Method and equipment for the secure and convenient input of control commands, in particular in lift installations

A method of securedly and conveniently inputting control commands, particularly in elevator installations comprising at least one portable wireless transmitter-receiver unit for inputting the control commands and transmitting the control commands in the form of encoded control signals, at least one stationary transmission-receiver unit for receiving said encoded control signals, feeding decoded control signals to a control and signalling the recordation and the execution of said control commands from the control, said method including the steps of:

• selectively allocating the control commands, as a function of their frequency of occurrence, to either ones of the following different groups of control commands, namely (i) rarely occurring control commands, (ii) more frequently occurring control commands, and (iii) very frequently occurring control commands;
• individually inputting said rarely occurring control commands as well as said more frequently occurring control commands at said at least one portable transmitter-receiver unit by means of a ten-key keyboard and fixed keys, respectively;
• permanently storing said very frequently occurring control commands at storage means of said at least one portable transmitter-receiver unit;
• converting said inputted or stored control commands at said at least one portable transmitter-receiver unit into respective control signals each one of which comprises a security-related control signal portion and a function-related control signal portion;
• selectively transmitting each said control signal by said at least one portable transmission-receiver unit in either one of (i) a "manually by push-button" transmitting mode or (ii) an "automatically, continuously" transmitting mode;
• automatically switching over said at least one portable transmitter-receiver unit after each transmitting operation to reception for a predetermined period of time;
• receiving said control signal transmitted by said at least one portable transmitter-receiver unit, by at least one stationary transmitter-receiver unit;
• analyzing said received control signal by said at least one stationary transmitter-receiver unit with respect to said security-related control signal portion and said function-related control signal portion;
• in the event of a negative result of the security-related analyzing operation, ignoring said received control signal in said at least one stationary transmitter-receiver unit;
• in the event of a positive result of the security-related analyzing operation, feeding the received control signal from said at least one stationary transmitter-receiver unit to a control;
• transmitting a first response signal from said at least one stationary transmitter-receiver unit for signalling recordation of said control command at an indicator of said at least one portable transmitter-receiver unit and thereby blocking said at least one portable transmitter-receiver unit for further control command output;
• and
• transmitting, after execution of said control command, a second response signal from said at least one stationary transmitter-receiver unit for erasing the indication at said at least one portable transmitter-receiver unit and thereby releasing said at least one portable transmitter-receiver unit for further control command output.