Elevator system

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of processing a new call includes the step of adding each new call to the assignment means of a suitable car whose advanced car position is closer to the call floor.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein the step of reprocessing each floor call includes the steps of providing signals relative to the advanced car position and service direction of each of the elevator cars, and considering these signals to determine if a car is suitable to answer the call.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 including the step of providing a reallocation signal responsive to at least one event, the existence of which indicates the possible need for reallocating floor calls, with the reprocessing step being initiated in response to said reallocation signal.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 including the step of dividing the structure into different zones for up and down calls and determining the zone of each car depending upon its position and service direction, and wherein the step of reprocessing each call includes a step of comparing the zone of a floor call and the zone of each car.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 including the step of providing means in each elevator car for passengers to register car calls, and wherein the step of deleting a floor call from the assignment means of an elevator car when a closer suitable car is found is subject to the condition that the car has no registered car calls.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 including the step of providing a signal when a down floor call is added to the assignment means of an elevator car, and considering this signal during the processing and reprocessing steps to remove this car from consideration for another down floor call.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 wherein the processing and reprocessing steps consider those elevator cars which are not in the process of serving a call for elevator service as not suitable for allocation of calls, and including the step of assigning elevator cars in this category to floor calls for which a demand signal was created by the processing step.

Claim 10

An elevator system for a structure having a plurality of vertically spaced floors, comprising: a plurality of elevator cars, means mounting the elevator cars for movement relative to the structure to serve the floors, down floor call registering means operable for registering a call for elevator service in the down direction from each of a plurality of said floors, up floor call registering means operable for registering a call for elevator service in the up direction from each of a plurality of said floors, car call registering means for each of The elevator cars operable for registering a call for each of a plurality of said floors which may be desired by load in the associated elevator car, dispatching means for allocating registered floor calls to selected elevator cars, and assignment register means associated with each of said elevator cars operable to receive floor call allocations of said dispatching means, said dispatching means including: collecting means for collecting floor calls from said up and down floor call registering means, processing means for periodically processing certain floor calls collected by said collecting means by either adding a selected floor call to the assignment register of at least one elevator car or registering a demand signal relative to the call, control means for detecting the possible need to reallocate at least certain of the floor calls to a different elevator car than the original allocation, and providing a signal when such need is detected, processing means processing only new floor calls unitl said control means provides a signal, at which time all of the floor calls in the system are processed, said processing means, when processing a floor call previously allocated to an elevator car, allocating the floor call to a second car in response to predetermined conditions, and deleting the floor call allocation from the assignment register of the first car in response to a predetermined condition.

Claim 11

An elevator system for a structure having a plurality of vertically spaced floors, comprising: a plurality of elevator cars, means mounting the elevator cars for movement relative to the structure to serve the floors, down floor call registering means operable for registering a call for elevator service in the down direction from each of a plurality of said floors, up floor call registering means operable for registering a call for elevator service in the up direction from each of a plurality of said floors, car call registering means for each of The elevator cars operable for registering a call for each of a plurality of said floors which may be desired by load in the associated elevator car, dispatching means for allocating registered floor calls to selected elevator cars, and assignment register means associated with each of said elevator cars operable to receive floor call allocations of said dispatching means, said dispatching means including: collecting means for collecting floor calls from said up and down floor call registering means, processing means for periodically processing certain floor calls collected by said collecting means by either adding a selected floor call to the assignment register of at least one elevator car or registering a demand signal relative to the call, control means for detecting the possible need to reallocate at least certain of the floor calls to a different elevator car than the original allocation, and providing a signal when such need is detected, processing means processing only new floor calls unitl said control means provides a signal, at which time all of the floor calls in the system are processed, said processing means, when processing a floor call previously allocated to an elevator car, allocating the floor call to a second car in response to predetermined conditions, and deleting the floor call allocation from the assignment register of the first car in response to a predetermined condition.

Claim 12

The elevator system of claim 9 wherein the control means is responsive to predetermined conditions the occurrence of any one of which indicates a possible need to reallocate at least certain of the floor calls, with the control means being in a first condition, in the absence of all of the predetermined conditions and in a second condition when any one of the predetermined conditions occur, wherein the processing means is responsive to the control means to process all of the floor calls when the control means is in its second condition, and processing only new floor calls when the control means is in its first condition.

Claim 13

The elevator system of claim 10 wherein the predetermined conditions to which the control means is responsive includes an elevator car bypassing floor calls and an in-service elevator car going out of service.

Claim 14

The elevator system of claim 9 wherein the predetermined conditions to which the processing means will allocate a floor call previously allocated to a first car to a second car includes the second car being located relative to the call floor and with a service direction consistent with the service direction of the call, and with an advanced car position which is closer to the call floor than the advanced car position of the first car.

Claim 15

The elevator system of claim 9 wherein the predetermined condition which will cause the processing means to delete a call allocation from the assignment register means of a first car after allocating the floor call to a second car is the absence of a car call in the car call registering means of the first car.

Claim 16

The elevator system of claim 9 wherein the processing means includes means for excluding cars not in the process of serving a call for elevator service from consideration when allocating floor calls, and including means for assigning cars in this category to floor calls for which a demand signal was registered by the processing means, and wherein said processing means compares each car having an advanced car position and service direction suitable to answer a specific call with a previous car found suitable to determine which car has an advanced car position closer to the floor of the call, and uses the closer of the two for any subsequent comparison to obtain the closest suitable car to the call floor when all cars have been considered, with the processing means allocating the call to the assignment register means of the closest suitable car.

Claim 17

The elevator system of claim 9 including means for excluding an elevator car from consideration aS being suitable for a down floor call, when it already has another down floor call in its assignment register means.

Claim 20

The method of claim 16 wherein the step of periodically processing the new calls located at the end of ordered calls in the call table means includes the step of allocating each new call to a suitable car whose advanced car position is closest to the call.

Claim 21

The method of claim 16 wherein the step of successively considering the suitability of each car relative to serving each call includes the steps of providing signals relative to the advanced car position and service direction of each of the elevator cars, and considering these signals to determine if the car is conditioned to answer the call.

Claim 22

The method of claim 16 including the step of providing a reordering signal responsive to at least one event, the existence of which indicates the possible need for reallocating floor calls, wherein the presence or absence of the reordering signal is used to initiate the step of periodic ordering of the floor calls in the call table, and the step of periodic processing of only the new calls, respectively.

Claim 23

The method of claim 16 including the step of dividing the structure into different zones for up calls and different zones for down calls, and determining the zone of each car depending upon its position and service direction, and wherein the step of successively considering the suitability of each car relative to serving each call includes the step of comparing the zone of the floor call and the zone of each car.

Claim 24

The method of claim 16 including the step of providing means in each elevator car for passengers to register car calls, and wherein the step of deleting a floor call allocation from the assignment register of an elevator car when a closer suitable car is found is subject to the condition that the car has no registered car calls.

Claim 25

The method of claim 16 including the step of providing a signal when a down floor call is allocated to the assignment resister of an elevator car, which signal is considereD during the step of considering the suitability of the car for another down floor call, removing this car from consideration for such a call.

Claim 26

The method of claim 16 wherein the step of successively considering at least certain of the elevator cars relative to serving each call in the ordered call table considers those elevator cars which are not in the process of serving a call for elevator service as not suitable for allocation of calls, and including the step of assigning elevator cars in this category to floor calls for which a demand signal was created by the processing step.

Claim 27

An elevator system for a structure having a plurality of vertically spaced floors, comprising: a plurality of elevator cars, means mounting the elevator cars for movement relative to the structure to serve the floors, down floor call registering means operable for registering a call for elevator service in the down direction from each of a plurality of said floors, up floor call registering means operable for registering a call for elevator service in the up direction from each of a plurality of said floors, car call registering means for each of the elevator cars operable for registering a call for each of a plurality of said floors which may be desired by load in the associated elevator car, dispatching means for allocating registered floor calls to selected elevator cars, and assignment register means associated with each of said elevator cars operable to receive floor call allocations from said dispatching means, said dispatching means including: first means for collecting floor calls from said up and down floor call registering means, second means for periodically ordering the floor calls collected by said first means such that their locations relative to one another correspond to the locations of their associated floors in the structure, said first means adding floor calls collected subsequent to the ordering of the floor calls by said second means to an end of the ordered floor calls, and third means for periodically processing certain floor calls collected by said first means by either allocating a selected floor call to the assignment register of at least one elevator car or registering a demand signal relative to the call, said third means being responsive to said second means, processing all of the floor calls each time said second means orders the floor calls and otherwise only processing floor calls added to an end of the ordered floor calls, said third means, when processing a floor call previously allocated to an elevator car, allocating the floor call to a second car in response to predetermined conditions and deleting this floor call allocation from the assignment register of the first car in response to a predetermined condition.

Claim 28

An elevator system for a structure having a plurality of vertically spaced floors, comprising: a plurality of elevator cars, means mounting the elevator cars for movement relative to the structure to serve the floors, down floor call registering means operable for registering a call for elevator service in the down direction from each of a plurality of said floors, up floor call registering means operable for registering a call for elevator service in the up direction from each of a plurality of said floors, car call registering means for each of the elevator cars operable for registering a call for each of a plurality of said floors which may be desired by load in the associated elevator car, dispatching means for allocating registered floor calls to selected elevator cars, and assignment register means associated with each of said elevator cars operable to receive floor call allocations from said dispatching means, said dispatching means including: first means for collecting floor calls from said up and down floor call registering means, second means for periodically ordering the floor calls collected by said first means such that their locations relative to one another correspond to the locations of their associated floors in the structure, said first means adding floor calls collected subsequent to the ordering of the floor calls by said second means to an end of the ordered floor calls, and third means for periodically processing certain floor calls collected by said first means by either allocating a selected floor call to the assignment register of at least one elevator car or registering a demand signal relative to the call, said third means being responsive to said second means, processing all of the floor calls each time said second means orders the floor calls and otherwise only processing floor calls added to an end of the ordered floor calls, said third means, when processing a floor call previously allocated to an elevator car, allocating the floor call to a second car in response to predetermined conditions and deleting this floor call allocation from the assignment register of the first car in response to a predetermined condition.

Claim 29

The elevator system of claim 24 including control means responsive to predetermined conditions the occurrence of any one of which indicates a possible need to reallocate at least certain of the floor calls, said control means being in a first condition in the absence of all of said predetermined conditions and in a second condition when any one of said predetermined conditions occur, wherein the dispatching means is responsive to said control means, with its second means being effective when said control means is in its second condition to order all of the floor calls, and cause its third means to process all of the floor calls, and with the third means processing only the calls at the end of the ordered floor calls when the control means is in its first condition.

Claim 30

The elevator system of claim 25 wherein the predetermined conditions to which the control means is responsive includes an elevator car bypassing floor calls and an in-service elevator car going out of service.

Claim 31

The elevator system of claim 24 wherein the predetermined conditions to which the third means will allocate a floor call previously allocated to a first car to a second car include the secoNd car being located relative to the call floor and with a service direction consistent with the service direction of the call, and with an advanced car position which is closer to the call floor than the advanced car position of the first car.

Claim 32

The elevator system of claim 24 wherein a predetermined condition which will cause the third means to delete a call allocation from the assignment register means of a first car after allocating the floor call to a second car is the absence of a car call on the car call registering means of the first car.

Claim 33

The elevator system of claim 24 wherein the third means includes means for excluding cars not in the process of serving a call for elevator service from consideration when allocating floor calls, and including means for assigning cars in this category to floor calls for which a demand signal was registered by the third means, and wherein said third means successively compares each car having an advanced car position and service direction suitable to answer a specific call with a previous car found suitable to determine which car has an advanced car position closer to the floor of the call, and uses the closer of the two for any subsequent comparison, to obtain the closest suitable car to the call floor when all cars have been considered, with said third means allocating the call to the assignment register means of the closer suitable car.

Claim 34

The elevator system of claim 24 including means for excluding an elevator car from consideration as being suitable for allocating a down floor call when it already has a down floor call in its assignment register means.