ELEVATOR SYSTEM USING DUAL COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

• US 20150127697A1
• Filed: 04/03/2012
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Otis Elevator Company (Otis Worldwide Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Otis Elevator Company (Otis Worldwide Corp.)
• Inventors: Marvin, Daryl J., Jayachandran, Vijay, Lerner, Bruce P.
• Granted Patent: US 10,051,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/3446 Data transmission or communication within the control system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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

An elevator control system includes at least one destination entry fixture coupled to a controller area network (CAN) bus that provides a first communication channel, the at least one destination entry fixture operable to transmit destination information over the CAN bus; a plurality of elevator car controllers each associated with a respective elevator car, the plurality of elevator car controllers coupled to the CAN bus to receive the destination information; the plurality of elevator car controllers coupled to a ring network that provides a second communication channel; and a group controller operable to determine an elevator car to be dispatched in response to receiving the destination information.

Claims

1. An elevator control system, comprising:

at least one destination entry fixture coupled to a controller area network (CAN) bus that provides a first communication channel, the at least one destination entry fixture operable to transmit destination information over the CAN bus;

a plurality of elevator car controllers each associated with a respective elevator car, the plurality of elevator car controllers coupled to the CAN bus to receive the destination information;

the plurality of elevator car controllers coupled to a ring network that provides a second communication channel; and

a group controller operable to determine an elevator car to be dispatched in response to receiving the destination information.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a security-group bridge providing communications between an outside network and the CAN bus.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the security-group bridge communicates security information to the CAN bus.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a first destination entry fixture is operable for bi-directional communication with the group controller over the CAN bus.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one wireless transceiver coupled to a wireless network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one wireless transceiver is operable to receive information from a supervisory computer in wireless communication with the wireless network.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the wireless transceiver is coupled to the at least one destination entry fixture.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the group controller communicates with the at least one destination entry fixture via the CAN bus.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein ring network is an RS-422 ring network.

10. A method for control of an elevator control system, comprising:

using a first communication channel to transmit destination information from at least one destination entry fixture to a group controller, the first communication channel being provided over a CAN bus; and

using a second communication channel to provide communications between the group controller and a plurality of elevator car controllers, the second communication channel being provided over a ring network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second communication channel is provided over a RS-422 ring network.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising coupling a security-group bridge to the first communication channel.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the security-group bridge communicates security information from a security system to the at least one of a plurality of destination entry fixtures.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising communicating messaging information from the group controller to the at least one destination entry fixture via the first communication channel.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising coupling a wireless transceiver to a wireless network, the wireless transceiver coupled to the destination entry fixture.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the wireless transceiver is operable to receive information from a supervisory computer in wireless communication with the wireless network.

17. An elevator control system, comprising:

at least one destination entry fixture coupled to a first communication channel, the at least one destination entry fixture operable to transmit destination information over the first communication channel;

a group controller to determine an elevator car to be dispatched in response to receiving the destination information over the first communication channel; and

a second communication channel coupled to the at least one destination entry fixture, the second communication channel providing information to the least one destination entry fixture.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein:

the second communication channel is a wireless network.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein:

the first communication channel is a controller area network (CAN) bus.

20. An elevator control system, comprising:

at least one destination entry fixture coupled to a first communication channel, the at least one destination entry fixture operable to transmit destination information over the first communication channel; and

a plurality of elevator car controllers each associated with a respective elevator car, the plurality of elevator car controllers coupled to a second communication channel for elevator car control.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein:

at least one of the first communication channel and the second communication channel is a controller area network (CAN) bus.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein:

the second communication channel is a ring network.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein:

the ring network is an RS-422 ring network.

24. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

a security-group bridge coupled to the first communication channel.