Lapsed Dec 7, 2018 on the fee record · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Dec 23, 2022
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
Second maintenance fee unpaid; grace period ended.
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed May 8, 2006 as application 11/429,374 · Granted Dec 7, 2010
Base term, 20 years from filing, plus 1016 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Lapsed Dec 7, 2018
2002
2026
Clock starts
Dec 23, 2002
Dec 23, 2002
No longer in force
Dec 7, 2018
Dec 7, 2018
Granted
Dec 7, 2010
Dec 7, 2010
Term would have run to
Oct 4, 2025
Oct 4, 2025
base term
patent term adjustment
after the term ends
fee events
Updated Nov 14, 2026 · includes USPTO assignment & status data published Nov 14, 2026 and grant & fee data published Nov 10, 2026 (weekly) · how we know
1,016
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
1 of 3
Maintenance fees paid
Three maintenance fees fall due, at 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years from grant. This counts the ones the record shows paid.
32
Family applications on record here
Applications sharing this one's continuity chain whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
Its term would have run to Oct 4, 2025: its 20-year base term plus 1016 days of term adjustment for prosecution delay. Confidence: Medium. from the record
How we calculated this date
One row per rule, each showing its own input and what it did to the date. A step we could not verify says so instead of resolving itself.
| Step | Input | Date after this step | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base term, 20 years from filing | Clock starts Dec 23, 2002, when application PCT/US2002/040891, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed May 8, 2006); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Dec 23, 2022 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | A parent in the chain could not be resolved | dated from this application's own claim | Medium confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +1016 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Oct 4, 2025 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | None on record | no cap applied | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 1 of 3 maintenance fees paid | lapsed Dec 7, 2018 | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Dec 7, 2018 | Medium confidence |
This family
| Application PCT/US2002/040891 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| Application PCT/US2004/001369 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 7,141,547 | In force Apr 2027 | Apr 2027 |
| Application PCT/US2005/004041 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 7,521,424 | Term ended Dec 2022 | Dec 2022 |
| US 7,592,010 | Term ended Dec 2023 | Dec 2023 |
| US 7,238,667 | Term ended Dec 2022 | Dec 2022 |
| US 7,847,079 | this patent Dec 2018 | Dec 2018 |
8 of 32 applications in this family shown, earliest filings first. The applications whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
Sources
Google Patents · The patent document at USPTO · Assignment records at USPTO
USPTO account required: This application in Patent Center · USPTO's maintenance fee lookup
Maintenance fee events come from USPTO's own fee records. Its fee lookup asks for the patent number and the application number.
What's changing
Note
The 1016 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
48
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% of utility patents granted in 2010 in our data, the only group it is compared against.
How we rank
Every date shows its work: the base term, any term adjustment or extension, any disclaimer cap, and the maintenance fee record, each with a confidence tier. How this record was built
Computed patent terms end on the dates shown. Related patents and pending applications may cover overlapping subject matter.