Monitoring system of a passenger conveyor and monitoring method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10282847-B2
Application number	US-201715663448-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2017
Priority date	Jul 29, 2016
Publication date	May 7, 2019
Grant date	May 7, 2019

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of passenger conveyor technologies, and provides a monitoring system of a passenger conveyor and a monitoring method thereof. In the monitoring system and detection method of the present invention, a monitored object of the passenger conveyor is sensed by using an imaging sensor and/or a depth sensing sensor to acquire a data frame, and the data frame is analyzed by a processing apparatus to monitor whether the monitored object is in a normal state. The monitored object may include a landing plate, a step, a barrier used in a maintenance and repair working condition and/or a step speed, and the like.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A monitoring system of a passenger conveyor, comprising:
an imaging sensor and/or a depth sensing sensor configured to sense a monitored object of the passenger conveyor to acquire a data frame;
a processing apparatus configured to analyze and process the data frame to monitor whether the monitored object is in a normal state, the processing apparatus being configured to comprise:
a background acquisition module configured to acquire a background model based on a data frame that is sensed when the monitored object is in a no load normal state;
a foreground detection module configured to compare each pixel of a data frame sensed in real time with the background model to obtain a foreground object; and
a working condition judgment module configured to perform data processing at least based on the foreground object to judge whether the monitored object is in a normal state, wherein when the foreground object is a passenger, the working condition judgement module determines that the monitored object is in a normal condition.

2. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the monitored object comprises a speed of at least a step of the passenger conveyor in a daily operation condition, the data frame is sequence frames acquired in a particular period of time by means of sensing, and the working condition judgment module judges that the monitored object is in an abnormal state when at least the running speed of the step is over-speed or the step runs reversely.

3. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein when the monitoring system comprises both the imaging sensor and the depth sensing sensor, the data frame comprises a first data frame acquired by the imaging sensor and a second data frame acquired by the depth sensing sensor;
wherein the background acquisition sub-module is configured to acquire background models based on the first data frame and the second data frame respectively;
the foreground detection module is configured to obtain a first foreground object and a second foreground object based on the first data frame and the second data frame respectively; and
the working condition judgment module is configured to perform data processing based on the first foreground object and the second foreground object to separately judge whether the monitored object is in a normal state, and determine that the monitored object is in an abnormal state only when both the judgment results are that the monitored object is in an abnormal state.

4. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the processing apparatus is further configured to: when the working condition judgment module determines that the monitored object is in an abnormal state, trigger outputting of a signal to the passenger conveyer and/or an elevator maintenance center of a building, to prevent a safety accident.

5. A passenger conveying system, comprising a passenger conveyor and the monitoring system according to claim 1 .

6. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the processing apparatus further comprises:
a foreground feature extraction module configured to extract a corresponding foreground feature from the foreground object according to the monitored object;
wherein the working condition judgment module judges, based on the foreground feature, whether the monitored object is in a normal state.

7. The monitoring system of claim 6 , wherein the monitored object comprises a step of the passenger conveyor, and the working condition judgment module judges that the step is in an abnormal state when the step is missing.

8. The monitoring system of claim 6 , wherein the monitored object comprises a landing plate of the passenger conveyor, and the working condition judgment module judges that the landing plate is in an abnormal state when the landing plate is displaced or missing.

9. The monitoring system of claim 8 , wherein there are two imaging sensors and/or depth sensing sensors, which are disposed approximately above entry/exit regions at two ends of the passenger conveyor respectively, to separately sense landing plates in the entry/exit regions.

10. The monitoring system of claim 8 , wherein the foreground feature extracted by the foreground feature extraction module comprises one or more of a shape feature, a size feature, and a position feature of the foreground object, and the working condition judgment module judges, based on one or more of the shape feature, the size feature, and the position feature of the foreground object, whether the landing plate is displaced or missing.

11. The monitoring system of claim 6 , wherein the monitored object comprises a barrier used in the passenger conveyor in a maintenance and repair working condition, and the working condition judgment module judges that the barrier is in an abnormal state when the barrier is missing and/or placed at an improper position.

12. The monitoring system of claim 11 , wherein the background acquisition module is configured to acquire a first background model based on a data frame that is sensed when the barrier is in a normal state, or acquire a second background model based on a data frame that is sensed in an abnormal state in which the barrier is not disposed.

13. The monitoring system of claim 11 , wherein the working condition judgment module is further configured to: when a judgment result of at least two continuous data frames is that the barrier is in a same abnormal state, determine that the barrier is in the abnormal state.

14. The monitoring system of claim 11 , wherein the foreground feature extracted by the foreground feature extraction module comprises one or more of a shape feature, a size feature, and a position feature of the foreground object, and the working condition judgment module judges, based on one or more of the shape feature, the size feature, and the position feature of the foreground object, whether the barrier is missing and/or is placed at an improper position.

15. The monitoring system of claim 14 , wherein when the data frame is acquired by the imaging sensor, the foreground feature extracted by the foreground feature extraction module further comprises a color feature of the foreground object, and the working condition judgment module further judges, in combination with the color feature of the foreground object, whether the barrier is missing and/or is placed at an improper position.

16. A monitoring method of a passenger conveyor, comprising steps of:
sensing a monitored object of the passenger conveyor to acquire a data frame;
acquiring a background model in advance based on a data frame that is sensed when the monitored object is in a no load normal state;
comparing a data frame sensed in real time with the background model to obtain a foreground object; and
performing data processing at least based on the foreground object to judge whether the monitored object is in a normal state, wherein when the foreground object is a passenger, the data processing determines that the monitored object is in a normal condition.

17. The monitoring method of claim 16 , further comprising a step of: extracting a corresponding foreground feature from the foreground object according to the monitored object;
wherein in the judgment step, whether the monitored object is in a normal state is judged based on the foreground feature.

18. The monitoring method of claim 16 , wherein the monitored object comprises a step of the passenger conveyor; and in the judgment step, the step is judged to be in an abnormal state when the step is missing.

19. The monitoring

Assignees

• Otis Elevator Co

Inventors

• Li Jianguo
• Hu Zhaoxia
• Wang Longwen
• Fang Hui
• Jia Zhen
• Zhao Jianwei
• Li Qiang
• Su Anna
• Finn Alan Matthew
• Ge Wei
• Fuchs Wilfrid
• Hsu Arthur
• Chen Yanzhi

Classifications

• B66B27/00 Primary

  Indicating operating conditions of escalators or moving walkways (of general application G08) · CPC title

• G06T7/55

  from multiple images · CPC title

• B66B25/006

  Monitoring for maintenance or repair (for security reasons B66B29/005) · CPC title

• G06T7/194 Primary

  involving foreground-background segmentation · CPC title

• B66B25/003

  Methods or algorithms therefor · CPC title