Elevator system graceful degradation of bank service
First Claim
1. A method of controlling a plurality of elevator cars for providing continuous and less noticeably restricted elevator service to each floor of a building, with each car having its car call signals communicating on a local area network from an electronic circuit located with each car through a separate traveling cable to a remote controller,each remote controller including a microprocessor based computer circuit individual to each car and with each remote controller also communicating corridor signal information on a local area network through a riser cable terminating in a set of floor control circuits distributed proximate to each floor,each said microprocessor based computer circuit being inherently capable of implementing progressive failure control modes interactive with a floor control strategy to assign the better car or cars into operation, based on communication network integrity, relative car travel positions and timing, to respond to the hall calls registered at the floors along said cable riser,each said remote controller, concurrently with its response in the strategy for hall calls, controlling the car response individual to its registered car calls for service to the floors, andeach said remote controller repeatedly checking its operational capability and communication signal integrity on the corridor cable riser so as to be available to assume implementing the least restrictive failure control mode for the floor control strategy should there be a failure affecting the remote controller priority of operation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An elevator control system and method for efficient failure control with a local area network on the traveling cable and distributed electronic control circuits in the car and proximate to the respective floors with a remote microprocessor controller for each car. A local area network communicates with the corridor fixtures in a serial signal format of input and output signals. Each remote controller includes a microprocessor based computer circuit which communicates over a multicar-link with the other and also over the local area networks for car and hall calls to implement an expanded control strategy with interactive program modes with least restrictive capability. This program interacts with programs for floor control strategy and bank control strategy for the elevator system to select the best car and the most efficient operation, despite failures which would otherwise degrade the bank operation sooner and more restrictively.
16 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of controlling a plurality of elevator cars for providing continuous and less noticeably restricted elevator service to each floor of a building, with each car having its car call signals communicating on a local area network from an electronic circuit located with each car through a separate traveling cable to a remote controller,
each remote controller including a microprocessor based computer circuit individual to each car and with each remote controller also communicating corridor signal information on a local area network through a riser cable terminating in a set of floor control circuits distributed proximate to each floor, each said microprocessor based computer circuit being inherently capable of implementing progressive failure control modes interactive with a floor control strategy to assign the better car or cars into operation, based on communication network integrity, relative car travel positions and timing, to respond to the hall calls registered at the floors along said cable riser, each said remote controller, concurrently with its response in the strategy for hall calls, controlling the car response individual to its registered car calls for service to the floors, and each said remote controller repeatedly checking its operational capability and communication signal integrity on the corridor cable riser so as to be available to assume implementing the least restrictive failure control mode for the floor control strategy should there be a failure affecting the remote controller priority of operation.
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6. A control system for controlling a plurality of elevator cars to provide less noticeably restricted and continuous elevator service to each floor of a building, comprising:
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a first local area network for each car having its car call signals communicating thereon and including an electronic circuit located with each car connected to a remote controller on a traveling cable, each remote controller including a microprocessor based computer circuit, for the car, a second local area network for each remote controller to communicate corridor signal information through a riser cable terminating in a set of floor control circuits distributed proximate to each floor, each said microprocessor based computer circuit being adapted to implement progressive failure control modes interactively with a floor control strategy to assign the better car or cars into operation, based on communication network signal integrity, relative car travel positions and timing, to respond to the hall calls registered at the floors along said cable riser, each said remote controller, concurrently with its strategy for answering hall calls, controls the car response individual to its registered car calls for service to the floors, and each said remote controller computer circuit including means for repeatedly checking its operational capability and the communication signal integrity on the corridor cable riser within the control system so as to be immediately available to assume implementing the least restricted failure control mode for the floor control strategy should there be a failure affecting the remote controller priority of operation. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification