Paintball marker and loader system

摘要

Among other things, methods and apparatus regarding collection, dissemination and display of information concerning paintball loaders and markers are disclosed. A loader includes a heads-up display, electronic devices for gathering, storing and disseminating information, and an antenna for sending and receiving data. Wireless voice communications among paintball players is possible via associated headsets. There is also disclosed paintball equipment and methods for controlling both the firing and loading mechanism of paintball equipment. Current systems or mechanisms have individual and discrete electronic control systems for firing operations, e.g. located in the paintball gun itself, and loading operations, e.g. located inside the paintball loader. The present disclosure unifies the electronic control of said firing and loader operations into a single electronic circuit board located on either the paintball gun or paintball loader.

主权项

1. A paintball system comprising:
a marker for shooting paintballs, said marker having a barrel through which paintballs are propelled and a cavity operationally connected with said barrel for holding at least one paintball preparatory to firing it through said barrel, the marker including one or more electronic components; a loader for storing paintballs for eventual loading into said marker, said loader having a storage chamber and including one or more electronic components, the loader being operationally connected to the marker so that paintballs can travel from the chamber into the cavity of the marker when said marker and loader are in an assembled state; wherein the system has at least one hard-wired electronic pathway for transferring electronic signals between the marker and the loader, the hard-wired electronic pathway including one or more marker conductors electronically linked to one or more of the electronic components of the marker and one or more loader conductors electronically linked to the electronic components of the loader, each such marker conductor being physically connected to at least one of the loader conductors, and each such loader conductor being physically connected to at least one of the marker conductors, and wherein only one of the marker or loader includes a power source, and the power source provides power to operate the one or more electronic components of both the marker and the loader via the at least one hard-wired electronic pathway.