Term ended Aug 31, 2019 · Medium confidence
20-year base term ended Jun 27, 2016
Why Medium: A parent in the chain could not be resolved.
Filed Apr 7, 2006 as application 11/400,031 · Granted Feb 22, 2011
Base term plus 1160 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay)
Today
Term ended Aug 31, 2019
1996
2026
Clock starts
Jun 27, 1996
Jun 27, 1996
Term ended
Aug 31, 2019
Aug 31, 2019
Granted
Feb 22, 2011
Feb 22, 2011
base term
patent term adjustment
after the term ends
fee events
Updated Nov 15, 2026 · includes USPTO assignment & status data published Nov 15, 2026 and grant & fee data published Nov 10, 2026 (weekly) · how we know
1,160
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
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.
25
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 1160 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. All three maintenance fees were paid, so no fee lapse ended it. 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 Jun 27, 1996, when application 08/672,116, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Apr 7, 2006); a parent in its chain could not be resolved (the next row) | Jun 27, 2016 | 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 | +1160 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Aug 31, 2019 | 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 | 3 of 3 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Aug 31, 2019 | Medium confidence |
This family
| US 7,171,480 | Term ended no later than Jan 2022 | no later than Jan 2022 |
| US 7,761,328 | Term ended Oct 2023 | Oct 2023 |
| US 8,574,074 | In force Sep 2030 | Sep 2030 |
| Application 11/354,140 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,401,151 | Term ended Jan 2021 | Jan 2021 |
| US 7,895,076 | this patent Aug 2019 | Aug 2019 |
| US 9,129,301 | Term ended Sep 2025 | Sep 2025 |
| US 8,626,584 | In force Aug 2029 | Aug 2029 |
8 of 25 applications in this family shown, earliest filings first. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 6, 2006 Reel 18508, frame 237 | Ebisawa, Kan | Sony Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 6, 2006 Reel 18506, frame 399 | Kutaragi, Ken; Okamoto, Shinichi; Shimakawa, Keiso; Kubo, Makoto; Kagiwada, Yutaka | Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 6, 2006 Reel 18506, frame 421 | Chatani, Masayuki; House, Andrew; Van Datta, Glen; Zalewski, Gary | Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 9, 2010 Reel 25406, frame 506 | Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. | Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC | Merger |
| May 4, 2016 Reel 38611, frame 846 | Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC | Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC | Change of Name |
| Mar 30, 2020 Reel 53323, frame 567 | Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC | Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC | Merger |
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.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
What's changing
Note
The 1160 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Citations
110
later US patents cite this one
That is top 10% of utility patents granted in 2011 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.