Weapon system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10969202-B2
Application number	US-201916275955-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2019
Priority date	Feb 14, 2018
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

A weapon system for a firearm having a barrel includes a powered accessory rail interface having an upper accessory rail and a lower accessory rail. A first accessory device is removably attachable to the upper accessory rail and is configured to receive electrical power and data signals over the powered accessory rail interface. A second accessory device is removably attachable to the lower accessory rail, the second accessory device configured to receive electrical power and data signals over the powered accessory rail interface. A power supply is electrically coupled to the powered accessory rail interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A weapon system for a firearm having a barrel, the weapon system comprising:
a powered accessory rail interface having an upper accessory rail and a lower accessory rail;
a first accessory device removably attachable to the upper accessory rail, the first accessory device configured to receive electrical power and data signals over the powered accessory rail interface;
a second accessory device removably attachable to the lower accessory rail, the second accessory device configured to receive electrical power and data signals over the powered accessory rail interface;
a power supply electrically coupled to the powered accessory rail interface; and
a first RFID reader.

2. The weapon system of claim 1 , wherein the powered accessory rail comprises an upper handguard and a lower handguard opposing the upper handguard, the upper handguard and lower handguard cooperating to form a sleeve around the barrel.

3. The weapon system of claim 2 , wherein the powered accessory rail further comprises an electrical circuit within the sleeve.

4. The weapon system of claim 3 , wherein at least a portion of the electrical circuit is formed on a flexible circuit substrate.

5. The weapon system of claim 2 , wherein the upper accessory rail is attached to the upper handguard.

6. The weapon system of claim 5 , further comprising an accessory mounting pad on the upper handguard, the accessory mounting pad configured to removably retain the first accessory device.

7. The weapon system of claim 2 , wherein the lower accessory rail is attached to the lower handguard.

8. The weapon system of claim 2 , wherein the power supply is a battery box electrically coupled to the lower accessory rail.

9. The weapon system of claim 8 , further comprising a battery level circuit for determining a charge level of one or more batteries located in the battery box.

10. The weapon system of claim 9 , wherein the RF transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.

11. The weapon system of claim 8 , further comprising an RF transceiver.

12. The weapon system of claim 8 , wherein the first RFID reader is located in the battery box.

13. The weapon system of claim 12 , further comprising one or ammunition magazines, each of the one or more ammunition magazines having an RFID chip readable by the RFID reader, the RFID chip configured to transmit information representative of ammunition type to the first RFID reader.

14. The weapon system of claim 2 , wherein the power supply is housed within a pistol grip of the firearm.

15. The weapon system of claim 14 , further comprising an RF transceiver.

16. The weapon system of claim 15 , wherein the RF transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.

17. The weapon system of claim 15 , further comprising a remote programming fob configured to transmit one or more user program settings to the weapon system via the RF transceiver.

18. The weapon system of claim 17 , wherein the remote programming fob is programmable with one or more of a computer, laptop, and mobile computing device.

19. The weapon system of claim 15 , wherein the weapon system is programmable via the RF transceiver with one or more of a computer, laptop, and mobile computing device.

20. The weapon system of claim 14 , further comprising a second RFID reader.

21. The weapon system of claim 20 , further comprising tactical glove with a RFID chip readable by the second RFID reader, the RFID chip configured to transmit user-identifying information to the second RFID reader.

22. The weapon system of claim 21 , further comprising a safety mechanism housed within the pistol grip, the safety mechanism configured to prevent operation of the firearm when the tactical glove with RFID chip is not in proximity to the second RFID reader.

23. The weapon system of claim 22 , wherein the safety mechanism comprises a plunger and a solenoid configured to selectively lock and unlock a trigger mechanism of the firearm.

24. The weapon system of claim 14 , wherein the pistol grip further comprises a battery level circuit for determining a charge level of one or more batteries located within the pistol grip.

25. The weapon system of claim 14 , wherein the pistol grip includes one or more user input devices for controlling operation of the weapon system, the one or more user input devices selected from the group consisting of one or more buttons, a keypad, a rotary encoder, or any combination thereof.

26. The weapon system of claim 1 , wherein the first accessory device comprises a processor and a memory associated with the processor, the memory storing a program of instructions for execution by the processor.

27. The weapon system of claim 26 , wherein the program of instructions comprises a ballistic calculation module, wherein ballistic calculations are based on a distance to target and at least one of ammunition type, a property of the barrel, and a rate of fire of the firearm.

28. The weapon system of claim 27 , wherein the property of barrel is selected from the group consisting of barrel whip, barrel harmonics, barrel temperature, or any combination of the foregoing.

29. The weapon system of claim 27 , further comprising an ammunition database stored in the memory, the ammunition database containing ballistic properties of a plurality of ammunition types for use by the ballistics calculation module.

30. The weapon system of claim 26 , further comprising one or more data logs in the memory, the one or more data logs for storing information relating to the firearm.

31. The weapon system of claim 30 , wherein the information relating to the firearm is selected from the group consisting of: a distance to target, a number of ammunition rounds fired by the firearm, barrel temperature, barrel life expectancy, barrel wear, projectile velocity, rate of fire, firearm cant, aiming direction, battery power, barrel whip, a laser sight mode, and any combination of the foregoing.

32. The weapon system of claim 30 , wherein the first accessory device includes one or both of a laser sight and a reflex sight.

33. The weapon system of claim 30 , wherein the first accessory device comprises a laser sight with an integrated reflex sight.

34. The weapon system of claim 30 , wherein the first accessory device comprises an orientation sensor configured to detect one or both of a firearm aiming direction and firearm cant.

35. The weapon system of claim 34 , wherein the program of instructions comprises a friend-foe module for comparing a firearm aiming direction with a known position of one or more allied team members.

36. The weapon system of claim 26 , further comprising an optical range finder.

37. The weapon system of claim 36 , wherein the processor is configured to adjust an associated laser sight based on a distance to target.

38. The weapon system of claim 37 , wherein the optical range finder is configured to communicate the distance to target to the first accessory device via the powered accessory rail interface.

39. The weapon system of claim 26 , further comprising a flashlight with an integral optical range finder.

40. The weapon system of claim 1 , further comprising a third accessory d

Assignees

• Wilcox Ind Corp

Inventors

• Teetzel James W
• Lemire Gary M
• Bousquet John P
• Desrosiers Daniel M
• Carter Iii Marvin S
• Habrial Jansen

Classifications

• F41A17/08

  for inhibiting firing in a specified direction, e.g. at a friendly person or at a protected area (F41A27/02 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F41A9/53

  Charged-condition indicators, i.e. indicating the presence of a cartridge in the cartridge chamber · CPC title

• F41A9/37

  Feeding two or more kinds of ammunition to the same gun; Feeding from two sides · CPC title

• F41G11/004 Primary

  Mountings with clamping means on the device embracing at least a part of the firearm, e.g. the receiver or a dustcover (F41G11/003 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F41G3/12

  with means for compensating for muzzle velocity or powder temperature {with means for compensating for gun vibrations} · CPC title