Abstract

The present invention is directed to the grouping of contiguous floors in a building into sectors. According to the present invention, historical information regarding the number of passengers arriving at each floor is obtained and used to predict the number of passengers to be arriving at each of the floors. By summing the predicted traffic per floor and dividing by the number of sectors to be formed, average traffic per sector can be determined. In the preferred embodiment, sectors are formed, starting from the first floor above the lobby and continuing through to the top floor in the building, by selecting a set of contiguous floors for each sector such that the predicted traffic for each sector is less than a predetermined threshold. Specifically, if the predicted traffic for a selectable next contiguous floor, added to the predicted traffic for all contiguous floors already selected for the sector, is less than the predetermined threshold, the selectable floor is included in the sector. Otherwise, another sector is begun with the selectable floor as the bottom floor in the other sector. In the preferred embodiment, the predetermined threshold is based on the determined average traffic per sector. In another aspect of the present invention, the frequency of service of elevator cars to each sector is variable. The traffic volume for each formed sector is determined and compared with the determined average traffic per sector. The frequency of service of elevator cars to each sector is variable, based on this comparison. Thus, sectors having a larger traffic volume are serviced more often, relative to sectors having a smaller traffic volume.

Other References

• Forecasting Methods and Applications, Spyros Makridakis & S. C. Wheelwright (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1978), Section 3.3: "Single Exponential Smoothing" & Section 3.6: Linear Exponential Smoothin