Patent Description:
It is known that a fixture is generally provided in an elevator car or hall, for example, integrated in a button board or display of a car. The fixture is, for example, a bus terminal device, which includes, but is not limited to, an address communication board, a transfer board, a button board, a display board, and the like, all of which are devices utilizing an address as the identification mark. These fixtures communicate with the elevator controller through communication lines to send and receive various control signals. Communication lines generally follow a certain communication protocol. In some known communication protocols, the control signals are related to the physical structure of the communication lines. For example, several pins on the serial bus are configured for indicating the data of elevator call.

When an elevator is installed or maintained, the fixture is likely to be replaced and reconfigured. Since different elevators may correspond to buildings of different structures, existing fixtures require a user to manually change the configuration, so as to coincide with the configuration of the elevator controller. However, such operations generally require specialized knowledge and relatively complex operation procedure, and generally need to be operated by a professional technician.

Accordingly, there is a continuing need for a solution of an improved automatic configuration method of fixture. It is desirable that the solution be able to mitigate the aforementioned problems at least to a certain degree.

<CIT> describes a system for controlling at least one elevator with a control computer and a floor-side control terminal with a touchscreen for entering a transport request. The control computer and terminal are connected via a network where the terminal is designed as a client to display a description from the control computer.

One object of the present invention is to provide an automatic configuration method of a fixture that enables automatic configuration of a fixture. Another object of the present invention is to provide a fixture for performing the aforementioned automatic configuration method of fixture, and an elevator comprising the aforementioned fixture.

The object of the present invention is realized by the technical solution in accordance with claim <NUM>. According to the present invention there is provided an automatic configuration method of a fixture of an elevator, as defined by claim <NUM>.

Optionally, the feedback signal provided by the elevator controller further comprises a second feedback, wherein the second feedback is a transition from the first electrical level to a second electrical level within a predetermined time.

Optionally, when the feedback signal provided by the elevator controller is the second feedback, the control function corresponding to the predetermined address is judged to be a call button interface of a floor where the car is currently located.

Optionally, the method further comprises a checking step, the checking step comprises:.

Optionally, the second address is predicted according to the following steps:.

Optionally, the fixture is of physical IO type.

Optionally, in step S3, the physical buttons of the fixture are bound from lower floor to higher floor to addresses judged as call button interfaces from lower bit to higher bit, respectively.

Optionally, the fixture is of non-physical IO type.

Optionally, the method further comprises: when the feedback signal provided by the elevator controller is the second feedback, judging the floor number of the first floor by detecting the floor indication information, and judging the floor number of the floor corresponding to other addresses.

Optionally, in step S3, virtual buttons are generated, wherein each virtual button is bound to an address judged as a call button interface respectively, and the virtual button is configured to display the floor number of each floor.

Optionally, the fixture is connected to the elevator controller through a serial bus.

Optionally, the predetermined time is no less than <NUM> seconds.

Optionally, the predetermined address range comprises at least <NUM> addresses.

Optionally, the first feedback and the second feedback comprise a callback signal of the elevator controller. Any of the optional features disclosed above may, wherever appropriate, be applied alone or in combination within the scope of the appended claims.

There is further disclosed a fixture for an elevator system.

There is further disclosed an elevator comprising the above fixture.

The automatic configuration method of a fixture of the present invention has the advantages of being simple and reliable, convenient to maintain and the like, and can automatically configure the fixture during installation and maintenance, effectively improving the user experience.

The present invention will be further described in details below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the preferred embodiments, but those skilled in the art will appreciate that the figures are drawn for the purpose of explaining the preferred embodiments only and are therefore shall be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. In addition, unless specifically noted, the drawings are only intended to conceptually illustrate the composition or configuration of the described objects and may contain exaggerated illustration, and the drawings are not necessarily drawn in scale.

<FIG> is a flow diagram of one embodiment of an automatic configuration method of fixture according to the present invention.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in details below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that these descriptions are merely descriptive, exemplary, and shall not be construed as limiting the claimed scope of the invention.

First, it should be noted that the orientation terms top, bottom, upward, downward, etc. referred to herein are defined relative to the directions in various drawings, these terms are relative concepts, and thus can vary depending on the different positions and the different practical positions in which they are located. Accordingly, these or other directional terms shall not be construed as limiting terms.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that, for any single technical feature described or implied in the embodiments herein or any single technical feature shown or implied in the drawings, it is still possible to continue combining these technical features, so as to acquire other embodiments of the invention that are not directly mentioned herein.

It should be noted that like reference numerals refer to the same or substantially the same components in different drawings.

The present application provides an automatic configuration method of a fixture, which comprises the following steps: S1: sending, by a fixture, a predetermined request toward a predetermined address to an elevator controller; S2: judging a control function corresponding to the predetermined address; and S3: configuring the fixture according to the control function corresponding to the predetermined address.

<FIG> is a flow diagram of one embodiment of an automatic configuration method of a fixture of the present invention. Wherein, in step S1, the fixture sends a predetermined request toward a predetermined address to an elevator controller. The predetermined address may be determined based on the configuration of the elevator controller and the control line. For example, existing elevator control lines generally employ a serial bus, and the elevator communication protocol generally employs a series of consecutive constant bits or addresses on the bus to communicate the call information, the addresses represented by the series of constant bits being the predetermined addresses. For example, in one embodiment, the predetermined address range includes at least <NUM> addresses that are set consecutively. All of the aforementioned predetermined address ranges may be determined according to the technical characteristics for a certain specific model of fixture, elevator controller, and communication line. Specifically, the predetermined address range may be a predetermined address segment, e.g. several consecutive addresses, or several discrete addresses, or a combination of consecutive addresses and discrete addresses.

The predetermined request includes an elevator control signal including a floor request signal, for example, that simulates requesting a car to ascend or descend to a different floor, and may also be a simulating call signal.

In step S2 of the automatic configuration method of fixture, the control function corresponding to the predetermined address is judged according to the feedback provided by the elevator controller.

It is readily understood that the elevator controller is configured to return a corresponding feedback after receiving a predetermined request or call information. The feedback provided by the elevator controller includes a first feedback. In one embodiment, the first feedback is a first electrical level and is kept over a predetermined time. For example, if the address to which the call information is sent corresponds to a certain floor, then the elevator controller will provide a feedback, i.e., the first feedback, to illuminates the button indicator corresponding to that floor. The first feedback is generally a first electrical level that lasts longer than a predetermined time, and the first electrical level generally lasts for over <NUM> seconds or <NUM> seconds.

In step <NUM>, it is judged that whether the feedback of the elevator controller is the first feedback, and specifically, the first feedback is a first electrical level and is kept over a predetermined time, then it is judged that the control function corresponding to the predetermined address is a call button interface, and it is further recorded in step <NUM>.

Furthermore, when the car is in maintenance or installation and stops at the first floor, if the fixture sends a predetermined request toward the first address corresponding to the first floor, the elevator controller will provide a second feedback different from the first feedback. In one embodiment, the second feedback may be a signal that transitions from a first electrical level to a second electrical level, and duration of the first electrical level is shorter than the predetermined time. In the embodiment described above, after a predetermined request is sent successively to all addresses within a predetermined address range, an address generating a second feedback (the first floor where the car is currently located) and a number of addresses generating the first feedback (other floors) will be obtained. It is detected at step <NUM> that whether the feedback of the elevator controller is the second feedback, and it is further recorded at step <NUM>. It may be determined by the record which predetermined address corresponds to the call button interface of the first floor where the car is currently located.

It will be readily understood that the first feedback and the second feedback described above include the callback signal from the elevator controller. While specific forms of the first feedback and the second feedback are described above, the first feedback and the second feedback may be of other forms that those skilled in the art may come up with or employ. Furthermore, the first feedback and the second feedback may also be analog signals or digital signals.

Furthermore, if the feedback of the elevator controller is neither the first feedback nor the second feedback, or the recording operation of step <NUM> has been completed, step <NUM> will be performed. Wherein the predetermined address is modified to the next one following the address to which the last predetermined request was send, and the process is performed again from step S1. The automatic configuration method of fixture according to the application will send a predetermined request successively to all addresses within a predetermined address range, so as to detect possibly existing call button interface within the whole predetermined address range.

According to the record results of steps <NUM> and <NUM>, or according to the record results of step <NUM> alone, it may be judged that which predetermined addresses within the predetermined address range correspond to the call button interface of the elevator controller. For example, the final record result may be that a portion of the addresses within the predetermined address range correspond to the call button interface, and may also be that all addresses within the predetermined address range correspond to the call button interface. In addition, the address generating the second feedback may be located between other addresses generating the first feedback, or located at one of the two ends of the sequence of the address generating the first feedback. To summarize, the addresses generating the first feedback together with the addresses generating the second feedback constitute the group of addresses corresponding to the call button interface of the elevator controller.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the fixture is of a physical IO type, i.e., it is provided with several floor call buttons, and several consecutive addresses within the predetermined address range are set at the elevator controller to provide a one-to-one correspondence with the floor call button from lower floor to higher floor successively. Thus, for such fixture, in step S3, the physical buttons of the fixture may be directly bound to the respective addresses. Specifically, the physical buttons of the fixture are respectively bound from the lower floor to the higher floor with the address judged as the call button interface from lower bit to higher bit.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the fixture is of a non-physical IO type, i.e., it is not provided with one-to-one corresponding floor call buttons, but virtual buttons are required to be generated and presented to the user. In this case, the floor number of the floor corresponding to each address cannot be determined because the elevator may operate only within part of the section in the building, or the building is provided with basement structures of a different number of floors and the like.

Therefore, in case that the fixture is a non-physical IO type fixture, when it is judged in step <NUM> that the feedback of the elevator controller belongs to the second feedback, the specific floor number of the first floor is judged by reading the floor indication information. The floor indication information may be judged according to several information bits within the communication protocol or communication line, such as a dedicated position indicator bit or the like. After the floor number of the first floor is obtained, the floor number of the floors corresponding to other addresses can be judged successively. One possible method of judging is: the difference between the floor numbers of the first floor and other floors is equal to the difference between the address corresponding to the first floor and the addresses corresponding to other floors. Those skilled in the art may also judge the actual correspondence according to the specifications, and the scheme of the present application is not limited to the correspondence described above.

Optionally, a checking step <NUM> is further included, the checking step <NUM> comprises: predicting a second address corresponding to a second floor; moving the car to the second floor and sending a predetermined request to the elevator controller at the second address; detecting whether the feedback of the elevator controller is the second feedback. Specifically, the second address may be predicted according to the following steps: establishing a correspondence between each address and floor within a predetermined address range successively; locating a first address corresponding to the first floor; and predicting the second address according to a difference between the floor number of the first floor and the floor number of the second floor.

The checking step <NUM> may be performed for one or more times, for example, the checking step may be performed only with two adjacent floors, or the checking step may be performed with the floor corresponding to each address, respectively. The checking step facilitates to avoid the occurrence of inaccurate button-floor mapping relationships.

In the fixture of the non-physical IO type, virtual buttons are generated in step S3, wherein each virtual button is bound to an address judged as a call button interface respectively, and the virtual buttons are configured to display the floor number of each floor. For example, the fixture may provide with a touch screen and may receive input by a user pressing on various virtual buttons. The virtual buttons may have any suitable shapes, including, but not limited to, rectangular, circular, rounded rectangular, oval, etc., and the virtual buttons may be arranged in a grid.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the fixture and elevator controller are connected by a serial bus. However, other communication line structures or other communication protocols may also be employed depending on the actual requirement.

The application also provides a fixture configured to perform the above automatic configuration method of fixture, wherein the fixture can be installed in an elevator button board or a display, and disposed in a car of the elevator.

Claim 1:
An automatic configuration method of a fixture of an elevator,
the method automatically configuring a correspondence between the fixture and an elevator controller by:
S1: sending, by the fixture, a predetermined request including an elevator control signal toward a predetermined address range to an elevator controller;
wherein the predetermined request includes a floor request signal, and
wherein the predetermined request is sent to a portion or all of addresses within the predetermined address range successively;
S2: judging a control function corresponding to each address of the predetermined address range according to a feedback signal provided by the elevator controller;
wherein, whether the control function corresponding to each address corresponds to a call button interface is judged according to the feedback signal provided by the elevator controller; and
wherein the feedback signal provided by the elevator controller includes a first feedback, wherein the first feedback is a first electrical level and is kept over a predetermined time;
wherein, when the feedback signal provided by the elevator controller is a first feedback, the control function corresponding to the each address is judged to correspond to the call button interface; and
S3: configuring the fixture according to the control function corresponding to the predetermined address.