Electronic sensor with flexible sensing device
An electronic barrier alarm sensor having a flexible sensing device. The sensor may be mounted to a door, door frame, window, window frame, object or wall to detect when a door or window has been opened, that an object has been moved or to detect the presence of an animal. The flexible sensing device comprises one or more attributes that change as the flexible sensing device is bent, or unbent, by operation of a door, window, removal of an object, or the presence of an animal. Based on the changes, the electronic barrier alarm sensor may transmit an alarm signal when one or more measured values of the one or more attributes changes by more than one or more predetermined amounts.
1 . An electronic sensor, comprising:
a housing having a first side;
a flexible sensing device in the form of a strip having a first strip portion that is disposed in the housing and a second strip portion protruding from a second side of the housing and which is moveable relative to the housing;
a transmitter carried by the housing for transmitting an alarm signal to a receiver;
a memory carried by the housing having processor-executable instructions stored thereon; and
a processor carried by the housing, coupled to the flexible sensing device, the transmitter, and the memory for executing the processor-executable instructions that cause the processor to:
determine a value for an attribute of the flexible sensing device, the value being established due to a movement of the second strip portion of the flexible sensing device that protrudes from the housing relative to the first strip portion of the flexible sensing device that is disposed in the housing; and
cause the transmitter to transmit an alarm signal when it is determined that the determined value for the attribute is more than a predetermined amount, the predetermined amount corresponding to a measure of a distance of travel of a barrier that is being monitored by the electronic sensor.
2 . The electronic sensor of claim 1 , wherein the flexible sensing device comprises an electrical connector for coupling the first strip portion to the processor.
3 . The electronic sensor of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further cause the processor to set the predetermined amount using a signal received from a remotely located device.
4 . The electronic sensor of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further cause the processor to set the predetermined amount using a signal received from an input element disposed on the housing and coupled to the processor.