Term ended no later than Oct 26, 2026 · Low confidence
20-year base term ended Oct 26, 2026
No current holder resolved from the recorded chain.
Filed May 24, 2021 as application 17/329,039 · Granted Dec 13, 2022
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Ended no later than Oct 26, 2026
2006
2026
Clock starts
Oct 26, 2006
Oct 26, 2006
Ended no later than
Oct 26, 2026
Oct 26, 2026
Granted
Dec 13, 2022
Dec 13, 2022
base term
after the term ends
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
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
Unresolved
Terminal disclaimer
On file, reference document not resolved, so the date above is an upper bound. We do not guess the cap.
None due
Maintenance fees
This term ends before the first maintenance fee's grace period does, 4 years from grant, so no fee can end it early.
6
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 is its 20-year base term, with no adjustment for prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer is on file with no resolved reference, so no cap is applied and none is guessed. Confidence: Low. 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 Oct 26, 2006, when application 11/553,130, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed May 24, 2021); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Oct 26, 2026 | 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 | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer on file (approved), reference document not resolved | no cap applied, and none guessed | Medium confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | No maintenance fee can end the term early | term ended | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | no later than Oct 26, 2026 | Low confidence |
This family
| US 9,306,952 | In force Oct 2030 | Oct 2030 |
| US 10,535,221 | Term ended Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| US 11,527,129 | this patent no later than Oct 2026 | no later than Oct 2026 |
| US 12,518,592 | Term ended Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
4 of 6 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
A terminal disclaimer is on file and its reference is not resolved. No cap is applied and none is guessed
Open question
A terminal disclaimer is on file (approved) and its reference document is not resolved. A disclaimer would cap the term earlier than Oct 26, 2026. We will not guess the cap.
Citations
0
later US patents cite this one
That is below the median of utility patents granted in 2022 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
This computed term ends no later than the date shown; an unresolved terminal disclaimer may end it earlier. Related patents and pending applications may cover overlapping subject matter.