Abstract:
A method for generating a custom user interface on a mobile device for interfacing with an elevator system includes selecting a building; presenting an identification of floors in the building; receiving a selection of a plurality of custom floors, the custom floors being a subset of the floors; saving the custom floors; and generating the custom user interface in response to the custom floors.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/270,632, filed Dec. 22, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Existing elevator systems allow a user to select a destination floor using their own mobile device (e.g., a smartphone). In a typical system, the floors of the building are presented on a display screen of the mobile device, and the user can select a destination floor from a list of available floors. Exemplary systems for accessing an elevator system are disclosed in U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/092,368 and U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/074,178, the contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference. For large buildings, the list of available floors can be cumbersome to navigate, requiring the user to scroll through lists of floors or the floors are presented in a small format making the available floors difficult to read and select. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0003]    According to one embodiment, a method for generating a custom user interface on a mobile device for interfacing with an elevator system includes selecting a building; presenting an identification of floors in the building; receiving a selection of a plurality of custom floors, the custom floors being a subset of the floors; saving the custom floors; and generating the custom user interface in response to the custom floors. 
         [0004]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include wherein selecting the building comprises selecting a default building. 
         [0005]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include wherein selecting the building comprises selecting the last building visited by a user. 
         [0006]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include wherein selecting the building comprises receiving a building selection from a user. 
         [0007]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include receiving a departure floor and a destination floor in response to selection of a first floor icon in the custom user interface and a second floor icon in the custom user interface, each floor icon corresponding to a single floor; and transmitting an elevator call in response to the departure floor and the destination floor. 
         [0008]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include changing from the custom user interface including the custom floors to a standard user interface including the floors in the building. 
         [0009]    According to another embodiment, a mobile device includes a processor; and a memory comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: selecting a building; presenting an identification of floors in the building; receiving a selection of a plurality of custom floors, the custom floors being a subset of the floors; saving the custom floors; and generating a custom user interface in response to the custom floors. 
         [0010]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include wherein selecting the building comprises selecting a default building. 
         [0011]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include wherein selecting the building comprises selecting the last building visited by a user. 
         [0012]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include wherein selecting the building comprises receiving a building selection from a user. 
         [0013]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include the operations further comprising receiving a departure floor and a destination floor in response to selection of a first floor icon in the custom user interface and a second floor icon in the custom user interface, each floor icon corresponding to a single floor; and transmitting an elevator call in response to the departure floor and the destination floor. 
         [0014]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include the operations further comprising changing from the custom user interface including the custom floors to a standard user interface including the floors in the building. 
         [0015]    According to another embodiment, a computer program product tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: selecting a building; presenting an identification of floors in the building; receiving a selection of a plurality of custom floors, the custom floors being a subset of the floors; saving the custom floors; and generating a custom user interface in response to the custom floors. 
         [0016]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include wherein selecting the building comprises selecting a default building. 
         [0017]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include wherein selecting the building comprises selecting the last building visited by a user. 
         [0018]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include wherein selecting the building comprises receiving a building selection from a user. 
         [0019]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include the operations further comprising receiving a departure floor and a destination floor in response to selection of a first floor icon in the custom user interface and a second floor icon in the custom user interface, each floor icon corresponding to a single floor and transmitting an elevator call in response to the departure floor and the destination floor. 
         [0020]    In addition to one or more of the features described above, or as an alternative, further embodiments may include the operations further comprising changing from the custom user interface including the custom floors to a standard user interface including the floors in the building. 
         [0021]    Technical effects of embodiments include the ability to provide a user interface for generating elevator calls to an elevator system. The user interface presents a set of custom floors designated by the user. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0022]    The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements. 
           [0023]      FIG. 1  depicts an elevator system in an exemplary embodiment; 
           [0024]      FIG. 2  depicts a standard user interface in an exemplary embodiment; 
           [0025]      FIG. 3  depicts a set up interface in an exemplary embodiment; 
           [0026]      FIG. 4  depicts a custom user interface in an exemplary embodiment; and 
           [0027]      FIG. 5  depicts a flowchart of a process for generating a custom user interface in an exemplary embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0028]      FIG. 1  depicts an elevator system  200  in an exemplary embodiment. The elevator system  200  is shown installed at a building  202 . In some embodiments, the building  202  may be an office building or a collection of office buildings that may or may not be physically located near each other. The building  202  may include a number of floors. Persons entering the building  202  may enter at a lobby floor, and may go to a destination floor via one or more conveyance devices, such as an elevator  204 . 
         [0029]    The elevator  204  may be coupled to one or more computing devices, such as a controller  206 . The controller  206  may be configured to control dispatching operations for one or more elevator cars (e.g., cars  204 - 1 ,  204 - 2 ) associated with the elevator  204 . The elevator cars  204 - 1  and  204 - 2  may be located in the same hoistway or in different hoistways so as to allow coordination amongst elevator cars in different elevator banks serving different floors. It is understood that other components of the elevator system  200  (e.g., drive, counterweight, safeties, etc.) are not depicted for ease of illustration. 
         [0030]    Also shown in  FIG. 1  is a mobile device  208 . The mobile device  208  may include a device that is typically carried by a person, such as a phone, PDA, etc. The mobile device  208  may include a processor, memory and communication module as shown in  FIG. 1 . The processor can be any type or combination of computer processors, such as a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, programmable logic device, and/or field programmable gate array. The memory is an example of a non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly embodied in the mobile device  208  including executable instructions stored therein, for instance, as firmware. The communication module may implement one or more communication protocols as described in further detail herein. 
         [0031]    The controller  206  may include a processor, memory and communication module as shown in  FIG. 1 . The processor can be any type or combination of computer processors, such as a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, programmable logic device, and/or field programmable gate array. The memory is an example of a non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly embodied in the controller  206  including executable instructions stored therein, for instance, as firmware. The communication module may implement one or more communication protocols as described in further detail herein. 
         [0032]    The mobile device  208  and the controller  206  communicate with one another. For example, the mobile device  208  and the controller  206  may communicate with one another when proximate to one another (e.g., within a threshold distance). The mobile device  208  and the controller  206  may communicate over a wireless network, such as 802.11x (WiFi), short-range radio (Bluetooth), etc. In some embodiments, the controller  206  may include, or be associated with (e.g., communicatively coupled to) a networked element, such as kiosk, beacon, hall call fixture, lantern, bridge, router, network node, etc. The networked element may communicate with the mobile device  208  using one or more communication protocols or standards. For example, the networked element may communicate with the mobile device  208  using near field communications (NFC). In other embodiments, the controller  206  may establish communication with a mobile device  208  that is outside of the building  202 . This connection may be established with various technologies including GPS, triangulation, or signal strength detection, by way of non-limiting example. Such technologies that allow early communication will provide users and the systems more time to establish the most efficient passenger flow, and may eliminate the need for a user to stop moving to interact with the system. 
         [0033]    Customization of a user interface presented on the mobile device  208  is described with reference to  FIGS. 2-4 . Referring to  FIG. 2 , when the mobile device  208  launches the user interface application, the user interface may default to the last building the user visited. Alternatively, the user can designate a default building to be used at all times or the user can designate a new building (e.g., by selecting from a list of buildings or entering a building address). The mobile device  208  may store a list of buildings and the number of floors in each building in internal memory. Upon launching the user interface for the first time for a particular building, a user is presented with a standard interface  300 , such as that shown in  FIG. 2 . The standard interface  300  is just one example of a user interface to the elevator system, and other configurations may be employed. The standard interface  300  includes a plurality of floor icons  302 , each floor icon  302  corresponding to a single floor. The number of floor icons  302  corresponds to the total number of floors in the building accessible by the elevator system. 
         [0034]    In order to customize the user interface, the user may select a set up icon  304 . Upon selecting the set up icon  304 , a setup interface is presented, such as that shown in  FIG. 3 . The user interface of  FIG. 3  allows the user to select a subset of all the floors as custom floors and then save those custom floors for the current building. In one embodiment, the user may select custom floors by selecting floor icon(s)  302  and dragging the selected floor icon(s)  302  to a certain region  306  and then selecting a save icon  308 . Alternatively, the user may select custom floors by clicking on selected floor icons  302  and then selecting save icon  308 . In other embodiments, the using can check a box associated with each floor (e.g., +/− or add/remove) to designate a subset of all the floors as the custom floors. 
         [0035]    Once the user selects the save icon  308  in  FIG. 4 , the user interface is customized as shown in  FIG. 4 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , the custom user interface  301  displays only custom floor icons  318 , rather than the standard floor icons  302 . Each custom floor icon  318  represents a single floor of the building. If desired, the user can revert to the standard user interface by selecting the full access icon  320 . 
         [0036]    To request elevator service, the user enters a departure floor and a destination floor. The departure floor corresponds to where the user wishes to board the elevator and the destination floor corresponds to the floor to which the user wishes to travel. For example, referring to  FIG. 4 , if the user wanted to travel from floor 1 to floor 10, the user could tap the custom floor icon  318  for floor 1 and then tap the custom floor icon  318  for floor 10. In another embodiment, the user may “click and drag” the custom floor icon  318  for floor 1 onto the custom floor icon  318  for floor 10. This departure floor and destination floor form an elevator call, which is communicated to the controller  206 , which then directs an elevator car  204 - 1  to the user. 
         [0037]      FIG. 5  is flowchart of operations performed on the mobile device  208 . The process begins at  502  where a building is selected. In one embodiment, the user can specify a default building that is selected every time the user interface application is executed. In another embodiment, the mobile device  208  uses the last building visited as the selected building. In yet another embodiment, the user enters a selected building by choosing from a list of buildings stored in mobile device  208  or entering a building address. 
         [0038]    At  504 , the mobile device  208  determines if a custom user interface exists for the selected building. If the user has already set up a custom user interface for the selected building, then flow proceeds to  506  where the custom user interface (such as that of  FIG. 4 ) is presented to the user on the mobile device  208 . At  506 , the user may revert to the standard user interface  300  by selecting the full access icon  320  of  FIG. 4 . Flow proceeds to  508  where the user enters an elevator call as described above. The elevator call (based on the departure floor and destination floor) is then transmitted from the mobile device  208  to the controller  206 . 
         [0039]    If at  504 , a custom user interface does not exist for the selected building, flow proceeds to  510  where the standard user interface  300  is presented on the mobile device  208 . At  512 , the user can set up the custom user interface by selecting the custom floors, as described above with reference to  FIG. 3 . The custom floors are then saved and flow proceeds to  506  where the custom user interface is presented on the mobile device  208 . 
         [0040]    Embodiments enhance existing systems by allowing the individual user to configure the floors displayed on the user interface based upon their own usage of the floors in the building. The user specifies the floors in the building that are accessed by the user. Embodiments use this data per building to create a display of floors that only include the floors used by the individual owner of the mobile device. Embodiments allow the user full access to floors in the building in case they need to travel to a unique floor occasionally. Providing the custom user interface minimizes time needed by the user to select desired departure floors and destination floors. The custom user interface reduces the screen display space on mobile device for buildings with many floors that are rarely or never used. 
         [0041]    Embodiments may be implemented using one or more technologies. In some embodiments, an apparatus or system may include one or more processors, and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus or system to perform one or more methodological acts as described herein. Various mechanical components known to those of skill in the art may be used in some embodiments. 
         [0042]    Embodiments may be implemented as one or more apparatuses, systems, and/or methods. In some embodiments, instructions may be stored on one or more computer program products or computer-readable media, such as a transitory and/or non-transitory computer-readable medium. The instructions, when executed, may cause an entity (e.g., a processor, apparatus or system) to perform one or more methodological acts as described herein. 
         [0043]    While the disclosure has been described in detail in connection with only a limited number of embodiments, it should be readily understood that the disclosure is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. Rather, the disclosure can be modified to incorporate any number of variations, alterations, substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described, but which are commensurate with the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, while various embodiments have been described, it is to be understood that aspects of the disclosure may include only some of the described embodiments. Accordingly, the disclosure is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.