Also listed on Southern Company Services, Inc., an earlier holder on the record. The recorded assignments below show how it moved.
Term ends Nov 20, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Mar 15, 2025
Filed May 3, 2010 as application 12/772,357 · Granted Dec 29, 2015
Base term plus 615 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
2005
2026
Clock starts
Mar 15, 2005
Mar 15, 2005
Term ends
Nov 20, 2026
Nov 20, 2026
Granted
Dec 29, 2015
Dec 29, 2015
base term
patent term adjustment
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
615
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
No effect
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,761,848, to Nov 20, 2026. The term already ends on or before that date, so the cap shortened nothing.
2 of 2
Maintenance fees paid
Two maintenance fees can end this term early, the ones due 3.5 and 7.5 years from grant; the third one's grace period runs past the term end. This counts the ones the record shows paid.
4
Family applications on record here
Applications sharing this one's continuity chain whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
This patent's term runs 615 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is resolved from the filed document, and it ends no earlier than this term, so it shortens nothing. 2 of 2 maintenance fees are paid so far. Confidence: High. 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 Mar 15, 2005, when application 11/080,735, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed May 3, 2010) | Mar 15, 2025 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +615 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Nov 20, 2026 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,761,848) | resolves to Nov 20, 2026, no earlier than this term, so no change | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 2 of 2 maintenance fees paid | In force | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Nov 20, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,761,848 | Lapsed on the fee record Jul 2018 | Jul 2018 |
| US 9,223,546 | this patent Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
| US 9,678,727 | Term ended Mar 2025 | Mar 2025 |
| US 10,235,142 | Term ended Mar 2025 | Mar 2025 |
The applications whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
Assignments
Assignment documents as recorded at the USPTO, oldest first, with the reel and frame each was recorded at. A recorded assignment is a filed document, not a statement of current ownership, and the absence of a later one is not evidence that the last one still stands.
| Recorded | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 2021 Reel 57543, frame 14 | Chaffin, Mary Ellen | Southern Company Services, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Sep 21, 2021 Reel 57543, frame 65 | Southern Company Services, Inc. | Open Invention Network LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Dec 9, 2021 Reel 58426, frame 791 | Open Invention Network LLC | International Business Machines Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jan 14, 2022 Reel 58736, frame 436 | Open Invention Network LLC | International Business Machines Corporation | Corrective Assignment to Correct the Effective Date of the Patent Assignment Agreement Dated November 30, 2021 Previously Recorded at Reel: 058426 Frame: 0791. Assignor(S) Hereby Confirms the Assignment. |
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.
Free plan: 3 watched companies. Pro: unlimited.
Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Nov 2026
Term ends Nov 20, 2026. No further fees fall due before then
Note
The 615 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Terminal disclaimer
A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,761,848, ends no earlier than this term, so it caps nothing.
Citations
10
later US patents cite this one
That is above the median of utility patents granted in 2015 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.
In force means the term is running and no lapse is on record. It is not a finding that the patent is valid.