Selective, automatic elevator call registering system

• US 6,209,685 B1
• Filed: 06/04/1999
• Issued: 04/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Otis Elevator Company (Otis Worldwide Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Otis Elevator Company (Otis Worldwide Corp.)
• Inventors: Stranieri, Paul A., Zaharia, Vlad
• Primary Examiner(s): SALATA, ANTHONY J
• Application Number:
  US09/326,102
• Time in Patent Office: 669 Days
• Field of Search: 187/380, 187/381, 187/382, 187/384, 187/386, 187/387, 187/388, 187/391, 187/392
• US Class Current: 187/392
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/468 Call registering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/4638 Wherein the call is registered without making physical contact with the elevator system
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 2201/4661 for priority users

Abstract

Each elevator corridor of an elevator system has a transponder beacon disposed near each access to the corridor, each potential passenger, including regular tenants and visitors, carries a responder, such as an RFID responder, so as to provide an indication of entrance into and exit from the elevator corridor. Passengers that are not visitors have a history developed as to the likely travel route of each passenger as the passenger enters the elevator lobby; that is, whether the passenger is likely to take the elevator at this time, or likely to exit the elevator corridor to some other facility. Entered calls can be cancelled if the passenger leaves the lobby, and passenger travel patterns are updated with each passage through the elevator lobby.

Claims

1. An elevator system for a building having a plurality of elevators serving a number of floors, comprising:

a plurality of elevator corridors, one for each of a plurality of said floors, each having access to said plurality of elevators, each having at least one access path through which potential elevator passengers may enter and exit the elevator corridor;

a plurality of responder beacons interconnected with said dispatching controller, each of said beacons being disposed in the immediate vicinity of a corresponding one of said access paths;

a plurality of responders, one for each potential passenger, each for responding to a request transmission received from one of said responder beacons by transmitting a response including a passenger identification code, the responder of any potential passenger who is a non-tenant visitor having an identification code identifying such potential passenger as a visitor;

a dispatching controller interconnected with said transponder beacons, for receiving signals from said beacons indicative of responses provided by passengers'"'"' responders, for recording the access path through which the passenger entered the lobby corridor and thereafter for recording the fact, if it occurs, that the same passenger has passed a different beacon transponder indicating that the passenger has left the elevator corridor, for maintaining such recordings over a period of several days to comprise a passenger travel history for passengers who do not have a visitor identification code, and, from said travel history, upon the entrance of a passenger to said elevator corridor designating a passenger as a user, likely to take the elevator immediately upon entering the elevator corridor, or as a non-user, unlikely to take the elevator in the first pass through said elevator corridor, those passengers who are new and have an insufficient history being designated as new passengers, said dispatching controller entering calls immediately for users and delaying entry of elevator calls for a small fraction of a minute for passengers who are designated as new.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said small fraction of a minute is on the order of five seconds.

3. A system according to claim 1 wherein:

said dispatching controller enters a call immediately for any passenger identified as a visitor.

4. A system according to claim 1 wherein:

said dispatching controller enters a call after a delay of a small fraction of a minute for any passenger identified as a visitor.

5. A system according to claim 1 wherein said dispatching controller, for a passenger who has first entered the elevator corridor through a first access path, for which the passenger was identified as a non-user, and then exits the elevator corridor through a second access path, and then reenters said elevator corridor from one of said paths, designates the passenger as a user and enters an elevator call for such passenger immediately upon reentering said elevator corridor through said one access path.