Patent Publication Number: US-2021180899-A1

Title: Firearm safety mechanisms, visual safety indicators, and related techniques

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/901,899, filed Sep. 18, 2019, entitled “Firearm Safety Mechanisms, Visual Safety Indicators, and Related Techniques,” which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The techniques described herein are generally related to firearm safety mechanisms, visual safety indicators, and related firearm techniques. More specifically, the techniques provide for electronically controlled, mechanically operated grip safety mechanisms. The techniques also provide for visual indicators, such as laser sites, that can be used to indicate when a firearm can be fired and/or to indicate other aspects of the firearm (including the user&#39;s interaction with the firearm). 
     BACKGROUND 
     Generally, a firearm is a device that is designed to expel a projectile (e.g., a bullet) through the barrel of the firearm upon action of an explosive (e.g., gunpowder within a casing of a cartridge that also holds the bullet). Firearms often include a trigger configured to actuate a firing pin to strike a fuse of the cartridge to action the explosive, which causes the bullet to be expelled through the barrel of the firearm. Such interaction of the firing pin to the fuse is often controlled by depressing the trigger. Firearms can include one or more safety mechanisms designed to prevent intentional and/or unintentional firing (e.g., by locking the trigger and/or preventing the firing pin from contacting the fuse). For example, some firearms include a grip safety comprised of a single back-strap that is located along the back portion of the firearm grip. Such grip safeties can be designed to require a firearm operator to depress the back-strap safety while engaging the trigger in order to fire the firearm. Otherwise, if the trigger is engaged without depressing the back-strap safety, the firearm will not fire. Such safeties can be designed to require a certain hand size and/or hand strength, which can limit the ability of most children to fire the weapon. However, such safeties are typically purely mechanical safeties that cannot prevent unauthorized adult use. 
     Another example of a firearms safety is an external mechanical safety switch that has two or three positions (e.g., safe mode and semi-auto mode, or safe mode, semi-auto mode, and auto mode). Such safeties can be operated by both children and adults, and therefore cannot be used to limit use to just adults that are authorized to use the firearm. Further, such safeties can be cumbersome to use and can fail to provide quick and safe firearm use in situations, such as emergency situations. For example, a user may raise the weapon to a target without disengaging the safety. As another example, a user may properly deactivate the safety when raising the weapon to a target, but fail to activate the safety when lowering the weapon from the target, such that the firearm unintentionally remains in use. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     Some embodiments relate to a firearm. The firearm includes a handle that includes one or more sensors disposed at least partially within a surface of the handle, such that the one or more sensors can be in contact with an operator&#39;s hand when the operator grasps the handle. The firearm also includes a trigger that is actuatable to fire the firearm. The firearm also includes a safety mechanism in mechanical communication with the trigger, wherein the safety mechanism has a first position that blocks actuation of the trigger, and a second position that does not block actuation of the trigger. The firearm also includes at least one processor in electrical communication with the safety mechanism, the one or more sensors, and a memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: receive data from the one or more sensors; process the received data to determine whether the data is indicative of sufficient contact of the operator&#39;s hand with the one or more sensors; and upon determining the data is indicative of sufficient contact, transmitting a signal to the safety mechanism to change the safety mechanism from the first position to the second position so that the firearm can be fired by the operator. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the features of the disclosed subject matter in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the disclosed subject matter that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES 
       Various objectives, features, and advantages of the disclosed subject matter can be more fully appreciated with reference to the following detailed description of the disclosed subject matter when considered in connection with the following drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements. 
         FIGS. 1A-1B  is a diagram of a firearm with an example of an electrically controlled, mechanically operated safety, according to some embodiments; 
         FIG. 1C  is a diagram showing other exemplary locations for a set of sensors to allow the user to program the sensors for locking and/or unlocking the firing mechanism, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram showing an example of the points on a person&#39;s hand that contact mechanical aspects of the electrically controlled, mechanically operated safety, according to some embodiments; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram showing a handshake process for authenticating a user to a firearm with an electrically controlled, mechanically operated safety, according to some embodiments; and 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram showing an example of a visual indicator that can be used in conjunction with an electrically controlled, mechanically operated safety, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram showing an example of a visual indicator of the firearms status to aid the user, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 6  shows an illustrative implementation of a system that may be used to perform any of the aspects of the embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The techniques described herein provide for electronically controlled, mechanically operated (ECMO) firearm safeties. The ECMO safety system can include a mechanical safety component, such as a back-strap safety and/or other type of mechanical safety component (e.g., a set of pressure sensors incorporated into the firearm grip). The ECMO safety system can include electronic components (e.g., within the housing of the firearm) that are used to authenticate a user to use the firearm. The ECMO safety system can include a visual indicator on a target, such as a colored laser site, a colored dot (e.g., a red dot site), a reflex site, and/or the like to visually indicate the state of the firearm (e.g., locked, unlocked, etc.). The ECMO safety system can include a battery to power the electronics (e.g., also within the housing of the firearm). The ECMO safety system can include a recharging component to recharge the battery, which can include a port on the outside of the firearm for connecting the firearm to a recharging station. In operation, a user can authenticate the firearm to enable the grip safety, and then depress the safety to enable the trigger to be depressed. 
     In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth regarding the systems and methods of the disclosed subject matter and the environment in which such systems and methods may operate, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed subject matter. In addition, it will be understood that the examples provided below are exemplary, and that it is contemplated that there are other systems and methods that are within the scope of the disclosed subject matter. 
     According to some embodiments, the ECMO safety system includes a set of sensors.  FIGS. 1A-1C  are diagrams of a firearm with examples of an electrically controlled, mechanically operated safety, according to some embodiments. As shown in  FIGS. 1A-1B , the firearm includes an ECMO safety with three mechanical components: backstrap component  106 , and side components  102  and  104 . The mechanical components are designed to require contact by a user&#39;s hand, as shown in  FIG. 1B  and  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a diagram showing an example of the points on a person&#39;s hand that contact mechanical aspects of the electrically controlled, mechanically operated safety, according to some embodiments. Contact point  206  contacts mechanical component  102 , contact point  204  contacts mechanical component  104 , and contact point  202  contacts mechanical component  106 . 
     While  FIGS. 1A-1B  show an ECMO safety system with three mechanical components (e.g., the side components  102 / 104  and the backstrap component  106 ), it should be appreciated that this is for illustrative purposes, as any number of mechanical components can be used to carry out the techniques described herein. Further, it should be appreciated that other arrangements of the sensors and/or locations of the sensors can be used to carry out the techniques described herein.  FIG. 1C  is a diagram showing other exemplary locations for a set of one or more sensors to allow the user to program the sensors for locking and/or unlocking the firing mechanism, according to some embodiments. As shown in  FIG. 1C , one or more sensors can be located along the front of the grip  150  of the handle of the firearm. For example, a first sensor can be placed at the top location  150 A, a second sensor can be placed at the middle location  150 B, and/or a third sensor can be placed at the bottom location  150 C. 
     According to some embodiments, the side components  102 / 104  and the backstrap component  106  can be sensors. For example, the sensors can be pressure-sensitive sensors within the grip of the handle. The pressure sensor can be a device that senses pressure and converts it into an electric signal where the amount depends upon the pressure applied. According to some embodiments, the pressure sensors can be hidden within the grip, such that the sensors are not visible to the user. As a non-limiting example of a pressure sensor that could be used according to the techniques described herein, pressure sensors available from TE Connectivity (TE) could be employed within the handle of the firearm. TE provides both standard and custom pressure sensors, from board level components to fully amplified and packaged transducers. Based on piezoresistive Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and silicon strain gauge (Microfused, Krystal Bond) technology, TE&#39;s sensors can be used to measure a range of pressures that can be applied by an operator&#39;s hand. For example, assume the average adult male can achieve around 110 pounds (50 kg) of force in one hand and the average woman can achieve 66 pounds (30 kg) of force, the sensors can be configured to sense pressure over an area (e.g., in psi) sufficient to indicate that an adult male or female is grasping the handle of the firearm. 
     According to some embodiments, the sensors can be in electrical communication with a power source (e.g., a battery) and one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media (memory and/or non-volatile storage device(s)). The one or more processors may control writing data to and reading data from the non-transitory media in any suitable manner, as the aspects of the invention described herein are not limited in this respect. To perform functionality and/or techniques described herein, the processor(s) may execute one or more instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media, which may serve as non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions for execution by the processor. 
     An illustrative implementation of a system  600  that may be used to perform any of the aspects of the techniques and embodiments disclosed herein is shown in  FIG. 6 . The system  600  can be disposed in, for example, a firearm as described herein. The system  600  may include one or more processors  610  and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media (e.g., memory  620  and/or one or more non-volatile storage media  630 ) and a set of one or more sensors  640 . The processor  610  may control writing data to and reading data from the memory  620  and the non-volatile storage device  630  in any suitable manner, as the aspects of the invention described herein are not limited in this respect. To perform functionality and/or techniques described herein, the processor  610  may execute one or more instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (e.g., the memory  620 , storage media, etc.), which may serve as non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions for execution by the processor  610 . 
     In connection with techniques described herein, code used to, for example, provide electronic control of a firearm based on the one or more sensors  640  may be stored on one or more computer-readable storage media of system  600 . Processor  610  may execute any such code to provide any techniques for providing an ECMO, as described herein. Any other software, programs or instructions described herein may also be stored and executed by system  600 . It will be appreciated that computer code may be applied to any aspects of methods and techniques described herein. For example, computer code may be applied to interact with an operating system to provide an ECMO as described herein through conventional operating system processes. While not shown, the system  600  can include one or more mechanical locking aspects used to control the locking and unlocking of the firearm. 
     According to some embodiments, the processor  610  can be configured to execute computer program instructions that cause the processor to monitor data from the sensor(s)  640  and determine, based on the monitored data, whether to unlock the firearm for use. As described herein, the ECMO can be designed to require a certain degree of contact of a user&#39;s hand to the firearm in order to activate the firearm for use. For example, the processor  610  can be programmed to require receiving data indicative of a certain level of pressure from each of the sensors  640  prior to unlocking the firearm (e.g., at least 70% of the expected pressure for sufficient contact to each sensor). According to some embodiments, the pressure required at each sensor  640  can be that sufficient to require an adult hand to activate the firearm, such that a child&#39;s hand will not be able to sufficiently exert pressure at each of the sensors (which are spaced out accordingly) to activate the firearm. 
     According to some embodiments, the operation of the ECMO sensors can be customized for each user. For example, the ECMO can be adjusted to fit the operation of the ECMO sensors to each particular user, since hand sizes, grips, and/or the like may vary from individual to individual. For example, a remote computing device can pair with the firearm to control the settings of the ECMO. 
     According to some embodiments, an authentication process (e.g., a wireless pairing process, a fingerprint authentication, etc.) can be used in conjunction with the ECMO.  FIG. 3  is a diagram showing a handshake process  302  for authenticating a user to a firearm  304  with an electrically controlled, mechanically operated safety, according to some embodiments. A user can wear an authentication device  306  as shown in  FIG. 3 . The authentication device can be a smart watch and/or any other type of authentication device, such as a smartphone, RFID-enabled ring, a device that includes an authentication hardware and/or circuitry, and/or the like. Once the authentication device is within a certain distance, shown as “X” in  FIG. 3  (e.g., a proximity that is supported by Bluetooth, RFID, etc.), the authentication device is configured to perform a handshake process with the ECMO safety to authenticate the user to use the firearm. The processor used to implement the ECMO can include wireless communication functionality (e.g., RFID, Bluetooth, etc.). For example, while not shown in  FIG. 6 , the processor  610  can include wireless communication functionality that allows the processor  610  to wirelessly communicate with the authentication device  306 . 
     The ECMO safety can provide similar advantages as traditional mechanical grip safeties, and also provide further advantages not attainable by conventional grip safeties. In some embodiments, the ECMO safety can be configured to work in conjunction with various authentication methods (e.g., pin codes, RFID, etc.) to actuate the ECMO safety. For example, whether using a pin code, active/passive token pairing, and/or other authentication techniques, the authentication process can be used as a step that must be completed in order to render the firearm usable. For example, even if a mechanical portion of the safety is activated (e.g., such as by depressing a back strap and/or by applying sufficient pressure to the ECMO sensors), the firearm is not usable until completion of the authentication process. Thus, the pairing process provides an authentication step that is not available with other existing mechanical safeties. 
     In some embodiments, the ECMO safety can be configured for use with conventional firearms lacking any authentication features. For example, the ECMO safety can be deployed in rifle-style firearms, such as AR-15 rifles. Such firearms often include an external mechanical safety with two or three positions, as described herein. Rifles often include such safeties because they are sling carried, and therefore do not have a holster (e.g., like with pistols) or other mechanism to cover the trigger to protect the trigger from inadvertent actuation. The techniques described herein can be used to eliminate such an external safety and instead use an ECMO grip safety. Use of such a grip safety can, for example, make training for such firearms much simpler. 
     Another example of an advantage provided by the ECMO safety is that users can configure an activation time period such that, once activated, the firearm remains in an authenticated state and does not require re-authentication until after the authentication time period. For example, a user can authenticate the firearm to enable the grip safety. Once authentication is complete, as described herein the user can depress the safety (e.g., either by pressure or by mechanical operation) to enable the trigger to be depressed. Once authenticated and operated, the firearm can remain in an active state for the activation time period, such that the user can simply fire the firearm without needing to re-authenticate the firearm and/or to mechanically actuate the safety again. For example, for a safety with a mechanical component actuated when the user grabs the grip of the firearm, if the user removes his or her hand from the firearm, the safety can be configured to maintain the firearm in an active ready state for the activation time period (e.g., which can be pre-configured and/or determined by the user). 
     Firearms can include a light (e.g., a LED light) or other indicator on the firearm to indicate a status of the firearm. For example, some firearms include a colored light that is visible in the user&#39;s field of view, such as a light that is disposed on the slide of a firearm in a position that is visible to the user when aiming the firearm. The light can change color to indicate whether the firearm is not usable (e.g., red) or is usable (e.g., green). However, such lights can be difficult to use, and can consume a lot of unnecessary power. 
     The techniques described herein provide a visual indicator on a target, such as a colored laser site, a colored dot (e.g., a red dot site), a reflex site, and/or the like to visually indicate the state of the firearm (e.g., locked, unlocked, etc.). For example, a laser site can be used that projects a laser or pattern onto the target. The color of the laser, or simply the presence of the laser at all, can be used to indicate the state of the firearm. For example, if the firearm is locked, the laser can be off and/or project a color that indicates the firearm is locked (e.g., red). Once the firearm is unlocked, the laser site can be turned on (e.g., a red laser site can appear), and/or the color of the laser site can change (e.g., from red to green). As another example, a reflex site can be used that includes a reticle used to aim at the target. The presence of the reticle can be used to indicate whether the firearm is locked. For example, if the firearm is locked, then no reticle is present and/or the reticle can be displayed in a color that indicates the firearm is locked. If the firearm is unlocked, then the reticle can be present and/or the color can be changed to a color that indicates the firearm is active. A separate power source can be used for the visual indicator, and/or the visual indicator can share the same power source used for the ECMO safety. As described herein, in some embodiments the firearm can include a recharge port that can be used to recharge the power source(s) of the firearm, which can include a recharge port for the power source of the laser. 
       FIG. 4  is a diagram showing an example of a visual indicator that can be used in conjunction with an electrically controlled, mechanically operated safety, according to some embodiments. In the example of  FIG. 4 , the visual indicator is mounted under the barrel of the firearm and arranged such that a laser  402  is projected from the firearm (e.g., onto a target). The laser  402  can be used to indicate the state of the firearm, as described herein. In some embodiments, the laser  402  can be used to indicate other aspects of the firearm, such as when an operator&#39;s finger is placed into the trigger guard, as shown by location  404 . 
     In some embodiments, after the ECMO safety is activated (e.g., by authenticating a user to the firearm and engaging the safety mechanism), other visual indicators can be activated to alert the user that the firearm is ready to shoot.  FIG. 5  is a diagram showing an example of a visual indicator  502  (e.g., a colored light) of the firearm to indicate the firearm status to aid the user, according to some embodiments. As described herein, the visual indicator  502  the visual indicator  502  is electrically controlled, such that the visual indicator can be turned on and off based on the ECMO safety, an authentication process, a user placing their index finger in the trigger guard, and/or the like. Such a visual indicator can have one or more advantages over existing techniques. For example, compared to colored lights on a firearm, the laser sight techniques described herein are instinctive because having a laser (or dot) appear where round will impact is easier to understand than a light in the user&#39;s field of view. The techniques described herein can also save power and extend battery life. For example, as described herein some embodiments do not activate the laser site until the firearm is ready to shoot, which can save power compared to systems that always illuminate a light on the firearm. 
     As another example, the techniques described herein can force users to use laser sites, which can help improve gun safety. For example, current data suggests that only approximately 13% percent of rounds fired by police officers in the field actually hit the intended target. This low percentage can be caused by the gun being fired before proper sight alignment through the iron sights. Using a laser site can help improve this percentage. 
     As a further example, the techniques can be used to alert a user to other aspects of the firearm (e.g., other than simply whether the firearm is ready to shoot), which can help improve gun safety. For example, as described in conjunction with  FIG. 4 , the techniques can be used to alert users when they have their finger in the trigger guard  404 . Such additional indicators can be used to present real-time indicators of the user&#39;s operation of the firearm, which can help reduce the number of firearm accidents. 
     The various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded as software that is executable on one or more processors that employ any one of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, such software may be written using any of numerous suitable programming languages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may be compiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code that is executed on a virtual machine or a suitable framework. 
     In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compact discs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuit configurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductor devices, etc.) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more computers or other processors, implement the various embodiments of the present invention. The non-transitory computer-readable medium or media may be transportable, such that the program or programs stored thereon may be loaded onto any computer resource to implement various aspects of the present invention as discussed above. 
     The terms “program,” “software,” and/or “application” are used herein in a generic sense to refer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executable instructions that can be employed to program a computer or other processor to implement various aspects of embodiments as discussed above. Additionally, it should be appreciated that according to one aspect, one or more computer programs that when executed perform methods of the present invention need not reside on a single computer or processor, but may be distributed in a modular fashion among different computers or processors to implement various aspects of the present invention. 
     Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. 
     Also, data structures may be stored in non-transitory computer-readable storage media in any suitable form. Data structures may have fields that are related through location in the data structure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigning storage for the fields with locations in a non-transitory computer-readable medium that convey relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanism may be used to establish relationships among information in fields of a data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or other mechanisms that establish relationships among data elements. 
     It is to be understood that the disclosed subject matter is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The disclosed subject matter is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
     As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods, and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the disclosed subject matter. It is important, therefore, that the description provided herein be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the disclosed subject matter. 
     Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements. 
     Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and variations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. 
     The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment, implementation, process, feature, etc. described herein as exemplary should therefore be understood to be an illustrative example and should not be understood to be a preferred or advantageous example unless otherwise indicated. 
     Although the disclosed subject matter has been described and illustrated in the foregoing exemplary embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example, and that numerous changes in the details of implementation of the disclosed subject matter may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed subject matter.