Methods and systems for enhancing firearm safety through wireless network monitoring

• US 10,436,534 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2017
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yardarm Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Yardarm Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Stewart, Robert J., Menezes, Joaquin
• Primary Examiner(s): Clement, Michelle
• Application Number:
  US15/589,397
• Publication Number:
  US 20170241727A1
• Time in Patent Office: 883 Days
• Field of Search: 42 7011
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 45/005 Chain-locks, cable-locks or padlocks with alarms
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 45/06 Electric alarm locks E05B45/005 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F41A 17/063 comprising a transponder
• CPC Class Codes: F41A 17/08 for inhibiting firing in a specified direction, e.g. at a friendly person or at a protected area F41A27/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F41A 17/46 Trigger safeties, i.e. means for preventing trigger movement F41A17/02 - F41A17/40 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A firearm includes a firing mechanism and a sensor device. The sensor device includes a subscriber identity module configured to communicate with a server over a signaling channel of a wireless communications network. The Sensor device is configured to enable/disable the firing mechanism in accordance with instructions received by the SIM from the server. Movements and/or attempted operations of the firearm may be monitored using an application running on a mobile device, which application receives information concerning the firearm over the signaling channel of the wireless communications network.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a sensor device of a firearm, the sensor device including a subscriber identity module (SIM);

a mobile subscriber database configured to receive location information regarding the firearm from a dial buffer of the SIM located on the sensor device of the firearm, the location information transmitted using unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) messages over a dedicated signaling channel communicatively coupling the SIM with the mobile subscriber database; and

a remote monitoring station configured to receive the location information regarding the firearm from the mobile subscriber database, and further configured to provide an alert upon one or more of;

receipt of information corresponding to an attempted operation of the firearm, disabling of a safety of the firearm, a change in mode of the firearm, and movement of the firearm.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote monitoring station is configured to display information concerning a location of the firearm in a map-like view according to information transmitted by the SIM.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor device further includes a motion sensor.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the SIM is configured to be powered on in response to detection of the movement of the firearm.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the SIM is configured to be powered on in response to detection of an attempt to release a safety mechanism of the firearm.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information of the firearm includes global positioning system (GPS) information.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information of the firearm includes location area identity (LAI) information.

4. A system, comprising:

a sensor device of a firearm, the sensor device including a subscriber identity module (SIM), wherein the sensor device includes location monitoring means and is configured to transmit location information regarding the firearm;

a mobile subscriber database configured to receive the location information regarding the firearm from a dial buffer of the SIM located on the sensor device of the firearm, the location information transmitted using unstructured supplementary service data (US SD) messages over a dedicated signaling channel communicatively coupling the SIM with the mobile subscriber database; and

a remote monitoring station configured to receive the location information regarding the firearm from the mobile subscriber database, and further configured to provide a notification upon one or more of;

receipt of information corresponding to an attempted operation of the firearm, disabling of a safety of the firearm, a change in mode of the firearm, and movement of the firearm.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the sensor device further includes a motion sensor.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the remote monitoring station is configured to display information concerning a location of the firearm in a map-like view according to the location information transmitted by the SIM.