Elevator system

Claim 2

An elevator system, comprising: a structure having a plurality of landings, a plurality of elevator cars mounted for movement relative to the landings, means for registering calls for service from the landings, car control means for each of said elevator cars, means connecting the calls for service to the car control means of said elevator cars, said car control means being operable for moving its associated elevator car in response to calls for service, and system control means, said system control means being responsive to said calls for service to assign at least certain of said calls to predetermined elevator cars by providing assignment signals for the car control means of all of the elevator cars, said assignment signals overriding and preventing each car control means from considering an assigned call for service which has not been assigned thereto.

Claim 3

The elevator system of claim 1, including monitoring means for detecting abnormal operation of the system control means, said monitoring means preventing the system control means from providing assignment signals when an abnormal operation of the system control means is detected.

Claim 4

The elevator system of claim 1, wherein each car control means includes different gate means for each different call for service, with the means connecting the calls for service to each of the car control means connecting them in parallel to the gating means, and each car control means provides parallel inhibit signals in response to the assignment signals for the gating means associated with the assigned calls for service which are not assigned specifically thereto.

Claim 5

The elevator system of claim 1, wherein each car control means includes first and second gating means for calls requesting service in first and second directions, respectively, with the means connecting the calls for service to the car control means providing first and second serial signals for the first and second gating means, respectively, responsive to calls for service in the first and second directions, respectively, and the car control means provides serial inhibit signals for the first and second gating means synchronized with the assigned calls for service which are not assigned thereto.

Claim 6

The elevator system of claim 1 including scan counter means for repetitively dividing successive predetermined time intervals into a plurality of scan slots, certain of which are assigned to the landings of the structure, wherein the means which connects the calls for service to the car control means of each of the elevator cars places the calls into the appropriate scan slots, and the system control means places the assignment signals into the scan slots of the landings the assigned calls are associated with.

Claim 7

The elevator system of claim 5 wherein the means which connects the calls for service to the car control means of each of the elevator cars serializes the calls for service in the up and down directions to provide first and second serial signals, respectively, each car control means includes first and second gating means for receiving the first and second serial signals, respectively, and each car control means provides serial inhibit signals for its first and second gating means in response to the assignment signals.

Claim 8

An elevator system, comprising: a structure having a plurality of landings, a plurality of elevator cars mounted for movement relative to the landings, means for registering calls for service from the landings, car control means for each of said elevator cars, means connecting the calls for service to the car control means of said elevator cars, said car control means being operable for moving its associated elevator car in response to calls for service, and system control means, said system control means being responsive to said calls for service to assign at least certain of said calls to predetermined elevator cars by providing assignment signals for the car control means of all of the elevator cars, said assignment signals for each car control means including a first signal which identifies calls assigned to the car control means, and a second signal which identifies all calls which have been assigned, each of said car control means including means for comparing the first and second signals and providing inhibit signals for the landings having assigned calls but which are not specifically assigned thereto, said assignment signals overriding and preventing each car control means from considering an assigned call for service which has not been assigned thereto.

Claim 9

An elevator system, comprising: a structure having a plurality of landings, a plurality of elevator cars mounted for movement relative to the landings, means for registering calls for service from the landings, car control means for each of said elevator cars, means connecting the calls for service to the car control means of said elevator cars, said car control means being operable for moving its associated elevator car in response to calls for service, and system control means, said system control means being responsive to said calls for service to assign at least certain of said calls to predetermined elevator cars by providing assignment signals for the car control means of all of the elevator cars, said assignment signals for each car control means including a first signal which identifies calls assigned to the car control means, and a second signal which identifies all calls which have been assigned, each of said car control means including means for comparing the first and second signals and providing inhibit signals for the landings having assigned calls but which are not specifically assigned thereto, said assignment signals overriding and preventing each car control means from considering an assigned call for service which has not been assigned thereto.

Claim 10

The elevator system of claim 1 wherein each car control means includes inhibit logic means, gating means, and floor selector means, with the inhibit logic means being connected to receive the assignment signals, and to provide inhibit signals in response thereto, the gating means being connected to receive the calls for service and the inhibit signals from the inhibit logic means and provide an output in response thereto, and the floor selector being connected to receive the output of the gating means.

Claim 11

An elevator system, comprising: a structure having a plurality of landings, a plurality of elevator cars mounted for movement relative to the structure to serve the landings, means for registering calls for service from the landings, car control means for each elevator car for moving the elevator car to answer calls for service, means connecting the calls for service to the car control means for each of the elevator cars, means assigning calls for service to predetermined elevator cars, and means comparing the calls assigned to each elevator car with all of the assigned calls and providing inhibit signals for each car control means which block those assigned calls not specifically assigned thereto, from consideration by the associated car control means.

Claim 12

An elevator system, comprising: a structure having a plurality of landings, a plurality of elevator cars mounted for movement relative to the structure to serve the landings, means for registering calls for service from the landings, car control means for each elevator car for moving the elevator car to answer calls for service, means connecting the calls for service to the car control means for each of the elevator cars, means assigning calls for service to predetermined elevator cars, and means comparing the calls assigned to each elevator car with all of the assigned calls and providing inhibit signals for each car control means which block those assigned calls not specifically assigned thereto, from consideration by the associated car control means.

Claim 13

The elevator system of claim 9 including emergency means for detecting abnormal operation of the means which assigns calls for service to predetermined elevator cars, said emergency means preventing said means from assigning calls for service to the elevator cars when an abnormal operation is detected.

Claim 14

The elevator system of claim 9 wherein the means connecting the calls for service to the car control means is a parallel system, with a circuit per call per car controller, and the means providing the assignment signals provides them on a parallel per call per car basis.

Claim 15

The elevator system of claim 9 wherein the means connecting the calls for service to the car control means serializes the calls, and the means providing the assignment signals serializes them on a time basis which conforms to that used to serialize the calls for service, to place the assignment signals for a specific call into the assignment stream at the same time as the call it is associated with.

Claim 16

The elevator system of claim 9 including means for repetitively generating a plurality of scan slots, certain of which are assigned to the landings of the structure, means serializing the calls for service into the appropriate scan slots, means serializing the assigned calls into the appropriate scan slots, and wherein the means which compares the calls assigned to each car with all of the assigned calls provides serial inhibit signals in the appropriate scan slots.