Patent Description:
As is well known, elevator cars are used in elevator systems to help people move themselves and/or cargo from one floor of a building to another floor. Typically, an elevator car includes a body defining an interior, one or more doors that provide access to the interior and a panel. The body can include a floor, a ceiling and one or more sidewalls. The one or more doors can be provided in the one or more sidewalls and can open or close to allow for ingress and egress with respect to the interior and to prevent ingress and egress while the elevator car is in motion. The panel can be housed in a sidewall and includes buttons by which users can control operations of the elevator car as well as alarm and communication devices that allow users to report issues. An elevator car also includes systems by which the elevator car interfaces with rails and pulleys of an elevator system, brakes that prevent undesirable movement of the elevator car along the rails and, in some cases, computing devices that allow the elevator car to communicate with control systems of the elevator system and other external computing systems.

Over time, many elevator cars exhibit damage resulting from various causes including, but not limited to, vandalism and wear. The amount of damage exhibited by an elevator car is a measure of an integrity of the elevator car.

In an elevator system, the integrity of an elevator car needs to be frequently checked and verified. While this can be done periodically by an operator or inspector, it is not generally feasible for an operator or inspector to conduct inspections in real-time. Such real-time analysis can be executed by certain types of sensors, it is often necessary to determine whether the elevator car in question is occupied by people or cargo in order to obtain a reliable reading. Cameras can do this but are expensive and require substantial computing power.

<CIT> describes a sensor information report system where sensors generate detected sensor information as frequency sound of a DTMF signal, output it as wireless information from built-in speakers, and input it into the microphone of an interphone.

<CIT> describes a system for measuring noise, vibration and running speed of an elevator, where the system can measure noise, vibration, running speed etc. of an elevator through wireless communication to analyze ride quality, running state etc. This is achieved by using a measurement body; an acceleration sensor and a noise sensor. <CIT> describes an audio and video recognition-based elevator safety monitory and soothing system.

According to the claimed invention, an elevator car is provided and includes a body, an acoustic response device and a local or remote system configured to control an operation of the acoustic response device whereby an acoustic integrity check to determine a condition of the body is executable by the local or remote system.

The acoustic response device includes a speaker to output an acoustic signal into an interior of the body and a microphone to receive and record the echo from the interior.

In accordance with some embodiments, the microphone scans for multiple acoustic frequencies including resonant frequencies of the body.

In accordance with some embodiments, the speaker is provided as one or a plurality speaker of elements and the microphone is provided as one or a plurality of microphone elements.

In accordance with some embodiments, the acoustic signal is at least one of an infrasound signal and an ultrasound signal.

In accordance with some embodiments, the local or remote system identifies an acoustic fingerprint of the body and determines the condition of the body from a deviation of the acoustic fingerprint from a stored acoustic fingerprint.

In accordance with some embodiments, at least one of the stored acoustic fingerprint is a base acoustic fingerprint, the local or remote system accesses one or more locally or remotely stored algorithms for learning to calculate the deviation and the local or remote system accounts for differing elevator states in calculating the deviation.

In accordance with some embodiments, at least one of the acoustic response device and the local or remote system are at least one of battery powered and powered by harvested energy.

In accordance with some embodiments, the elevator car further includes one or more additional sensors and the local or remote system is configured to confirm the condition of the body based on readings of the one or more additional sensors.

According to the claimed invention, a method of executing an acoustic integrity check of an interior of a body of an elevator car is provided. The method includes outputting an acoustic signal into the interior, receiving an echo of the acoustic signal from the interior, analyzing the echo to identify an acoustic fingerprint of the body, calculating a deviation of the acoustic fingerprint from a stored acoustic fingerprint and determining a condition of the body from the deviation.

In accordance with some embodiments, the calculating of the deviation includes accounting for differing elevator states.

As will be described below, an elevator car is provided with the capability of executing an acoustic integrity check that distinguishes between a base acoustic fingerprint of the elevator car and an acoustic fingerprint of the elevator car in a damaged condition with or without people and/or cargo occupying the interior of the elevator car.

With reference to <FIG>, an elevator system <NUM> is provided for use in a building, such as an office or an apartment building, for example. As shown in <FIG>, the elevator system <NUM> includes one or more hoistways <NUM> that traverse one or more floors of the building, elevator cars <NUM> that move from floor to floor within the hoistways <NUM> and a control system <NUM> that controls the movements of each of the elevator cars <NUM>.

With continued reference to <FIG> and with additional reference to <FIG>, each elevator car <NUM> includes a body <NUM> defining an interior <NUM> to accommodate at least one of passengers and cargo, one or more doors (not shown) that provide access to the interior <NUM>, a panel (not shown), an acoustic response device <NUM> and a local or remote system <NUM>. The body <NUM> can include a floor <NUM>, a ceiling <NUM> and one or more sidewalls <NUM>. The one or more doors can be provided in the one or more sidewalls <NUM> and can open or close to allow for ingress and egress with respect to the interior <NUM> and to prevent ingress and egress while the elevator car <NUM> is in motion. The panel can be housed in a sidewall <NUM> and includes buttons by which users can control operations of the elevator car <NUM> as well as alarm and communication devices that allow users to report issues. Although not specifically shown, the elevator car <NUM> can also include systems by which the elevator car <NUM> interfaces with rails and pulleys of the control system <NUM> and brakes that prevent undesirable movement of the elevator car <NUM> along the rails.

In accordance with embodiments, at least one of the acoustic response device <NUM> and the local or remote system <NUM> are at least one of battery powered (see battery <NUM> in <FIG>), powered by harvested energy from light in the elevator car <NUM> (see the light fixture <NUM> in <FIG>) and hard-wired.

In accordance with embodiments, the elevator car <NUM> can further include one or more additional sensors <NUM>. The one or more additional sensors <NUM> can include, but are not limited to, weight sensors, optical sensors to sense an amount of light in the interior <NUM>, sound sensors, temperature sensors, cameras, etc..

The acoustic response device <NUM> is configured to output an acoustic signal into the interior <NUM> and to receive an echo of the acoustic signal from the interior <NUM>. The acoustic response device <NUM> is at least partially controllable by the local or remote system <NUM> whereby the local or remote system <NUM> can cause the acoustic response device <NUM> to output the acoustic signal and to receive the echo in accordance with at least one of a predefined schedule, certain instances occurring, varying elevator states being in effect, etc. The acoustic response device <NUM> includes a speaker <NUM> and a microphone <NUM>. The speaker <NUM> outputs the acoustic signal into the interior <NUM> and the microphone <NUM> receives the echo from the interior <NUM>. The speaker <NUM> can be provided as a single speaker or as a plurality of speakers <NUM> that are deployed throughout the body <NUM> and operable dependently or independently of one another. The speaker(s) <NUM> can output the acoustic signal at varying frequencies including, but not limited to, audible frequencies, infrasound frequencies, ultrasound frequencies, etc. The microphone <NUM> can also be provided as a single microphone or as a plurality of microphones <NUM> that are deployed throughout the body and operable dependently or independently of one another. The microphone(s) <NUM> can be configured to scan for multiple frequencies including, but not limited to, resonant frequencies of the body <NUM> for maximizing a response and for achieving a maximized sensitivity.

It is to be understood that, while the speaker <NUM> and the microphone <NUM> of <FIG> are shown on the ceiling <NUM> of the body <NUM> of the elevator car <NUM>, they may be placed at any desired location within or on the body <NUM> of the elevator car <NUM>.

With continued reference to <FIG> and <FIG> and with additional reference to <FIG>, the local or remote system <NUM> is coupled to the acoustic response device <NUM> and is configured to analyze the echo received by the microphone(s) <NUM> and to determine, from results of the analysis, a condition of the body <NUM>. In accordance with embodiments, the condition of the body <NUM> can include, but is not limited to, an integrity of the body <NUM>. As used herein, the integrity of the body <NUM> is a measure of an amount of damage experienced or exhibited by the body <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, the local or remote system <NUM> includes a processing unit <NUM>, a memory unit <NUM>, a control unit <NUM>, a networking unit <NUM> and a bus <NUM> by which the processing unit <NUM>, the memory unit <NUM>, the control unit <NUM> and the networking unit <NUM> are communicative.

It is to be understood that the local or remote system <NUM> can be a part or component of an elevator controller, a stand-alone unit, embodied in the cloud or embodied in an application of a mechanic's hand-held device, smartphone or any other type of portable computing device.

The memory unit <NUM> has executable instructions stored thereon, which are readable and executable by the processing unit <NUM>. When they are read and executed by the processing unit <NUM>, the executable instructions cause the processing unit <NUM> to operate as described herein (operations of the local or remote system <NUM> described below are interchangeable with processing operations of the processing unit <NUM>). The control unit <NUM> is instructed by the processing unit <NUM> to control various operations of the speaker(s) <NUM> and the microphone(s) <NUM> of the acoustic response device <NUM>. The networking unit <NUM> is communicative with the control system <NUM> and with other external computing systems (e.g., an edge or cloud Al, cell networks: <NUM>, NB-IoT, cat M1, Lora, Sigfox, weightless, etc., using secure internet protocols such as UDP, TCP, etc., with payload and messaging encryption such as AES <NUM>, for example).

In accordance with embodiments, the local or remote system <NUM> can control the acoustic response device <NUM> to operate at certain times. These certain times include, for example, an installation time before the elevator car <NUM> has been in use for a significant amount of time and thus has experienced or exhibits little to no damage and times when the elevator car <NUM> is known to be occupied by at least one or more of one or more passengers and one or more items of cargo (hereinafter referred to as varying elevator states). The operation of the acoustic response device <NUM> at the installation time allows the local or remote system <NUM> to establish a base acoustic fingerprint of the elevator car <NUM> and the operation of the acoustic response device <NUM> at the times when the elevator car <NUM> is known to be occupied allows the local or remote system <NUM> to establish acoustic fingerprints of the elevator car <NUM> at varying elevator states.

The establishment of the base acoustic fingerprint of the elevator car <NUM> can be accomplished by varying processes that all generally include the operation of the speaker(s) <NUM> and the microphone(s) <NUM> by the control unit <NUM>. In an exemplary case, the varying processes further includes a recording of the echo received by the microphone(s) <NUM> in the memory unit <NUM> and an analysis of the recorded echo by the processing unit <NUM> to identify the base acoustic fingerprint of the body <NUM>. The analysis can involve an execution of a fast Fourier transform (FFT) by the processing unit <NUM>. The establishment of the acoustic fingerprints of the elevator car <NUM> at the varying elevator states can be accomplished by similar processes.

During a lifetime of the elevator car <NUM>, the local or remote system <NUM> can control the acoustic response device <NUM> to operate at additional times in accordance with a predefined schedule and the occurrences of certain instances. In any case, the local or remote system <NUM> controls the acoustic response device <NUM> to operate at the additional times in order to identify further or current acoustic fingerprints of the body <NUM> so as to ascertain the condition of the body <NUM>. To this end, the identification of the further or current acoustic fingerprints of the body <NUM> can be accomplished similarly as described above whereupon the local or remote system <NUM> determines the condition of the body <NUM> from a deviation of the further or current acoustic fingerprints from one or more stored acoustic fingerprints (i.e., the base acoustic fingerprint and/or the acoustic fingerprints of the elevator car <NUM> at the varying elevator states).

In accordance with embodiments, the local or remote system <NUM> can access one or more locally or remotely stored algorithms (i.e., the Cloud AI) for learning to or for improving on its calculation of the deviation. In addition, the local or remote system <NUM> accounts for differing elevator states in calculating the deviation. That is, the local or remote system may only compare the current acoustic fingerprint of the elevator car <NUM> in a state in which the elevator car <NUM> is occupied by a single passenger to a previous acoustic fingerprint of the elevator car <NUM> which was known to have been in a state in which the elevator car <NUM> was similarly occupied by a single passenger. Thus, to an extent that the deviation exists between the current and previous acoustic states, the local or remote system <NUM> can assume it is not due to a different elevator state being in effect.

In accordance with further embodiments, the local or remote system <NUM> can be further configured to identify and confirm a state of the elevator car <NUM> and to confirm the condition of the body <NUM> based on readings of the one or more additional sensors <NUM>. That is, sensor fusion information generated by the one or more additional sensors <NUM> (e.g., operational noise, light, acceleration, PIR, air pressure, etc.) can allow the local or remote system <NUM> to separate individual operational status instances of the elevator car <NUM> as well as to identify modes and positions of the elevator car <NUM> for more precise sensitivity and false positive elimination.

In an exemplary case, where the one or more additional sensors <NUM> include weight sensors on the floor <NUM> of the body <NUM> of the elevator body <NUM>, readings of these weight sensors can be used by the local or remote system <NUM> to confirm that the elevator car <NUM> is occupied by a certain number of individuals (e.g., one adult and <NUM> children). Since these individuals will affect the acoustic fingerprint of the body <NUM>, in an event the local or remote system <NUM> operates the acoustic response device <NUM> in this instance, the calculating of the deviation will involve the resulting acoustic fingerprint being compared against a stored acoustic fingerprint, which was taken at an earlier time when the elevator car <NUM> was also occupied by the certain number of individuals (ideally, one adult and two children).

With reference to <FIG>, a method of executing an acoustic integrity check of the interior <NUM> of the body <NUM> of the elevator car <NUM> as described above is provided. As shown in <FIG>, the method includes outputting an acoustic signal into the interior (<NUM>), receiving an echo of the acoustic signal from the interior (<NUM>), analyzing the echo to identify an acoustic fingerprint of the body (<NUM>), calculating a deviation of the acoustic fingerprint from a stored acoustic fingerprint while taking into account differing elevator states among other factors (<NUM>) and determining a condition of the body from the deviation (<NUM>).

Technical effects and benefits of the present disclosure are the provision of an elevator car that can be serviced and maintained on a basis of a sensed condition and which allows for additional information about its integrity to be obtained. The systems described herein can be installed in an elevator car relatively easily, quickly and with reduced costs and allow for robust communications.

Claim 1:
An elevator car (<NUM>), comprising:
a body (<NUM>); and
characterized by
an acoustic response device (<NUM>); and
a local or remote system (<NUM>) configured to control an operation of the acoustic response device (<NUM>) whereby an acoustic integrity check to determine a condition of the body is executable by the local or remote system (<NUM>); and
wherein the acoustic response device (<NUM>) comprises:
a speaker (<NUM>) to output an acoustic signal into an interior (<NUM>) of the body (<NUM>); and
a microphone (<NUM>) to receive and record the echo from the interior.