Systems and methods for calibrating a conducted electrical weapon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10451386-B2
Application number	US-201615299226-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2016
Priority date	Aug 24, 2016
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 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 calibrating the handle to provide a predetermined amount of charge by a pulse of a stimulus signal, the stimulus signal for impeding locomotion of a human or animal target, the method comprising:
performing an operation of the handle to provide a first pulse of the stimulus signal to a tester;
receiving a message regarding an amount of charge provided by the first pulse of the stimulus signal to the tester, the amount of charge measured by the tester;
determining that the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge; and
responsive to determining that the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge, recording indicia related to the operation of the handle whereby each time the handle is operated in accordance with the indicia the amount of charge provided by a subsequent pulse of the stimulus signal is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the indicia comprises at least one of a voltage across a capacitance prior to providing the pulse and a voltage across a capacitance after providing the pulse.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein recording comprises:
measuring an elapse of time required to charge a capacitance to a voltage that is related to the predetermined amount of charge; and
storing a duration of the elapsed time.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining that the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge comprises determining that the amount of charge is within a range between the predetermined amount of charge minus three microcoulombs and the predetermined amount of charge plus three microcoulombs.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining that the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge comprises determining that the amount of charge is within a range of the predetermined amount of charge plus or minus five percent.

6. A method performed by a handle of a conducted electrical weapon (“CEW”) for calibrating the handle to provide a predetermined amount of charge by a pulse of a stimulus signal, the stimulus signal for impeding locomotion of a human or animal target, the method comprising:
performing an operation of the handle to provide a first pulse of the stimulus signal to a tester, wherein providing the pulse further charges a capacitance of the handle to a voltage;
receiving a message regarding an amount of charge provided by the first pulse of the stimulus signal to the tester, the amount of charge measured by the tester;
determining that the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge;
responsive to determining that the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge:
discharging the capacitance;
providing a current to charge the capacitance; and
measuring indicia related to charging the capacitance to the voltage; and

recording the indicia whereby each time the handle is operated in accordance with the indicia the amount of charge provided by a subsequent pulse of the stimulus signal is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein recording comprises:
measuring an elapse of time required to charge the capacitance to the voltage; and
storing a duration of the elapsed time.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein recording comprises storing the indicia.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein recording comprises recording at least one of the voltage and a duration of an elapse of time.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein recording comprises recording at least one of the voltage and a duration of an elapse of time required to charge the capacitance to the voltage.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein determining comprises comparing a magnitude of the amount of charge to a magnitude of the predetermined amount of charge.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein determining that the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge comprises determining that the amount of charge is within a range between the predetermined amount of charge minus three microcoulombs and the predetermined amount of charge plus three microcoulombs.

13. The method of claim 6 wherein determining that the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge comprises determining that the amount of charge is within a range of the predetermined amount of charge plus or minus five percent.

14. A handle of a conducted electrical weapon (“CEW”) that cooperates with a provided tester for calibrating a stimulus signal of the handle, the stimulus signal for impeding locomotion of a human or animal target, the handle comprising:
a processing circuit;
a signal generator; wherein the processing circuit:
performs an operation of the handle to provide a first pulse of the stimulus signal from the signal generator to the tester;
receives a message regarding an amount of charge provided by the first pulse of stimulus signal to the tester, the amount of charge measured by the tester;
determines that the amount of charge is about the same as a predetermined amount of charge; and
responsive to determining that the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge, records indicia related to the operation of the handle whereby each time the handle is operated in accordance with the indicia the amount of charge provided by a subsequent pulse of stimulus signal is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge.

15. The handle of claim 14 wherein the indicia of the handle are measured after the operation of the handle.

16. The handle of claim 14 wherein the indicia of the handle comprises at least one of a voltage and an elapse of time.

17. The handle of claim 14 wherein the processing circuit compares the amount of charge to the predetermined amount of charge to determine whether the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount charge.

18. The handle of claim 14 wherein the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge when the amount of charge is the predetermined amount of charge plus or minus three microcoulombs.

19. The handle of claim 14 wherein the amount of charge is about the same as the predetermined amount of charge when the amount of charge is the predetermined amount of charge plus or minus five percent of the predetermined amount of charge.

Assignees

• Axon Entpr 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

• G01R35/005

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

• G01R17/02

  Arrangements in which the value to be measured is automatically compared with a reference value · CPC title

• F41H13/0025

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

• G01R31/385

  Arrangements for measuring battery or accumulator variables (for monitoring G01R31/382) · CPC title