Optoelectronic gunsight

Abstract

A gunsight for aiming a firearm comprises a projector, a viewing screen, an objective window and a plurality of intermediate walls extending between the viewing screen and the objective window. The projector may be positioned to project a reticle pattern onto a forward facing surface of the viewing screen. The viewing screen may be transparent or translucent so that the reticle pattern is visible to a user located rearward of the viewing screen. The projector comprises a light source and a liquid crystal light valve. The reticle pattern may have an appearance corresponding to a user provided image.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 364,175, filed Jul. 19, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE[0002]Weapon-mounted firearm accessories have become an important tool for military, police, militia, and civilian firearm users. Many firearm designs incorporate mounting rails for supporting these accessories. Using an accessory rail interface, a given accessory may be mounted to a variety of firearms or firearms platforms. Likewise, if a particular firearm includes a rail interface, a variety of accessories may be interchangeably mounted to the firearm. The interchangeability of accessories is of particular importance to military and law enforcement personnel attached to special operations units, as this allows a single firearm to be reconfigured to meet certain mission specific needs.[0003]A number of weapon-mounted firearm accessories can...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent is for a gunsight that can be easily attached and removed from a mounting rail on a firearm. The gunsight allows the user to keep both eyes open and focused on the target and the surrounding area. It also allows the user to move the reticle or other image up, down, left, or right to account for different situations or windage. This allows for more accurate targeting and quicker decision-making during combat.

Problems solved by technology

Laser sights are not, however, without problems.

For example, although laser sights work well in low light conditions, in bright light conditions laser sights occasionally perform poorly because ambient light can easily overwhelm the dot generated on the target by the laser light source, making the dot difficult or impossible for the user to see.

A laser sight also uses a relatively large amount of power, so the battery life for a laser sight is typically relatively short.

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