Claims
- 1. A personal weapon subject to access control based upon surface-relief data from a human user's finger; said weapon comprising:
- means for discharging an energy-transmitting agency to influence an adversary, said agency-discharging means requiring enablement for its operation; and
- means for developing an electronic signal representing a determination of whether a human user's fingerprint data which are presented to the weapon are a particular authorized user's fingerprint data, and for applying the electronic signal to control enablement of the agency-discharging means;
- at least a part of said discharging means and at least a part of said developing-and-applying means being physically formed together as a substantially unitary electronic module to deter unauthorized bypassing of said fingerprint-data access control.
- 2. The weapon of claim 1, wherein:
- at least a part of said discharging means and at least a part of said developing-and-applying means are physically formed together as a substantially unitary electronic integrated circuit.
- 3. The weapon of claim 1, wherein:
- the substantially unitary electronic module comprises a shape that matches and is required by an electronic-module receptacle of the weapon;
- said shape including electrodes for contacting elements of the weapon to effect said discharging.
- 4. The weapon of claim 3, wherein:
- said shape includes complicated contours.
- 5. The weapon of claim 1, wherein:
- said at least a part of said discharging means comprises means for providing a specifically controlled electrical impulse to effect said discharging; and
- the energy-discharging agency is manufactured to respond exclusively to said specifically controlled electrical impulse.
- 6. The weapon of claim 5, wherein:
- the energy-discharging agency is a bullet having therein a charge of explosive powder and an electrical detonator to ignite the explosive charge; and
- the detonator is manufactured to respond exclusively to said specifically controlled electrical impulse.
- 7. The weapon of claim 6, wherein:
- the detonator is manufactured to respond exclusively to an electrical impulse whose duration is in a relatively narrow range.
- 8. The weapon of claim 6, wherein:
- the detonator is manufactured to respond exclusively to an electrical impulse whose voltage is in a relatively narrow range.
- 9. The weapon of claim 6, wherein:
- the detonator is manufactured to respond exclusively to an electrical impulse having a particular waveform.
- 10. The weapon of claim 1, wherein: the developing-and-applying means comprise a crosslit optic-fiber prism with numerical aperture not exceeding one-half, for collecting fingerprint data by frustrated total internal reflection.
- 11. A personal weapon subject to access control based upon surface-relief data from a human user's finger; said weapon comprising:
- means for discharging an energy-transmitting agency to influence an adversary, said agency-discharging means being manufactured to respond exclusively to a specifically controlled electrical impulse; and
- means for developing an electronic signal representing a determination of whether a human user's fingerprint data which are presented to the weapon are a particular authorized user's fingerprint data, and for applying the electronic signal to control enablement of the agency-discharging means;
- said discharging means comprises means for providing a specifically controlled electrical impulse to actuate said energy-transmitting agency.
- 12. The weapon of claim 11, wherein:
- the energy-transmitting agency is a bullet having therein a charge of explosive powder and an electrical detonator to ignite the explosive charge; and
- the detonator is manufactured to respond exclusively to said specifically controlled electrical impulse.
- 13. The weapon of claim 12, wherein:
- the detonator is manufactured to respond exclusively to an electrical impulse whose duration is in a relatively narrow range.
- 14. The weapon of claim 12, wherein:
- the detonator is manufactured to respond exclusively to an electrical impulse whose voltage is in a relatively narrow range.
- 15. The weapon of claim 12, wherein:
- the detonator is manufactured to respond exclusively to an electrical impulse having a particular waveform.
- 16. The weapon of claim 11, wherein:
- the developing-and-applying means comprise a crosslit optic-fiber prism with numerical aperture not exceeding one-half, for collecting fingerprint data by frustrated total internal reflection.
- 17. A personal weapon subject to access control based upon surface-relief data from a human user's finger; said weapon comprising:
- means for discharging an energy-transmitting agency to influence an adversary, said agency-discharging means requiring enablement for its operation;
- first means for developing an electronic signal representing a determination of whether a human user's fingerprint data which are presented to the weapon are a particular authorized user's fingerprint data, and for applying the electronic signal to control enablement of the agency-discharging means;
- means for providing entry to working parts of the weapon;
- second means for applying the electronic signal to control enablement of the entry-providing means;
- means for determining when entry to working parts of the weapon is gained without operation of the second means;
- means responsive to the entry-determining means for substantially permanently disabling the weapon when entry to working parts of the weapon is gained without operation of the second means.
Parent Case Info
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/382,220 filed on Jan. 31, 1995 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,812,252.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
3446019 |
Jun 1986 |
DEX |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
382220 |
Jan 1995 |
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