Abstract:
A radio-frequency trigger signal system apparatus and method for transmitting a radio-frequency signal coordinated with the pulling of a trigger on a weapon such as a firearm, causing cameras on the weapon, the shooter&#39;s person, nearby persons or vehicles, and nearby fixed-position cameras to activate, if needed, to flag photographs and videos taken, and optionally to log and notify an appropriate authority of the pulling of the trigger.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention provides a radio-frequency trigger signal system apparatus and method transmitting a radio-frequency signal coordinated with the pulling of a trigger on a weapon such as a firearm, causing cameras on the weapon, on the shooter&#39;s person, on nearby persons or vehicles, and nearby fixed-position cameras to activate, if needed, to flag photographs and videos taken, and optionally to log and notify an appropriate authority of the pulling of the trigger. 
         [0002]    In law enforcement, every discharge, and even near-discharges, of a weapon such as a firearm, stun gun, or the like, is subject to review, certainly internally and possibly to the public. A variety of fixed and portable cameras, including firearm-mounted cameras, are available and are in place. These cameras are under both public and private control. In today&#39;s society, everyone with a smartphone is carrying a camera, and many homes and businesses have recording security cameras. But there is presently a lack of any system for ensuring that any given camera captures a nearby discharge or near-discharge of a weapon, and even when such events are captured by a nearby private camera, the camera owner might not be aware of it, might not be aware of a law-enforcement request for relevant photos and video, or might not ultimately check the footage of the camera for the relevant photos or video. Even cameras under law-enforcement control are vulnerable to having their contents overlooked or overwritten. 
         [0003]    There is a need for a system to ensure that every discharge, and possibly near-discharges, of firearms and weapons is captured by every available nearby camera, and that such photos and video are flagged so they may be identified and its destruction may thereby be prevented. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The present invention is a radio-frequency trigger signal system apparatus and method that transmits a radio-frequency signal coordinated with the pulling of a trigger on a weapon such as a firearm, causing cameras on the weapon, on the shooter&#39;s person, on nearby persons or vehicles, and nearby fixed-position cameras to activate, if needed, to flag photographs and videos taken, and optionally to log and notify an appropriate authority of the pulling of the trigger. 
         [0005]    This invention helps solve the problems associated with not having more complete information about circumstances surrounding the discharge of weapons 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0006]    Reference will now be made to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals, and wherein: 
           [0007]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of the radio-frequency trigger signal system in use by law-enforcement personnel; 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a schematic close view of the radio-frequency trigger signal system in use; 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of an embodiment of the radio-frequency trigger signal system; 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view of another embodiment of the radio-frequency trigger signal system having a trigger lock; and 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view of an embodiment of the radio-frequency trigger signal system in use during a crime. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]    Referring to  FIG. 1  and the other figures generally, the radio-frequency trigger signal system method and apparatus  100  are shown schematically in use, in a law-enforcement scenario with two law officers confronting a person, where one law officer has a firearm ready to shoot, and there will likely be a question about the appearance and actions of the confronted person. The law officers are both wearing cameras, the firearm has a mounted camera, the vehicle has a camera mounted on the dashboard, a nearby utility pole has an observation camera mounted, and a nearby private home or business also has an observation or security camera mounted. 
         [0013]    The radio-frequency trigger signal system method and apparatus  100  provides a signal-transmitting unit  10  affixed onto or into the firearm, and several signal-receiving units  20 , one each in the various cameras. Upon the pulling of the trigger of the firearm, a radio-frequency signal is transmitted or broadcast from the signal-transmitting unit  10  and is received by the signal-receiving units  20  affixed onto or into the various nearby cameras. Each signal-receiving unit  20  activates its associated camera to begin capturing photos or videos, if the camera is not already activated. Each signal-receiving unit  20  also flags the photos or videos captured by a camera at the time of the trigger pull. This flagging identifies the relevant photos and video segments for fast retrieval, and locks those portions against accidental or intentional erasure. Optionally, one or more of the cameras, if it has telecommunications capabilities, can notify an appropriate authority about the trigger pull, and optionally can upload the flagged photos or video. In the  FIG. 1  scenario, the observation camera on the utility pole is likely to be under the control of a governmental authority, and is likely to have a permanent wired or wireless communication link with the authority, and would therefore be the most likely camera to have the optional ability to notify the authority in real time. If the signal-receiving unit  20  of this invention is made available to private homes and businesses, then such private parties could be notified that they have flagged photos and videos that are likely to be of interest to law enforcement, leaving the communication up to the private party, or the private party could choose and agree to have its system make an automatic notification or an automatic upload. 
         [0014]    In a military or law-enforcement scenario, where an authority has the means to install a signal-transmitting unit  10  on every firearm, stun gun, or other weapon, and install a signal-receiving unit  20  in every body-cam, dash-cam, or weapon-mounted camera, and probably on public observation cameras as well, the system of this invention can provide essentially complete coverage of all trigger-pull incidents of personnel under the control of that authority. 
         [0015]    Referring briefly to  FIG. 5 , schematically showing an armed-robbery scenario, the robber&#39;s firearm has a signal-transmitting unit  10  which activates the signal-receiving units  20  of the premise&#39;s security cameras. For this scenario to work in practice, all firearms would have to be equipped with a signal-transmitting unit  10 , probably at the time of manufacture and as a compulsory retrofit. This would likely require legislation, but would provide a possible solution to private-ownership-of-guns issues. The possession and use of firearms would not be limited by this invention, but each trigger pull in a public space would be automatically, compulsorily self-reporting. 
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a closer schematic view of the signal-transmitting unit  10  affixed onto or into an automatic pistol, and signal-receiving units  20  affixed onto or into a pistol-mounted camera and a chest-mounted body camera. In an embodiment of the invention, it can be configured such that only these two cameras, and no others, are activated upon a trigger pull. The basic embodiment of the invention, however, is designed to activate every available camera nearby, or at least every camera controlled by any given authority, such as dash-cams and body-cams of nearby personnel. 
         [0017]    Referring now to  FIG. 3  &amp;  FIG. 4 , more detail of the invention will be given. In the non-impeding embodiment of  FIG. 3 , the subunits of the signal-transmitting unit  10  are the power source  11 , trigger-pull sensor  12 , and radio-frequency transmitter  13 . In the impeding embodiment of  FIG. 4 , an additional subunit, a trigger lock  14 , is additionally provided. 
         [0018]    The power source  11  can be a battery or capacitor capable of storing sufficient energy to drive occasional brief short-range radio-frequency transmissions. The power source should be small and unobtrusive so that it can be incorporated onto or into the weapon easily. Batteries of the type used in watches, hearing aids, and wireless headsets are appropriate. In a firearm having a common power source for distribution to attached auxiliary gear, the common power source can be tapped to act as the power source  11  or as a secondary, backup, or recharging source. 
         [0019]    The supplying of power, or activation, of the signal-transmitting unit  10  can be controlled by the safety mechanism of the firearm or one of the safety mechanisms of modern firearms. Disengaging the safety activates the signal-transmitting unit  10 . This ensures automatic activation of the signal-transmitting unit  10  before the firearm can possibly be fired, but does not impose and cannot impose any additional limitation on the use of the firearm. Even in the event of a malfunction of the signal-transmitting unit  10 , there is no mechanism for the unit to limit the operation of the firearm, in the non-impeding embodiment of the invention. In the impeding embodiment of the invention, a trigger lock  14  mechanism is provided that can positively lock and prevent pulling of the trigger if the signal-transmitting unit  10  is disabled or bypassed. 
         [0020]    The trigger-pull sensor  12  activates upon the pulling of the trigger of the weapon by a set predetermined amount. It might be desirable to send a signal upon a slight or moderate pulling of the trigger which does not yet fire the weapon. On the other hand, it might be desirable to send a signal only upon the actual firing of the weapon. Optionally, the invention can be configured to sense the different trigger pulls and to send different signals corresponding to each. The trigger of a firearm is a mechanical, moving unit, and the trigger-pull sensor  12  can sense such movement without touching, impeding, or affecting the action of the trigger in any way, in both the functioning and possible malfunctioning state. 
         [0021]    Many modern firearms have trigger modules, sometimes of the drop-in or interchangeable sort. The signal-transmitting unit  10 , or at least the trigger-pull sensor  12  subunit, is most sensibly placed near, or even in, the trigger module, so that the mechanical action of the trigger can be sensed. The system of the invention can even be incorporated into trigger modules or into the body of the firearm at the time of manufacture or as a retrofit. 
         [0022]    The radio-frequency transmitter  13  subunit of the signal-transmitting unit  10  generates and broadcasts a radio-frequency signal coordinated with the pulling of the trigger and activation of the trigger-pull sensor  12 . The signal is only meant to reach nearby signal-receiving units  20 , and does not need to be very powerful or very long in duration. The invention can use, for example, the publicly accessible frequencies around 2.4 Gigahertz or 5 Gigahertz. Governmental users of the invention will also have access to other frequency bands. The signal should be encoded so that stray signals do not activate the signal-receiving units  20 . Optionally, an encoded identifier representing a group of firearms or specific serialized firearms can be provided, and can be included in the reporting and logging of trigger pulls. 
         [0023]    In a camera that is either already recording or is designed to keep at least several seconds of photos or video in a rolling buffer, the invention can capture and flag the moments preceding a trigger-pull event, which are likely to provide additional important information. 
         [0024]    Many changes and modifications can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit thereof. I therefore pray that my rights to the present invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.