Elevator control system with image pickups in hall waiting areas and elevator cars

An elevator control system for controlling movement of cages up and down in elevator shafts of a building, comprising:

• image pickup means provided in at least one of the inside of each cage and the landing place of each floor of said building where a corresponding one of said cages stops;
• image processing means for processing images picked up by said image pickup means with a first image processing level to obtain first information indicative of at least one of (a) presence/absence of passengers in said cages, (b) presence/absence of persons waiting for said cages, (c) a quantity of passengers in said cages, and (d) a quantity of persons waiting for said cages, and for processing images picked up by said image pickup means with a second image processing level higher than said first image processing level to obtain second information indicative of at least one of (a) presence/absence of passengers in said cages, (b) presence/absence of persons waiting for said cages, (c) a quantity of passengers in said cages, and (d) a quantity of persons waiting for said cages;
• and
• elevator control means including
• means for detecting at least one of (a) presence/absence of passengers in said cages, (b) presence/absence of persons waiting for said cages, (c) a quantity of passengers in said cages, and (d) a quantity of persons waiting for said cages,
• means for determining whether a discrepancy exists between an output of said detecting means and said first information obtained by using said first image processing level,
• means for causing said image processing means to process, by using said second image processing level, an image processed by using said first image processing level and resulting in a discrepancy to obtain said second information when said determining means determines that a discrepancy exists, and
• means for controlling movement of said cages based on said first information obtained by using said first image processing level when said determining means determines that a discrepancy does not exist, and for controlling movement of said cages based on said second information obtained by using said second image processing level when said determining means determines that a discrepancy does exist.

An elevator control system for controlling movement of cages up and down in elevator shafts of a building comprising:

• image pickup means provided in the inside of each cage and in the landing place of each floor of said building where a corresponding one of said cages stops;
• image processing means for processing images picked up by said image pickup means with first and second image processing levels different from each other, said second image processing level being higher than said first image processing level;
• and
• elevator control means including every-floor stop means for confirming the fact that the number of passengers in a cage has become two on the basis of the image processing by using said second image processing level in the case where it is expected that the number of passengers in said cage will become two on the basis of the image processing by using said first image processing level, and for controlling said cage to stop at every floor from the point of time when the number of passengers in said cage has become two to the point of time when said cage reaches a floor designated by the passengers in said cage.

An elevator control system for controlling movement of cages up and down in elevator shafts of a building, comprising:

• a plurality of image pickup means provided in landing places of floors of said building where said cages stop;
• a plurality of first image processing means equal in number to said plurality of image pickup means for processing images picked up by respective ones of said plurality of image pickup means to obtain first information indicative of at least one of (a) presence/absence of passengers in said cages, (b) presence/absence of persons waiting for said cages, (c) a quantity of passengers in said cages, and (d) a quantity of persons waiting for said cages;
• second image processing means connected to said plurality of first image processing means for processing images picked up by all of said plurality of image pickup means to obtain second information indicative of at least one of (a) presence/absence of passengers in said cages, (b) presence/absence of persons waiting for said cages, (c) a quantity of passengers in said cages, and (d) a quantity of persons waiting for said cages;
• a transmission line for connecting each of said first image processing means to said second image processing means so as to transmit images processed by each of said first image processing means and images picked up by each of said plurality of image pickup means to said second image processing means;
• and
• elevator control means including
• means for detecting at least one of (a) presence/absence of passengers in said cages, (b) presence/absence of persons waiting for said cages, (c) a quantity of passengers in said cages, and (d) a quantity of persons waiting for said cages,
• means for determining whether a discrepancy exists between an output of said detecting means and said first information obtained by each of said first image processing means,
• means for causing said second image processing means to process an image processed by one of said first image processing means and resulting in a discrepancy to obtain said second information when said determining means determines that a discrepancy exists, and
• means for controlling movement of said cages based on said first information obtained by each of said first image processing means when said determining means determines that a discrepancy does not exist, and for controlling movement of said cages based on said second information obtained by said second image processing means in place said first information obtained by said one of said first image processing means when said determining means determines that a discrepancy does exist.

An elevator control system for controlling movement of cages up and down in elevator shafts of a building, comprising:

• image pickup means provided in the inside of each of said cages and in landing places of each floor of said building where said cages stop;
• a plurality of first image processing means for processing images picked up by said image pickup means to obtain first information indicative of at least one of (a) presence/absence of passengers in said cages, (b) presence/absence of persons waiting for said cages, (c) a quantity of passengers in said cages, and (d) a quantity of persons waiting for said cages;
• second image processing means for processing images picked up by said image pickup means at a higher level than that of said first image processing means to obtain second information indicative of at least one of (a) presence/absence of passengers in said cages, (b) presence/absence of persons waiting for said cages, (c) a quantity of passengers in said cages, and (d) a quantity of persons waiting for said cages;
• a first transmission line for connecting each of said first image processing means to said second image processing means;
• indicators provided in said landing places;
• indicator control means for causing said indicators to display information such as running conditions of said cages and waiting persons in said landing places;
• image display means for displaying the situation of waiting persons in the respective landing places and passengers in said cages by means of images obtained by said image pickup means;
• elevator control means including
• means for detecting at least one of (a) presence/absence of passengers in said cages, (b) presence/absence of persons waiting for said cages, (c) a quantity of passengers in said cages, and (d) a quantity of persons waiting for said cages,
• means for determining whether a discrepancy exists between an output of said detecting means and said first information obtained by each of said first image processing means,
• means for causing said second image processing means to process an image processed by one of said first image processing means and resulting in a discrepancy to obtain said second information when said determining means determines that a discrepancy exists, and
• means for controlling movement of said cages based on said first information obtained by each of said first image processing means when said determining means determines that a discrepancy does not exist, and means for controlling movement of said cages based on said second information obtained by said second image processing means in place of said first information obtained by said one of said first image processing means when said determining means determines that a discrepancy does exist;
• and
• a second transmission line for connecting said elevator control means, said second image processing means, said indicator control means, and said image display means to each other.

An elevator control system for controlling movement of cages up and down in elevator shafts of a building comprising:

• image pickup means provided in the inside of said cages;
• first image processing means for processing images picked up by said image pickup means to obtain first information indicative of a quantity of passengers in said cages;
• second image processing means having an image processing level higher than that of said first image processing means for processing images picked up by said image pickup means to obtain second information indicative of a quantity of passengers in said cages;
• load weight detecting means provided under respective bottoms of said cages for detecting load weights of said cages and producing third information indicative of a quantity of passengers in said cages based on the detected load weights;
• and
• elevator control means including means for controlling movement of said cages based on said first information obtained by said first image processing means when said first information obtained by said first image processing means substantially agrees with said third information produced by said load weight detecting means, and means for controlling movement of said cages based on said second information obtained by said second image processing means when said first information obtained by said first image processing means disagrees with said third information produced by said load weight detecting means.