Elevator Network Switching for Communication Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional elevator systems fail to store information and remotely perceive anomalies when a communication failure occurs between the elevator and the server, despite the maintenance server being operational.
Innovation Solution
An elevator system that uses a sorting device to determine whether to transmit information via a first IP network or an analog public telephone network to a server, ensuring continuous data storage and anomaly detection even during network failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single communication network is used to transmit elevator information to the server, then the system is simple, but the system fails when communication network failures occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple communication networks (first communication network and second communication network) into a unified communication architecture. The elevator information can be transmitted through either network, ensuring that if one network fails, the other can still maintain communication between the elevator and server, thus improving communication reliability without requiring completely separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the communication parameter by switching between different communication networks based on their operational status. When the first communication network experiences a failure, the system transitions to using the second communication network (such as switching from dedicated line to public telephone line), thereby adapting to changing conditions and maintaining reliable information transmission.
2Ease of operation
If the maintenance server is located remotely in a control center, then centralized management is achieved, but the server cannot be accessed when communication lines fail
Solution Approach 1:
The patent prepares multiple communication pathways in advance (first communication network and second communication network) before any failure occurs. When the elevator needs to communicate with the remotely located maintenance server, the system has predetermined alternative routes ready, so that if the primary communication line fails, the alternative line can immediately take over, ensuring continuous maintenance accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a communication switching mechanism that acts as an intermediary between the elevator controller and the maintenance server. This switching mechanism selects which communication network to use based on their operational status, mediating the connection between the elevator and the remote server, and ensuring that maintenance personnel can access elevator information regardless of which communication network is functioning.
Data Source
AI summary
An elevator system stores, in a server, information on an elevator installed in a building that is communicably connected to a data center in which the server is installed, the building and the data center being communicable independently via a first network and a second network, respectively, wherein the building includes: an information collection device configured to collect information on the elevator; a sorting device configured to determine which of the first network and the second network is to be used as a transmission path via which the information on the elevator collected by the information collection device is to be transmitted to the data center; and a communication device configured to transmit the information on the elevator collected by the information collection device to the data center via the transmission path determined by the sorting device.