System for surveillance of a fixed or movable object

• US 5,475,367 A
• Filed: 12/16/1993
• Issued: 12/12/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: L'Entreprise Industrielle
• Original Assignee: L'Entreprise Industrielle
• Inventors: Prevost, Gilles
• Primary Examiner(s): Peng, John K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C.
• Application Number:
  US08/162,194
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: 340/568, 340/555, 340/522, 340/531, 340/539, 340/505, 340/693, 340/572, 340/825.36, 340/825.49
• US Class Current: 340/568.8
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1481 with optical detection

Abstract

A system for surveillance of a mobile or movable object is placed in a surveillance enclosure. The system includes and it comprises a transmitter/receiver circuit for first and second object-monitoring signals (sco1, sco2). The first and second signals monitor the presence of the object and the position of the object respectively. A transmission circuit is provided for transmitting an alarm-triggering signal. The transmission circuit receives the first and second object-monitoring signals and enables an alarm-triggering signal (sda) to be transmitted conditionally on the basis of a logical and/or analog combination of the first and second object-monitoring signals. The invention is applicable to surveillance of valuables or of works of art.

Claims

1. A system for surveillance of a mobile or movable object placed in a surveillance enclosure, said system comprising:

transmitter/receiver means for first and second object-monitoring signals (sco1, sco2), said first object-monitoring signal serving to monitor the presence of the object and said second object-monitoring signal serving to monitor the position of the object; and

transmission means for transmitting an alarm-triggering signal, said transmission means receiving said first and second object-monitoring signals and conditionally enabling said alarm-triggering signal to be transmitted on the basis of a function combination, said function combination belonging to the group consisting of logical, analog, and logical and analog functions of said first and second object-monitoring signals.

2. A system for surveillance according to claim 1, wherein said transmitter/receiver means and said transmission means are constituted respectively by:

transmitter/receiver first and second transducers; and

a transmission third transducer, said first, second, and third transducers being transducers belonging to the group consisting of transducers for electromagnetic and transducers for ultrasound waves, and being mounted in a box constituting the surveillance detector for the mobile or movable object.

3. A system for surveillance according to claim 2, wherein said transmitter/receiver first and second transducers serve to generate and receive waves belonging to the group consisting of electromagnetic and ultrasound waves that are amplitude-modulated at a determined duty ratio and modulation frequency, the transmission and the reception of said waves being implemented for each transducer over a solid surveillance angle directed towards the mobile or movable object under surveillance that is proportional to a distance d1 for said first transducer and to a distance d2 for said second transducer to the fixed plane of the surveillance enclosure taken as a reference plane, respectively, said transmitter/receiver first and second transducers delivering said first and second object-monitoring signals.

4. A system for surveillance according to claim 3, wherein said transmitter/receiver first and second transducers are constituted respectively by:

a transmitter diode disposed on a first face of said box constituting the detector for surveillance of the mobile or movable object for said first transducer; and

a receiver diode disposed on said first face of said box for said first transducer, said transmitter and receiver diodes constituting the transmitter/receiver second transducer being disposed on a second face of said box, opposite to said first face.

5. A system for surveillance according to claim 4, wherein said box forming the detector for surveillance of said mobile or movable object comprises:

electrical power supply means for said first, second and third transducers;

generator means for generating a transmission signal that is pulse modulated at a predetermined duty ratio and repetition frequency, said transmission being delivered to said transmission diodes constituting said transmitter/receiver first and second transducers;

demodulator means comprising first and second demodulation paths (A,B), each demodulation path being connected to the corresponding transmitter/receiver first and second transducer, and comprising at least one envelope detector for the signal delivered by each reception diode of the corresponding transmitter/receiver first and second transducer, said envelope detector of the first and second demodulation path delivering a signal that constitutes the first and second object-monitoring signal (sco1, sco2) respectively; and

cross-correlation means receiving said first and second object-monitoring signals thereby enabling a conditional transmission of the alarm signal.

6. A system for surveillance according to claim 5, wherein said electrical power supply means for said first, second, and third transducers comprise a self-contained electricity generating system enabling a storage battery to be recharged.

7. A system for surveillance according to claim 3, wherein said transmission third transducer includes a diode for transmitting an encoded wave constituting said alarm-triggering signal, said encoded wave being transmitted towards an alarm trigger relay element disposed on the surveillance enclosure for receiving said alarm-triggering signal and being connected to a surveillance center.

8. A system for surveillance according to claim 7, wherein said alarm trigger relay element comprises at least a plurality of reception diodes distributed over a hemispherical surface so as to enable said alarm-triggering signal to be received over an angle of 180°

in elevation and in azimuth.

9. A system for surveillance according to claim 7, wherein said connection between said transmission third transducer and said alarm trigger relay element is backed up by an optical fiber link.

10. A system for surveillance according to claim 3, further comprising an alarm trigger relay element, said transmission third transducer including a diode for transmitting an encoded wave constituting said alarm-triggering signal, and said encoded wave being transmitted towards said alarm trigger relay element.

11. A system for surveillance according to claim 3, further comprising an alarm trigger relay element, and further comprising a plurality of units each comprising said transmitter/receiver means and transmission means for monitoring a respective mobile or movable object, each said transmission means comprising a transmission transducer;

said alarm trigger relay element includes at least one transmitter/receiver element enabling an encoded call message (MA) to be issued periodically to each of said transmission transducers, each of said transmission transducers itself being formed by a transponder suitable for responding to said encoded call message by generating an encoded reply (MR) indicating that the respective mobile or movable object under surveillance is safely present.

12. A system for surveillance according to claim 2, further comprising an alarm trigger relay element, and further comprising a plurality of units each comprising said transmitter/receiver means and transmission means for monitoring a respective mobile or movable object, each said transmission means comprising a transmission transducer;

said alarm trigger relay element includes at least one transmitter/receiver element enabling an encoded call message (MA) to be issued periodically to each of said transmission transducers, each of said transmission transducers itself being formed by a transponder suitable for responding to said encoded call message by generating an encoded reply (MR) indicating that the respective mobile or movable object under surveillance is safely present.

13. A system for surveillance according to claim 1, further comprising an alarm trigger relay element disposed on the surveillance enclosure, said alarm trigger relay element being designed to receive said alarm-triggering signal and being connected to a surveillance center.

14. A system for surveillance according to claim 13, further comprising a plurality of units each comprising said transmitter/receiver means and transmission means for monitoring a respective mobile or movable object, each said transmission means comprising a transmission transducer;

said alarm trigger relay element includes at least one transmitter/receiver element enabling an encoded call message (MA) to be issued periodically to each of said transmission transducers, each of said transmission transducers itself being formed by a transponder suitable for responding to said encoded call message by generating an encoded reply (MR) indicating that the respective mobile or movable object under surveillance is safely present.

15. A system for surveillance according to claim 14, wherein said alarm-triggering signal is constituted, for a given mobile or movable object, by a plurality M of encoded reply messages being absent consequently.

16. A system for surveillance of a mobile or movable object according to claim 1, wherein said conditional transmission of said alarm-triggering signal is implemented on the basis of said function combination of said first and second object-monitoring signals satisfying the following relationship:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">NOT[f(d1,d2)=A]=1

where f(d1, d2) designates a function of distance variables d1 and d2 of the mobile or movable object under surveillance, NOT designates a variation or difference between the value of said function relative to a reference value A for the object under consideration, at which said object is in safety.

17. A system for surveillance according to claim 16, wherein said function f(d1, d2)=A is a function combination, said function combination belonging to the group consisting of logical, arithmetic, and logical and arithmetic functions of said distance variables d1 and d2 which belong to the group consisting of logic and analog variables, respectively.

18. A system for surveillance of a mobile or movable object according to claim 1, wherein said first object-monitoring signal is a function of a distance d1 between the mobile or movable object under surveillance and the active portions of said transmitter/receiver means.

19. A system for surveillance of a mobile or movable object according to claim 1, wherein said second object-monitoring signal is a function of a distance d2 between the mobile or movable object under surveillance and a fixed plane of the surveillance enclosure taken as a reference plane.