Also listed on International Business Machines Corporation, an earlier holder on the record. The recorded assignments below show how it moved.
Term ended Oct 24, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ends Nov 20, 2027
Filed Nov 20, 2007 as application 11/943,277 · Granted Apr 21, 2009
Base term, 20 years from filing · capped by a resolved terminal disclaimer
Today
Term ended Oct 24, 2026
2007
2027
Clock starts
Nov 20, 2007
Nov 20, 2007
Term ended
Oct 24, 2026
Oct 24, 2026
Granted
Apr 21, 2009
Apr 21, 2009
base term
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
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
Capped
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,361,989.
3 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.
3
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 resolved from the filed document caps it earlier. All three maintenance fees were paid, so no fee lapse ended it. 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 Nov 20, 2007, when this application, 11/943,277, was filed | Nov 20, 2027 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,361,989) | capped to Oct 24, 2026 | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 3 of 3 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Oct 24, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,361,989 | Term ended Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| US 7,521,798 | this patent Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| US 7,824,961 | In force Nov 2026 | Nov 2026 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 10, 2011 Reel 27362, frame 413 | Adkisson, James W.; Gambino, Jeffrey P.; Jaffe, Mark D.; Leidy, Robert K.; Luce, Stephen E.; Rassel, Richard J.; Sprogis, Edmund J. | International Business Machines Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Aug 22, 2018 Reel 46664, frame 305 | International Business Machines Corporation | Smartsens Technology (Cayman) Co., Ltd. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 6, 2020 Reel 53131, frame 551 | Smartsens Technology (Cayman) Co., Ltd. | Smartsens Technology (HK) Co., Limited | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
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.
Disclaimer cap
This term is capped by a terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,361,989.
Citations
57
later US patents cite this one
That is top 25% of utility patents granted in 2009 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.