Self calibrating weapon shot counter
OwnerRobert Ufer, Kenneth Lee Brinkleyinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A microcontroller operated module is affixed to a firearm. The module includes an accelerometer for measuring the G force of each round fired by the firearm, a flash memory (non-volatile memory) for storing the shot profile data that includes shot count and recoil data and transmitting it to a remote location such as a remote computer via a serial communication device pursuant to RS232 standard, Bluetooth, a wave or other low power RF transmitter. The module including a wake up circuit adapted to switch upon detection of a fired shot to signal said microcontroller to initialize a low power mode to activate said MEMS accelerometer faster than said accelerometer would activate by itself.
Claims45
A shot device for recording and transmitting shot profile data of shots fired from a firearm, comprising:
- A microcontroller operated module affixed to a firearm;
- said module comprising a MEMS accelerometer including at least one normally closed switch for measuring the G force of each round fired by the firearm, a non volatile memory for storing the shot profile data that includes shot count and recoil data a serial communication device for transmitting said stored shot profile data to a remote location via an RF signal;
- and a wake up circuit adapted to switch upon detection of a fired shot to signal said microcontroller to initialize a low power mode to activate said at least one normally closed switch of said MEMS accelerometer faster than said accelerometer would activate by itself.
A method for self calibrating a shot counter, the steps comprising:
- Communicating by an active two way communications link between a computer such as a PC and a shot counter;
- Inputting specific round of ammunition shot data to the computer by a user;
- Configuring said shot counter to send complete engineering data profiles;
- and
- Analyzing shot profile information including temperature and optionally method of mounting and determines a most suitable set of calibration parameters from a pre-loaded set by said computer, wherein said set of parameters selected is that which provides a greatest margin between a metrics of a shot detection algorithm and thresholds established.
A method for a shot counter including a microcontroller to determine if a shot was fired and if it was a blank or a bullet and other information about the shot, the steps comprising:
- processing by said shot counter the data to derive certain higher level metrics;
- storing said higher level metrics in said memory wherein said higher level metrics includes data as to whether a shot was fired;
- if a round was a blank or a bullet;
- a maximum amplitude of a shot signal;
- accumulative sum of the shot signal;
- duration of a bullet traversing the barrel of said firearm;
- and/or an indication of a strength of a round.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.