Controlling an elevator car to take a user to a destination floor based on calendar information from a mobile device

• US 10,273,117 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 04/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Buckman, Brien T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hall, Victoria K
• Application Number:
  US14/872,028
• Publication Number:
  US 20170088397A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,308 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/3461 between the elevator control system and remote or mobile stations
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/468 Call registering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/4615 Wherein the destination is registered before boarding
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/4653 wherein the call is registered using portable devices
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/4676 for checking authorization of the passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/4684 for preventing accidental or deliberate misuse
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A computer system can be configured to cause a mechanical action based on transient data stored on a user'"'"'s mobile device. In some examples, the system includes a mobile device finder for receiving calendar information from a mobile device within a physical distance from an elevator system. The calendar information specifies a time and a place of an appointment. The system includes a calendar verifier for determining that the time of the appointment is within a time period from a current time and that the place of the appointment corresponds to a destination floor reachable by the elevator system. The system includes an elevator programmer for programming the elevator system with the destination floor so that, when a user carries the mobile device onto an elevator car of the elevator system, the elevator system controls the elevator car to take the user to the destination floor.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a system of one or more computers, calendar information from a mobile device within a physical distance from an elevator system, the calendar information specifying a time and a place of an appointment;

determining, by the system of one or more computers, that the time of the appointment is within a time period from a current time and that the place of the appointment corresponds to a destination floor reachable by the elevator system;

determining that the mobile device is within the physical distance from the elevator system by determining that the mobile device has connected to a wireless access point having a wireless communications range within the physical distance; and

programming, by the system of one or more computers and based on the calendar information, the elevator system with the destination floor so that, when a user carries the mobile device onto an elevator car of the elevator system, the elevator system controls the elevator car to take the user to the destination floor;

wherein programming the elevator system with the destination floor comprises determining that the user is authorized to access the destination floor, and wherein determining that the user is authorized to access the destination floor comprises determining that the calendar information indicates that the appointment was initiated by an entity authorized to grant access to the destination floor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving calendar information from the mobile device comprises sending a request to the mobile device over a wireless communications link, and receiving a response to the request over the wireless communications link with the calendar information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the elevator car is in a building and the wireless access point is in a lobby of the building.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the time of the appointment is within the time period from the current time comprises comparing the time of the appointment with the current time and determining that a difference between the time of the appointment and the current time is less than a threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the calendar information comprises receiving a start time and an end time for the appointment, and wherein determining that the time of the appointment is within the time period from the current time comprises determining that the current time is not past the end time for the appointment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the place of the appointment corresponds to a destination floor of the elevator system comprises comparing the place of the appointment to a list of accessible places, finding a match between the place of the appointment and a matching accessible place on the list of accessible places, and selecting the destination floor as a floor for the matching accessible place.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein programming the elevator system with the destination floor comprises sending the destination floor and an identifier for the mobile device to the elevator system so that the elevator system can determine when the mobile device is on the elevator car using the identifier and set the destination floor in response to determining that the mobile device is on the elevator car.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein programming the elevator system with the destination floor comprises determining an estimated arrival time for the user based on a distance between the mobile device and the elevator car and sending the destination floor and the estimated arrival time to the elevator system.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer readable media storing executable instructions for the one or more processors, the executable instructions including;

a mobile device finder for receiving calendar information from a mobile device within a physical distance from an elevator system and for determining that the mobile device is within the physical distance by determining that the mobile device has connected to a wireless access point having a wireless communications range within the physical distance, the calendar information specifying a time and a place of an appointment;

a calendar verifier for determining that the time of the appointment is within a time period from a current time and that the place of the appointment corresponds to a destination floor reachable by the elevator system; and

an elevator programmer for programming, based on the calendar information, the elevator system with the destination floor so that, when a user carries the mobile device onto an elevator car of the elevator system, the elevator system controls the elevator car to take the user to the destination floor;

wherein programming the elevator system with the destination floor comprises determining that the user is authorized to access the destination floor, and wherein determining that the user is authorized to access the destination floor comprises determining that the calendar information indicates that the appointment was initiated by an entity authorized to grant access to the destination floor.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein receiving calendar information from the mobile device comprises sending a request to the mobile device over a wireless communications link, and receiving a response to the request over the wireless communications link with the calendar information.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the elevator car is in a building and the wireless access point is in a lobby of the building.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein determining that the time of the appointment is within the time period from the current time comprises comparing the time of the appointment with the current time and determining that a difference between the time of the appointment and the current time is less than a threshold.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein receiving the calendar information comprises receiving a start time and an end time for the appointment, and wherein determining that the time of the appointment is within the time period from the current time comprises determining that the current time is not past the end time for the appointment.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein determining that the place of the appointment corresponds to a destination floor of the elevator system comprises comparing the place of the appointment to a list of accessible places, finding a match between the place of the appointment and a matching accessible place on the list of accessible places, and selecting the destination floor as a floor for the matching accessible place.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein programming the elevator system with the destination floor comprises sending the destination floor and an identifier for the mobile device to the elevator system so that the elevator system can determine when the mobile device is on the elevator car using the identifier and set the destination floor in response to determining that the mobile device is on the elevator car.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein programming the elevator system with the destination floor comprises determining an estimated arrival time for the user based on a distance between the mobile device and the elevator car and sending the destination floor and the estimated arrival time to the elevator system.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable instructions that when executed by one or more computers control the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving calendar information from a mobile device within a physical distance from an elevator system, the calendar information specifying a time and a place of an appointment;

determining that the time of the appointment is within a time period from a current time and that the place of the appointment corresponds to a destination floor reachable by the elevator system;

determining that the mobile device is within the physical distance by determining that the mobile device has connected to a wireless access point having a wireless communications range within the physical distance; and

programming, based on the calendar information, the elevator system with the destination floor so that, when a user carries the mobile device onto an elevator car of the elevator system, the elevator system controls the elevator car to take the user to the destination floor;

wherein programming the elevator system with the destination floor comprises determining that the user is authorized to access the destination floor, and wherein determining that the user is authorized to access the destination floor comprises determining that the calendar information indicates that the appointment was initiated by an entity authorized to grant access to the destination floor.