Elevator Control via Passenger Acceleration Correlation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elevator systems face challenges in guiding passengers accurately to their destination floors, often requiring manual guidance and complex, expensive infrastructure, leading to potential misdirection and delayed arrivals due to the need for passengers to access terminal devices for navigation.
Innovation Solution
A method that measures and compares passenger acceleration data with elevator car acceleration data to automatically identify and guide the correct elevator car to the passenger's destination floor, eliminating the need for manual guidance and reducing infrastructure complexity by using wireless communication between terminal devices and the control system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual guidance information is transmitted to terminal devices, then passengers can be directed to specific elevator cars, but passengers must access their terminal devices which hinders and slows down arrival
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically identifies passengers and allocates elevator cars without requiring passenger action. The acceleration sensors in terminal devices automatically detect elevator car motion and identify which car the passenger entered, eliminating the need for manual guidance interaction and speeding up the process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual guidance systems with automatic acceleration-based detection. Instead of relying on passengers to read and follow guidance information on terminal devices, the system uses acceleration sensors to automatically detect which elevator car the passenger entered and tracks their journey automatically.
2Reliability
If base stations for wireless communication are installed in different parts of the building, then communication coverage is improved, but the solution becomes complex and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes terminal devices serve multiple functions: they act as both communication devices for receiving elevator system information and as acceleration sensors for detecting elevator car motion. This eliminates the need for separate infrastructure components and reduces overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The terminal devices in passengers' possession are utilized as ready-made acceleration sensors without requiring additional infrastructure installation. The system leverages the existing sensors in mobile devices to detect elevator car acceleration and identify passenger-elevator car associations automatically.
3Ease of operation
If guidance information is transmitted as public signals, then passengers can receive direction easily, but passengers may forget or not notice the information leading to wrong elevator car selection
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors acceleration data from terminal devices and compares it with elevator car acceleration profiles to automatically identify which car the passenger entered. This feedback mechanism ensures accurate tracking without relying on passenger memory or attention to public guidance signals.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces visual/public guidance signals with automatic mechanical/dynamic detection using acceleration sensors. The system objectively detects which elevator car the passenger entered through acceleration pattern matching, eliminating human factors like forgetting or not noticing guidance information.
Data Source
AI summary
An elevator controller may include a memory configured to store acceleration data therein; and a processor configured to, register a passenger-specific destination call, the passenger-specific destination call including destination information indicating a destination floor of a passenger, receive passenger acceleration data indicating a vertical acceleration of the passenger in one of a plurality of elevator cars, compare elevator acceleration data of the plurality of elevator cars departing a floor with the passenger acceleration data, determine whether a correlation exists between the passenger acceleration data and the elevator acceleration data of a detected one of the plurality of elevator cars, and guide the detected one of the plurality of elevator cars that has left a floor to the destination floor according to the passenger-specific destination call, if the processor determines that the correlation exists.