PISTOL MOUNTED MULTI-FUNCTION FLASHLIGHT

1 . A flashlight apparatus for a handgun, comprising:

a flashlight housing portion and a laser housing portion, the flashlight housing portion and laser housing portion cooperating to define a housing, the housing defining an interior compartment;

a flashlight head assembly received within an opening in the flashlight main housing and including one or more light sources;

one or more laser modules received within the laser housing portion; and

a rail clamp interface attached to the flashlight main housing configured to removably attach the flashlight apparatus to the handgun.

2 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a power supply received within the interior compartment for electrically coupling the power supply to the one or more light sources and the one or more laser modules.

3 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flashlight head assembly is positioned to emit a beam of light in a direction generally parallel to a barrel of the handgun when the flashlight apparatus is attached to the handgun.

4 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rail clamp is configured to attach to a rail interface disposed on a lower receiver of the handgun.

5 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the rail interface is a dovetail rail interface.

6 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the rail clamp interface comprises:

a fixed clamping member affixed to the flashlight housing portion on a first transverse side of the flashlight housing portion;

a movable clamping member disposed on a second transverse side opposite the first transverse side; and

a tensioning rod extending between the fixed clamping member and the movable clamping member.

7 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the tensioning rod is configured to extend within a transverse recoil groove of the dovetail rail interface.

8 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more light sources include one or more light sources selected from the group consisting of visible light sources, infrared light sources, and a combination thereof.

9 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the visible light sources are visible LEDs and the infrared light sources are infrared LEDs.

10 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more light sources include one or more visible LED light sources and one or more infrared LED light sources, wherein the infrared LED light sources are configured to emit light having a wavelength that is viewable with a night vision device.

11 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a circuit assembly for electrically coupling a power supply to the one or more light sources and the one or more laser modules.

12 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the circuit assembly is a printed wire assembly secured within the interior compartment.

13 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more laser modules includes a visible pointing laser and an infrared pointing laser.

14 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the visible pointing laser and the infrared pointing laser are arranged to emit beams through respective first and second apertures in the laser housing portion.

15 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising:

a first windage adjustment assembly disposed in an first windage opening in the laser housing portion, the first windage adjustment assembly including an first external windage adjustment member and a first internal windage bearing member, the first internal windage bearing member bearing against the visible pointing laser for selectively adjusting an aim point of the visible pointing laser in a horizontal direction;

a first elevation adjustment assembly disposed in a first elevation opening in the laser housing portion, the first elevation adjustment assembly including an first external elevation adjustment member and a first internal elevation bearing member, the first internal elevation bearing member bearing against the visible pointing laser for selectively adjusting the aim point of the visible pointing laser in a vertical direction;

a second windage adjustment assembly disposed in an second windage opening in the laser housing portion, the second windage adjustment assembly including an second external windage adjustment member and a second internal windage bearing member, the second internal windage bearing member bearing against the infrared pointing laser for selectively adjusting an aim point of the infrared pointing laser in the horizontal direction; and

a second elevation adjustment assembly disposed in a second elevation opening in the laser housing portion, the second elevation adjustment assembly including an second external elevation adjustment member and a second internal elevation bearing member, the first external windage bearing member bearing against the infrared pointing laser for selectively adjusting the aim point of the infrared pointing laser in the vertical direction.

16 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a processor received within the housing, the processor configured to perform one or more processing functions, and

a memory received within the housing and associated with the processor, the memory including stored program instructions for executing said one or more processing functions.

17 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising one or more switches for controlling operation of one or both of the flashlight head assembly and the one or more laser modules.

18 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 17 , wherein said one or more switchers include a first switch on a first transverse side of the housing and a second switch on a second transverse side of the housing opposite the first transverse side.

19 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the processing functions are selected from the group consisting of:

processing signal input according to operation of the one or more switches to toggle power to the flashlight head assembly on and off;

processing signal input according to operation of the one or more switches to toggle power to the one or more laser modules on and off;

processing signal input according to operation of the one or more switches to select an operational mode of the flashlight head assembly;

processing signal input according to operation of the one or more switches to select an operational mode of the one or more laser modules; and

any combinations of the foregoing.

20 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the one or more switches are configurable by a user to actuate a preselected one of said one or more processing functions.

21 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the one or more switches are configured to be manually actuated as button press events and button release events, selected from the group consisting of individual button press and release events, simultaneous button press and release events, sequences of button press and release events, button press and hold events wherein a time of the button press and hold event is less than a predetermined value, button press and hold events wherein the time of the button press and hold event is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, and any combinations of the foregoing.

22 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising a magnetic sensor element operatively coupled to the processor, the processor configured to selectively activate and deactivate the flashlight apparatus when the firearm is moved into and out of proximity of a magnet.

23 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising an accelerometer operatively coupled to the processor, the processor configured to receive signals from the accelerometer representative a round being fired by the handgun and to log digital representations of the received signals in said memory.

24 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising a temperature sensor operatively coupled to the processor, the processor configured to receive signals from the temperature sensor representative of a temperature of the handgun and to store digital representations of the received signals in said memory.

25 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising a radio frequency (RF) transceiver module configured to perform wireless communication with an RF transceiver of a mobile electronic device.

26 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the RF transceiver is a BLUETOOTH transceiver and the mobile electronic device is a smartphone.

27 . The flashlight apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising an RFID reader operatively coupled to the processor, wherein the RFID reader is configured to sense a proximity of an associated RFID tag and further wherein the processor is configured to allow operation of one or both of the flashlight apparatus and the handgun responsive to the associated RFID tag being in proximity with the RFID reader.