OPERATION DEVICE AND ELEVATOR APPARATUS WITH OPERATION DEVICE

• US 20100243381A1
• Filed: 10/28/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: HOSHINO, Takeshi, OBATA, Akiko (nee Nakajima), MAKI, Atsushi, TSUKADA, Yujin, SASANABE, Chizuko, YANAGIMOTO, Manabu, YAMAMOTO, Yukari
• Granted Patent: US 8,003,907 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 187/391
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 3/00 Applications of devices for indicating or signalling operating conditions of elevators

Abstract

In a method of marking pictograms, for reducing the number of erroneous operations, on an operation apparatus conducting mutually different operations such as opening and closing operations, a concretized human pictogram indicating mutually different state changes such as state changes represented by use of a face with opened eyes and a face with closed eyes associated with operation signals assigned to a pair of operation switches and a pictogram in which the human pictogram is combined with an operation pictogram representing a state in which a door concretizing an operation target to operate in response to an operation signal is opened or is being completely closed are respectively attached to the operation switches disposed adjacent to each other.

Claims

1. A method of marking pictograms on an operation apparatus comprising an operation panel which comprises at least a pair of input switches including a first switch and a second switch to make an operation target as a constituent element of the operation apparatus conduct mutually different operations, the method comprising

the step of marking concretized human pictograms respectively on the first and second switches, the human pictograms indicating mutually different state changes respectively associated with operation signals of the apparatus respectively assigned to the first and second switches.

2. An operation apparatus comprising an operation panel which comprises at least a pair of input switches including a first switch and a second switch respectively marked with pictograms, wherein

a pictogram in which a concretized human pictogram indicating mutually different state changes respectively associated with operation signals of the apparatus respectively assigned to the first and second switches is combined with an operation pictogram concretizing an operation target which operates in response to an operation signal is arranged at positions adjacent to each other in the operation panel.

3. An operation apparatus comprising at least a pair of input switches to make an operation target of the apparatus conduct mutually different functional operations, wherein

a pictogram in which a human pictogram indicating a state change associated with the operation is combined with an operation pictogram concretizing an operation mode of the operation target is formed for each of the input switches.

4. An operation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the human pictogram is a face pictogram.

5. An operation apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the human pictogram comprises at least a face contour and two eyes and a mouth in the face contour.

6. An operation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

the mutually different functional operations are opening and closing operations of the operation target;

an opening operation pictogram indicating a state in which the operation target opens and an open-eye face pictogram representing a state in which the eyes and the mouth are opened are formed in combination with each other for an opening operation switch to cause execution of the opening operation of the input switch; and

a closing operation pictogram indicating a state in which the operation target closes and a closed-eye face pictogram representing a state in which the eyes and the mouth are closed are formed in combination with each other for a closing operation switch to cause execution of the closing operation of the input switch.

7. An operation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

the opening operation switch comprises a space section in the switch area where the operation pictogram is not formed, the space section having a first ratio with respect to an area of the switch;

the closing operation switch comprises a space section in the switch area where the operation pictogram is not formed, the space section having a second ratio with respect to the area of the switch; and

a ratio difference between the first and second ratios is equal to or more than 15%.

8. An elevator apparatus comprising a cage disposed to go upward and downward in an elevator passageway, a driver to move the cage upward and downward, an elevator operation panel disposed in the cage, and a door, wherein:

the elevator operation panel comprises at least a pair of operation buttons to open and to close the door;

a pictogram in which an opening operation pictogram concretizing a state in which the door is opened is combined with a face pictogram comprising a face contour and opened two eyes and opened mouth in the face contour is formed for an operation button to open the door; and

a pictogram in which a closing operation pictogram concretizing a state in which the door is closed is combined with a face pictogram comprising a face contour and closed two eyes and a closed mouth in the face contour is formed for an operation button to close the door.

9. An elevator apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

the door associated with the open and close pictograms comprises a first door and a second door;

a space section is disposed between the first and second doors; and

the face pictogram is formed in the space section.

10. An elevator apparatus according to claim 9, wherein:

the operation button to open the door includes a space section in the switch area where the operation pictogram is not formed, the space section having a first ratio with respect to an area of the switch;

the operation button to close the door includes a space section in the switch area where the operation pictogram is not formed, the space section having a second ratio with respect to the area of the switch; and

a ratio difference between the first and second ratios is equal to or more than 15%.

11. An elevator apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the operation panel is a liquid-crystal touch panel, the apparatus comprising

a controller for conducting animation display of operation states of the opening operation pictogram and the closing operation pictograms when the cage is in a stopped state or before the case enters the stopped state.

12. An elevator apparatus according to claim 8, comprising a frame which surrounds a periphery of the operation buttons.

13. An elevator apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the operation buttons are formed at a lower position than the frame in the form of a depression.

14. An operation apparatus for use with a lighting device comprising at least a pair of input switches including an on switch and an off switch to respectively conduct on and off operations for the lighting device, wherein:

a pictogram in which an on operation pictogram concretizing the on state is combined with a face pictogram comprising a face contour and opened two eyes and an opened mouth in the face contour is formed for the on switch; and

a pictogram in which an on operation pictogram concretizing the off state is combined with a face pictogram comprising a face contour and closed two eyes and a closed mouth in the face contour is formed for the off switch.