Patent ID: 11964848
Assignee: OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 9:
10. A method of operating an elevator system including a hoistway, an elevator car configured to travel in the hoistway, a pit located at a bottom of the hoistway, a safety chain configured to enable or disable motion of the elevator car and a sensor assembly, the method comprising:
detecting, by the sensor assembly, a person in a detection region of the sensor assembly in the hoistway;
upon detection of a person in the detection region, the sensor assembly initiating opening the safety chain to disable motion of the elevator car; and
testing operation of the sensor assembly to detect malfunctioning and/or tampering of operation of the sensor assembly;
wherein testing operation of the sensor assembly includes:
placing a known background in the detection region of the sensor assembly; and
evaluating the known background to test functionality of the sensor assembly.