Thermal gunsights

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11085735-B2
Application number	US-202016900709-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2020
Priority date	Sep 27, 2017
Publication date	Aug 10, 2021
Grant date	Aug 10, 2021

Abstract

A gunsight for aiming a firearm may comprise a display and an eyepiece optic positioned rearward of the display for allowing a user to view the display through the eyepiece optic and a motion sensing module. The eyepiece optic may comprise one or more eyepiece lenses. Circuitry of the gunsight is operatively coupled to the microbolometer and the display. The circuitry may comprise one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more instruction sets. In some embodiments, the one or more instruction sets include instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processors to receive a stream of motion signals from the motion sensing module and display an image to the user in response to the stream of motion signals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gunsight for aiming a firearm, the firearm having a barrel defining a bore, the bore extending along a bore axis, the bore axis extending in a forward direction and a rearward direction, the gunsight comprising:
a display and an eyepiece optic positioned rearward of the display for allowing a user to view the display through the eyepiece optic, the eyepiece optic comprising one or more eyepiece lenses;
a motion sensing module; and
circuitry operatively coupled to the display and the motion sensing module, wherein the circuitry comprises one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more instruction sets, wherein the one or more instruction sets include instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processors to cause the gunsight to:
display a first image to the user, the first image corresponding to a first magnification;
receive a stream of motion signals from the motion sensing module;
detect a ballistic event based on analysis of the stream of motion signals; and
display a second image to the user in response to detecting of the ballistic event, the second image corresponding to a second magnification; wherein the first magnification is greater than the second magnification.

2. The gunsight of claim 1 , wherein the motion sensing module comprises an accelerometer or a gyroscope.

3. The gunsight of claim 1 , wherein the one or more instruction sets include instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processors to cause the gunsight to:
determine an orientation of the bore axis relative to a gravitational pull direction based on analysis of the stream of motion signals.

4. The gunsight of claim 1 , wherein the one or more instruction sets include instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processors to cause the gunsight to:
determine an orientation angle of the bore axis relative to a gravitational pull direction based on analysis of the stream of motion signals; and
compare the orientation angle to a predetermined threshold value.

5. The gunsight of claim 4 , wherein the one or more instruction sets include instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processors to cause the gunsight to:
change an operating state of the display from a first brightness to a second brightness value if the orientation angle is greater than the predetermined threshold value,
wherein the first brightness is greater than the second brightness.

6. A gunsight for aiming a firearm, the firearm having a barrel defining a bore, the bore extending along a bore axis, the bore axis extending in a forward direction and a rearward direction, the gunsight comprising:
a display and an eyepiece optic positioned rearward of the display for allowing a user to view the display through the eyepiece optic;
a motion sensing module; and
circuitry operatively coupled to the display, wherein the circuitry comprises one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more instruction sets, wherein the one or more instruction sets include instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processors to cause the gunsight to:
display a first image to the user;
receive a stream of motion signals from the motion sensing module;
detect a ballistic event based on analysis of the stream of motion signals; and
display a second image to the user in response to detecting of the ballistic event, wherein the first image corresponds to a first field of view, the second image corresponds to a second field of view, and the second field of view is larger than the first field of view.

7. The gunsight of claim 6 , wherein the first image corresponds to a first magnification, the second image corresponds to a second magnification, and the first magnification is greater than the second magnification.

8. The gunsight of claim 6 , wherein the motion sensing module comprises an accelerometer or a gyroscope.

9. The gunsight of claim 6 , wherein the one or more instruction sets include instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processors to cause the gunsight to:
determine an orientation of the bore axis relative to a gravitational pull direction based on analysis of the stream of motion signals.

10. The gunsight of claim 6 , wherein the one or more instruction sets include instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processors to cause the gunsight to:
determine an orientation angle of the bore axis relative to a gravitational pull direction based on analysis of the stream of motion signals; and
compare the orientation angle to a predetermined threshold value.

11. The gunsight of claim 10 , wherein the one or more instruction sets include instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processors to cause the gunsight to:
change an operating state of the display from a first brightness to a second brightness value if the orientation angle is greater than the predetermined threshold value,
wherein the first brightness is greater than the second brightness.

Assignees

• Bushnell Inc

Inventors

• Chavez Alejandro

Classifications

• H04N23/23

  from thermal infrared radiation · CPC title

• F41G3/165 Primary

  using a TV-monitor · CPC title

• F41G11/003

  Mountings with a dove tail element, e.g. "Picatinny rail systems" · CPC title

• F41G1/345 Primary

  for illuminating the sights · CPC title

• F41G3/08

  with means for compensating for speed, direction, temperature, pressure, or humidity of the atmosphere (measuring G01) · CPC title