Remotely authorizing and disabling weapons

• US 10,197,350 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Morgan Draper Kauffman
• Original Assignee: Morgan Draper Kauffman
• Inventors: Kauffman, Morgan Draper
• Primary Examiner(s): Weber, Jonathan C
• Application Number:
  US14/291,088
• Publication Number:
  US 20150345884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,712 Days
• Field of Search: 42 7001- 7011
• CPC Class Codes: F41A 17/063 comprising a transponder

Abstract

A weapon, a method of authorizing the weapon and weapon security system are disclosed. An authorization string is stored at the weapon. An authorization message may be received at the weapon from an authorization center. A processor at the weapon may obtain a first substring from the authorization message, the first substring being obtained from a copy of the authorization string. The processor compares the first substring to a second substring and authorizes the weapon when the first substring matches the second substring.

Claims

1. A method of authorizing a weapon, comprising:

storing an authorization string at the weapon;

receiving an authorization message at the weapon that includes a first substring obtained from a copy of the authorization string;

comparing the first substring to a second substring obtained from the authorization string stored at the weapon;

authorizing the weapon when the first substring matches the second substring;

de-authorizing and thereby disabling the weapon when the weapon is not re-authorized within a selected time interval;

wherein the received authorization message includes receiving a transmission time of the authorization message, and

using the received transmission time to obtain the second substring from the authorization string stored at the weapon.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the first substring to the second substring further comprises encrypting the first substring to obtain a first encrypted substring, encrypting the second substring to obtain a second encrypted substring, and comparing the first encrypted substring to the second encrypted substring.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising using the transmission time to determine a starting location for selecting the first substring from the copy and to determine a starting location for selecting the second substring the stored authorization string.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising authorizing the weapon

when:

(i) the weapon obtains the authorization message before the end of a selected time interval;

(ii) the weapon identification associated with the authorization message matches a weapon identification stored at the weapon;

(iii) a difference between a reception time of the authorization message and a transmission time of the authorization message is less than a selected time threshold; and

(iv) the first encrypted substring matches the second encrypted substring.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the authorization message includes an encrypted transmission time, the method further comprising decrypting the transmission time at the weapon.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the weapon shares a weapon identification with one or more additional weapons and the weapon and the one or more additional weapons are authorized using a same authorization message.

7. A weapon, comprising:

a memory configured to store an authorization string;

a receiver configured to receive a first substring obtained from a copy of the authorization string; and

a processor configured to;

obtain a second substring from the authorization string stored in memory,

compare the first substring to the second substring,

authorize the weapon when the first substring matches the second substring;

de-authorize and thereby disable the weapon when the weapon is not re-authorized within a selected time interval;

wherein the received authorization message includes receiving a transmission time of the authorization message; and

use the received transmission time to obtain the second substring from the authorization string stored at the weapon.

8. The weapon of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to receive first encrypted substring corresponding to the first substring, select and encrypt the second substring to obtain a second encrypted substring, and compare the first encrypted substring to the second encrypted substring.

9. The weapon of claim 7, wherein the transmission time is further configured to obtain a starting location for selecting the first substring from the copy of the authorization string.

10. The weapon of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to authorize the weapon when:

(i) the weapon obtains the authorization message before the end of a selected time interval;

(ii) the weapon identification associated with the authorization message matches a weapon identification stored at the weapon;

(iii) a difference between a reception time of the authorization message and a transmission time of the authorization message is less than a selected time threshold; and

(iv) the first encrypted substring matches the second encrypted substring.

11. The weapon of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to decrypt an encrypted transmission time included in the received authorization message.

12. The weapon of claim 7, wherein a weapon identification of the weapon is the same as a weapon identification of one or more additional weapons and the processor authorizes the weapon use the same authorization message used to authorized the one or more additional weapons.

13. A weapon security system, comprising:

an authorization center that transmits an authorization message that includes a first substring obtained from a copy of an authorization string; and

a weapon that includes;

a memory configured to store the authorization string;

a receiver configured to receive the authorization message; and

a processor configured to;

obtain the first substring from the received authorization message;

obtain a second substring from the authorization string stored in memory,

compare the first substring to the second substring,

authorize the weapon when the first substring matches the second substring; and

de-authorize and thereby disable the weapon when the weapon is not re-authorized within a selected time interval;

wherein the received authorization message includes receiving a transmission time of the authorization message; and

use the received transmission time to obtain the second substring from the authorization string stored at the weapon.

14. The weapon security system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to receive first encrypted substring corresponding to the first substring, encrypt the second substring to obtain a second encrypted substring, and compare the first encrypted substring to the second encrypted substring.

15. The weapon security system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to disarm the weapon when the weapon does not receive a valid authorization message by the end of the selected time interval.

16. The weapon security system of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to decrypt an encrypted transmission time included in the received authorization message to obtain the transmission time of the authorization message at the weapon.

17. The weapon security system of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to authorize the weapon when:

(i) the weapon obtains the authorization message before the end of a selected time interval;

(ii) the weapon identification associated with the authorization message matches a weapon identification stored at the weapon;

(iii) a difference between a reception time of the authorization message and a transmission time of the authorization message is less than a selected time threshold; and

(iv) the first encrypted substring matches the second encrypted substring.

18. The weapon security system of claim 13, further comprising a plurality of weapons having a same weapon identification, wherein the authorization center transmits the authorization message to the plurality of weapons to authorize the plurality of weapons as a group.