Announcement System for a Building Transport

• US 20090290726A1
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Otis Elevator Company (Otis Worldwide Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Otis Elevator Company (Otis Worldwide Corp.)
• Inventors: Jayachandran, Vijay
• Application Number:
  US12/084,866
• Publication Number:
  US 20090290726A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/107
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 3/00 Applications of devices for indicating or signalling operating conditions of elevators

Abstract

An announcement system (12) and method for communicating information relating to the operation of a building transport system (14), such as an elevator, moving walkway, or escalator, determines an appropriate volume for announcements based upon the sensed ambient noise.

Claims

1. An announcement system comprising:

an ambient sound sensor for receiving ambient noise and converting the ambient noise into a sensed sound signal;

an audible signal generator for audibly communicating information relating to the operation of a building transport system; and

an automatic volume control for adjusting an output volume of the audible signal generator based on the sensed sound signal.

2. The announcement system of claim 1, the automatic volume control further comprising an anti-aliasing filter and an analog to digital converter for sampling the sensed sound signal and converting it into digital form.

3. The announcement system of claim 2, wherein the analog to digital converter is configured to sample the sensed sound signal at a frequency at least double an upper frequency limit of audio content in the sensed signal.

4. The announcement system of claim 1, wherein the automatic volume control further comprises a spectral processor for filtering the sensed sound signal.

5. The announcement system of claim 4, wherein the spectral processor utilizes an algorithm to adjust the sensed sound signal to approximate human hearing.

6. The announcement system of claim 4, wherein the spectral processor utilizes an algorithm to emphasize frequencies important to human speech.

7. The announcement system of claim 4, wherein the spectral processor calculates a spectral metric from the sensed sound signal.

8. The announcement system of claim 7, wherein the automatic volume control further comprises an amplitude calculator for calculating a commanded amplifier gain from the spectral metric.

9. The announcement system of claim 1, wherein the audible signal generator comprises:

an audio source for generating an announcement signal;

an amplifier for amplifying the announcement signal as a function of the sensed sound signal; and

a sound generator for converting the amplified announcement signal into an audible announcement.

10. The announcement system of claim 9, wherein the sound generator is one of a speaker, a chime, a buzzer, a bell, and a whistle.

11. The announcement system of claim 1, wherein the building transport system is one of an elevator system, an escalator system, and a moving walkway.

12. A building transport system comprising:

a transportation platform for transporting within a building;

an ambient sound sensor for receiving ambient noise and generating a sensed sound signal;

an automatic volume control for generating an amplification signal based upon the sensed sound signal;

an audio source. for generating an audio signal;

an amplifier for amplifying the audio signal based upon the amplification signal; and

a sound generator for converting the amplified audio signal into an audible announcement to convey information relating to operation of the transportation platform.

13. The building transport system of claim 12, the transportation platform being one of an elevator platform, an escalator step, and a moving walkway platform.

14. The announcement system of claim 12, further comprising a filter for frequency weighting the sensed sound signal received from the ambient sound sensor to approximate human hearing.

15. The announcement system of claim 12, further comprising a filter for frequency weighting the sensed sound signal received from the ambient sound sensor to emphasize frequencies of human speech.

16. A method of communicating information associated with a building transport system, the method comprising:

sensing ambient noise in an area associated with the building transport system to generate a sensed sound signal;

determining a volume for an announcement as a function of the sensed sound signal; and

broadcasting the announcement at the volume determined to communicate the information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein sensing ambient noise comprises:

receiving ambient noise with an ambient sound sensor;

generating an analog sound signal; and

periodically measuring the voltage of the analog sound signal to generate a digital sound signal.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising filtering the sensed sound signal after sampling and before evaluating the amplitude to approximate human hearing.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein filtering comprises performing a frequency weighting technique.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the volume for the announcement comprises looking up the appropriate announcement volume in a lookup table as a function of the sensed sound signal.