Patent ID: 7434665

Claim:
A method of assigning elevator calls ( 21 ) to cars during down peak traffic conditions, comprising: dividing ( 38 ) all the floors in the building into sectors; if there is ( 62 ) at least one pending down hall call in a sector, assigning ( 65 ) that call to an empty car, said car then being assigned ( 63 ) to that sector; assigning ( 57 ) to any particular car which is not full ( 52 ) and which is assigned ( 51 ) to a particular sector, down calls in said particular sector ahead of said particular car ( 56 ); characterized by: if there are no pending down calls in a specific sector ( 56 ) ahead of a specific car which is not full and which is assigned to said specific sector, determining ( 70 ) if there is at least one down hall call outside of said specific sector which has been waiting for more than a predetermined time limit ( 75 ) and which is ahead ( 69 ) of said specific car, and if so, assigning such call to said specific car ( 76 ).