AMMUNITION FIRING AUTHORIZATION SYSTEM
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.
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.
BACKGROUNDAs 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In the embodiment (420) of
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.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 10, 2018
Publication Date: Oct 18, 2018
Inventors: Rebecca Reixin Du (San Ramon, CA), Xiaosong Du (San Ramon, CA)
Application Number: 15/949,204