Passenger Assistance Interface for Accessible Elevator Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Elevator, escalator, and moving walkway systems pose challenges for passengers with special needs, such as blindness or mobility issues, due to difficulty in locating and accessing these systems, especially when they serve specific floors or areas.
Innovation Solution
A personnel movement system with a control application that registers passenger profiles and building descriptions, providing navigation and assistance through a passenger interface and automated elevator control, including robotic guides that can be virtually or physically tethered to assist passengers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional elevator systems are used without assistance interfaces, then the system structure remains simple, but passengers with disabilities cannot locate or access elevators effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an assistance interface that acts as an intermediary between passengers with disabilities and the elevator system. This interface provides audio cues, tactile feedback, and guidance information that enable blind or visually impaired passengers to locate and operate elevators independently, resolving the contradiction by adding a mediating layer rather than fundamentally redesigning the elevator mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables passengers with disabilities to independently locate, call, and operate elevators through the assistance interface without requiring external assistance. The interface provides autonomous guidance including directional audio cues, elevator status information, and operational feedback, allowing users to self-navigate and self-operate the system
2Productivity
If elevators are assigned to specific floors or areas only, then elevator dispatch efficiency is improved, but passengers cannot locate the correct elevators serving their destination
Solution Approach 1:
The assistance interface implements feedback mechanisms that provide passengers with real-time information about which elevators serve their destination floor. The system detects the passenger's intended destination and provides feedback including elevator location, status, and directional guidance, resolving the information asymmetry caused by specialized elevator assignments
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments elevator information by destination floor and service area, providing tailored guidance for each passenger based on their specific destination. This segmentation allows the system to maintain efficient specialized elevator assignments while providing customized information to help passengers locate the correct elevators for their needs
3Adaptability or versatility
If no passenger profile registration is implemented, then the system setup remains simple, but personalized assistance for different disability types cannot be provided
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adapts the assistance interface based on the passenger profile registered by the user. Different disability types (visual impairment, hearing impairment, mobility impairment) receive customized guidance modalities such as audio cues, visual displays, or tactile feedback, allowing the system to be versatile and adaptive without requiring complete redesign for each user type
Data Source
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AI summary
A control system is provided and includes a personnel movement system deployed in a building and passenger and building owner devices. A memory of the passenger device has first executable instructions of a control application stored thereon, which, when executed, cause a passenger device processor to register a passenger with and store a passenger profile of the passenger with the control application and to generate a passenger interface by which the passenger interfaces with the control application. A memory of the building owner device has second executable instructions of the control application stored thereon, which, when executed, cause a business owner device processor to register the building with and store a description of the building with the control application.