Elevators That Know Your Floor

From PDI

Since most room keys in hotels are digital now, they should be able to tell the elevators which floors to go to automatically. This has several advantages:

1. You don't have to reach across people and fight your way to the controls in a crowded elevator.
2. Security is improved. Perhaps you can only go the floor that your key is programmed for.
3. When a group of people get into the elevator, the elevator can instantly know all the floors to go to.
4. Others in the elevator won't necessarily know which floor you're getting off on which can in some cases protect your privacy.
5. People can only go to floors other than their own if someone on that floor has authorized their passage, thus increasing security.

In one implementation, the panel can light up to show which floors it detects it needs to go to, but if people want to go to different floors, they can push a lit button again to disable that floor, and choose another floor. They will only be allowed to go to that floor if their key card authorizes it.

When you exit the elevator, a lighted path in the floor, ceiling, or wall could show you to your room to save you from having to decipher all the room range signs. That does not even require installing the new lights: the existing lights can blink, dim slightly, or otherwise highlight the direction you need to head to.

A person can be identified by any of several means. The person could have a phone, or other portable hardware, that will act as a key, using Bluetooth or other wireless communication systems and special software. When the elevator and the phone detects eachother they will identify eachother. Depending on the required security, this can be a simple, non-encrypted request to automatically go to a certain floor, or an encrypted request with additional details and using cryptography like RSA and/or AES to make sure that both the elevator and the phone are the right ones.

Another method of identifying the person is to use Qr codes. This alone can be enough when high security not is required. The Qr code would be placed in front of a scanner/camera belonging to the elevator, and be read by it. Then the Qr code could be read from a piece of paper, an ID card of some kind, a phone screen or by any other method. It could also be the other way around, the person's phone could take a picture of the Qr code on the elevator to identify it. If the elevator scans the Qr code, the person's Qr code could contain the information needed (public key, and ID string and/or the floor to go to). When the person is taking a picture of the elevator's Qr code and when high security is needed, the information in the Qr code are used to establish a secure connection, possibly over the internet or using Bluetooth. The Qr code would contain a public key using an algorithm like RSA in this case.