FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods improved glass breakage detection.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently available glass breakage detection systems typically include either shock detectors, acoustic detectors or a combination thereof. The present invention seeks to provide improved systems and methods for glass breakage detection by combining the functionality of shock detectors and acoustic detectors in a synergistic fashion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to provide improved systems and methods for glass breakage detection.

There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a glass breakage detection system, the system including a multiplicity of shock detectors, each of the shock detectors being operative to detect a shock wave indicative of a particular glass breakage event, and responsive to detecting of the shock wave indicative of the particular glass breakage event, to generate a generated acoustic event indicative of the particular glass breakage event.

In accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the system also includes at least one acoustic detector operative to receive an acoustic event, and responsive to receiving the acoustic event, ascertaining whether the acoustic event is indicative of a glass breakage event.

Preferably, the acoustic event received by the acoustic detector includes at least one of a glass breakage acoustic event resulting from a glass breakage event and a generated acoustic event indicative of a glass breakage event.

Preferably, the acoustic detector is also operative to receive a multiplicity of acoustic events and, responsive to receiving the multiplicity of the acoustic events, to ascertain which of the multiplicity of the acoustic events is indicative of a particular glass breakage event.

In accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, a combination of receiving, by the acoustic detector, a glass breakage acoustic event resulting from a glass breakage event, receiving, by the acoustic detector, generated acoustic events generated by the at least one of the multiplicity of shock detectors responsive to detecting a shock wave indicative of a glass breakage event, and ascertaining that both the glass breakage acoustic event and the generated acoustic events are indicative of a single glass breakage event, is operative to increase the accuracy and reliability of the acoustic detector in detecting glass breakage events, and to thereby increase the accuracy and reliability of the glass breakage detection system. Preferably, at least some of the shock detectors are piezoelectric sensors. Preferably, each of the shock detectors is operative to generate the generated acoustic event indicative of the particular glass breakage event after a predefined period of time after the detecting of the shock wave.

There is also provided in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention a glass breakage detection system, the system including a multiplicity of shock detectors, each of the shock detectors being operative to detect a shock wave indicative of a particular glass breakage event and, responsive to the detecting of the shock wave indicative of the particular glass breakage event, to transmit at least one of an acoustic signal, an optical signal and an electro -optical signal indicative of the particular glass breakage event.

In accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the system also includes at least one sensor operative to receive at least one of a transmitted acoustic signal, a transmitted optical signal and a transmitted electro-optical signal and, responsive to the receiving of the at least one of the transmitted acoustic signal, the transmitted optical signal and the transmitted electro -optical signal, ascertaining whether the transmitted signal is indicative of a glass breakage event.

In accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the combination of receiving, by at least one of the multiplicity of shock detectors, a glass breakage acoustic event resulting from a glass breakage event, receiving, by the at least one sensor, a signal transmitted by the at least one of the multiplicity of shock detectors responsive to detecting a shock wave indicative of a glass breakage event, and ascertaining that both the glass breakage acoustic event and the transmitted signal are both indicative of a single glass breakage event is operative to increase the accuracy and reliability of the shock detector in detecting glass breakage events, and to thereby increase the accuracy and reliability of the glass breakage detection system.

There is further provided in accordance with yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for glass breakage detection, the method including detecting a shock wave indicative of a particular glass breakage event and, responsive to detecting the shock wave indicative of the particular glass breakage event, generating a generated acoustic event indicative of the particular glass breakage event. In accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method also includes receiving an acoustic event and, responsive to receiving of the acoustic event, ascertaining whether the acoustic event is indicative of a glass breakage event.

Preferably, the acoustic event includes at least one of a glass breakage acoustic event resulting from a glass breakage event and a generated acoustic event indicative of a glass breakage event.

Preferably, the method also includes receiving a multiplicity of acoustic events and, responsive to receiving the multiplicity of the acoustic events, ascertaining which of the multiplicity of the acoustic events is indicative of a particular glass breakage event.

In accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, a combination of receiving a glass breakage acoustic event resulting from a glass breakage event, receiving generated acoustic events responsive to detecting a shock wave indicative of a glass breakage event, and ascertaining that both the glass breakage acoustic event and the generated acoustic events are indicative of a single glass breakage event, is operative to increase the accuracy and reliability of the glass breakage detection.

Preferably, the generated acoustic event indicative of the particular glass breakage event is generated after a predefined period of time after the detecting the shock wave.

There is yet further provided in accordance with yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for glass breakage detection, the method including detecting a shock wave indicative of a particular glass breakage event and, responsive to the detecting of the shock wave indicative of the particular glass breakage event, transmitting at least one of an acoustic signal, an optical signal and an electro- optical signal indicative of the particular glass breakage event.

In accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method also includes receiving at least one of a transmitted acoustic signal, a transmitted optical signal and a transmitted electro-optical signal and, responsive to the receiving of the at least one of the transmitted acoustic signal, the transmitted optical signal and the transmitted electro-optical signal, ascertaining whether the signal is indicative of a glass breakage event.

In accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the combination of receiving a glass breakage acoustic event resulting from a glass breakage event receiving a signal transmitted in response to detecting a shock wave indicative of a glass breakage event and ascertaining that both the glass breakage acoustic event and the transmitted signal are both indicative of a single glass breakage event is operative to increase the accuracy and reliability of the glass breakage detection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a simplified pictorial illustration of a glass breakage detection system, constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference is now made to Fig. 1, which is a simplified pictorial illustration of a glass breakage detection system, constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The glass breakage detection system 100 of Fig. 1 is preferably employed as part of an intrusion detection system 102 protecting a premises having breakable glass surfaces comprising at least part of an exterior thereof, such as glass doors and windows.

The system 100 of Fig. 1 preferably includes a multiplicity of shock detectors 110 such as, for example, piezoelectric sensors which are operative to detect shock waves having an energy level higher than a pre-determined threshold, which shock waves are typically generated by glass breakage events. It is appreciated that piezoelectric sensors are typically mounted upon, or in close proximity to, glass surfaces which are protected by intrusion detection system 102.

System 100 also preferably includes at least one acoustic detector 120 which is operative to receive acoustic events and for ascertaining whether the acoustic events are indicative of a glass breakage event. It is appreciated that acoustic detectors typically suffer from inherent limitations which renders them inaccurate in detecting glass breakage events and prone to false positive and false negative alerts. These limitations include, for example, the inability to differentiate between acoustic events arising from glass breakage events and from other similar sudden acoustic events such as a door slamming shut.

It is a particular feature of this embodiment of the present invention that shock detectors 110 are also each operative, responsive to detecting a shock wave indicative of a particular glass breakage event, to communicate the occurrence of the glass breakage event by generating an acoustic event indicative of the particular glass breakage event. It is appreciated that shock detector 110 may generate the acoustic event after a predefined period of time after detecting the shock wave indicative of the particular glass breakage event. This delay in time allows for distinguishing between the generated acoustic event and the any acoustic events arising directly from the glass breakage event. Acoustic detector 120 is preferably operative, responsive to receiving an acoustic event generated by shock detector 110, to ascertain that the generated acoustic event is indicative of a glass breakage event. It is appreciated that the generated acoustic event may be, for example, a predefined encoded acoustic message indicating the occurrence of a glass breakage event, or an acoustic event which imitates an acoustic event resulting from an actual glass breakage event.

It is a further particular feature of this embodiment of the present invention that the combination of:

receiving, by acoustic detector 120, a glass breakage acoustic event resulting from a glass breakage event,

receiving, by acoustic detector 120, generated acoustic events generated by shock detectors 110 responsive to detecting a shock wave indicative of a glass breakage event, and

ascertaining that both the glass breakage acoustic event and the generated acoustic events are all indicative of the same glass breakage event, is operative to increase the accuracy and reliability of acoustic detector 120 in detecting glass breakage events, and to thereby increase the accuracy and reliability of glass breakage detection system 100.

It is appreciated that upon ascertaining that upon detecting a glass breakage event, acoustic detector 120 is preferably operable to communicate an indication of the glass breakage event to intrusion detection system 102. Intrusion detection system 102 is preferably operative, responsive to receiving the indication of the glass breakage event, to generate a suitable alarm. Additionally or alternatively, as shown in Fig. 1, intrusion detection system 102 is preferably operative, responsive to receiving the indication of the glass breakage event, to communicate an alarm indication to a user of system 102 such as, for example, via a network such as the internet.

It is appreciated that in an alternative embodiment, shock detectors 110 may alternatively communicate an occurrence of a glass breakage event by employing any suitable transmission mechanism such as, for example, an acoustic-based transmission mechanism, an optical-based transmission mechanism or an electro-optic based transmission mechanism to transmit a signal indicative of said particular glass breakage event. In accordance with this alternative embodiment, detector 120 or with system 100, is operative to receive the transmitted signal and to ascertain whether the modulated infrared signal is indicative of a glass breakage event.

It is a particular feature of this embodiment of the present invention that the combination of:

receiving, by detector 120, a glass breakage acoustic event resulting from a glass breakage event,

receiving, by detector 120, a signal transmitted by shock detectors 110 responsive to detecting a shock wave indicative of a glass breakage event, and

ascertaining that both the glass breakage acoustic event and the transmitted signal are both indicative of the same glass breakage event, is operative to increase the accuracy and reliability of detector 120 in detecting glass breakage events, and to thereby increase the accuracy and reliability of glass breakage detection system 100.

Yet, alternatively, any other suitable means of communication between detectors 110 and 120 may be employed.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the various features described hereinabove as well as modifications thereof which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description and which are not in the prior art.