U.S. patent application number 15/949204 was filed with the patent office on 2018-10-18 for ammunition firing authorization system.
The applicant listed for this patent is Rebecca Reixin Du, Xiaosong Du. Invention is credited to Rebecca Reixin Du, Xiaosong Du.
Application Number | 20180299220 15/949204 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 63791751 |
Filed Date | 2018-10-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180299220 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Du; Rebecca Reixin ; et
al. |
October 18, 2018 |
AMMUNITION FIRING AUTHORIZATION SYSTEM
Abstract
An apparatus is disclosed comprising a projectile, a propellant
configured to propel the projectile, an energy storage element, an
antenna configured to receive wireless energy from a wireless
signal, wherein the wireless energy is used to charge the energy
storage element, and control circuitry configured to be powered by
the energy storage element, receive an authorization from the
wireless signal, and enable the propellant to propel the projectile
in response to the authorization.
Inventors: |
Du; Rebecca Reixin; (San
Ramon, CA) ; Du; Xiaosong; (San Ramon, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Du; Rebecca Reixin
Du; Xiaosong |
San Ramon
San Ramon |
CA
CA |
US
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
63791751 |
Appl. No.: |
15/949204 |
Filed: |
April 10, 2018 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62485063 |
Apr 13, 2017 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41A 17/08 20130101;
F42C 15/40 20130101 |
International
Class: |
F41A 17/08 20060101
F41A017/08; F42C 15/40 20060101 F42C015/40 |
Claims
1. An apparatus comprising: a projectile; a propellant configured
to propel the projectile; an energy storage element; an antenna
configured to receive wireless energy from a wireless signal,
wherein the wireless energy is used to charge the energy storage
element; and control circuitry configured to: be powered by the
energy storage element; receive an authorization from the wireless
signal; and enable the propellant to propel the projectile in
response to the authorization.
2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the propellant is
gun powder.
3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the projectile is a
bullet.
4. An apparatus comprising: a projectile; and a propellant
configured to propel the projectile, wherein the projectile
comprises control circuitry configured to enable the propellant to
propel the projectile in response to an authorization signal.
5. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the propellant is
gun powder.
6. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the projectile is a
bullet.
7. An apparatus comprising: a projectile; a propellant configured
to propel the projectile; a wireless antenna; and control circuitry
configured to: transmit using the wireless antenna to an
authorization entity an identifier (ID) that identifies the
apparatus; after transmitting the ID, receive from the wireless
antenna an authorization; and enable the propellant to propel the
projectile in response to the authorization.
8. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the propellant is
gun powder.
10. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the projectile is
a bullet.
11. A weapon magazine comprising: a housing for storing a plurality
of ammunition; a wireless antenna extending along a length of the
housing, wherein at least part of the wireless antenna is proximate
each ammunition; and control circuitry configured to transmit an
authorization over the wireless antenna to at least one of the
ammunition to enable firing the ammunition.
12. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the ammunition
comprises gun powder.
13. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the ammunition
comprises a bullet.
14. A weapon comprising: a weapon magazine configured to a store a
plurality of ammunition; a wireless antenna; a global positioning
system (GPS); and control circuitry configured to: receive over the
wireless antenna a plurality of geographical locations; detect a
current geographical location of the weapon using the GPS; and
enable firing of at least one of the ammunition in response to the
received geographical locations and the current geographical
location.
15. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the ammunition
comprises gun powder.
16. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the ammunition
comprises a bullet.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent
Application Ser. No. 62/485,063, filed on Apr. 13, 2017, which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] As of today, gun violence is a global issue without a good
solution. Traditional gun violence mainly occurred in gang fighting
or drug related crime. Most of the victims are gang members or drug
dealers. The number of deadly victims per case is generally small.
However, the situation had changed dramatically in recent years.
Many gun violence cases target masses of innocent people; some of
them even target young children or senior citizens. Meanwhile, the
number of deadly victims per case has increased sharply. In the
2016 Florida gay club shooting, nearly 50 people died, plus another
50 people injured. The background of gunners varies from the
mentally ill, to young students to terrorists. Many of them don't
have any criminal or mental illness records and acquire the gun and
ammunition legally. Although laws and regulations for strict gun
control have been discussed for decades, little progress was made.
Even though the new laws or regulations will be passed, considering
the fact that there are over 300 million guns in the United States,
enforcing the law is still a big challenge. It is time to address
this problem from another angle, which is to control the
ammunition. The presented patent presents a "smart ammunition" and
its associated method, apparatus and system that requires a set of
authorization procedures before the ammunition can be successfully
fired. Without this procedure, the ammunition cannot be fired even
it is loaded, for example, into a gun and the trigger is
pulled.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0003] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment wherein a smart ammunition is
fired by a gun.
[0004] FIG. 2 shows a smart ammunition according to an
embodiment.
[0005] FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment wherein the smart
ammunition may be activated to fire using a passive
authorization.
[0006] FIGS. 4A and 4B show a smart ammunition according to
embodiments comprising a cartridge, a propellant, and a
projectile.
[0007] FIG. 5 shows an embodiment comprising a local authorization
server.
[0008] FIGS. 6A and 6B show an embodiment of a weapon magazine
configured to store a plurality of the smart ammunition.
[0009] FIGS. 7A-7C show an embodiment of a weapon magazine
comprising a wireless antenna and control circuitry configured to
transmit an authorization over the wireless antenna to at least one
of the smart ammunition to enable firing the smart ammunition.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0010] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment comprising
generic guns (110), smart ammunition (115), local authorization
servers (112, 113), optional smart device (120), local wireless
network (119), authorization wireless network (117, 122), wireless
antenna and wireless base stations (130), Internet (160, 165) and
authorization server clusters (150). In one embodiment, without
proper authorization, the propellant of the smart ammunition (115)
will not ignite.
[0011] In one embodiment, the smart ammunition (115) has a wireless
antenna and a wireless transceiver in it. Upon receiving wireless
signals from the local authorization servers (112, 113), the smart
ammunition (115) will periodically send out authorization requests
to the local authorization servers (112, 113) with its unique
identification number. Upon receiving the authorization requests
from the smart ammunition (115), the local authorization servers
(112, 113) will relay the requests through wireless network (117)
to wireless base stations (130), then through Internet (160, 165)
to authorization clusters.
[0012] In another embodiment, the local authorization server (112)
communicates with a smart phone or other smart device (120) through
local wireless network such as WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. The smart
phone or other smart device (120) relays the request through
wireless network (117) to wireless base stations (130), then
through Internet (160, 165) to authorization clusters. The
geographical location information is added during the authorization
request rely process. This information can be added at multiple
points. For example, if the local authorization servers (112, 113)
have the optional GPS modules, they can add the geographical
location information. If the smart phone or other smart device
(120) has GPS module, it can add the geographical location
information. The wireless base stations (130) can triangulate the
requests and determine the rough location and add this information
to the requests and send to the authorization server clusters
(150). The authorization clusters (150) receive the authorization
requests plus the associated geographical location information,
evaluate the risk of the requests and decide if authorize the
requests or deny the requests. The decisions are sent back through
the same path to the smart ammunition (115). If the authorization
requests are granted, the smart ammunition (115) will be armed.
Upon the gun trigger is pulled, the firing pin hits the smart
ammunition (115); its propellant will ignite (e.g., gun powder)
inside the ammunition cartridge and drive the projectile (e.g., out
a gun barrel). If the authorization requests are denied, the smart
ammunition (115) will be disarmed; which means when the firing pin
hits the smart ammunition (115), its propellant will not
ignite.
[0013] In one embodiment, the risk evaluation process at the
authorization server clusters (150) is a dynamic, multi-factor
decision making process. For example, it will check if the
geographical location of the request is too close to public school,
transportation center, or other big public gathering. If so, the
request will be denied. Local government, school or other
organization can register with the authorization server clusters
(150) and mark certain area during certain time period as public
safety high risk zoom which the authorization server clusters (150)
will deny any smart ammunition (115) authorization requests close
to the zoom during the given period of time. After the event is
over, the authorization requests at the given area can be granted.
The authorization server clusters (150) can not only deny the
authorization requests from the high risk zone, but also inform the
law enforcement at the high risk zone regarding the requests so
that proper actions can be taken to protect the public safety.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a smart ammunition according to
an embodiment. It illustrates one possible embodiment of the smart
ammunition using all active components. Unlike a traditional
ammunition, the smart ammunition has a set of circuitry and
mechanical mechanism to enable the firing authorization process and
ensure the firing authorization grant or denial being executed
cannot be comprised. In this embodiment, there is a small turn
on/off (220, 222). One possible implementation is a small screw
shape on/off switch illustrated in FIG. 4 (409, 425). They can be
located at the projectile (220, 409), or located near the bottom of
the cartridge (222, 425). In one embodiment, using a small screw
driver to twist the small switch can turn on/off the smart
ammunition. If the on/off switch of the smart ammunition is off, it
cannot be fired. Upon turning on the smart ammunition, a battery
(215) within the smart ammunition will power up all the active
functional blocks of the smart ammunition, which include wireless
transceiver (205), control unit (208), ignition circuitry (210),
and striking sensor (212).
[0015] After control unit (208) initialization, in one embodiment
it will periodically send an authorization request with its unique
identification number through the wireless transceiver (205) and
the wireless antenna (202) to the local authorization server (113,
112). The reason of periodically authorization is to make sure that
authorization is only valid for a small amount of time, usually
couple of minutes. To do so, we can limit or eliminate the risk of
the smart ammunition authorized in a safe zone and later used in a
risk zone. Upon receiving authorization grant reply from the local
authorization server (113, 112), the control unit (208) will enable
the striking sensor (212) unit. When the trigger of the gun is
pulled, the striking pin hits the smart ammunition. The striking
sensor (212) senses the striking; it will inform the control unit
(208). The control unit (208) will enable the ignition circuitry
(210) to ignite the propellant of the smart ammunition. If the
control unit (208) of the smart ammunition receives the denial
response, it will not enable the striking sensor (212) and the
ignition circuitry (210) so that the propellant cannot ignite even
when the striking pin of the gun hits the smart ammunition.
[0016] In one embodiment, the smart ammunition can permanently
disable its firing capability upon receiving certain level of
denial response from the authorization server. For example, trying
to authorize a smart ammunition near public school or public
transportation, the denial response may have the highest priority.
It can cause the smart ammunition permanently disable its firing
capability. At the authorization server clusters (150) side, these
types of requests will be recorded and reported to public safety
authority for further actions.
[0017] In one embodiment, many of the major parts (201) of the
smart ammunition are installed inside the projectile, while a few
of the smaller parts (218) may be installed inside the cartridge.
In one embodiment, there may be a small set of thin wires
connecting the projectile components with the components inside the
cartridge. Upon propellant igniting, the high temperature may melt
the thin wires and break the connection between projectile and the
cartridge.
[0018] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of the smart ammunition
using passive authentication according to an embodiment. In this
embodiment, an antenna (302) connects to a passive authorization
unit (305). The antenna (302) collects the wireless energy sent by
the local authorization servers (112, 113), and uses this energy to
charge the passive authorization unit (305). After charging up, the
passive authorization unit (305) will communicate with the local
authorization servers (112, 113) to send out authorization request
with its unique identification number. If the request is rejected,
it will do nothing. If the request is granted, it will send out
signal to turn on a battery (315) of the smart ammunition and wake
up a control unit (308), a striking sensor (312), an ignition
circuitry (310) and optionally an active wireless transceiver
(309). The control unit (308) will enable the striking sensor (312)
unit. When the trigger of the weapon is pulled, the striking pin
hits the smart ammunition. The striking sensor (312) senses the
striking; it will inform the control unit (308). The control unit
(308) will enable the ignition circuitry (310) to ignite the
propellant inside the smart ammunition. The propellant will drive
the projectile out of the weapon.
[0019] In one embodiment, the grant from the passive authorization
unit (305) only works for a short period of time. During this
period of time, if the trigger is pulled, the smart ammunition will
fire. After this period of time, the battery unit (315) is turned
off. The local authorization servers (112, 113) have to charge it
and authorize it again. It can prevent the smart ammunition being
authorized at safe zone and be used at dangerous zone. If the
optional active wireless transceiver (309) unit is presented, the
control unit (308) can use it to send out authorization request to
the local authorization servers (112, 113) when the grant period is
passed instead of shut off the whole smart ammunition. If the new
request is granted, the smart ammunition continues to be active;
otherwise, it will shut off.
[0020] FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate two possible embodiments of the
smart ammunition. In both embodiments, an antenna is installed
within the projectile (405) of the smart ammunition. In the
embodiment (401) of FIG. 4A, a wireless transceiver, a control
unit, an on/off switch, and a battery are installed within the
projectile (407,409) of the smart ammunition. A set of thin wires
(412) connect to the bottom of the cartridge, where a striking
sensor and ignition circuitry (410) are installed. Inside the
cartridge is a propellant (402).
[0021] In the embodiment (420) of FIG. 4B, an antenna (405) is
installed within the projectile of the smart ammunition. A set of
thin wires (422) connect the antenna with a wireless transceiver,
control unit and a battery (428). An on/off switch (425), ignition
circuitry (430), and a striking sensor (435) are installed at the
bottom of the cartridge. In a passive embodiment such as shown in
the embodiment (401) of FIG. 4A, the smart ammunition comprises a
passive antenna, passive authorization unit, control unit, battery
and optional active wireless transceiver all installed within the
projectile (407). A thin set of wires (412) connect to the ignition
circuitry and the striking sensor at the bottom of the cartridge
(410). In an alternative passive embodiment such as shown in the
embodiment (420) of FIG. 4B, a passive antenna and passive
authorization unit are installed within the projectile (405). A
control unit, battery and optional active wireless transceiver are
installed at the bottom of the cartridge (428). A set of thin wires
(422) connect them together. The ignition circuitry (430) and the
striking sensor (435) are installed at the bottom of the cartridge.
There is no on/off switch (425) in the passive embodiments.
[0022] FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a local
authorization server (501). This local authorization server (501)
can be integrated into a smart ammunition or attached to the
outside of the smart ammunition. It has a first antenna (510) which
is used to communicate with the smart ammunition. It has a second
antenna (502) which connects to the wireless network or a smart
phone, and the smart phone further connects to the wireless
network. In this embodiment, there are two wireless transceivers
inside the local authorization server (501). One is used to
communicate with the authorization server clusters (504). One is
used to communicate with the smart ammunitions (508). A control
unit (506) is used to control the communication between the
authorization server cluster and the smart ammunitions. An optional
GPS module can be installed and connected to the control unit so
that the geographical location information can be added when the
smart ammunitions are requested for authorization. A battery unit
(512) is used to power up the local authorization server (501).
[0023] FIG. 6A shows an embodiment of a weapon magazine (610). The
smart ammunitions (608) can be stacked into the weapon magazine as
may be done conventionally. In this embodiment, the weapon magazine
comprises a spring (604) and metal cap (606). A local authorization
server (602) may be installed at the bottom of the weapon magazine.
An antenna which communicates with the smart ammunitions of the
local authorization server may be installed at the side of weapon
magazine. Shown in (620) of FIG. 6B is a magnified view of the side
of the weapon magazine. Inside of the outer metal casing (622) of
the weapon magazine, an antenna (625) of the local smart server
(602) is installed. The antenna (625) is isolated by non-metal
layer (628) so that the smart ammunition antenna does not directly
connect to the antenna of local authorization server so that the
wireless communication can come through.
[0024] FIGS. 7A-7C illustrate how to convert a conventional gun
with a weapon magazine (720) that is integrated with the gun.
Referring to FIG. 7A, in this embodiment a thin flexible antenna
patch (702) is employed. It has the antenna loop (705) and two
wires (708, 729) which will connect to the local authorization
server (726). Referring to FIG. 7B, shown in (710) is a magnified
view of the side of the antenna patch (702). In this embodiment,
one side is the sticky non-conductive glue (712) which can be stick
onto the inside wall of the weapon magazine (720). In the middle,
it is the antenna (715, 705) layer. The outer layer is a
non-conductive layer to isolate the antenna (715, 705) from the
projectile of the smart ammunition so that the wireless
communication can be conducted. Referring to FIG. 7C, in this
embodiment a thin flexible antenna patch (725) is attached at the
internal of the weapon magazine, and connects (729) to the local
authorization sever (726) which is attached to the outside of the
weapon magazine (720). The smart ammunition (722) can be stacked
into the weapon magazine (720). A conventional spring (728) of the
weapon magazine is used to push the smart ammunition into the
weapon one by one.
* * * * *