Serial electrode deployment for conducted electrical weapon

Abstract

A conducted electrical weapon may deploy a first electrode. Deploying the first electrode may include deploying fewer electrodes than a minimum number required by the conducted electrical weapon to provide the stimulus signal at a remote location. The first electrode may be deployed in response to a first activation signal of a plurality of activation signals. The conducted electrical weapon may deploy a second electrode in response to a second activation signal of the plurality of activation signals. A signal generator of the conducted electrical weapon may provide a stimulus signal between the first electrode and the second electrode.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 deploying, by a conducted electrical weapon, a single first electrode in response to a first activation signal of a sequence of activation signals;   deploying, by the conducted electrical weapon, a second electrode in response to a second activation signal of the sequence of activation signals; and   providing, by a signal generator of the conducted electrical weapon, a stimulus signal between the single first electrode and the second electrode.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the single first electrode comprises a single wire-tethered electrode. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein deploying the second electrode includes deploying a single second electrode. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the single second electrode comprises a second wire-tethered electrode. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first activation signal comprises a single first activation signal and the second activation signal comprises a single second activation signal. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by a processing circuit of the conducted electrical weapon, the first activation signal via a user control interface of the conducted electrical weapon.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by a processing circuit of the conducted electrical weapon, the first activation signal via a wireless communication circuit of the conducted electrical weapon, wherein the first activation signal is received from a remote-control device in wireless communication with the processing circuit of the conducted electrical weapon. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the single first electrode is deployed toward a remote location at a first angle of deployment relative to the remote location and the second electrode is deployed toward the remote location at a second angle of deployment relative to the remote location, and wherein the first angle of deployment is independent of the second angle of deployment. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the single first electrode is deployed from the conducted electrical weapon at a first launch angle, and wherein the second electrode is deployed from the conducted electrical weapon at a second launch angle, and wherein the first launch angle is equal to the second launch angle. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the single first electrode is deployed from the conducted electrical weapon at a first location on the conducted electrical weapon, and wherein the second electrode is deployed from the conducted electrical weapon at a second location on the conducted electrical weapon, wherein a spacing between the first location and the second location is less than 1.0 inches. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 deploying, by the conducted electrical weapon, a single third electrode in response to a third activation signal of the sequence of activation signals, wherein the single third electrode comprises a third wire-tethered electrode and the third activation signal is different from the first activation signal and the second activation signal.   
     
     
         12 . A conducted electrical weapon comprising:
 a signal generator configured to generate a stimulus signal;   a plurality of wire-tethered electrodes; and   a processing circuit for deploying the plurality of wire-tethered electrodes from the conducted electrical weapon and providing the stimulus signal across the plurality of wire-tethered electrodes, wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
 deploy a single first electrode of the plurality of wire-tethered electrodes in response to a first activation signal of a sequence of activation signals; 
 deploy a second electrode of the plurality of wire-tethered electrodes in response to a second activation signal of the sequence of activation signals; and 
 couple the signal generator across the single first electrode and the second electrode to provide the stimulus signal. 
   
     
     
         13 . The conducted electrical weapon of  claim 12 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to receive the first activation signal, and wherein the first activation signal comprises a single first activation signal. 
     
     
         14 . The conducted electrical weapon of  claim 13 , further comprising a user control interface, wherein the single first activation signal is received by the processing circuit via the user control interface. 
     
     
         15 . The conducted electrical weapon of  claim 12 , further comprising an automatic control interface, wherein the automatic control interface automatically generates the second activation signal in accordance with an external event detected by the automatic control interface independent of a user of the conducted electrical weapon. 
     
     
         16 . The conducted electrical weapon of  claim 12 , wherein the single first electrode is configured to launch from the conducted electrical weapon at a first angle relative to the conducted electrical weapon, wherein the second electrode is configured to launch from the conducted electrical weapon at a second angle relative to the conducted electrical weapon, and wherein the first angle is parallel to the second angle. 
     
     
         17 . The conducted electrical weapon of  claim 12 , further comprising a wireless communication circuit, wherein the first activation signal is received from a remote-control device in wireless communication with the processing circuit of the conducted electrical weapon via the wireless communication circuit. 
     
     
         18 . A method, comprising:
 deploying, by a conducted electrical weapon, a single first electrode from the conducted electrical weapon in response to a single first activation signal of a sequence of activation signals;   deploying, by the conducted electrical weapon, a single second electrode from the conducted electrical weapon in response to a single second activation signal of the sequence of activation signals; and   providing, by a signal generator of the conducted electrical weapon, a stimulus signal via the single first electrode and the single second electrode.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein deploying the single first electrode includes deploying the single first electrode at a first angle of deployment and wherein deploying the single second electrode includes deploying the single second electrode at a second angle of deployment, and wherein the first angle of deployment is independent of the second angle of deployment. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 receiving, by a processing circuit of the conducted electrical weapon, the single first activation signal at a first time; and   receiving, by the processing circuit of the conducted electrical weapon, the single second activation signal at a second time different from the first time, wherein the single first electrode comprises a first wire-tethered electrode and the single second electrode comprises a second wire-tethered electrode.