Processor aided firing of small arms
First Claim
15. A weapon comprising a firearm comprising a barrel;
- an imager mounted to said barrel for capturing an image of a target area;
a user interface for displaying said image, said user interface comprising a trigger for selecting a target within said image area; and
a processor coupled to said user interface and said imager for determining a future target location of said target and for automatically firing said firearm when said barrel is positioned in a firing position such that a projectile discharged from said firearm will hit the target selected by the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A digital processor aiming and firing system generates a trigger signal with electronic timing exactness, resulting in shooting accuracy unobtainable by humans. To achieve this, a view down the barrel sight is captured by a digital video camera and analyzed on a frame-by-frame basis by an electronic processor equipped with image identification software. Motion detectors attached to the weapon are used to interpolate the barrel position between frames. A motion history of the barrel position relative to the target is calculated and an extrapolation of the future position is made. When the anticipated barrel direction impinges on the target, corrected for motion and ballistic effects, the processor signals the launch of the projectile.
149 Citations
75 Claims
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15. A weapon comprising
a firearm comprising a barrel; -
an imager mounted to said barrel for capturing an image of a target area;
a user interface for displaying said image, said user interface comprising a trigger for selecting a target within said image area; and
a processor coupled to said user interface and said imager for determining a future target location of said target and for automatically firing said firearm when said barrel is positioned in a firing position such that a projectile discharged from said firearm will hit the target selected by the user. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 63)
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28. A gyrator for gyrating a barrel of a firearm, said gyrator comprising:
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a bearing for mounting on said barrel of said firearm; and
a drive motor coupled to said bearing for rotatably driving said bearing to cause said end of said barrel to gyrate. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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30-1. The weapon as recited in claim 30 wherein said weapon further comprises:
an electronic firing trigger coupled to said processor for firing the weapon.
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43. An automatic firing system for use with a firearm, comprising:
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an image capture device mounted on said firearm for capturing a plurality of images of an area in front of a muzzle end of said firearm; and
a processor coupled to said image capture device for processing data associated with said plurality of images and for determining an optimum firing time to discharge a bullet from said firearm in order to hit a target selected by a user. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A method for increasing accuracy of hitting a target with a firearm, said method comprising the steps of:
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capturing a plurality of images of a target area including the target;
processing said plurality of images to predict an optimum firing condition; and
discharging the firearm when said optimum firing condition is achieved. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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64. A firing system that automatically launches the projectile comprising of:
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a) a barreled firearm, b) an electronic digital camera that supplies the electronic processor with rapid, digital, repetitive frame information, c) motion sensors that supply the electronic processor with angular rate information, d) an electronic display, which is able to display the image data from the digital camera and display cross hairs for target identification, e) a computer mouse, which interacts with the electronic processor and is able to position the cross hairs to identify the desired target, f) an electronic processor, that receives data from the electronic digital camera, motion sensors, computer mouse, and transmits images to the electronic display, executes barrel prediction algorithms while analyzing the motion generated by human drift and mechanically forced motion from the barrel gyrator and finally transmits a fire signal to the trigger mechanism, g) a trigger mechanism, which implements the projectile launch signal generated by the electronic processor, h) a barrel gyrator, which forces an orbital motion on the firearm, which is analyzed by the electronic processor. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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75. A firing system that automatically launches the projectile comprising of:
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(a) a barreled firearm;
(b) an electronic digital camera, that supplies the electronic processor with digital rapid, repetitive frame information;
(c) an electronic display, which is able to display the image data from the digital camera and display cross hairs for target identification;
(d) a computer mouse, which interacts with the electronic processor and is able to position the cross hairs to identify the desired target;
(e) an electronic processor, that receives data from the electronic digital camera, computer mouse, transmits the data to the electronic display, and runs barrel prediction algorithms while analyzing the motion generated by human drift and transmits a fire signal to the trigger mechanism; and
(f) a trigger mechanism, which implements projectile launch by a signal from the electronic processor.
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Specification