This design includes three interfaces. Two outside the elevator, one to the right of the elevator doors and one above the elevator doors, and one inside the elevator to the right of the elevator doors.
Outside the Elevator: Right of Doors
This is a touchscreen interface that initially displays all floors in order, starting from the bottom left. When a user presses one of the floor buttons, the button is replaced with an arrow indicating the direction of their target elevator, a letter corresponding to the label of the target elevator, and a length of time inhey have to reach their elevator. Since this interface uses a screen, the arrow will be three dimensional. This will allow the screen to better indicate the precise direction of their new elevator. Each elevator will be labeled with a letter. The letter on the screen will be the same as the letter on the elevator the user must take. The letters will also be color coded, both in the interface and on the signs indicating which elevator is which. Finally, the time shown will be a reasonable estimate of the amount of time left until the elevator arrives.
Learnability: This interface is consistent with the current interface used inside elevators. Although it is on the outside, users will likely be able to figure out that they should press their desired floor to take an elevator. Unfortunately, many users are not used to needing to walk to another elevator in order to get to their floor. First time users may be confused by the arrows directing them to the elevator that will take them where they need to go. The interface above the elevator doors should help with this. It clearly indicates which elevator services which floors and which elevator is which. When presented with an arrow as clear feedback to their button press, many users will likely look in the direction of the arrow where they should be able to see the matching elevator ID letter.
Efficiency:The interface itself will be very efficient. Users need only select one button and it will instantly tell them where they need to go. Users may need to walk a bit more as a result of the algorithm handling the floor assignments, but this system should allow them to arrive at their floor more quickly.
Safety:Unfortunately, errors will not be recoverable. If a user selects the wrong floor, they will not be able to undo it. This was a decision we made to prevent tampering with floor selection. We did not want users who wanted to optimize the speed with which they arrived at their own floor to be able to delete other’s floor selections.
Outside the Elevator: Above Doors
This interface will also use a screen as its display, but it will not be manipulated by users. It displays a letter identifying the elevator, the amount of time left until the elevator beneath arrives and the floors it will service. The time will be large and will allow users to see how much time they have left to reach their elevator. Likewise, the elevator ID letter will be large so new users unfamiliar with the layout of the system will be able to quickly locate their target elevator. The floors will be displayed in two ways. There will be one circle for each floor that lights up, illuminating the floor number. The display will illuminate all floors where the elevator will be stopping. Each circle will be assigned a color, with colors recurring in a regular pattern. The layout and color pattern will be standardized among all the elevators in the system. There will also be a portion of the interface that displays the number of each floor where the elevator will be stopping one at a time in large letters.
Learnability: This interface will be very conducive to new users. Since current elevators often have an interface situated above their doors, users will naturally expect to see an interface there. Such interfaces, in our experience, only display information for the elevator beneath it. Since ours does as well, this will assist users in figuring out what the interface is for. While new users may not be sure what the illuminated circles mean, the portion with text that says “Serving” with the floors it serves beneath it will be much more self-explanatory. Similarly, the portion that says “Arriving In” with the amount of time left to arrival should be fairly intuitive.
Efficiency:The “Serving,” “Arriving In,” and elevator ID portions of the interface will be quite large to allow users to locate the necessary information quickly. This is very important as users may be coming from far away and may need to scan the row of elevators quickly to locate theirs. Since the color-coded circles will be standardized among this system, frequent users will be accustomed to the color and general position of the floors they frequent in the interface. This will allow them to quickly look around at the elevators to see if one is already assigned to their floor. If it is, they may bypass the first interface entirely.
Safety:The users have no control over this interface, so safety is not an issue.
Inside the Elevator: Right of Doors
This interface will display the current floor, the floors serviced by the elevator, an emergency stop button, and the time to reach each of the target floors. It will initially display all floors in order, starting from the bottom left. Floors that will be serviced are illuminated. The current floor and direction (up or down) will be displayed above the serviced floors portion. The emergency stop button will be to the right of the main interface. It will be red for high visibility and consistency with other emergency buttons. To encourage users not to abuse the emergency stop in order to more quickly arrive at their floor, it will include a visible note warning users that an alarm will sound if they use it. To display the time, periodically, the serviced floor numbers will disappear and will be replaced by the amount of time remaining until the floor is reached.
Learnability: This interface will be very conducive to new users. The main floors serviced interface is very similar to existing internal elevator interfaces as it highlights the floors where the elevator will stop and displays the current floor and direction on top. Likewise, the emergency button is very similar to other emergency buttons, in color and general appearance. However, the similarity may be a problem for new users. The biggest difference is that the circles displaying each floor are not clickable. New users may try to select a new floor once in the elevator. Hopefully this will not be a major issue, since most users who have entered an elevator will have used the interfaces outside the elevator and will understand they have already selected their floor. New users also may not understand the times displayed. Fortunately, this is not necessary to understand to effectively use the system. Since serviced floor is replaced by the elevator’s estimated arrival time to that floor, users may be able to use that association to infer what the times mean.
Efficiency:This efficiency will be about the same for users familiar with the interface as for new users. Most people using our elevator will be familiar with other elevators so they will be able to quickly determine which floors the elevator is headed to. Since the arrival times display at regular intervals, frequent users will not be able to obtain this information any faster than a new user.
Safety:The users have no control over this interface, so safety is not an issue.