Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
373 words
An elevator for servicing a plurality of floor landings adjacent an elevator hoistway in a building, comprising: hall call means for registering requests for up or down service at each of said landings; a car movably disposed in said hoistway; car motion means for providing and arresting the motion of said car; car controller means for providing signals indicative of conditions of said car and of said car motion means, for exchanging signals with said car, for controlling said car motion means to cause said car to move in a selected up or down direction in said hoistway and to stop in response to said signals indicative of conditions of said car and of said car motion means and to signals received from said car; said car including a door for providing access to and from said car, a door motion means for opening and closing said door, switch means for registering calls for service by passengers in said car, and a cab controller comprising means for providing cab signals indicative of calls for service registered by said switch means, conditions of said car, and the occupied or empty status of said car, for determining that the floor of said car is within a given distance of one of said landings and providing a door zone signal indicative thereof, for exchanging signals with said car controller, and for controlling said door motion means in response to said cab signals and in response to signals received from said car controller; characterized by said car controller including inhibit means operative in either of two states for enabling said car motion means to move said car when in a first one of said states and for forcing said car motion means to arrest the motion of said car when in the second one of said states; and said cab controller comprising signal processing means for providing a communication failure signal indicative of a failure in exchanging signals between said cab controller and said car controller and in response to said failure signal, for setting said inhibit means into said second state and providing a door opening command to said door motion means in response to concurrent presence of said failure signal and said door zone signal.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
373 words
An elevator for servicing a plurality of floor landings adjacent an elevator hoistway in a building, comprising: hall call means for registering requests for up or down service at each of said landings; a car movably disposed in said hoistway; car motion means for providing and arresting the motion of said car; car controller means for providing signals indicative of conditions of said car and of said car motion means, for exchanging signals with said car, for controlling said car motion means to cause said car to move in a selected up or down direction in said hoistway and to stop in response to said signals indicative of conditions of said car and of said car motion means and to signals received from said car; said car including a door for providing access to and from said car, a door motion means for opening and closing said door, switch means for registering calls for service by passengers in said car, and a cab controller comprising means for providing cab signals indicative of calls for service registered by said switch means, conditions of said car, and the occupied or empty status of said car, for determining that the floor of said car is within a given distance of one of said landings and providing a door zone signal indicative thereof, for exchanging signals with said car controller, and for controlling said door motion means in response to said cab signals and in response to signals received from said car controller; characterized by said car controller including inhibit means operative in either of two states for enabling said car motion means to move said car when in a first one of said states and for forcing said car motion means to arrest the motion of said car when in the second one of said states; and said cab controller comprising signal processing means for providing a communication failure signal indicative of a failure in exchanging signals between said cab controller and said car controller and in response to said failure signal, for setting said inhibit means into said second state and providing a door opening command to said door motion means in response to concurrent presence of said failure signal and said door zone signal.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
92 words
An elevator according to claim 1 further characterized by said signal processing means comprising means for monitoring the position of the door, for providing a door closing command to said door motion means when the door is open for a time interval to allow passenger egress from said car in response to said door opening command, for determining when the door is closed in response to said door closing command and, in response thereto, setting said inhibit means into said first state if said cab signals indicate that said car is empty.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
55 words
An elevator according to claim 2 further characterized by said signal processing means comprising means for determining when the door is closed in response to said door closing command and, in response thereto, for providing a door opening command to said door motion means if said cab signals indicate that said car is not empty.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
94 words
An elevator according to claim 3 further characterized by said car including means for determining that the floor of said car is within a given distance of one of said landings and providing a door zone signal indicative thereof; and said signal processing means comprising means for setting said inhibit means into said second state and providing said door open command in response to the presence of said door zone signal for a time interval indicative of negligible motion of said car within said given distance of said landing concurrently with said failure signal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
50 words
An elevator according to any of claims 1-4 further characterized by said car including normally on interior lighting and a normally off audible alarm; and said signal processing means comprising means for turning off said interior lighting and turning on said audible alarm concurrently with providing said door opening command.