Methods and apparatus for detecting a voltage of a stimulus signal of a conducted electrical weapon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11867480-B2
Application number	US-202016741659-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 13, 2020
Priority date	Aug 1, 2017
Publication date	Jan 9, 2024
Grant date	Jan 9, 2024

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for detecting a magnitude of a voltage at a face of a conducted electrical weapon (“CEW”). The magnitude of the voltage may be used to determine whether a pulse of a stimulus signal was delivered to a target. Structures for detecting the magnitude of the voltage may include structures that provide a stimulus voltage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A conducted electrical weapon (“CEW”) comprising:
a handle;
three or more terminals positioned on a face of the handle that includes a portion of the handle where deployment units are removably inserted;
a signal generator comprising an output coupled to a terminal of the three or more terminals, wherein the signal generator is configured to generate a pulse of a stimulus signal for delivery to a target and provide the pulse of the stimulus signal to the three or more terminals;
a voltage divider coupled to the output of the signal generator to receive the pulse of the stimulus signal, wherein the voltage divider is configured to divide a voltage of the pulse of the stimulus signal to provide a divided voltage, and wherein the voltage of the pulse of the stimulus signal is a voltage at which the pulse of the stimulus signal is carried from the output of the signal generator to the terminal for delivery to the target;
a memory; and
a processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
detect a magnitude of the divided voltage; and
record the magnitude of the divided voltage in the memory, wherein the voltage divider is coupled between the output of the signal generator and the terminal of the three or more terminals to receive the pulse of the stimulus signal provided to the terminal, wherein the voltage divider receives each portion of the pulse of the stimulus signal provided to the terminal of the three or more terminals via the output of the signal generator for delivery to the target.

2. The CEW of claim 1 wherein the voltage divider comprises a respective voltage divider connected to each of the three or more terminals.

3. The CEW of claim 1 wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
in accordance with the magnitude of the divided voltage, instruct the signal generator to provide a next stimulus signal to a next terminal selected by the processing circuit.

4. The CEW of claim 1 wherein dividing the voltage of the stimulus signal includes dividing a high voltage portion and a low voltage portion of each pulse of the stimulus signal, the high voltage portion for ionizing air in one more gaps, and the low voltage portion for providing current through the target.

5. The CEW of claim 1 wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
monitor a status of the stimulus signal in accordance with the magnitude of the divided voltage; and
in response to monitoring the status of the stimulus signal, provide a next stimulus signal to a pair of terminals selected from the three or more terminals, wherein the pair of terminals comprises a new pair of terminals different from a present pair of terminals through which the stimulus signal was provided.

6. The CEW of claim 5 wherein monitoring the status of the stimulus signal includes determining at least one of whether the stimulus signal arced across a face of the CEW and whether the stimulus signal arced to establish an electrical connection with the target.

7. The CEW of claim 1 wherein the processing circuit is configured to perform operations comprising:
providing the stimulus signal to a pair of terminals of the three or more terminals;
monitoring a status of the stimulus signal in accordance with the magnitude of the divided voltage; and
in response to monitoring the status of the stimulus signal, selecting a next pair of terminals of the three or more terminals for providing a next stimulus signal.

8. The CEW of claim 7 wherein monitoring the status of the stimulus signal includes determining whether the pulse of the stimulus signal:
arced across the face of the handle of the CEW; or arced to establish an electrical connection with the target.

9. The CEW of claim 8 wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to determining the stimulus signal arced to establish the electrical connection with the target, selecting the pair of terminals as the next pair of terminals for providing the next stimulus signal, whereby the stimulus signal and the next stimulus signal are selectively provided to a same pair of terminals.

10. The CEW of claim 7 wherein monitoring the status of the stimulus signal includes determining whether the pair of terminals are:
coupled to target tissue; or
shorted.

11. The CEW of claim 10 wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to determining the pair of terminals are coupled to target tissue, selecting the pair of terminals as the next pair of terminals for providing the next stimulus signal, whereby the stimulus signal and the next stimulus signal are selectively provided to a same pair of terminals.

12. The CEW of claim 11 , wherein determining the pair of terminals are coupled to target tissue comprises:
comparing the magnitude of the divided voltage to a range of voltages; and
based on the comparing, determining the magnitude of the divided voltage is greater than a minimum voltage value of the range of voltages.

13. The CEW of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise conditioning the magnitude of the divided voltage for detection by the processing circuit, wherein the conditioning comprises slowing a rate of change of the magnitude of the divided voltage.

14. A conducted electrical weapon (“CEW”) comprising:
three or more terminals;
a signal generator, the signal generator configured to provide a stimulus signal to the three or more terminals for delivery to a target;
a detector coupled to the signal generator to receive the stimulus signal provided to the three or more terminals and configured to divide a magnitude of a voltage of the stimulus signal at a face of the conducted electrical weapon to provide a divided voltage, the detector further comprising a respective voltage divider for each terminal of the three or more terminals;
a memory; and
a processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
detect a value of the divided voltage;
record the value of the divided voltage in the memory; and
in accordance with the value of the divided voltage, instruct the signal generator to provide a next stimulus signal to a pair of terminals selected from the three or more terminals, wherein each respective voltage divider is coupled to a respective conductor between the signal generator and a respective terminal of the three or more terminals, and wherein each respective voltage divider receives each portion of a pulse of the stimulus signal provided from the signal generator via the respective conductor to the respective terminal of the three or more terminals for delivery to the target.

15. The CEW of claim 14 wherein the three or more terminals include four terminals and the detector comprises four respective voltage dividers.

16. The CEW of claim 14 wherein the respective voltage divider for each terminal of the three or more terminals comprises a first capacitor, a diode, and a second capacitor coupled in series, wherein the diode is coupled in series between the first capacitor and the second capacitor.

17. The CEW of claim 16 wherein the first capacitor is formed of a printed circuit board.

18. The CEW of claim 14 wherein the detector further comprises a signal conditioning circuit configured to prepare the value of the divided voltage for detection by the processing circuit.

19. The CEW of claim 18 wherein the signal conditioning circuit comprises a first diode configured to prevent the value of the divided voltage from becoming negative with respect to ground.

20. The CEW of claim 14 , wherein the pai

Assignees

• Axon Entpr Inc

Inventors

• Nerheim Magne
• Brundula Steven N D

Classifications

• F41H13/0025 Primary

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

• F41H13/0018

  for nearby electrical discharge, i.e. the electrodes being positioned on the device and the device brought manually or otherwise into contact with a nearby target (batons with electric discharge capability F41B15/04; electric shock devices for animals A01K15/02) · CPC title

• H05C1/06

  operating only when touched · CPC title

• G01R15/06

  having reactive components, e.g. capacitive transformer · CPC title

• G01R19/0084

  Measuring voltage only · CPC title