The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for use by law enforcement officers and private security personnel in the field when they are called upon to engage a threat and, in doing so, they pull their handgun from its holster.
Law enforcement and security officers rarely have a need to draw their weapon from their holster. When they do, however, it is because they are facing a “crisis situation” that can pose a threat to their own, and/or to someone else's, life. Such a situation may escalate, or may already have escalated, to the point where they have a need to fire their weapon. It is important in these cases that the officer be provided with as much information as possible about the person or persons who are responsible for creating the threat; i.e., the perpetrator or perpetrators who have caused the crisis. In particular, it would be extremely helpful to know exactly who the perpetrator(s) is/are, and whether such person(s) has/have engaged in prior offenses or illegal activity.
In some cases, when the persons causing a crisis—for example, one or more persons who is/are threatening others with a gun—are near to, and not readily distinguishable from, other innocent individuals, it is important to identify the one(s) who is/are the perpetrator(s) and to determine their exact location, often within a public building.
The U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,140,509 and 9,217,616 teach an “evidence collecting and recording” system for transmitting live video to a central command station from a camera disposed on the muzzle of an officer's gun.
According to a preferred embodiment of the system disclosed in these patents, the evidence collecting apparatus on the gun comprises: (1) at least one sensor, such as a camera but also other types of sensors, for obtaining “gun-related data”; (2) a first digital logic device, coupled to the sensor or sensors, for receiving and forwarding the gun-related data; and (3) a wireless transmitter (“T”) device, coupled to the first logic device, for transmitting the gun-related data received from this logic device to a relay device of some sort.
As disclosed in these patents, the evidence collecting system also includes an electronic relay device, such as a smartphone, that comprises:
(1) a wireless receiver (“R”) device, for receiving the gun-related data from the T device;
(2) a wireless transmitting device for transmitting the received gun-related data to a remote central station via a wireless network; and
(3) a second digital logic device, coupled, to the R device for receiving and forwarding the gun-related data to the central station.
This evidence collecting and recording system advantageously further comprises a gun holster and a sensor device for determining when the gun is removed from the holster.
Advantageously too, the electronic relay device (e.g., a smartphone) includes a data memory, coupled to the second logic device, for recording the evidence received by transmission from the data collecting apparatus prior to uploading it to the central station.
According to a particular embodiment of the system disclosed in the aforementioned patents, the second logic device is programmed to automatically initiate a call for assistance. This may occur, for example, when the gun is removed from its holster, or when a shot is fired.
The gun is advantageously provided with one or more of the following evidence collecting sensors: (i) a holster sensor for sensing that the gun is removed from a holster; (ii) a video camera arranged to view forward in the direction of aim of the gun and/or in the direction of the holder of the gun; (iii) a microphone arranged to receive sounds in the vicinity of the gun; (iv) a direction finder for determining the azimuthal direction of aim of the gun; (v) a trigger-pull sensor, or other sensor device such as the microphone or an accelerometer, for sensing that the gun has been fired; and (vi) a level sensor for determining the angle of aim of the gun with respect to the vertical.
Advantageously too, the electronic relay device (e.g., the smartphone) is provided with one or more of the following evidence-collecting devices: (i) a clock for determining the time that the gun is removed from the holster and/or the time that the gun is fired; and (ii) a GPS for determining the location of the gun when it is removed from the holster and/or when it is fired.
A principal objective of the present invention is to provide an “evidence collecting and recording” system of the type described above, and disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,140,509 and 9,217,616, which serves the needs of the law enforcement officers and security personnel in the field.
A more particular objective of the present invention is to provide an evidence collecting and recording system of the type described above which enhances the safety of law enforcement officers and security personnel when they are called upon to interdict a dangerous threat.
These objectives, as well as other objectives which will become apparent from the discussion that follows, are achieved, according to the present invention, by providing an evidence collecting and recording system which comprises (1) an electronic camera and a short-range wireless transmitter, configured to be disposed on the gun, for creating and transmitting a video stream, and (2) an electronic relay device, such as a smartphone, for wirelessly re-transmitting the video stream to a remote central station for display on a video screen. According to the invention, the central station includes a logic device for processing the video stream to determine the identity of any person or persons appearing in the video images.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the identity of such person(s) is/are determined using a facial recognition algorithm.
Upon making the identification, the central station transmits the identity of such person(s) to the smartphone, together with any known information about the person(s), such as prior arrests, which may be helpful to the officers in the field.
Advantageously, either Bluetooth or WiFi, or both, may be used as the short-range wireless transmission protocol to transmit the video stream from the gun camera to the electronic relay device smartphone).
Advantageously too, the electronic evidence collecting device further includes a microphone and the video stream which is forwarded to the central station includes sound. In this way, the law enforcement officer in the field can speak to the person on duty at the central station and voices at the scene of the incident can be recorded at the central station.
In a preferred embodiment, the evidence collecting and recording system includes a holster for the gun, to which the electronic camera and short-range wireless transmitter are attached, and a sensing device which senses when the gun is removed from the holster. To save battery power, the electronic camera and short-range wireless transmitter remain inactive when the gun is in the holster, and are activated only when the gun is drawn.
Whenever the gun is out of the holster, however, a live video stream is continuously transmitted to the electronic relay device (e.g., the smartphone) and relayed to the central command station for display and recording.
Alternatively, or in addition, the video images can be recorded in the relay device (e.g., the smartphone) for later viewing and/or downloading.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to
The sensors preferably include:
(1) a video camera 16 arranged and aligned in the direction of aim of the gun 14 to view the area in front of the gun;
(2) a microphone 18 arranged to receive audio from the user of the gun;
(3) a direction finder 20 arranged to detect the azimuthal direction in which the gun is aimed;
(4) a light sensor, magnetic sensor or any other type of sensor 22 for detecting when the gun has been removed from a holster;
(5) a trigger-pull sensor or any other type of sensor device 24, such as the aforementioned microphone or an accelerometer, for sensing that the gun has been fired; and
(6) a level sensor 26 for determining the angle of aim of the gun with respect to the vertical.
As shown in
Referring again to
According to the invention, the smartphone 10 and/or the second logic device 35 at the central station includes an algorithm for determining the identity of a person or persons captured in the video images, for example by the use of facial recognition. The identity, as well as any known data about such person(s), such as a mug shot and/or information about prior arrests, are preferably transmitted back via the wireless network by a third transmitter device (labeled ‘3rd T Device’) to the smartphone 10 for information of, and assistance to, the law enforcement officer in the field.
By way of example but not limitation, the cloud 38 can provide information regarding known criminals, for comparison with the perpetrators seen by the gun-camera during a crisis situation, and can provide a facial recognition capability or other algorithms for identifying person(s) in the video images.
The electronic relay device 10 receives the gun-related data via a first receiver device 25 (for example, Bluetooth or Wifi and labeled ‘1st R Devise’) and a logic device 29 (labeled ‘1st Logic Device’), and temporarily records this data in a memory 27 (labeled ‘1st Data Storage Device’). Thereafter, the device 10 uploads the gun-related data via a second transmitter device 32 (e.g. the cell-phone transmitter labeled ‘2nd T Device’) and antenna 33 to the central station (see
Immediately upon receipt of a signal that the user's gun has been removed from its holster, the first logic device 29 can automatically cause the relay device 10 to make a cell-phone call to the user's partner and/or to the central station to request assistance, and backup. The relay device 10 (e.g., smartphone) can also automatically commence taking pictures or shooting a video, and can start recording sound from its own camera and microphone, respectively. If the phone is located on the shoulder of the law enforcement officer, for example, or if it is held in the officer's hand, it can collect important evidence at this critical time.
When so activated, and when recording the gun-related data transmitted from the gun in its first data storage device 27, the relay device 10 can also record the exact time and location of each significant event, such as the removal of the gun from its holster and/or the firing of the gun, using its internal clock 44 and GPS locator 45.
There has thus been shown and described a novel evidence collecting and recording system for a gun which fulfills all the objects and advantages sought therefor. Many changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the subject invention will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering this specification and the accompanying drawings which disclose the preferred embodiments thereof. All such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention, which is to be limited only by the claims which follow.
This application is a continuation-in-part of the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/728,741 filed Oct. 10, 2017 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,222,158), which was a continuation-in-part of the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/432,140 filed Feb. 14, 2017 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,803,942) which, in turn, was a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/063,665 filed Mar. 8, 2016 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,644,912), which application was a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/513,344, filed Oct. 14, 2014 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,316,454), which was a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/562,854, filed Dec. 8, 2014 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,303,935), which was a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/140,658 filed Dec. 26, 2013 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,931,195), which was a non-provisional of the Provisional Application No. 61/841,559 filed Jul. 1, 2013. U.S. Pat. No. 15,728,741, filed on Oct. 10, 2017, has a Provisional Application No. 62/562,652, filed on Sep. 25, 2017. This application also claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/562,652 filed Sep. 25, 2017. The subject matter of this application is also related to that of U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,140,509 and 9,217,616. The disclosures (the specification, claims and drawings) of all of the patents and patent applications referred to above are incorporated herein by reference and are to be considered and treated as a part of the original disclosure of the present application as if they were fully set forth.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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9644911 | Mclean, III | May 2017 | B1 |
20080204231 | Hietanen | Aug 2008 | A1 |
20150184963 | Milde, Jr. | Jul 2015 | A1 |
20170176123 | Milde, Jr. | Jun 2017 | A1 |
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20190195586 A1 | Jun 2019 | US |
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62562652 | Sep 2017 | US | |
61841559 | Jul 2013 | US |
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Parent | 14513344 | Oct 2014 | US |
Child | 15063665 | US |
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Parent | 14140658 | Dec 2013 | US |
Child | 14562854 | US |
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Parent | 15728741 | Oct 2017 | US |
Child | 16257408 | US | |
Parent | 15432140 | Feb 2017 | US |
Child | 15728741 | US | |
Parent | 15063665 | Mar 2016 | US |
Child | 15432140 | US | |
Parent | 14562854 | Dec 2014 | US |
Child | 14513344 | US |