Systems and methods for calibrating a conducted electrical weapon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10274290-B2
Application number	US-201615299343-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2016
Priority date	Aug 24, 2016
Publication date	Apr 30, 2019
Grant date	Apr 30, 2019

Abstract

Systems and methods for calibrating a conducted electrical weapon (“CEW”) to provide a predetermined amount of current for each pulse of the stimulus signal. Providing the predetermined amount of current, close thereto, increases the effectiveness of the stimulus signal in impeding locomotion of a human or animal target. The calibration process enables a CEW to calibrate the amount of charge in a pulse of the stimulus signal in the environmental conditions where the tester operates and also in the field where the environmental conditions may be different from the environmental conditions during calibration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method performed by a handle of a conducted electrical weapon (“CEW”) for determining whether a pulse of a stimulus signal provided a predetermined amount of charge, the stimulus signal for impeding locomotion of a human or animal target, the method comprising:
discharging a capacitance;
providing a current for a duration of time to charge the capacitance to a first voltage, the duration of time related to the predetermined amount of charge;
after charging, recording a magnitude of the first voltage;
discharging the capacitance;
providing a pulse of the stimulus signal, providing the pulse charges the capacitance to a second voltage, the second voltage is related to an amount of charge provided by the pulse; and
comparing the magnitude of the first voltage to a magnitude of the second voltage to determine whether the pulse provided the predetermined amount of charge.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the current comprises maintaining the current substantially constant over a range of temperature.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising responsive to comparing, adjusting an amount of charge to be provided by a next pulse of the stimulus signal so that the amount of charge provided by the next pulse is closer to the predetermined amount of charge.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising repeating discharging, providing, comparing, and adjusting to provide a further pulse of the stimulus signal.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein discharging comprises discharging the capacitance until a magnitude of a voltage across the capacitance is about zero.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the current for a duration of time comprises:
starting a timer to measure the duration of time;
starting provision of the current;
determining that the timer has measured the duration of time; and
stopping provision of the current.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein comparing comprises determining that when the magnitude of the first voltage is greater than the magnitude of the second voltage, the amount of charge provided by the pulse is less than the predetermined amount of charge.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein comparing comprises determining that when the magnitude of the first voltage is less than the magnitude of the second voltage, the amount of charge provided by the pulse is greater than the predetermined amount of charge.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit of a handle of a conducted electrical weapon (“CEW”), establish a machine performing a computer-implemented method for determining whether a pulse of a stimulus signal provided a predetermined amount of charge, the stimulus signal for impeding locomotion of a human or animal target, the method comprising:
discharging a capacitance;
providing a current for a duration of time to charge the capacitance to a first voltage, the duration of time related to the predetermined amount of charge;
after charging, recording a magnitude of the first voltage;
discharging the capacitance;
providing a pulse of the stimulus signal, providing the pulse charges the capacitance to a second voltage, the second voltage is related to an amount of charge provided by the pulse; and
comparing the magnitude of the first voltage to a magnitude of the second voltage to determine whether the pulse provided the predetermined amount of charge.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein providing the current comprises maintaining the current substantially constant over a range of temperature.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising responsive to comparing, adjusting an amount of charge to be provided by a next pulse of the stimulus signal so that the amount of charge provided by the next pulse is closer to the predetermined amount of charge.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising repeating discharging, providing, comparing, and adjusting to provide a further pulse of the stimulus signal.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein discharging comprises discharging the capacitance until a magnitude of a voltage across the capacitance is about zero.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein providing the current for a duration of time comprises:
starting a timer to measure the duration of time;
starting provision of the current;
determining that the timer has measured the duration of time; and
stopping provision of the current.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein comparing comprises determining that when the magnitude of the first voltage is greater than the magnitude of the second voltage, the amount of charge provided by the pulse is less than the predetermined amount of charge.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein comparing comprises determining that when the magnitude of the first voltage is less than the magnitude of the second voltage, the amount of charge provided by the pulse is greater than the predetermined amount of charge.

17. A handle of a conducted electrical weapon (“CEW”) for determining whether a pulse of a stimulus signal provided a predetermined amount of charge, the stimulus signal for impeding locomotion of a human or animal target, the handle comprising:
a processing circuit;
a memory;
a capacitance;
a current source;
a timer;
a signal generator that provides the stimulus signal; wherein:
the processing circuit discharges the capacitance;
the current source provides a current for a duration of time to charge the capacitance to a first voltage, the duration of time measured by the timer, the duration of time related to the predetermined amount of charge;
the processing circuit records in the memory a magnitude of the first voltage;
the processing circuit discharges the capacitance;
the signal generator provides a pulse of the stimulus signal, providing the pulse charges the capacitance to a second voltage, the second voltage is related to an amount of charge provided by the pulse; and
the processing circuit compares the magnitude of the first voltage to a magnitude of the second voltage to determine whether the pulse provided the predetermined amount of charge.

18. The handle of claim 17 further comprising a switch, wherein the processing circuit closes the switch to discharge the capacitance until a magnitude of a voltage across the capacitance is about zero.

19. The handle of claim 17 wherein for the current source to provide the current for the duration of time, the processing circuit:
initializes the timer;
starts the timer counting;
instructs the current source to provide the current;
detects the timer has counted the duration of time; and
instructs the current source to stop providing the current.

20. The handle of claim 17 wherein the current is substantially constant over a range of temperature.

21. The handle of claim 17 wherein the processing circuit determines that when the magnitude of the first voltage is greater than the magnitude of the second voltage, the amount of charge provided by the pulse is less than the predetermined amount of charge.

22. The handle of claim 17 wherein the processing circuit determines that when the magnitude of the first voltage is less than the magnitude of the second voltage, the amount of charge provided by the pulse is greater than the predetermined amount of charge.

Assignees

• Taser Int Inc

Inventors

• Nerheim Magne H
• Barber-Axthelm Valerie Renee Barry
• Goodchild Eric Heindel
• Heroor Siddharth

Classifications

• F41H13/0012 Primary

  Electrical discharge weapons, e.g. for stunning · CPC title

• G01R15/16

  using capacitive devices · CPC title

• F41H13/0025

  for remote electrical discharge via conducting wires, e.g. via wire-tethered electrodes shot at a target · CPC title

• G01R35/005

  Calibrating; Standards or reference devices, e.g. voltage or resistance standards, "golden" references (G01R33/0035, G01R35/002 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01R31/3191

  Calibration · CPC title