Patent ID: 7151449

Claim:
A lockset tampering detection device which comprises: sensing circuitry, operatively coupled to said lockset, responsive to signals indicative of tampering directed at defeating said lockset's locking means and means to determine if the lockset is in its open or locked state and means to signal a tampering alarm when said sensing circuitry detects said tampering directed at defeating said lockset after said lockset is transitioned from its unlocked state to its locked state, wherein the operative connection between said lockset tampering sensing circuitry and said lockset is achieved through circuitry's coupling to the lockset through its bolt by electrical, acoustic, magnetic, optical or other like means serving to signal tampering with the lock, through the bolt, to said sensing circuitry, wherein said sensing circuitry monitors qualified changes in capacitance between said lockset and a reference conductor as indicative of tampering.