Touch sensor firearm safety system

Abstract

A firearm safety system prevents an unintentional discharge of a firearm. A touch sensor is located on a front surface of the firearm trigger and has a conductive touch pad for sensing contact by a user of the firearm. A touch sensing electronic circuit is coupled to the conductive touch pad and trigger and prevents the firearm from discharging if contact with the conductive contact pad is not sensed. Additionally, the safety system can be configured to conserve battery power of electronic firearms by providing a signal to wake-up the system controller.

1 . A firearm safety system including a trigger, comprising: 
 a trigger bow;    a touch sensor located on a surface of the trigger bow, the touch sensor including a conductive touch pad that is isolated electrically from the firearm; and    an electronic circuit operationally coupled to the touch sensor and activated by a user's contact with the touch pad.    
     
     
         2 . The firearm safety system of  claim 1  wherein the electronic circuit provides a wake-up signal to a system controller when the touch pad is touched.  
     
     
         3 . The firearm safety system of  claim 1  wherein the electronic circuit provides a logic signal to a system controller that is used to determine if firing can be initiated when the trigger is pulled.  
     
     
         4 . A trigger safety system for a firearm comprising: 
 a touch sensor comprising a conductive touch pad for sensing contact by a user;    an electronic circuit coupled to the touch sensor and the trigger for controlling activation of a firing mechanism of the firearm.    
     
     
         5 . A firearm safety system including a touch sensor comprising: 
 at least one conductive touch pad to sense a touch;    an electronic circuit operationally coupled to the conductive touch pad and activated by a user's contact with the at least one touch pad.    
     
     
         6 . The firearm safety system of  claim 5  wherein the touch pad is located on a surface of a trigger bow.  
     
     
         7 . The firearm safety system of  claim 5  wherein the touch sensor comprises two touch pads.  
     
     
         8 . The firearm safety system of  claim 7  wherein one conductive touch pad is located on a surface of a trigger bow.  
     
     
         9 . The firearm safety system of  claim 7  wherein both conductive touch pads are located on a surface of a trigger bow.  
     
     
         10 . The firearm safety system of  claim 9  wherein the conductive touch pads are positioned side by side along a length of the trigger bow.  
     
     
         11 . The firearm safety system of  claim 5  wherein the electronic circuit includes a system controller.  
     
     
         12 . The firearm safety system of  claim 11  wherein the safety system is configured to conserve battery power.  
     
     
         13 . The firearm safety system of  claim 12  wherein the battery power is conserved by allowing the system controller to remain in a sleep mode until the touch pad is touched.  
     
     
         14 . The firearm safety system of  claim 12  wherein energy is conserved by not charging a bulk capacitor that is used to store the energy needed to fire the round of ammunition until the touch pad is touched.  
     
     
         15 . The firearm safety system of  claim 5  wherein the electronic circuit includes a solenoid coil of that is used to block the firing of a firearm until the solenoid is energized.  
     
     
         16 . The firearm safety system of  claim 8  wherein a second touch pad is located on a grip area of the firearm.  
     
     
         17 . The firearm safety system of  claim 8  wherein a second touch pad is located on either a recoil pad or butt plate of a long gun.  
     
     
         18 . The firearm safety system of  claim 5  further comprising a system controller to charge a capacitor to provide a firing pulse to discharge electronically-primed ammunition.  
     
     
         19 . The firearm safety system of  claim 5  further comprising an actuator to release or propel a firing pin for firing of percussion-primed ammunition.