U.S. patent application number 13/242175 was filed with the patent office on 2012-01-19 for gun-ammunition intelligent system for owner recognition of portable guns.
Invention is credited to Jose Carlos Albano Do Amarante, Luis Cristovao de Moraes Sobrino Porto, Roque Marcelo Versolato.
Application Number | 20120011756 13/242175 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45467960 |
Filed Date | 2012-01-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120011756 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Albano Do Amarante; Jose Carlos ;
et al. |
January 19, 2012 |
GUN-AMMUNITION INTELLIGENT SYSTEM FOR OWNER RECOGNITION OF PORTABLE
GUNS
Abstract
An intelligent gun-ammunition system for a portable gun includes
a gun having a handle; an owner recognition circuit having
circuitry for recognizing an authorized grip on the handle and an
activating circuit for allowing operation of a firing mechanism of
the gun when authorized grip is recognized; ammunition for the gun;
and an ammunition circuit communicated with the owner recognition
circuit for allowing the ammunition to be fired when the owner
recognition circuit recognizes the authorized grip.
Inventors: |
Albano Do Amarante; Jose
Carlos; (Rio De Janeiro, BR) ; Versolato; Roque
Marcelo; (Sao Paulo, BR) ; Sobrino Porto; Luis
Cristovao de Moraes; (Rio de Janeiro, BR) |
Family ID: |
45467960 |
Appl. No.: |
13/242175 |
Filed: |
September 23, 2011 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12763805 |
Apr 20, 2010 |
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13242175 |
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10593835 |
Sep 22, 2006 |
7698846 |
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12763805 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
42/1.01 ;
42/70.11 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41A 17/066 20130101;
F41A 19/58 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
42/1.01 ;
42/70.11 |
International
Class: |
F41A 17/06 20060101
F41A017/06; F41A 19/58 20060101 F41A019/58 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Sep 2, 2004 |
BR |
PCT/BR2004/000163 |
Claims
1. An intelligent gun-ammunition system for a portable gun
comprising: a gun having a handle; an owner recognition circuit
comprising means for recognizing an authorized grip on the handle
and an activating circuit for allowing operation of a firing
mechanism of the gun when authorized grip is recognized; ammunition
for the gun; and an ammunition circuit communicated with the owner
recognition circuit for allowing the ammunition to be fired when
the owner recognition circuit recognizes the authorized grip.
2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a visual indicator
operatively associated with the owner recognition circuit for
providing a visible indication of whether the authorized grip has
been recognized.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the gun has an electrical
ignition, and wherein the electrical ignition is controlled by the
ammunition circuit.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the ammunition includes a squib,
an ignition charge and propellant, and wherein firing the gun when
the owner recognition circuit recognizes the authorized grip
activates the ammunition circuit and starts a firing chain in the
order of squib, ignition charge and then propellant.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the owner recognition circuit and
the ammunition circuit prevent ignition of the propellant when the
authorized grip is not recognized.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the gun further comprises a
connection port for communicating with a processing device.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 12/763,805, filed Apr. 20, 2010 which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/593,835 filed
Sep. 22, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,698,846 which is the U.S.
national phase of International Application No. PCT/BR2004/000163
filed Sep. 2, 2004.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] When a person shoots a gun, the energy required to pull the
trigger is generated entirely by contraction of his muscles. The
grasp of the hand on the grip of the gun constitutes the interface
between the shooter and the gun
[0003] To maintain control of the gun and transfer energy to the
trigger, the hand has to grasp the grip. When the hand grips a gun
handle, it produces a grip force, classically defined as the force
applied through the fingers and the palm normal to the handle's
surface.
[0004] In jobs that require repetitive gripping, an ergonomic
evaluation should include a measure or estimation of the applied
grip force. The bibliography of such evaluations shows that the
normal grip force used to grab objects varies between 20 and 80 N.
The force intensity is related to previous training (for example,
using a sensor adapted to a screwdriver employed to fix a screw),
and in some instances such as grip of a tennis racket, the grip
force is also related to previous knowledge of the trajectory of
the object to be hit and knowledge of the time of hitting
[0005] Various mechanisms have been proposed for use in enhancing
the security of operation of a firearm. Despite such efforts, the
need always remains for further enhancements in security.
[0006] It is the goal of the present invention to utilize the
above-mentioned grip force and other factors to enhance security of
operation of a firearm.
[0007] Other objects and advantages of the present invention will
appear herein.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing
objects and advantages have been readily attained.
[0009] According to the invention, an intelligent gun-ammunition
system for a portable gun is provided which comprises a gun having
a handle; an owner recognition circuit comprising means for
recognizing an authorized grip on the handle and an activating
circuit for allowing operation of a firing mechanism of the gun
when the authorized grip is recognized; ammunition for the gun; and
an ammunition circuit communicated with the owner recognition
circuit for allowing the ammunition to be fired when the owner
recognition circuit recognizes the authorized grip.
[0010] In the gun-ammunition intelligent system of the invention,
in order to be as safe as possible, the ammunition preferably has
an electric squib responsible for the gun firing.
[0011] This can be coupled with an ammunition circuit as described
above, that will allow firing, as long as it receives an
appropriate signal sent by the gun, and the gun sends this signal
if the owner recognition circuit recognizes the grip of the
shooter.
[0012] The owner recognition circuit of the present invention is
also referred to herein as a "gun-chip" and the ammunition circuit
is also referred to herein for as an "ammunition chip".
[0013] In the present invention, final authorization for firing is
provided by the intelligent ammunition, if and only if the two
sequential stages of the gun owner recognition are positive: the
grip force recognition by the "gun-chip" and the firing liberation
signal by the "ammunition chip".
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] A detailed description of preferred embodiments of the
present invention follows, with reference to the attached drawings,
wherein:
[0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a gun in accordance
with the present inventions;
[0016] FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an owner recognition
circuit for the gun of FIG. 1; and
[0017] FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an ammunition circuit
in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] The invention relates to an intelligent gun-ammunition
system for portable guns which enhances security and operation of
the firearm by use of an owner recognition circuit for validating
the user based upon recognition of gripping forces on the hand gun,
and further includes an ammunition circuit which is communicated
with the owner recognition circuit for receiving an indication that
the shooter gripping the gun has a recognized grip. The ammunition
circuit includes an electrically activated squib in the ammunition
which can only be ignited if the ammunition circuit receives the
appropriate signal from the owner recognition circuit.
[0019] The base technology of the owner recognition circuit is
substantially similar to a system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
7,698,846, which is commonly owned with the present application,
from which priority of this application is claimed-in-part, and
which U.S. patent is incorporated herein by reference in its
entirety.
[0020] In this invention, the shooting of a portable gun is based
on two steps.
[0021] The first step starts with the shooter recognition by the
gun. This is accomplished in a biometric way: strain gauges placed
in the gun grip measure the gripping forces of the shooter and
compare those forces with the force range stored in the gun-chip,
belonging to authorized shooters.
[0022] The second step--according to the invention--is the
recognition by the ammunition of the firing signal emitted by the
"gun-chip", after the recognition of the shooter. The recognition
is performed by an "ammunition-chip" that actuates an electrical
squib, allowing firing of the shot.
[0023] The intelligent gun-ammunition system is constituted by
three parts: special gun; appropriate ammunition; and operational
support bench.
[0024] The special gun is built from the standard weapon, with the
following modifications, as shown in the FIG. 1.
[0025] Referring to FIG. 1, a gun 100 in accordance with the
invention is shown having a handle portion 10 which has a plurality
of strain gauges, 101, 102, 103, 104 and 105 which are communicated
with internal circuitry in the gun and which receive force from a
grip of a user, and translate that force into a signal which is
detected by the internal circuitry of the gun. This internal
circuitry will be discussed further below with respect to FIG.
2.
[0026] Gun 100 further includes a power source 108 which operates
the internal circuitry of the gun and may also have a signaling
lamp 110 or similar device, positioned in a visible location to a
shooter of gun 100, which functions as will be further described
below.
[0027] A control switch 111 can be positioned on gun 100, and can
be used to control the mode of operation of gun 100, specifically,
in an off mode, a secure mode wherein the owner recognition circuit
is activated, and if desired, an emergency mode wherein some or all
of the security recognition features are overridden.
[0028] Gun 100 can advantageously have a communication port such as
a typical USB port and the like, schematically shown at 107 in FIG.
1, for use in communicating the gun and internal circuitry with a
computer, processor or the like for use in programming the internal
circuitry of gun 100. A further strain gage which will be referred
to as strain gage 106 will preferably be positioned on the opposite
side of gun 100 as shown in FIG. 1, and thus, numeral 106 is
positioned with reference numeral 105 as the strain gage 106 would
be positioned in approximately the same location as strain gage 105
on the opposite side of the handle.
[0029] In accordance with the invention, the strain gages on the
gun handle are integrated with an electronic circuit within the
gun, also referred to as the gun-chip, and the strain gages will
each measure the local grip force at different positions of the
hand when gun 100 is held by a potential shooter.
[0030] The internal circuitry of gun 100, as will be discussed
below with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3, is responsible for the storage
of coded data with respect to the authorized shooters of that
weapon, for the ciphering of this data, and further for shooter
recognition and gun liberation for firing. This circuit conducts
these functions utilizing microprocessing components and
connections which themselves are knows to persons of ordinary skill
in the art.
[0031] Gun 100 in accordance with the present invention is
preferably modified so as to remove any firing hammer or the like,
as the firing of this gun will preferably be electronic. In the
place of the hammer, a key or control switch 111 can be provided,
as discussed above, and can be used to configure the gun into
positions for normal operations, maintenance, emergency use and the
like. As mentioned above, signaling lamp 110 can preferably be a
lamp with two colors, for example red and green. The positioning of
signaling lamp 110 makes visible indication of the status of the
gun very easy to be seen by a shooter as focus would be directly
along the line of the positioning of the signaling lamp 110.
[0032] USB connector 107 can be positioned in any convenient
location, and is shown in FIG. 1 as being positioned along the
bottom of the handle of the gun.
[0033] In accordance with the invention, strain gages are
preferably placed either in the frontal part of the handle in an
ergonomic position for the three fingers of the hand to be used to
hold the gun, and also in the posterior part of the handle in the
ergonomic position of the part of the palm of the hand
corresponding to the thumb, and on both lateral portions of the
handle as well in the ergonomic position of the palm used to hold
the gun. With these last two strain gages on either side of the
gun, the gun can be held by a shooter for dextral or left-handed
shooters and both types of gripping of the gun can provide suitable
forces to the strain gages for use in recognizing the shooter
[0034] As mentioned above, control switch 111 can advantageously be
used to configure the gun into three distinct operational modes,
namely, normal operation, maintenance, and emergency.
[0035] Turning to FIG. 2, a block diagram is provided of the gun
circuit, or owner recognition circuit, in accordance with the
present invention.
[0036] FIG. 2 shows input along the left side from strain gages
101-106, and energy source 108, lamp 110, USB 107, a safety pin or
troll switch 111 (labeled SW and safety pin in the drawing) and a
connector which will be discussed further below.
[0037] The actual owner recognition circuit 109 receives input from
strain gages 101-106 and is powered by energy source 108. The owner
recognition circuit includes a buffer for temporarily storing
received signals and a memory for storing authorized grip forces or
force patterns, a read/write (R/W) mechanism and a processor for
comparing signals received from strain gages 101-106 stored in the
memory. When the processor recognizes a match, a gun control unit
then properly powers lamp 110 to give an indication that the
shooter is recognized as an authorized owner, and a signal is sent
from the gun control through safety pin 111 to a connector to the
ammunition circuit of FIG. 3.
[0038] A USB control is also included in the owner recognition
circuit, and is communicated with port 107 for programming using a
personal computing device or the like, as would be well understood
to a person skilled in the art.
[0039] FIG. 3 shows the ammunition circuit in accordance with the
present invention, and shows a connector which would be
communicated to the connector of FIG. 2, and ammunition chip 201
which includes a processor and a memory, and a squib 202,
ammunition charge and projectile. Ammunition chip 201 can also have
a memory as shown. Each of these components is positioned within a
cartridge 200 which constitutes the intelligent ammunition in
accordance with the present invention.
[0040] Squib 201 and subsequent firing of the ammunition requires
the appropriate signal to be received by ammunition chip 201. The
system ammunition is then ignited by an electrical action, rather
than the conventional mechanical percussion.
[0041] The ammunition circuit can likewise be energized by the gun
power supply of FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 3, during an ignition
sequence, squib 201 would ignite the ammunition charge which would
ignite propellant and thereby fire the projectile. However, this
ignition can only happen when ammunition chip 201 receives the
proper signal from the gun chip or gun control circuit of FIG.
2.
[0042] As mentioned above, USB port 107 can be used to communicate
gun 100 and the internal circuitry with a personal computing device
such as a personal computer, laptop, or other workstation or other
microprocessor or the like.
[0043] This workstation, and the functionality provided by the
communication with USB port 107, is referred to herein as "bench of
operational support". Access to the personal computer software for
use in controlling programming of the gun would of course be
protected by password, and when an authorized user enters the
appropriate password, the bench of operational support can
advantageously be used to command the weapon, for example by
configuring the weapon into maintenance mode; to inhibit firing of
the gun; to store and process data obtained during maintenance,
and/or training of an authorized user; to cipher various data and
parameters; to store files of the weapon with the ciphered
calculated parameters that define the shooter; and to put the
weapon in an emergency mode which inhibits the circuit for
recognition of the shooter.
[0044] In order for gun 100 to properly recognize the shooter, it
is important for the shooter to properly "train" the weapon by
repeatedly gripping the weapon so that the signals received by the
strain gages of the weapon can generate signals to be stored within
the owner recognition circuit. In order to do this, one preferred
method would be to place the weapon into communication with the
bench of operational support using the USB port. With the weapon
connected, the weapon can be placed into maintenance mode using the
bench of operational support (OSB), and under the maintenance mode,
the weapon can be placed into a mode for registration of an
operator or authorized shooter. The gun can then be gripped by the
authorized user, and a series of "dry" shots can be fired to
simulate the various forces on the handle when gripped by the
authorized user. After a suitable sub-set of grippings of the gun,
each time with the forces being measured and registered in the
bench of operational support, a distribution of the shot is then
calculated along with an average and standard deviation, and the
bench of operational support can generate a signal when sufficient
data has been collected to reliably recognize a particular user.
The OSB can then be used to stop the registration process, and the
intended shooter can grip the weapon to verify that his grip is
recognized. The weapon recognizes the grip of the shooter, enables
functioning of the weapon, and an indicating light is operated to
show owner recognition, for example by way of a green light.
[0045] The bench of operational support can then be removed from
registration of an operator mode, enabling the normal operation of
the gun. The bench of operational support can then be used to
configure the weapon into normal mode; the weapon is then
disconnected from the bench of operational support, and can be used
by an authorized user to fire ammunition as desired.
[0046] When it is desired to fire the gun, the gun should be
configured to either normal mode or emergency mode.
[0047] In the normal mode, the shot sequence would be as
follows.
[0048] In the first phase of firing under normal mode, shooter
recognition is based upon the measurement of his or her grip force
on the handle of the gun, comparison of the grip force with stored
ranges of the same force measured and stored in the weapon, used to
determine whether the intended shooter is authorized.
[0049] Gun 100 will only recognize the shooter if the shooter's
local forces of grip within the operational bands recorded during
training of gun 100 to recognize its owner, of course within a
stipulated value of deviation. When the shooter is recognized, a
specific signal is sent to the ammunition chip, and this indicates
that a shot can be fired.
[0050] When the proper grip is recognized, the weapon is ready to
be fired, a signal of this readiness will be sent to the circuit of
control of the weapon, which will enable the information of "ready"
to the shooter, for example with the green indicator light
mentioned above.
[0051] As mentioned above, when an authorized grip is recognized,
signal is sent by the owner recognition circuit to the ammunition
circuit, and when the ammunition circuit receives the appropriate
signal, the ammunition chip will be ready for firing of a shot
after the following phase occurs.
[0052] Typically, firing will be made by pressing the trigger (see
FIG. 1) of gun 100 when the conditions have been met, that is, when
the owner recognition circuit recognizes the grip of the shooter,
and the ammunition circuit receives the specific signal from the
owner recognition circuit.
[0053] When the trigger is pulled, and the owner recognition
circuit recognizes an authorized grip, the ammunition circuit
starts a firing chain wherein the ammunition chip enables current
to the squib, which in turn will feed the ignition charge, and
ultimately detonate the propellant which will expel the projectile
from the barrel of the gun.
[0054] When operated in emergency mode, which only can be done with
the use of a bench of operational support, verification of the
identity of the shooter is disabled, visual indicator will always
show gun is ready to be fired, for example with a green light. Thus
when the handle of the gun is gripped, the ignition signal of the
gun is sent to ignition circuit as desired.
[0055] As set forth above, strain gages 101-106 verify if the
locally applied grip forces fit into the six small operational
ranges registered by the owner of the gun in the initial
configuration of the gun.
[0056] The connector shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 can in fact be a
contact or other type of contact which would reliably connect
between the owner recognition circuit and ammunition circuit when
the ammunition is placed in the gun.
[0057] Still referring to FIG. 3, the ammunition chip is
responsible for processing and recognition of the signal of
authorization from the owner recognition circuit. The squib 201 is
responsible for energy transfer to the charge, beginning the
shooting phase, when the shooting is authorized and the trigger is
pressed or pulled.
[0058] The ignition or ammunition charge shown in FIG. 3 is the
mechanism to start the firing, supplying energy to the propellant
of the projectile.
[0059] The propellant is the mechanism of execution of firing, the
energy to the projectile and executing the shot. Finally, the
projectile shown in FIG. 3 is schematically illustrated, but could
be any type of actual projectile, bullet or the like being well
known to persons of skill in the art.
[0060] It should be appreciated that the present description is
provided of embodiment of the invention, and the various
modifications and alterations of the embodiment disclosed herein
would be readily apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art
upon consideration of this description. It is therefore to be
understood that the scope of the invention is not to be limited by
the description provided herein, but rather by the scope of the
claims as appended hereto.
* * * * *