Device management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11474804-B2
Application number	US-202016733434-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 3, 2020
Priority date	Aug 11, 2017
Publication date	Oct 18, 2022
Grant date	Oct 18, 2022

Abstract

A method including receiving, from a device management element or function of at least one transport and/or access device or function installed at a predefined location for which a local control is to be conducted, and storing device or function related data, forwarding the stored device or function related data to a centralized control element or function, receiving, from the centralized control element or function, and processing instruction data for the at least one transport and/or access device or function, and conducting a local device or function management control procedure for the at least one transport and/or access device or function according to a result of the processing of the instruction data.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operating a local management control device configured to communicate via a first network connection with at least one transport and/or access device installed at a location for which a local control is to be conducted, and to communicate via a second network connection with a centralized controller outside of the location, comprising:
receiving device data from the at least one transport and/or access device;
storing the device data;
forwarding the stored device data to the centralized controller;
receiving, from the centralized controller, instruction data for the at least one transport and/or access device in response to the forwarding of the stored device data; and
conducting a local management control procedure for the at least one transport and/or access device based on the instruction data, the local management control procedure including,
transmitting, via the first network connection, an instruction to the at least one transport and/or access device to execute an updating process of updating the device data installed on the at least one transport and/or access device using the instruction data received by the local management control device from the centralized controller,
determining whether a failure in the updating process occurred, and
restoring the device data into a state before executing the updating process, if the determining determines that the failure in the updating process occurred.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the at least one transport and/or access device includes at least one of,
a transport device including an elevator device, an escalator device, a moving walk device, or a ramp, and
an access device including an electronic door or an access gate device; and

wherein the device data comprises at least one of information indicating a software version, a hardware version, identification information, configuration setting information, and status information of the transport and/or access device.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the instruction data are received from the centralized controller via a communication network, or by locally connecting a maintenance terminal.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the instruction data comprises at least one of
a command concerning one transport and/or access device or a group of a plurality of transport and/or access devices,
a sequence of commands concerning the one transport and/or access device or the group of the plurality of transport and/or access devices, and
configuration data concerning the one transport and/or access device or the group of the plurality of transport and/or access devices.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein executing the updating process includes
executing the updating process of a plurality of transport and/or access devices allocated to as a group of transport and/or access devices,
determining whether the failure in the updating process occurred in at least one of the plurality of transport and/or access devices allocated to the group of transport and/or access devices, and
restoring, for the each of the plurality of transport and/or access devices allocated to the group of transport and/or access devices, the device data into the state before executing the updating process, if the determining determines that the failure in the updating process occurred in the at least one of the plurality of transport and/or access devices.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the local management control procedure further includes,
determining whether the at least one transport and/or access device is offline,
storing the instruction data, in response to determining that the at least one transport and/or access device is offline,
identifying the at least one transport and/or access device as being connected, and
executing an installation process of installing the instruction data in the identified transport and/or access device.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program product that when executed by a computer, configures the computer to perform the steps of claim 1 .

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the centralized controller is indirectly connected to the at least one transport and/or access device in a star-of-stars topology with the centralized controller connected to the local management control device and the local management control device connected to the at least one transport and/or access device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local management control device is configured to store the state of the device data prior to executing the updating process as backup device data such that the backup device data is restorable upon the failure in the updating process.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the restoring the device data includes providing, via the first network connection, the at least one transport and/or access device with the backup device data stored at the local management control device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the instruction comprises:
delaying transmitting the instruction to the at least one transport and/or access device via the first network connection until at least completion of receipt of the instruction data from the centralized controller via the second network connection.

12. A local management control device configured to communicate via a first network connection with at least one transport and/or access device installed at a location for which a local control is to be conducted, and to communicate via a second network connection with a centralized controller outside of the location, the local management control device comprising:
an input/output device configured to exchange, over the first network connection, device data with the at least one transport and/or access device;
a memory configured to store the device data; and
processing circuitry configured to,
forward the stored device data to the centralized controller,
receive, from centralized controller, instruction data for the at least one transport and/or access device in response to the forwarding of the stored device data, and
conduct a local management control procedure for the at least one transport and/or access device based on the instruction data, the local management control procedure including,
transmitting, via the first network connection, an instruction to the at least one transport and/or access device to execute an updating process of updating the device data installed on the at least one transport and/or access device using the instruction data received by the local management control device from the centralized controller,
determining whether a failure in the updating process occurred, and
restoring the device data into a state before executing the updating process, if the determining determines that the failure in the updating process occurred.

13. A system for conducting a management control, the system comprising:
at least one transport and/or access device installed at a location for which a local control is to be conducted;
a centralized controller outside of the location, and
at least one local management control device configured to communicate via a first network connection with the at least one transport and/or access device, and to communicate via a second network connection with the centralized controller,
wherein the at least one local management control device is configured to,
receive device data from the at least one transport and/or access device,
store the device data,
forward the stored device data to the centralized controller,
receive, f

Assignees

• Kone Corp

Inventors

• Koivisto Ari

Classifications

• H04L41/0654

  using network fault recovery (ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437) · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• H04L41/0213

  Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP] · CPC title

• H04L41/044 Primary

  comprising hierarchical management structures · CPC title

• H04L41/082

  the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality · CPC title