Seamless tracking of passenger flow within an elevator cabin

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11708239-B2
Application number	US-201816039972-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 19, 2018
Priority date	Jul 20, 2017
Publication date	Jul 25, 2023
Grant date	Jul 25, 2023

Abstract

The present invention relates to tracking of a passenger flow in an elevator car. A passenger flow tracking system for an elevator car according to the present invention includes: a first Bluetooth module installed in the elevator car, the first Bluetooth module being configured to broadcast a first Bluetooth signal that can substantially cover the interior of the elevator car and receive a response fed back by a personal mobile terminal carried by a passenger inside the elevator car; and a passenger flow determining unit configured to at least determine, based on a change in the received response, that the passenger leaves and/or enters the elevator car.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A passenger flow tracking system for an elevator car, comprising:
a first Bluetooth module installed in the elevator car, the first Bluetooth module being configured to broadcast a first Bluetooth signal that can substantially cover the interior of the elevator car and receive a response as a received response fed back by a personal mobile terminal carried by a passenger inside the elevator car;
one or more personal mobile terminals, each of the one or more personal mobile terminals carried by each of one or more passengers, each of the one or more personal mobile terminals configured to receive the first Bluetooth signal as a received first Bluetooth signal and feed the response back to the first Bluetooth module based on the first Bluetooth signal; and
a passenger flow determining unit configured to determine, based on a change in the received response, that the passenger leaves and/or enters the elevator car;
wherein the personal mobile terminal is configured to determine signal strength of the received first Bluetooth signal, and feed the response back to the first Bluetooth module only when the signal strength of the received first Bluetooth signal is greater than or equal to a predetermined value; wherein the response comprises signal strength of the first Bluetooth signal received by the personal mobile terminal.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first Bluetooth signal comprises a request sent by the first Bluetooth module; and the personal mobile terminal is configured to feed the response back to the first Bluetooth module only when the request is received.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the response comprises passenger identifier information, and the passenger identifier information corresponds to a respective one of the one or more passengers carrying the one or more personal mobile terminals.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the passenger flow determining unit is further configured to: when a situation where the first Bluetooth module receives passenger identifier information of the passenger corresponding to the personal mobile terminal changes into a situation where the first Bluetooth module does not receive the passenger identifier information of the passenger corresponding to the personal mobile terminal, determine that the passenger corresponding to the passenger identifier information leaves the elevator car.

5. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the passenger flow determining unit is further configured to: when a situation where the first Bluetooth module does not receive passenger identifier information of the passenger corresponding to the personal mobile terminal changes into a situation where the first Bluetooth module receives the passenger identifier information of the passenger corresponding to the personal mobile terminal, determine that the passenger corresponding to the passenger identifier information enters the elevator car.

6. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the passenger flow determining unit is further configured to determine a passenger inside the elevator car based on received passenger identifier information.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the passenger flow determining unit is further configured to: after a car door of the elevator car is closed and the elevator car is ready to depart, determine a first passenger list of passengers inside the elevator car corresponding to a current floor based on the passenger identifier information received by the first Bluetooth module.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the response comprises one or more pieces of the following information: signal strength of the first Bluetooth signal received by the personal mobile terminal, position information obtained through positioning with respect to the elevator car, and destination floor information of the passenger.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first Bluetooth module is a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module.

10. A passenger flow tracking method for an elevator car, comprising:
broadcasting, by a first Bluetooth module installed in the elevator car, a first Bluetooth signal that can substantially cover the interior of the elevator car;
receiving, by a personal mobile terminal carried by a passenger inside the elevator car, the first Bluetooth signal and feeding a response back to the first Bluetooth module; and
determining, based on a change in the response, that the passenger leaves and/or enters the elevator car;
wherein the feeding the response back includes determining, by the personal mobile terminal, a signal strength of the received first Bluetooth signal and feeding the response back to the first Bluetooth module only when the signal strength of the received first Bluetooth signal is greater than or equal to a predetermined value.

11. The passenger flow tracking method according to claim 10 , wherein in the feedback step, the first Bluetooth module sends a request by using the first Bluetooth signal, and the personal mobile terminal feeds the response back to the first Bluetooth module only when the request is received.

12. The passenger flow tracking method according to claim 10 , wherein the response comprises passenger identifier information, and the passenger identifier information corresponds to a respective one of the one or more passengers carrying the one or more personal mobile terminals.

13. The passenger flow tracking method according to claim 12 , wherein in the step of determining that the passenger leaves the elevator car, when a situation where the first Bluetooth module receives passenger identifier information of the passenger corresponding to the personal mobile terminal changes into a situation where the first Bluetooth module does not receive the passenger identifier information of the passenger corresponding to the personal mobile terminal, it is determined that the passenger corresponding to the passenger identifier information leaves the elevator car.

14. The passenger flow tracking method according to claim 12 , wherein in the step of determining that the passenger enters the elevator car, when a situation where the first Bluetooth module does not receive passenger identifier information of the passenger corresponding to the personal mobile terminal changes into a situation where the first Bluetooth module receives the passenger identifier information of the passenger corresponding to the personal mobile terminal, it is determined that the passenger corresponding to the passenger identifier information enters the elevator car.

15. The passenger flow tracking method according to claim 12 , further comprising a step of determining a passenger inside the elevator car based on the passenger identifier information.

16. The passenger flow tracking method according to claim 15 , wherein in the step of determining a passenger inside the elevator car, after a car door of the elevator car is closed and the elevator car is ready to depart, a first passenger list of passengers inside the elevator car corresponding to a current floor is determined based on the passenger identifier information received by the first Bluetooth module.

17. The passenger flow tracking method according to claim 10 , wherein in the step of determining that the passenger leaves the elevator car, a passenger list of passengers leaving the elevator car corresponding to a landing is further generated.

18. The passenger flow tracking method according to claim 10 , wherein the response comprises one or more pieces of the following informati

Assignees

• Otis Elevator Co

Inventors

• Larmuseau Adriaan Joris H
• Li Changle

Classifications

• B66B1/468 Primary

  Call registering systems · CPC title

• B66B1/3461

  between the elevator control system and remote or mobile stations · CPC title

• B66B1/3476 Primary

  Load weighing or car passenger counting devices (B66B5/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B66B2201/4615

  Wherein the destination is registered before boarding · CPC title

• B66B2201/4638

  Wherein the call is registered without making physical contact with the elevator system · CPC title