Elevator Assistance Modes for Disability-Specific Accessibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elevator, escalator, and moving walkway systems pose challenges for passengers with disabilities, particularly blind, deaf, and mobility-challenged individuals, as they may struggle to locate and navigate these systems, and existing disability features often activate unnecessary assistance modes, causing inconvenience to others.
Innovation Solution
A personnel movement system with customizable assistance modes, allowing passengers to select specific features based on their disabilities, such as audio announcements, increased-volume chimes, extended door timings, and glass vs. non-transparent elevators, controlled by a controller that recognizes passengers automatically or via credentials, ensuring only necessary assistance is provided.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single all-inclusive disability call button is used, then all types of disabilities are accommodated, but unnecessary assistance is provided to passengers who do not need it
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the single disability call button into multiple separate buttons, each corresponding to a specific type of disability (blindness, deafness, mobility impairment). This allows the elevator controller to activate only the specific assistance features needed for each passenger's actual disability, rather than activating all assistance features simultaneously. The segmentation resolves the contradiction by enabling targeted assistance that accommodates all disability types while avoiding unnecessary assistance for individual passengers.
2Adaptability or versatility
If audio announcements and extended door timings are activated for all disability calls, then blind and mobility-challenged passengers are assisted, but deaf passengers experience unnecessary disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the assistance features into discrete categories: audio announcements for blind passengers, extended door timings for mobility-challenged passengers, and visual indicators for deaf passengers. When a deaf passenger activates the disability call button, only visual indicators are activated, avoiding the harmful effect of audio announcements and extended door timings that would disrupt them. This segmentation eliminates the contradiction by matching assistance features to specific disability types.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by providing different types of assistance in different locations or contexts within the elevator system. Each disability type receives assistance localized to its specific needs: audio cues for blind passengers, extended timing for mobility-challenged passengers, and visual signals for deaf passengers. This ensures that assistance is tailored to the local condition of each passenger, avoiding harmful disruptions to those who do not need particular assistance types.
3Adaptability or versatility
If extended door timings are provided for all disability calls, then mobility-challenged passengers have adequate time to enter and exit, but other passengers experience increased waiting time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the door timing extension feature to be activated only when a mobility-challenged passenger uses the disability call button. Other passengers do not trigger extended door timings, thus avoiding unnecessary waiting time. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by providing adequate time specifically to those who need it while maintaining normal door timing for other passengers.
Data Source
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AI summary
A personnel movement system is provided and includes a personnel movement element to transport passengers from one location to another and a controller configured to control operations of the personnel movement element. The controller is configured to be instructed to operate in one or more special assistance modes in which, for each of the one or more special assistance modes, a customizable subset of the operations of the personnel movement element are adjusted.