Patent Description:
In today's environment, travel for business and personal reasons are very common, and the travelers can encounter many others in a short period of time. Because travelers can easily travel to limitless destinations, if an individual has a communicable health condition such as a virus or infection, several other individuals may become exposed. The risk of unknowingly spreading the virus or infection can be undesirably increased. There may be a need to mitigate the risk of coming in contact with others that may have been potentially exposed to the infections health condition and provide effective social distancing techniques to maintain the health of the individuals.

<CIT> discloses a security gate that is disposed at an entrance in a specific region of a building, and that controls entry of a user of the building into the specific region; provided with a body temperature sensor that measures the body temperature of a user who is passing through the security gate.

<CIT> discloses an intelligent control device and an elevator management method including the steps that the intelligent control device determines the current status of an elevator, when it is determined that the elevator does not carry people, an ultraviolet radiator is controlled to turn on so that ultraviolet light kills germs inside the elevator.

According to an aspect of the invention, a method for performing passenger grouping in an elevator system as recited in claim <NUM> is provided.

Further embodiments include one or more sensors that include a thermal camera that is configured to obtain a user temperature.

Further embodiments include obtaining a first exposure rating based on a temperature from the thermal camera; obtaining a second exposure rating from a user device associated with the user; and combining the first exposure rating and the second exposure rating to calculate the final exposure rating.

Further embodiments include providing an indication to the user of an elevator car assignment or a rejection of the call request.

Further embodiments include assigning the user to an elevator car with one or more passengers responsive to the final exposure rating being less than a configurable threshold.

Further embodiments include determining the user has boarded the elevator car; re-calculating an aggregated exposure rating for the user and one or more passengers responsive to determining the user has boarded the elevator car; comparing the re-calculated aggregated exposure rating to an aggregated exposure rating threshold; and executing an action based at least in part on the comparison.

Further embodiments include allowing the elevator car to travel to its destination floor or inhibiting the elevator car from traveling to its destination floor.

Further embodiments include scheduling a sanitation service for the elevator car after the elevator car travels to its destination floor responsive to assigning the user an individual elevator car.

According to an aspect of the invention, a system for performing passenger grouping as recited in claim <NUM> is provided.

Further embodiments include an elevator controller configured to obtain a first exposure rating based on a temperature from the thermal camera; obtain a second exposure rating from a user device associated with the user; and combine the first exposure rating and the second exposure rating to calculate the final exposure rating.

Further embodiments include an elevator control that is configured to provide an indication to the user of an elevator car assignment or a rejection of the call request.

Further embodiments include an elevator control that is configured to assign the user to an elevator car with one or more passengers responsive to the final exposure rating being less than a configurable threshold.

Further embodiments include an elevator control that is configured to determine the user has boarded the elevator car; re-calculate an aggregated exposure rating for the user and one or more passengers responsive to determining the user has boarded the elevator car; compare the re-calculated aggregated exposure rating to an aggregated exposure rating threshold; and execute an action based at least in part on the comparison.

Further embodiments include an elevator control that is configured to allow the elevator car to travel to its destination floor or inhibiting the elevator car from traveling to its destination floor.

Further embodiments include an elevator control that is configured to schedule a sanitation service for the elevator car after the elevator car travels to its destination floor responsive to assigning the user an individual elevator car.

Technical effects of embodiments of the present disclosure include grouping healthy passengers with other healthy passengers in an elevator and isolating passengers that may have been exposed to mitigate the spread of an infectious health risk. This encourages the ability of passengers to safely socially distance themselves from other passengers to reduce the spread of a health risk.

Many buildings have started utilizing thermal sensing techniques to allow or disallow a person entrance into the building. In some instances, a person's body temperature can provide an indication of the health condition, and the thermal readings can be correlated to the potential health risks of the person. In many scenarios, thermal readings are the first line of defense and may not work well for all building configurations. In such scenarios, an elevator can act as a second line of defense to detect and inform the individual of their current health risk. The techniques described herein leverage the body temperature information and the contact tracing information to assign an exposure rating or level to the passenger to either individually assign the user to a separate elevator or safely group the user in an elevator with other healthy passengers. In one or more embodiments, the exposure rating can indicate the likelihood or probability that an individual has been exposed to an identified risk based on a number of factors that can be processed by third-party application server. One factor can include the user coming into physical contact or proximity of another individual who has been exposed to the identified risk. Another factor can include identifying other individuals that have been tested and positively identified as being contagious/infected with the identified risk. An additional factor that can be used to determine the exposure rating can include the location, distance, and duration one user is exposed to the contagious/infected individuals. In a non-limiting example, if a user is exposed to many other contagious individuals for a long period of time in a closed space, the exposure rating will be higher than a user that is exposed to minimal contagious individuals for a short period of time in an open space (outdoors). It should be understood that other factors can be used in generating the exposure rating. The techniques described herein provide the ability for individuals to socially distance themselves from other passengers.

Embodiments may also be employed in ropeless elevator systems using a self-propelled elevator cars (e.g., friction wheels or beam climbers).

<FIG> depicts a block diagram of a passenger grouping system <NUM> for an elevator system in accordance with one or more embodiments. The elevator system can include but is not limited to the elevator system <NUM> shown with reference to <FIG>. As shown, the passenger grouping system <NUM> can include the elevator controller <NUM> which can be the elevator controller <NUM> provided in <FIG>. In one or more embodiments, the elevator controller <NUM> can be configured to exchange various types of information such as but not limited to call requests, exposure ratings, other communications, etc. with one or more components, systems, or devices.

One or more sensors may be coupled to the elevator controller <NUM> to obtain readings for performing passenger grouping as described herein. The one or more sensors can include but is not limited to a thermal camera <NUM>. The thermal camera <NUM> is used to perform a temperature scan of a user to obtain a thermal reading of the scanned user. The thermal camera <NUM> is configured to transmit the thermal reading to the kiosk and/or elevator <NUM> and elevator controller <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the thermal camera <NUM> can be installed in a location prior to entering the elevator car where the call request is placed. In addition, another thermal camera <NUM> can be installed in a location inside the elevator car. The thermal camera <NUM> in the elevator <NUM> can be used to obtain a thermal reading and is used to determine an overall exposure rating prior to closing the elevator doors and allowing the elevator car to travel to its destination.

A user device <NUM> associated with a user can be operably coupled to the elevator system for communicating with the elevator system. The user device <NUM> may be a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet, or other type of device. The user device <NUM> can include a user interface communicating with the elevator and elevator system. The user device <NUM> can transmit a call request for an elevator car to the elevator system. Also, the user device <NUM> can transmit various user condition information such as an exposure rating to the elevator system. In one or more embodiments, the user device <NUM> can exchange information through a third-party application program interface (API) to a third-party application server <NUM> over a network that is configured for performing contact tracing of exposed or potentially exposed individuals. The contact tracing information is used to generate an exposure rating. In one or more embodiments, the exposure rating can be on a scale of <NUM>-<NUM> or a scale of <NUM>-<NUM>. It should be understood that a different scale can be used where the higher the value the higher the exposure risk and the lower the value the minimal the exposure risk.

In one or more embodiments, the user device <NUM> may include a location module <NUM> to identify the location of the user. For example, a global positioning system (GPS) or other type of indoor positioning system may be used to identify when the user has boarded the elevator car.

The passenger boarding system <NUM> can include a building management system <NUM> that is also coupled to the elevator controller <NUM>. One or more sensors may be coupled to the building management system <NUM> to obtain temperature readings from the potential passengers prior to entering the elevator car. It should be understood that other types of information can be shared between the elevator controller <NUM> and the building management system <NUM>. For example, the elevator controller <NUM> can transmit a signal to the building management system <NUM> to provide an alert or broadcast that the elevator car requires maintenance or other service For example, an alert can indicate that a particular elevator car requires sanitation after a passenger having an elevated exposure rating has traveled in the elevator car. The alert can be a haptic alert, audible alert, visual alert or any combination thereof.

<FIG> depicts a flowchart of a method <NUM> for performing passenger grouping by the systems <NUM>, <NUM> shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, respectively. It should be understood the method <NUM> is not limited by the flowchart shown in <FIG> but provides an illustrative example. The method <NUM> begins at block <NUM> and proceeds to block <NUM> which provides the elevator controller <NUM> receives a passenger call request. The call request may be transmitted from a user device <NUM> or a kiosk. Block <NUM> performs a temperature scan using thermal cameras <NUM>.

In one or more embodiments, a request can be transmitted from the elevator controller <NUM> to a thermal camera <NUM> coupled to the elevator <NUM>. The request can include a request to perform a body temperature scan of the user placing the call request. Responsive to the thermal camera <NUM> performing the scan, a response including a value representing the temperature scan is transmitted to the elevator controller <NUM> through the elevator <NUM>. Block <NUM> calculates an exposure rating based on the temperature reading obtained from the thermal cameras <NUM> or sensors. The exposure rating obtained from the thermal cameras <NUM> is referred to as a first exposure rating. In one or more embodiments, the higher the temperature reading above the average user temperature, the higher the first exposure rating and the closer the user temperature is to the average user temperature the lower the exposure rating.

At block <NUM>, the elevator controller <NUM> used in method <NUM> requests an exposure rating from the user device. The exposure rating obtained from the user device is referred to the second exposure rating. In one or more embodiments, a third-party API installed in the user device can be used for communicating with a third-party API server <NUM> and obtaining contact tracing information of others that may have been potentially exposed to a virus.

At block <NUM> the elevator controller <NUM> authenticates and authorizes the exposure rating received from the user device. Block <NUM> combines the exposure rating (first exposure rating) from the thermal camera <NUM> and the exposure rating (second exposure rating) from the user device is combined and block <NUM> calculates a final exposure rating. In one or more embodiments, the combination of the exposure rating from the thermal camera <NUM> and the user device <NUM> can include averaging the exposure ratings to calculate the final exposure rating.

The method <NUM> proceeds to decision block <NUM> where the elevator controller <NUM> either proceeds to block <NUM> or <NUM> based on comparing the final exposure rating calculated at block <NUM> to a configurable threshold for the final exposure rating. The user can be assigned to an individual car or group the passenger with passengers based on the comparison. Block <NUM> provides a notification to the passenger and the building management system the final exposure rating is above a configurable threshold. Block <NUM> can assign the individual car to the user. The method <NUM> can end at block <NUM>.

Otherwise, at decision block <NUM>, if the final exposure rating is below the configurable threshold for the final exposure rating, the method <NUM> proceeds to block <NUM> which groups the user with other passengers such that the aggregate exposure rating remains low. In one or more embodiments, the users that are grouped together in an elevator car receive a notification of the assignment of the elevator car using their respective user devices. The method <NUM> can proceed to <FIG> which performs a re-checking process of the exposure rating of the passengers that have boarded the elevator car.

Now referring to <FIG>, a flowchart of a method <NUM> for re-checking the passengers once the assigned passengers have boarded the elevator car in accordance with one or more embodiments. As shown in block <NUM>, after each of the assigned passengers have boarded the elevator car, the exposure rating for the group of boarded passengers is calculated.

Block <NUM> determines whether any changes have been determined from the original assignment information. The elevator controller <NUM> can identify whether an unauthorized user has boarded the elevator car or if an assigned user's health condition has changed by comparing the location information of each user device that is present in the elevator car and determining the aggregated total exposure rating for the group. In addition, the system <NUM> can identify whether there is any other deviation from the measured information.

The passengers can be detected as having boarded the elevator car by a variety of techniques. For example, an unassigned user can be detected as having boarded the elevator car by using the location system of the user device.

Also, the expected passengers that are determined by the passenger assignment data can be compared to the location information for each user device that is detected in the elevator car. For example, the elevator controller <NUM> can assign passengers A, B, and C to an elevator car. The elevator controller <NUM> can poll each of the respective user devices to determine whether the location data indicates the users have boarded the elevator car. Subsequently, the passenger exposure rating for each of the users can be aggregated.

In one or more embodiments, the total exposure rating is calculated for all of the passengers that are currently onboard the assigned elevator car and compared to a total exposure rating threshold. In a non-limiting example, the total exposure rating threshold can be configured to the highest allowable score for each user multiplied by each number of assigned passengers that has boarded the elevator car. The comparison of the total exposure rating and the total exposure rating threshold is used to take an action.

Block <NUM> provides for stopping the elevator movement responsive to detecting a change in the original assignment/user condition for the passengers assigned to the elevator car using the elevator controller <NUM>. In one or more embodiments, in addition to stopping the elevator car, the action can include a) opening the elevator doors fully when unexpected exposure levels are detected, b) making an announcement(s) to the passengers, c) informing building management system of the status of the passengers/elevator car, etc. The actions are not limited to those previously discussed but is only provided as an illustrative example.

The technical effects and benefits include enabling the passengers to be safely grouped with other healthy passengers in an elevator or isolating passengers in an elevator based on a calculated exposure rating. The accuracy of the techniques described herein is improved by leveraging data from a contact tracing application and correlating the user's current body temperature to the user's current exposure level.

As described above, embodiments can be in the form of processorimplemented processes and devices for practicing those processes, such as a processor.

Claim 1:
A method for performing passenger grouping, the method comprising:
receiving, at a controller (<NUM>), a call request placed by a user;
receiving, at the controller (<NUM>), user condition data for a user obtained using one or more sensors (<NUM>) operably coupled to the controller (<NUM>);
calculating, at the controller (<NUM>), a final exposure rating based at least in part on the user condition data, the final exposure rating indicating the likelihood or probability that an individual has been exposed to an identified risk; and
assigning, using the controller (<NUM>), the user to an elevator based at least in part on the final exposure rating,
the method being characterised in that responsive to the final exposure rating exceeding a configurable threshold, the user is assigned to an individual elevator car.