Evacuation controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11009846-B2
Application number	US-201715603041-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2017
Priority date	Dec 10, 2014
Publication date	May 18, 2021
Grant date	May 18, 2021

Abstract

Modern large buildings and public places are equipped with a plurality of elevators, exits and points of interest for fluent movement. The passenger flows in a building or public place can be traced and modelled by using statistics and information regarding current state of the modelled building or public place. The information derived from this model can be used for controlling elevators, escalators and similar in the building more efficiently. The same information may be used also for guiding passengers in the building or public place to use other transportation means so that the duration high traffic situation can be reduced or sometimes completely avoided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a public transportation system, the method comprising:
receiving data from a plurality of data collection devices, including at least one profile of at least one passenger provided prior to receipt of an evacuation signal, from a plurality of data collection devices connected to different types of apparatuses, wherein one of said data collection devices is configured to measure a passenger flow, including a number of passengers in the passenger flow and flow direction, within a specified area to estimate passenger traffic using a particular public transportation and provides information about passengers of the passenger flow, and one of said data collection devices receives information from an access card including additional information describing a handicap or need for a wheel chair;
analyzing said received data;
providing a current state of an environment of the data collection devices based on said analyzed received data; and
as a response to an evacuation signal,
changing a flow direction of at least one passenger flow measured by one of the data collection devices connected to different types of apparatuses; and
displaying evacuation instructions based on the analyzed received data and the at least one profile of at least one passenger, the evacuation instructions instructing passengers to use the changed flow direction in accordance with a determined plan;

wherein the plurality of data collection devices are connected to different types of apparatuses including at least one of automatic walkways, escalators, and lighting; and
accumulating said analyzed data into statistics, this statistics providing real-time information to said public transportation system based on the determined plan.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the public transportation system includes at least one elevator group and evacuation instructions for said at least one elevator group are based on said analyzed data, wherein said at least one elevator group is connected to at least one data collection device.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method is further comprises displaying route instructions to passengers based on the analyzed data.

4. A non-transitory computer- readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations for controlling a public transportation system comprising:
receiving data from a plurality of data collection devices, including at least one profile of at least one passenger provided prior to receipt of an evacuation signal, from a plurality of data collection devices connected to different types of apparatuses, wherein one of said data collection devices is configured measure a passenger flow, including a number of passengers in the passenger flow and flow direction, within a specified area to estimate passenger traffic using a particular public transportation and provides information about passengers of the passenger flow, and one of said data collection devices receives information from an access card including additional information describing a handicap or need for a wheel chair;
analyzing said received data;
providing a current state of an environment of the data collection devices based on said analyzed received data; and
as a response to an evacuation signal,
changing a flow direction of at least one passenger flow measured by one of the data collection devices connected to different types of apparatuses; and
displaying evacuation instructions based on the analyzed received data and the at least one profile of at least one passenger, the evacuation instructions instructing passengers to use the changed flow direction in accordance with a determined plan;
wherein data from the plurality of data collection devices connected to different types of apparatuses including at least one of automatic walkways, escalators, and lighting and includes statistics or a traffic forecast; and
accumulating said analyzed data into statistics, this statistics providing real-time information to said public transportation system based on the determined plan.

5. An apparatus configured to control a public transportation system comprising:
processor;
at least one memory;
a network connection; wherein the apparatus is configured to: receive data from a plurality of data collection devices, including at least one profile of at least one passenger provided prior to receipt of an evacuation signal, from a plurality of data collection devices connected to different types of apparatuses, wherein one of said data collection devices is configured to measure a passenger flow including a number of passengers in the passenger flow and flow direction, within a specified area to estimate passenger traffic using a particular public transportation and provide information about passengers of the passenger flow, and one of said data collection devices receives information from an access card including additional information describing a handicap or need for a wheel chair;
the processor configured to:
analyze said received data;
provide a current state of an environment of the data collection devices based on said analyzed received data;
change a flow direction of at least one passenger flow measured by one of the data collection devices connected to different types of apparatuses as a response to an evacuation signal; and

display evacuation instructions based on the analyzed received data and the at least one profile of at least one passenger; as a response to the evacuation signal; the evacuation instructions instructing passengers to use the changed flow direction in accordance with a determined plan;
wherein the apparatus is configured to control at least one elevator group based on one of the following: statistics or a traffic forecast;
wherein the plurality of data collection devices are connected to different types of apparatuses including at least one of automatic walkways, escalators, and lighting; and
wherein the apparatus is configured to accumulate said analyzed data into statistics, the statistics providing real-time information to said public transportation system based on the determined plan;
wherein the apparatus is configured to control the transportation system based on the statistics or a traffic forecast.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein in the apparatus is further configured to control at least one elevator group of the public transportation system based on said analyzed data, wherein said at least one elevator group is connected to at least one data collection device.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the method is the apparatus is further configured to display route instructions to passengers based on the analyzed data.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the public transportation system includes at least one elevator group and evacuation instructions for said at least one elevator group are based on said analyzed data, wherein said at least one elevator group is connected to at least one data collection device.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data from a plurality of data collection devices connected to different types of apparatuses includes: said current state of the environment, statistics or a traffic forecast.

10. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the data from a plurality of data collection devices connected to different types of apparatuses includes: said current state of the environment, statistics or a traffic forecast.

Assignees

• Kone Corp

Inventors

• Kuusinen Juha-Matti
• Siikonen Marja-Liisa
• Sorsa Janne
• Kitov Sergey
• Ruokokoski Mirko

Classifications

• G06Q10/047 Primary

  Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem · CPC title

• B66B25/00

  Control of escalators or moving walkways (walkways of variable speed type B66B21/12; handrails of variable speed type B66B23/26; of general application G05) · CPC title

• Y02B50/00

  Energy efficient technologies in elevators, escalators and moving walkways, e.g. energy saving or recuperation technologies · CPC title

• B66B1/28

  electrical (detecting excessive speed B66B5/04 {; control of electrical motor H02P}) · CPC title

• G05B19/0428 Primary

  Safety, monitoring (G05B19/0423 takes precedence) · CPC title