Determination of round count by hall switch encoding

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11971238-B2
Application number	US-202117157680-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2021
Priority date	Oct 22, 2018
Publication date	Apr 30, 2024
Grant date	Apr 30, 2024

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and apparatus for detecting and displaying a number of rounds in a firearm magazine comprising a maximum number of N rounds. The magazine may comprise a follower, magnets on the follower, and <N magnetic switches arranged along a path of the magnets when the follower moves along a length of the magazine, the switches configured to activate based on a magnetic field exceeding a threshold, and a first antenna arranged on an inside of the magazine and parallel to a firing direction of the firearm, and configured to wirelessly transmit a round count indication to a second antenna on the firearm, the round count indication based on the round count data, the second antenna affixed to an inside of a magazine well of the firearm and mostly overlapping with the first antenna.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A round counting system for a firearm, the system comprising:
a magazine, a follower, the follower comprising one or more magnets, and the magazine comprising:
magnetic switches arranged substantially along a path of the one or more magnets when the follower moves along a length of the magazine, the magnetic switches configured to activate based on a position of the one or more magnets relative to the magnetic switches and a respective magnetic field at the magnetic switches exceeding a threshold;
a first antenna arranged on or within the magazine, the first antenna configured to fit within an inner perimeter of a magazine well of the firearm and parallel to a firing direction of the firearm when the magazine is inserted into the magazine well, the first antenna configured to wirelessly transmit at least one of an indication of one or more active magnetic switches of the magnetic switches, round count data, or a round count indication to a second antenna within the inner perimeter of the magazine well of the firearm, wherein the first antenna wirelessly receives power from the firearm, and wherein the power from the firearm is used to power the magnetic switches; and
the second antenna having an area that mostly overlaps with an area of the first antenna.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a firearm processor configured to correlate signals from two adjacent magnetic switches exceeding the magnetic field threshold as a follower position between those two switches and correlate a signal from a single magnetic switch exceeding the magnetic field threshold as a follower position aligned with that single switch.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second antenna is within a depression in the magazine well.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the magazine comprises <N of the magnetic switches, wherein N is a maximum number of rounds that can be loaded in the magazine.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna is associated with a unique identifier, and wherein the second antenna is configured to receive the unique identifier upon insertion of the magazine into the magazine well of the firearm.

6. The system of claim 5 , further comprising a firearm processor configured for coupling to the firearm and in electrical communication with the second antenna, the firearm processor including a tangible computer readable medium encoded with computer readable instructions, and wherein the firearm processor is configured to store the round count indication and the unique identifier associated with the first antenna and another round count indication and another unique identifier associated with another antenna of another magazine previously inserted into the magazine well of the firearm.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna is within a depression of the magazine.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna is arranged underneath a skin of the magazine or overmolded by a material used to form the magazine.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna comprises a first independent conductor loop and a second independent conductor loop, the second independent conductor loop having different dimensions than the first independent conductor loop, and wherein the first independent conductor loop is configured to receive the power from the firearm via the second antenna and the second independent conductor loop is configured to transmit the round count data to the second antenna.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are substantially flat.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the magazine is further configured to:
correlate signals from two adjacent magnetic switches exceeding the magnetic field threshold as a follower position between those two switches, and
correlate a signal from a single magnetic switch exceeding the magnetic field threshold as a follower position aligned with that single switch, such that the magazine comprises <N of the magnetic switches, wherein N is a maximum number of rounds that can be loaded in the magazine.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the magazine comprises N/2 of the magnetic switches, wherein N is a maximum number of rounds that can be loaded in the magazine.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna is further configured to send the round count indication from the first antenna to the second antenna, and the second antenna is further configured to send the power from the second antenna to the first antenna.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are configured to simultaneously send the round count data from the first antenna to the second antenna, and the power from the second antenna to the first antenna.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second antenna is disposed on a flexible substrate that fits within a depression of the magazine well.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna is installed along a side of the magazine.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the second antenna is installed along a side of the magazine well.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are flat.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein, with the magazine inserted into the magazine well, the first antenna and the second antenna overlap one another.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the first antenna and the second antenna align along a plane that is parallel to the firing direction of the firearm.

Assignees

• Magpul Ind Corp

Inventors

• Czarnecki Erin
• Holt Jeffrey
• Leighton Michael
• Mckelvey Donald
• Dunbar Steven
• Roberts Timothy Eric
• Kielsmeier Nicholas
• Chow Eric
• Kellner Kyle
• Deppong Joe

Classifications

• F41A9/62 Primary

  having means for indicating the number of cartridges left in the magazine, e.g. last-round indicators (last-round safeties F41A17/40) · CPC title

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title