Quantum Leap Research Inc.

Goal Electronics Inc.

Gord Harling

Abdellah Azelmad

Rodney H Miller

Tim Pope

Francis Picard

Rose Zhang

The device according to the invention provides a non-contacting temperature sensing device incorporating micro-bolometric detectors as the suitable infrared sensors for automotive applications. A first and second infrared sensors each include an active infrared sensing element and a temperature drift compensating element. A current bias is applied to the active infrared sensing element as well as to the temperature drift compensating element, which is identical in structure with the active infrared sensing element, and the voltage outputs of these two elements pass through a differential amplifier. The fluctuation in the substrate temperature or the ambient temperature affects the active sensing element and the compensating element in the same way, thus it is cancelled out. Instead of using one spectral band of the infrared radiation, as in the prior art, two spectral bands are used resulting in a first and second signal generated by the first and second infrared sensors. A ratio of the first and second signals is obtained. The ratio of the signals is emissivity independent, so that the device of the present invention provides a more accurate measurement of temperature. The need to compensate for window contamination is also eliminated by this two band approach. The filtering elements for the two bands can be multi-layer thin film filters either coated on flat windows or on diffractive micro-lenses. The use of diffractive micro-lenses further reduces the size of the device, and eliminates the need for a separate optical lens.

Non-contacting temperature sensing device

An automatic firearm safety system where power consumption is reduced and safety is increased is disclosed. The system includes a movement detector operatively associated with a trigger of a firearm for detecting movement of the trigger. The system also has a transceiver operatively associated with the movement detector for sending a coded signal when movement of the trigger has been detected. The coded signal is received by at least one remote token which receives the coded signal and transmits a coded acknowledgement signal upon receipt of the coded signal. A solenoid is also provided for locking and unlocking the trigger, operatively associated with the transceiver for allowing operation of the trigger and thereby the firing of the firearm when the coded acknowledgement signal has been received by the transceiver. The system may include two tokens, both of which are worn by the authorized user. In this case, the transceiver further includes an anti-collision module to discriminate between the different tokens and select which one will be permitted to issue the coded acknowledgement signal. Also preferably, the transceiver includes an anti-jamming module. Since verification of the token is done every time the trigger is depressed, safety is increased. Furthermore, since bi-directional RF communication is effected only when the trigger is depressed, power consumption is reduced.

Automatic firearm user identification and safety module

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Bromont, Canada

Gord Harling