Otis Elevator Company

Daniel S Williams

Jannah A Stanley

Theresa M Christy

Eric K Jamieson

Wade A Montague

Hideyuki Honma

Paul A Simcik

Thomas He

Toshimitsu Mori

Thomas W Saxe

Gregory Scharr

Vlad Zaharia

Paul A Stranieri

Michael P Flynn

Sanjay Kamani

Richard J Mangini

Richard K Pulling

Christopher H Koenig

Jason R Armistead

Allen Patenaude

Anne R Davis

A method of operating a dispatcher of an elevator group of a building elevator system having a plurality of elevator systems organized into multiple elevator groups including: receiving an elevator call, the elevator call including a desired destination; transmitting elevator status data from the elevator group to one or more other elevator groups of the building elevator system; receiving elevator status data from each of the one or more other elevator groups of the building elevator system; determining a verdict depicting whether an elevator car of the elevator group is best to serve the elevator call in response to the elevator status data of each of the one or more other elevator groups of the building elevator system; and calling an elevator car in response to the verdict.

Super group architecture with advanced building wide dispatching logic—distributed group architecture

A method of operating a building elevator system within a building having a plurality of floors including: controlling a building elevator system comprising a first elevator system having a first elevator car and a second elevator system having a second elevator car; determining one or more sectors for the plurality of floors in response to at least one of a time of day, manual input, a density of the down peak traffic, and whether there is simultaneous up peak or inter-floor traffic, the one or more sectors comprising a first sector having a first plurality of floors and a second sector having a second plurality of floors; assigning the first elevator car to the first sector; and assigning the second elevator car to the second sector.

Destination dispatch sectoring

A method of operating a building elevator system having a plurality of elevator systems organized into multiple elevator groups including: receiving an elevator call from a destination entry device in communication with the building elevator system; obtaining a favorability score from each of the multiple elevator groups of the building elevator system; determining an elevator group of the multiple elevator groups with the highest favorability score; and routing the elevator call to the elevator group of the multiple elevator groups with the highest favorability score.

Super group architecture with advanced building wide dispatching logic

A method includes recording a primary destination dispatch request from a primary passenger at a first floor position via a destination dispatch controller, identifying a terminal floor, providing a terminal floor call signal to the elevator control system via an overlay controller, moving an assigned elevator car in a travel direction of the terminal floor, recording at least one secondary destination dispatch request from a secondary passenger at a respective at least one secondary floor position via the destination dispatch controller, approximating a position of the assigned elevator car, determining a target floor position via the destination dispatch controller, entering a target floor call corresponding to the target floor position at a calculated time to stop the assigned elevator car at the target floor position, cancelling all pending calls via the elevator control system, and entering at least one recorded destination dispatch request to the elevator control system.

Elevator control system overlay system

An elevator dispatching system includes a plurality of elevator groups, each of the plurality of elevator groups including a group controller and a plurality of elevator cars, each of the plurality of elevator groups serving a respective set of floors; and a redirector configured to receive a service request including a destination floor, and, in the event more than one elevator group serves the destination floor, communicate the service request to the group controllers of the more than one elevator groups, wherein the respective group controllers of the more than one elevator groups are configured to each determine a respective group score, and communicate the respective group score to the redirector, and the redirector is further configured to determine the best group based on the respective group scores.

Best group selection in elevator dispatching system incorporating group score information

An elevator dispatching system includes a plurality of elevator groups, each of the plurality of elevator groups including a group controller and a plurality of elevator cars, each of the plurality of elevator groups serving a respective set of floors; and a redirector configured to receive a service request including a destination floor, and, in the event more than one elevator group serves the destination floor, determine a best group to service the request from the plurality of elevator groups based on information stored in the redirector, wherein the group controller of the determined best group is configured to determine a best car from the plurality of elevator cars in the determined best group.

Best group selection in elevator dispatching system incorporating redirector information

An exemplary method for handling passenger requests during elevator system modernization includes modernizing elevator cars over time. The modernized elevator cars are capable of servicing destination requests placed outside of an elevator car and include an indication of a desired destination. The exemplary method includes assigning an elevator car to respond to a new pending destination request according to a selected criterion for selecting between a modernized elevator car and an elevator car that has not yet been modernized. The method includes automatically updating the selected criterion responsive to a change in a number of modernized elevator cars. A percentage of the elevator cars that are not yet modernized are reserved and new pending requests are assigned to a modernized elevator car if a percentage of modernized cars plus the reserved percentage is greater than a current percentage of pending requests assigned to modernized elevator cars.

Method and system for handling passenger requests during an elevator system modernization

An exemplary method of assigning calls to elevator cars includes ensuring that a passenger separation requirement is satisfied. The passenger separation requirement is satisfied when a passenger belonging to one service group is not carried in the same elevator car simultaneously with another passenger belonging to a different service group, for example. A call is assigned to an elevator car to carry a passenger belonging to the one service group while the elevator car is assigned to carry or is already carrying another passenger belonging to the different service group.

Elevator car assignment control strategy with passenger group separation and future serviceability features

Elevator reassignment information is communicated to passengers in a group elevator system (). The group elevator system () includes a group of elevators (, 14, 14) that is operable to transport each of the passengers to one of a plurality of floors (L, F, F, F, F). A destination entry input device () at each floor permits each passenger to enter destination input information. A dispatch controller () assigns an elevator to each passenger based on the destination input information. When service of a dispatched elevator is terminated, a communication device () communicates elevator reassignment instructions to passengers assigned to or located in the dispatched elevator.

Communication of elevator reassignment information in a group elevator system

A method of dispatching an elevator car to a destination requested by a passenger before the passenger enters the car includes determining which trip of the elevator car begins at a time having a desired relationship to an expected arrival time when a passenger is expected to arrive near the elevator car. An actual arrival time of the passenger near the elevator car is determined. The elevator car is dispatched to the requested destination during a trip that begins at a time that corresponds to or is after the actual arrival time.

Method of dispatching an elevator car including an expected arrival time of a passenger near an elevator car

An elevator traffic control technique includes destination grouping that is selectively implemented during selected traffic condition. One example includes determining when up peak traffic conditions exist. If so, the passenger-to-car assignments are grouped based upon the passengers' desired destinations, which are determined before the passengers enter elevator cars, Arranging sectors responsive to current traffic conditions in one example is based upon elevator passenger traffic patterns over the most recent five minutes.

Elevator traffic control including destination grouping

An elevator system () includes a plurality of cars () and destination entry devices () located some distance from the elevator cars (). A controller () dispatches an elevator car to a requested destination entered by a passenger before the passenger enters an elevator car. In one example, the controller () uses an expected arrival time corresponding to the time it is expected to take for a passenger to travel from the location where the destination request is entered to the location of the elevator car to decide how to dispatch a car to service that request. In one example, the controller dispatches an elevator car to the requested destination on a next trip of that car if the expected arrival time of the passenger near that car occurs at or before the departure time for that next trip. Otherwise, the controller () dispatches the car to the requested destination on a subsequent trip after the next trip.

Method of dispatching an elevator car

An elevator system includes a controller that uses one of a plurality of fuzzy logic algorithms for assigning an elevator car to service a passenger request. One example uses a passenger's desired destination as indicated by the passenger service request prior to the passenger entering an elevator car. One example includes multiple fuzzy logic algorithms, each corresponding to a particular relationship between an elevator car's current assignments, a passenger's desired destination, a source landing of the passenger's request, or a combination of them.

Elevator car dispatching including passenger destination information and a fuzzy logic algorithm

Automatic gain control is provided for a control means for controlling a magnetic actuator for an elevator horizontal active suspension. The gain is varied depending on the drive current in the coil of the electromagnet of the magnetic actuator, the airgap of the magnetic actuator, or both.

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Southington, CT, United States of America

Daniel S Williams