Elevator calling method, mobile terminal, and elevator system

Abstract

The display screen when registering a call from a mobile terminal is simplified to prevent user operation errors and improve convenience. [Solution] The second floor that the elevator user will be traveling to and from is pre-registered on a mobile device carried by the user, the mobile device detects the user's location information, and from the changes in the location information from the mobile device, it is estimated which of the two floors the user is on. A destination direction button is displayed on the display of the mobile device based on the estimated floor where the user is located, and the user can call the elevator and register the destination floor by touching the destination direction button displayed on the mobile device.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] FIELD Embodiments of the present invention relate to an elevator calling method, a mobile terminal, and an elevator system. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, apps have begun to be introduced that allow elevator users to register their destination floors using a "smartphone call" feature, which allows them to call the elevator from the screen of their smartphone.

[0003] There are various GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) that are displayed on smartphone screens, but some of them allow you to register the floors you will be traveling to and from (start and destination floors) in advance, and then select only the destination direction to register the call, allowing you to handle both up and down movements with a single setting.With this GUI, you can automatically register a destination floor call by pressing the up button if the departure floor is a lower floor, or the down button if the departure floor is an upper floor. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2023 / 084703 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-052267 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, with the conventional screen configuration, it is only assumed that users press the up button when they are on a lower floor and the down button when they are on an upper floor. Because it is not possible to know which floor the user is boarding at, both buttons are always present on the screen, which can lead to incorrect operation.

[0006] In addition, conventionally, the method used was to change the screen settings assuming that the boarding floor and destination floor would be swapped after a certain period of time, but this had the problem of not always being able to make accurate estimates over time.

[0007] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an elevator calling method, a portable terminal, and an elevator system that simplify the display screen when registering a call from a portable terminal, thereby preventing user operation errors and improving convenience. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In an embodiment for achieving the above object, the second floor that the user will be traveling to and from is pre-registered on a mobile device carried by the elevator user, the mobile device detects the user's location information, and from the changes in the location information from the mobile device, it is estimated which of the two floors the user is on. A destination direction button is displayed on the display unit of the mobile device based on the estimated floor where the user is located, and the user can call the elevator and register the destination floor by selecting the destination direction button displayed on the mobile device. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a configuration diagram of an elevator system to which an embodiment is applied. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing procedure of the embodiment in chronological order. [Figure 4] 1 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure according to an embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the transition of the user's location information and the screen display. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the transition of the user's location information and the screen display. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen on a smartphone. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen on a smartphone. [Figure 9]FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen on a smartphone. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Configuration of the embodiment FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an elevator system to which the embodiment is applied.

[0011] As shown in the figure, the building 1 in this embodiment is assumed to be a seven-story apartment building or office building. A car 3 is raised and lowered in a hoistway 2 in the building 1 by a hoisting machine 5 installed in a machine room 4 to carry a user 6 to a destination floor. The hoisting machine 5 is driven and controlled by an elevator control panel 10 in the machine room 4. The elevator control panel 10 is connected to a cloud server 20, which performs overall control of multiple elevators. In this embodiment, a "smartphone call" from a smartphone 30 carried by the user 6 is supplied to the elevator control panel 10 via the cloud server 20, and the car 3 moves within the hoistway 2 based on this "smartphone call."

[0012] In this embodiment, if the first floor is the entrance floor and the seventh floor is the office floor, when employees arrive at work they will move from the first floor to the seventh floor where their office is located, and when employees leave building 1 or return home they will move from the seventh floor to the entrance floor, the seventh floor.

[0013] 2 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the embodiment. As shown in the figure, an elevator control panel 10 includes a call registration unit 11, a travel control unit 12, and a call setting unit 13.

[0014] When a smartphone call (or a platform call or a car call) is received from the smartphone 30, the call registration unit 11 registers it.

[0015] The running control unit 12 controls the running of the car 3 based on the registered calls.

[0016] The call setting unit 13 sets a smartphone call (or a hall call, or a car call).

[0017] The cloud server 20 includes a smartphone call input / output unit 21 and a call registration notification unit 22.

[0018] When a smartphone call is received from the smartphone 30, the smartphone call input / output unit 21 transfers the call to the elevator control panel 10.

[0019] When a call is set by the elevator control panel 10, the call registration notification unit 22 notifies the smartphone 30 carried by the user 6 that the call has been registered.

[0020] A smartphone call app is registered on the smartphone 30, and in terms of functional configuration, it is equipped with a location information input unit 31, a display control unit 32, a display unit 33, a floor information setting unit 34, a smartphone call output unit 35, and a call registration input unit 36.

[0021] The location information input unit 31 inputs the location information of the smartphone 30 from the GPS.

[0022] The display control unit 32 controls the display displayed on the display unit 33 based on the position information.

[0023] As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the display unit 33 displays the destination direction based on the position information.

[0024] The floor information setting unit 34 registers the second floor to be visited.

[0025] The smartphone call output unit 35 outputs the smartphone call input from the call registration input unit 36 ​​to the cloud server 20.

[0026] The call registration input unit 36 ​​inputs call registration information from the display unit 33 of the smartphone 30.

[0027] <<Processing Procedure of the Embodiment>> Fig. 3 shows the processing procedure of the embodiment in chronological order, and Fig. 4 shows the processing procedure of the embodiment in a flowchart.

[0028] As shown in Fig. 3(a)(1), when a user 6, who is a user of the smartphone app, registers a call from a smartphone 30, a call registration signal is supplied to the elevator control panel 10 via the cloud server 20. When the call registration is complete, a call registration completion notice is sent to the smartphone 30 via the cloud server 20 (Fig. 3(a)(2)). In response to the call registration, the elevator control panel 10 drives the hoisting machine 5 to move the car 3 to the call registration floor. When the car 3 arrives, the user 6 gets into the car 3 and moves (Fig. 3(a)(3)).

[0029] While the user 6 gets off and moves around until the next call, the location information input unit 31 acquires GPS transition information as the location information of the user 6 (FIG. 3(a)(4)). Based on this location information, the display control unit 32 determines whether the user 6 has left the building 1. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5(a), if the user's location information transition 51 is a certain distance away from the registered elevator location coordinates 50 registered within the building 1, it is estimated that the user 6 has left the building 1 and gone out. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6(a), if the user's location information transition 51 is not a certain distance away from the registered elevator location coordinates 50, it is estimated that the user 6 is inside the building 1. In the example of FIG. 3, the user 6 is estimated to have "left the building 1."

[0030] When user 6 launches the smartphone app (Fig. 3(a)(5)), the call is from the first floor, which is the entrance floor, so an upward destination direction button is displayed on the screen of display unit 33 (Fig. 3(a)(6)). A specific display example is shown in Fig. 5(b), where an upward destination direction button is displayed in the center of the screen as destination direction display 40. Note that, as shown in Fig. 6, if user 6 is estimated to be "not out," a downward destination direction button is displayed in the center of the screen as destination direction display 40, as shown in Fig. 6(b).

[0031] The processing of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0032] When arriving at work, an elevator call is registered using the smartphone app on the smartphone 30 (S1). In this example, the call is registered from the boarding floor, the first floor (entrance floor), to the disembarking floor, the seventh floor (residential floor, office floor).

[0033] Even after the user 6 gets on and off the elevator, the position information input unit 31 acquires the position information of the smartphone 30 at regular intervals using the GPS function (S2, S3).

[0034] After that, when user 6 launches the smartphone app, it determines whether or not he or she is out (S4, S5).

[0035] If it is determined that the passenger has left the area, the boarding and disembarking floors are displayed without being swapped. In other words, the boarding floor is the first floor (entrance floor) and the disembarking floor is the seventh floor (residential floor, office floor), and the destination direction buttons pointing upward are displayed as they are.

[0036] If it is determined that the user has not left the vehicle, the boarding floor and disembarking floor are reversed and displayed. In other words, the boarding floor is displayed as floor 7 (residential / office floor) and the disembarking floor is displayed as floor 1 (entrance floor), and the destination direction buttons are displayed downward.

[0037] As described above, according to the embodiment, the display screen when registering a call from the smartphone 30 can be simplified, thereby preventing erroneous operations by the user and improving convenience.

[0038] Next, a comparison between this embodiment and a conventional example will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 7, the initial step is to register a favorite.

[0040] Select the elevator (or bank) you want to use (Fig. 1(a)). For example, select the elevator in your apartment or office building.

[0041] Next, the user selects the floor they wish to use (Figure 7 (b)). In Figure 7, the user has selected to travel between the 1st and 7th floors. In this case, the floor settings from the previous use in the selected bank are displayed. For example, it displays the residential floor⇔entrance floor, or office floor⇔entrance floor, etc.

[0042] Next, select your destination (Fig. 1(c)), and finally, tap the heart icon to add it to your favorites (Fig. 1(d)).

[0043] After completing the above-mentioned favorite registration, when the smartphone app is launched, the user first selects the destination direction, as shown in the example in Figure 8. From the display screen, the user selects the "destination direction button" in the same way as the buttons at the boarding area. For example, if the user wants to go from the 1st floor to the 7th floor, the user selects the up direction button 41, and if the user wants to go from the 7th floor to the 1st floor, the user selects the down direction button 42.

[0044] In the display example shown in FIG. 9, first, the elevator (bank) to be used is selected (FIG. 9(a)). Next, the floor to be used is selected from the display screen (FIG. 9(b)). The display screen displays the floor setting from the previous use of the selected bank as the default (FIG. 9(c)). The user 6 selects the destination direction.

[0045] As described above, in the display examples shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, both the upward destination direction button 41 and the downward destination direction button 42 are displayed, which is not user-friendly for the user 6.

[0046] In this embodiment, the smartphone 30's GPS function is utilized to determine whether the user 6 has left the building where the elevator is located if the user is a certain distance away from the registered elevator location coordinates. Otherwise, the user is considered to be about to leave. This allows the smartphone app to estimate which floor the user 6 is currently on among the pre-specified floors. Only the button to be used according to the estimated boarding floor is displayed on the smartphone app screen. Specifically, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, either an up or down destination direction button 41, 42 is displayed on the display unit 33 of the smartphone 30 based on the estimated floor where the user 6 is located. The user 6 can call the elevator and register the destination floor by touching the displayed destination direction button 41, 42. This simplifies the display screen when registering an elevator call from the smartphone 30, preventing user operation errors and improving convenience.

[0047] Furthermore, real-time GPS information alone can only determine horizontal position, and using Bluetooth requires the installation of equipment on the elevator side, but with the configuration of the embodiment, there is no need to add any equipment on either the elevator side or the user 6 side.

[0048] In addition, in consideration of the possibility that the screen display may differ from the expected due to GPS errors, etc., it is also possible to manually display either destination floor button. In this case, a switching button is provided on the display screen of the smartphone 30, and the user 6 can manually switch between them.

[0049] Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be embodied in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and spirit of the invention, and are also included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents as defined in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 1...building, 2...hoistway, 3...car, 4...machine room, 5...hoisting machine, 6...user, 10...elevator control panel, 11...call registration unit, 12...travel control unit, 13...call setting unit, 20...cloud server, 21...smartphone call input / output unit, 22...call registration notification unit, 30...smartphone, 31...location information input unit, 32...display control unit, 33...display unit, 34...floor information setting unit, 35...smartphone call output unit, 36...call registration input unit, 40, 41, 42...destination direction display (destination direction button), 50...registered position coordinates, 51...location information transition

Claims

1. The second floor that the elevator user will be coming and going to is registered in advance on a mobile device carried by the elevator user, Detecting location information of the user by the mobile terminal; From the transition of the location information from the mobile device, it is estimated which of the two floors the user is on; displaying only one of the up and down destination direction buttons to be used according to the estimated boarding floor on the display unit of the mobile terminal based on the estimated floor where the user is located; The method for calling an elevator allows the user to call an elevator and register a destination floor by selecting a destination direction button displayed on the mobile terminal.

2. the mobile terminal detects position information within a building in which the elevator is installed at predetermined intervals; If the elevator is located a certain distance away from the registered elevator location coordinates within the building, it is assumed that the user has left the building and gone outside.

2. The method for calling an elevator according to claim 1, wherein if the user is not at a certain distance from the registered elevator position coordinates, the user is presumed to be inside the building.

3. A mobile terminal carried by an elevator user, a floor information setting unit that pre-registers the second floor where the user comes and goes; a location information input unit that acquires location information; A mobile terminal equipped with a display control unit that estimates which of the two floors the user is on from the transition of location information, and based on the estimated floor on which the user is on, displays only the destination direction button, either up or down, which is used according to the estimated boarding floor, on the display unit.

4. the position information input unit detects position information within a building in which the elevator is installed at predetermined intervals, The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the display control unit presumes that the user has left the building and gone out if the user is a certain distance away from the registered elevator position coordinates within the building, and presumes that the user is inside the building if the user is not a certain distance away from the registered elevator position coordinates.

5. an elevator control panel that controls an elevator; a cloud server that manages each elevator control panel; and the mobile terminal according to claim 3 or 4 that registers a call to the elevator control panel via the cloud server; An elevator system in which a user can call an elevator and register a destination floor by selecting a destination direction button displayed on a display unit based on the user's estimated location.

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