Elevator noise monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9556002-B2
Application number	US-201314895955-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2013
Priority date	Jun 10, 2013
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

A method includes receiving, from a portable recording device, multiple recordings of sounds made by an elevator during operation of the elevator, the multiple recordings generated at different times. The method includes analyzing, by a sound analysis circuit, the multiple recordings generated at the different times to detect changes in an elevator characteristic over time and generating, based on detecting the changes in the elevator characteristic over time, a notification to perform an action on the elevator.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, from a portable recording device, multiple recordings of sounds made by an elevator during operation of the elevator, the multiple recordings generated at different times;
analyzing, by a sound analysis circuit, the multiple recordings generated at the different times to detect changes in an elevator characteristic over time; and
generating, based on detecting the changes in the elevator characteristic over time, a notification to perform an action on the elevator.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portable recording device is a mobile telephone.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the different times are spaced sufficiently apart to detect changes in the sounds made by the elevator that are detectable only over a predetermined time interval.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the different times are spaced apart by at least one month.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple recordings are generated during normal operation of the elevator when the elevator is accessible by regular users of the elevator.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating, with the portable recording device, the multiple recordings of the sounds made by the elevator during operation of the elevator at the different times.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
analyzing, by the portable recording device, a most-recently-made recording of the sounds made by the elevator; and
diagnosing, by the portable recording device, a problem of the elevator based on the most-recently-made recording of the sounds.

8. An elevator maintenance system, comprising:
a data storage unit configured to store multiple recordings of elevator sounds, the multiple recordings generated at different times;
a sound analysis circuit configured to analyze the multiple recordings to determine changes in the elevator sounds over time; and
a maintenance notification unit configured to generate an elevator maintenance notice based on the changes in the elevator sounds over time.

9. The elevator maintenance system of claim 8 , wherein each recording of the multiple recordings includes an identifier of an elevator corresponding to the recording and an identifier of a time that the recording was made.

10. The elevator maintenance system of claim 8 , wherein the sound analysis circuit is configured to detect a rate of change of the elevator sounds over time and to predict a required maintenance time based on the detected rate of change of the elevator sounds.

11. The elevator maintenance system of claim 8 , further comprising a portable recording device configured to be carried into the elevator to generate the multiple recordings of the elevator sounds during operation of the elevator.

12. The elevator maintenance system of claim 11 , wherein the maintenance notification unit is configured to transmit the elevator maintenance notice to the portable recording device.

13. The elevator maintenance system of claim 11 , wherein the portable recording device is configured to analyze a most-recently-generated recording of the elevator sounds and to diagnose a problem in the elevator based on the most-recently-generated recording of the elevator sounds.

Assignees

• Otis Elevator Co

Inventors

• Wilke Michael
• Copeland George Scott
• Borthakur Soumitra
• Dubois Kelly Martin
• Fernandez Juan Jose

Classifications

• B66B5/0025 Primary

  for maintenance or repair · CPC title