device, a control method for an automatic door device, and a program for controlling a door control unit determination device.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, an automatic door device is known that uses an optical sensor having a predetermined detection area, opens the door when it is detected that a person or an object has entered the detection area to make the opening passable, and closes the door after a person or an object has left the detection area to make the opening impassable.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In a general automatic door device, one optical sensor is provided for one opening. Therefore, in a space having a plurality of openings and doors, it is necessary to install a number of optical sensors corresponding to the number of openings. For example, in a narrow space such as an air lock room where automatic doors are installed at two distant locations, although the detection area of one optical sensor can cover the entire indoor area, it is necessary to prepare and install two sets of an optical sensor and an opening.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an automatic door control device or the like that can reduce the number of optical sensors used when installing an automatic door device in a space having a plurality of openings.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of door control units associated with doors respectively provided in a plurality of openings, for controlling the opening and closing of the corresponding doors respectively; a detection unit formed by a plurality of detection spots respectively associated with any one of the plurality of doors, and provided around the plurality of openings, having one detection area for detecting a person or an object within the detection area and outputting detection information; and a determination unit for determining, based on the detection information, a door control unit to be activated among the plurality of door control units. The determination unit determines, as the door control unit to be activated, the door control unit of the door associated with the detection spot where a person or an object is detected among the plurality of detection spots.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0008] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. In the embodiments, an example in which a door control unit determination device for determining which of a plurality of sliding doors to control is applied to an automatic door control device provided in a vestibule will be described. Note that the automatic door device can also be applied to a space where people pass, such as a manned ticket gate at a station.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a top view of a room to which an automatic door device according to an embodiment is applied. The room 10 is a narrow space provided with a plurality of openings 12A, 12B, 12C (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as "opening 12" when not particularly distinguished).

[0010] Sliding doors 14A, 14B, 14C (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as "sliding door 14" when not particularly distinguished) are respectively provided in the plurality of openings 12A, 12B, 12C. The sliding door 14A closes the opening 12A in the fully closed state so that people or objects cannot pass through the opening 12A. When the sliding door 14A is in the fully open state, people or objects can pass through the opening 12A. The sliding door 14B and the sliding door 14C act in the same manner. The automatic door device 16 independently controls the opening drive or the closing drive of the sliding doors 14A, 14B, 14C. Note that, depending on the use of the sliding door 14, for example, only the sliding doors 14A and 14B may be controlled by the automatic door device 16, the sliding door 14C may be excluded from the configuration of the automatic door device 16 and controlled by another control mechanism independent of the automatic door device 16, or may be manual.

[0011] The automatic door device 16 has a detection unit 18 provided inside the room 10. The detection unit 18 irradiates light toward a plurality of detection spots 20, and detects a person or an object within the detection spots 20 based on the change in the reflected light. The detection unit 18 outputs the detection result as detection information. The plurality of detection spots 20 are arranged in a grid pattern and constitute one detection area 22. Each detection spot 20 is assigned a unique address. The address is also shared with a door control unit described later. The detection information is information including a detection signal as the detection result of the detection unit 18 and information on the address of the detection spot 20. When a person or an object is detected by the detection spot 20, the detection unit 18 outputs detection information including a detection signal and an address, thereby outputting information regarding which detection spot 20 among the plurality of detection spots 20 detected the person or the object (that is, information regarding the position of the person or the object). Coordinates based on two-dimensional orthogonal coordinates may be applied to the detection area 22, and position information based on the coordinates may be assigned to each detection spot 20. In this case, the detection unit 18 can output the specific position of the activated detection spot 20 by including the position information in the detection signal.

[0012] The detection unit 18 is preferably provided near the ceiling of the room 10. In the illustrated example, as the detection unit 18, a sensor modularized corresponding to the sliding door 14C is used. Although details will be described later, in this example, a control mechanism modularized corresponding to the sliding door 14C is used to control the opening and closing of the other sliding doors 14A and 14B. The detection unit 18 is built in the blind (not shown) of the sliding door 14C. The position of the detection unit 18 is appropriately determined according to the shape of the room 10 and the position of the sliding door 14. The position of the detection unit 18 may be anywhere as long as it can form the detection spots 20 in the indoor area of all the sliding doors 14 that are the objects of the opening and closing control. The detection unit 18 may be installed at the center of the ceiling of the room 10.

[0013] Figure 2 is a block diagram of an automatic door device. As shown in Figure 2, the automatic door device 16 includes a plurality of sliding doors 14A, 14B, 14C, an automatic door control device 24, and a plurality of drive units 26A, 26B, 26C provided corresponding to the respective sliding doors 14A, 14B, 14C (hereinafter, may be referred to as "drive unit 26" when not particularly distinguished).

[0014] The automatic door control device 24 includes a plurality of door control units 28A, 28B, 28C (hereinafter, may be referred to as "door control unit 28" when not particularly distinguished), a detection unit 18, a determination unit 30, and an output unit 32. As shown in the figure, the door control unit 28A, the drive unit 26A, and the sliding door 14A are modularized (hereinafter, may be referred to as "module A"). Also, the door control unit 28B, the drive unit 26B, and the sliding door 14B are modularized (hereinafter, may be referred to as "module B"). Also, the door control unit 28C, the drive unit 26C, and the sliding door 14C are modularized (hereinafter, may be referred to as "module C"). Further, the detection unit 18, the determination unit 30, and the output unit 32 are included in module C. Note that modularization is merely a functional concept and does not necessarily need to be integrated as hardware.

[0015] In this example, it is assumed that the module C including the detection unit 18 functions as a master, and the other modules A and B function as slaves. Therefore, in addition to controlling the sliding door 14C, the door control unit 28C of the sliding door 14C controls the sliding doors 14A and 14B. Although it can be freely selected which module functions as a master, in order to reduce signal processing between modules, it is preferable to make the module including the detection unit 18 function as a master.

[0016] The drive unit 26 is a drive mechanism of the sliding door 14 constituted by a door engine, a timing belt, etc. not shown in the figure. The drive unit 26 drives the corresponding sliding door 14 to open or close based on an open drive signal or a close drive signal output from the automatic door control device 24. The drive unit 26 is built in the blind of the corresponding sliding door 14 (not shown).

[0017] The door control unit 28C included in module C that functions as a master outputs an open drive signal or a close drive signal for opening or closing the sliding door 14A, the sliding door 14B, or the sliding door 14C according to the determination by a determination unit 30 described later. When it is determined by the determination unit 30 that the sliding door 14C should be actuated, the door control unit 28C outputs an open drive signal or a close drive signal to the drive unit 26C. When it is determined by the determination unit 30 that the sliding door 14A should be actuated, the door control unit 28C outputs an open drive signal or a close drive signal to the drive unit 26A through the output unit 32. When it is determined by the determination unit 30 that the sliding door 14B should be actuated, the door control unit 28C outputs an open drive signal or a close drive signal to the drive unit 26B through the output unit 32. The door control units 28A and 28B included in module A and module B that function as slaves actuate the sliding door 14A or the sliding door 14B on the drive unit 26A or the drive unit 26B according to the signal output from the door control unit 28C.

[0018] The output unit 32 is an interface for outputting signals from module C that functions as a master to the other modules A and B.

[0019] The determination unit 30 determines the sliding door 14 to be actuated based on the detection signal received from the detection unit 18. The determination unit 30 determines the sliding door 14 to be actuated according to at which detection spot 20 a person or an object is detected. From another perspective, it can also be said that the determination unit 30 functions as a selection unit that selects the sliding door 14 to be actuated according to the detection result of the detection unit 18.

[0020] FIG. 3 is a schematic top view showing the periphery of the automatic door device. As shown in FIG. 3, the detection area 22 is preliminarily divided into a plurality of sub-areas 22A, 22B, and 22C. Each of the sub-areas 22A, 22B, and 22C is composed of a set of a plurality of detection spots 20 (see FIG. 1). The sub-area 22A is provided around the indoor side of the sliding door 14A. The sub-area 22A is set at a position where a person or an object will necessarily pass when going out of the room 10 through the sliding door 14A. The sub-area 22B is provided around the indoor side of the sliding door 14B. The sub-area 22B is set at a position where a person or an object will necessarily pass when going out of the room 10 through the sliding door 14B. The sub-area 22C is provided around the indoor side of the sliding door 14C. The sub-area 22C is set at a position where a person or an object will necessarily pass when going out of the room 10 through the sliding door 14C. Among the detection area 22, an area that does not belong to the sub-areas 22A, 22B, and 22C (in FIG. 3, the area of the detection area 22 that is not hatched, hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "invalid area 22N") is not substantially used. Therefore, the optical unit that irradiates the detection spots 20 in the invalid area 22N is invalidated. To invalidate the optical unit means to turn off the irradiation of light from the optical unit, or that even if a person or an object is detected at these detection spots 20 and a detection signal is output to the door control unit 28C, the determination unit 30 does not perform processing.

[0021] The plurality of detection spots 20 are pre-assigned to any one of the sub-areas 22A, 22B, 22C or the invalid area 22N. Regarding which area the detection spot 20 is assigned to, it is preferably managed by coordinates or position information as described above. The determination unit 30 pre-holds information regarding which detection spot 20 is assigned to which area. Therefore, by identifying the optical sensor that is the source of the detection signal by the determination unit 30, it is possible to identify in which area a person or object has been detected. When a person or object is detected in any of the sub-areas 22A, 22B, 22C, the determination unit 30 drives the sliding door 14 corresponding to the sub-area 22A, 22B, 22C to open. Further, after the sliding door 14 is fully opened, the determination unit 30 drives the sliding door 14 to close when no person or object is detected within the sub-area 22A, 22B, 22C.

[0022] Figure 4 is a flowchart showing a series of processes of the automatic door device 16.

[0023] When a series of processes starts, in step S1, the determination unit 30 determines whether a person or object has been detected within the detection area 22. The determination unit 30 repeats this process until it receives a detection signal (No in step S1). When a person or object is detected within the detection area 22 (Yes in step S1), in step S2, the determination unit 30 determines whether a person or object has been detected within the sub-area 22A. When a person or object is detected within the sub-area 22A (Yes in step S2), in step S3, the determination unit 30 determines that the sliding door 14 to be operated is the sliding door 14A and drives the sliding door 14A to open. Thereafter, in step S4, the determination unit 30 waits until no person or object is detected within the sub-area 22A, and in step S5, drives the sliding door 14A to close.

[0024] When a person or an object is detected in a sub - area other than sub - area 22A (No in step S2), in step S6, the determination unit 30 determines whether a person or an object is detected in sub - area 22B. When a person or an object is detected in sub - area 22B (Yes in step S6), in step S7, the determination unit 30 determines that the sliding door 14 to be operated is sliding door 14B and drives sliding door 14B to open. Then, in step S8, the determination unit 30 waits until no person or object is detected in sub - area 22B, and in step S9, drives sliding door 14A to close.

[0025] When a person or an object is detected in a sub - area other than sub - area 22B (No in step S6), in step S10, the determination unit 30 determines that the sliding door 14 to be operated is sliding door 14C and drives sliding door 14C to open. Then, in step S11, the determination unit 30 waits until no person or object is detected in sub - area 22C, and in step S12, drives sliding door 14A to close.

[0026] Through such a series of processes, the sliding doors 14 corresponding to the sub - areas 22A, 22B, and 22C where a person or an object is detected can be operated. In addition, in step S2, it is determined whether a person or an object is detected in sub - area 22A, and in step S6, it is determined whether a person or an object is detected in sub - area 22B. However, for example, in step S2, it may be determined whether a person or an object is detected in sub - area 22C. That is, which step and which sub - areas 22A, 22B, and 22C are the objects of determination can be freely selected.

[0027] In the above series of processes, when the invalid area 22N is invalidated in such a manner that the determination unit 30 does not perform processing even if a detection signal is output from the detection spot 20 to the door control unit 28C, an additional step may be added between step S1 and step S2. In the additional step, it is determined whether the area where a person or an object is detected is the invalid area 22N. If the detected area is the invalid area 22N, the automatic door device 16 ends the series of processes. If the detected area is not the invalid area 22N, the automatic door device 16 executes the processes after step S2.

[0028] FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a control program for the automatic door device. Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, the control program 40 includes a detection instruction unit 42 and a determination instruction unit 44. The detection instruction unit 42 is a functional block that operates the detection unit 18, and the determination instruction unit 44 is a functional block that operates the determination unit 30.

[0029] The detection instruction unit 42 causes the detection unit 18 to detect a person or an object within the detection area 22 and output a detection signal. As a result, the detection unit 18 creates a detection spot 20 and detects a person or an object within the detection spot 20.

[0030] The determination instruction unit 44 operates the determination unit 30 to determine the sliding door 14 to be operated. Specifically, the determination instruction unit 44 causes the door control unit 28 of the sliding door 14 associated with the detection spot 20 where a person or an object is detected to be determined as the door control unit 28 to be operated, according to the detection signal of the detection unit 18.

[0031] Such a control program 40 may be stored in the module C that functions as a master, or may be stored in an external terminal capable of communicating with the automatic door control device 24.

[0032] As described above, according to the automatic door device 16, a plurality of sliding doors 14A, 14B, and 14C can be controlled using only one detection area 22. As a result, the number of detection units 18 to be used can be reduced to one, and the cost of the body of the automatic door device 16 and the installation cost can be reduced. In addition, since the opening and closing of all the sliding doors 14 are determined by one determination unit 30, for example, when the automatic door device 16 is installed, the detection areas overlap unintentionally, reducing the chance that a plurality of sliding doors 14 will operate simultaneously unintentionally.

[0033] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and each configuration of the embodiments can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The following modification examples are also within the scope of the present invention.

[0034] FIG. 6 is a schematic top view showing the periphery of an automatic door device according to a modification example. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 6, in the modification example, the determination unit 30 determines the sliding door 14 to be operated in consideration of the moving direction of a person or an object. The determination unit 30 includes a storage unit (not shown) that stores the detection signal over time. Focusing on the adjacent detection spots 20E and 20F, for example, assume that a person P is detected at the detection spot 20F immediately after a person P is detected at the detection spot 20E. In such a case, it can be predicted that the person P is moving along the straight line connecting the detection spot 20E and the detection spot 20F in the direction from the detection spot 20E to the detection spot 20F (the direction of the sliding door 14B in the example of the figure). The determination unit 30 may predict the moving direction of a person or an object and determine the sliding door 14 to be operated in consideration of the prediction.

[0035] For example, in the sub-area 22C, when it is predicted that a person or an object is moving toward the sliding door 14B, the determination unit 30 may determine to operate the sliding door 14B before the person or the object is detected in the sub-area 22B. At the same time, since the moving direction of the person or the object detected in the sub-area 22C is away from the sliding door 14C, the determination unit 30 may decide not to operate the sliding door 14C.

[0036] By determining the sliding door 14 that should be actuated by predicting the moving direction of a person or an object in this way, the sliding door 14 can be actuated in response to the movement of the person or the object at an early stage even in a narrow room. At the same time, the number of times the sliding door 14 that a person or an object is not scheduled to pass through is opened can be reduced.

[0037] In a modified example, when a plurality of sliding doors 14 are arranged side by side in the predicted moving direction, only one sliding door 14 may be actuated. In this case, the determination unit 30 actuates only the sliding door 14 that is closest to the straight line indicated by the predicted moving direction. Thereby, even when a plurality of sliding doors 14 are arranged side by side, the number of times the sliding door 14 that a person or an object is not scheduled to pass through is opened can be reduced.

Explanation of Signs

[0038] 14: Sliding door, 16: Automatic door device, 18: Detection unit, 20: Detection spot, 22: Detection area, 24: Automatic door control device, 26: Driving unit, 28: Door control unit, 30: Determination unit, 32: Output unit, 40: Control program, 42: Detection instruction unit, 44: Determination instruction unit

Claims

1. A plurality of door control units respectively associated with doors provided in a plurality of openings and configured to control the opening and closing of the corresponding doors; A detection unit having one detection area formed by a plurality of detection spots respectively associated with any one of the plurality of doors and provided around the plurality of openings, configured to detect a person or an object within the detection area and output detection information; A determination unit configured to determine, based on the detection information, a door control unit among the plurality of door control units that should be activated; The determination unit determines, as the door control unit to be activated, the door control unit of the door associated with the detection spot where the person or object is detected among the plurality of detection spots. An automatic door control device.

2. The determination unit determines the door control unit to be activated based on the position information of the detection spot where the person or object is detected. The automatic door control device according to claim 1.

3. The determination unit further determines the door control unit to be activated based on the moving direction of the person or object predicted from the detection information. The automatic door control device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The determination unit determines, as the door control unit to be activated, the door control unit of the door that is closest in the moving direction from the position of the detection spot where the person or object is detected. The automatic door control device according to claim 3.

5. Among the plurality of detection spots, only predetermined detection spots are associated with the plurality of doors. The automatic door control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. An output unit configured to output a signal for controlling the opening and closing of the corresponding door to the door control unit determined by the determination unit. The automatic door control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. A door control unit determination device that determines, as the door control unit to be activated, any one of a plurality of door control units respectively associated with doors provided in a plurality of openings and configured to control the opening and closing of the corresponding doors, A detection unit having one detection area formed by a plurality of detection spots respectively associated with any one of the plurality of doors and provided around the plurality of openings, configured to detect a person or an object within the detection area and output detection information; A determination unit configured to determine, based on the detection information, a door control unit among the plurality of door control units that should be activated; The determination unit determines the door control unit of the door associated with the detection spot where the person or object is detected among the plurality of detection spots as the door control unit to be activated, which is a door control unit determination device.

8. A door, An automatic door control device that controls the opening and closing of the door, A driving unit that drives the door based on the control by the automatic door control device, and The automatic door control device includes A plurality of door control units corresponding to the doors provided in a plurality of openings respectively, and controlling the opening and closing of the corresponding doors respectively, One detection area formed by a plurality of detection spots respectively associated with any one of the plurality of doors, and provided around the plurality of openings, having a detection unit that detects a person or object in the detection area and outputs detection information, A determination unit that determines the door control unit to be activated among the plurality of door control units based on the detection information, and The determination unit determines the door control unit of the door associated with the detection spot where the person or object is detected among the plurality of detection spots as the door control unit to be activated, which is an automatic door device.

9. A plurality of door control units associated with the doors provided in a plurality of openings respectively, and controlling the opening and closing of the corresponding doors respectively, One detection area formed by a plurality of detection spots respectively associated with any one of the plurality of doors, and provided around the plurality of openings, having a detection unit that detects a person or object in the detection area and outputs detection information, A method for controlling an automatic door device by an automatic door control device including a determination unit that determines the door control unit to be activated among the plurality of door control units, the method comprising: A step of detecting a person or object in the detection area by the detection unit and outputting the detection information, When the person or object is detected in any one of the plurality of detection spots, a step of determining the door control unit of the door associated with the detection spot where the person or object is detected as the door control unit to be activated, which is a method for controlling an automatic door device.

10. A plurality of door control units associated with the doors provided in a plurality of openings respectively, and controlling the opening and closing of the corresponding doors respectively, It is formed by a plurality of detection spots respectively associated with any one of the plurality of doors, and has one detection area provided around the plurality of openings, and detects a person or an object in the detection area and outputs detection information, a detection unit; A door control unit determination device control program comprising a determination unit that determines a door control unit to be activated among the plurality of door control units. A detection instruction function that causes the detection unit to detect a person or an object in the detection area and output the detection information; A door control unit determination device control program for causing a computer to realize a determination instruction function that, when the person or object is detected in any one of the plurality of detection spots, causes the determination unit to determine the door control unit of the door associated with the detection spot where the person or object is detected as the door control unit to be activated.

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