Term ended Apr 14, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Apr 14, 2026
Filed Feb 24, 2009 as application 12/391,909 · Granted Jun 23, 2015
Base term plus 466 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) · capped by a resolved terminal disclaimer
Today
Term ended Apr 14, 2026
2006
2026
Clock starts
Apr 14, 2006
Apr 14, 2006
Term ended
Apr 14, 2026
Apr 14, 2026
Granted
Jun 23, 2015
Jun 23, 2015
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
466
Days of term adjustment
Read from the USPTO patent term adjustment record, not recalculated here.
Capped
Terminal disclaimer
Resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,345,618.
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.
5
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 466 days past its 20-year base term on prosecution delay. A terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document caps it earlier. 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 Apr 14, 2006, when application 11/279,859, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Feb 24, 2009) | Apr 14, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | +466 days, USPTO patent term adjustment record | Jul 24, 2027 | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | Disclaimer resolved from the filed document (refs US 7,345,618) | capped to Apr 14, 2026 | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 2 of 2 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Apr 14, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| Application 11/279,859 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 7,345,618 | Term ended Apr 2026 | Apr 2026 |
| Application 12/029,481 | Abandoned not computed | not computed |
| US 8,362,942 | In force Oct 2027 | Oct 2027 |
| US 9,063,232 | this patent Apr 2026 | Apr 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 2009 Reel 22503, frame 311 | McNeill, James; Mackey, Todd; Dyson, Tim | L-3 Communications Cyterra Corporation | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Jul 24, 2014 Reel 33407, frame 624 | L-3 Communications Cyterra Corporation | L-3 Communications Security and Detection Systems, Inc. | Merger |
| Feb 24, 2020 Reel 52002, frame 829 | L-3 Communications Security and Detection Systems, Inc. | L3 Security & Detection Systems, Inc. | Change of Name |
| Apr 3, 2020 Reel 52312, frame 107 | L3 Security & Detection Systems, Inc. (Formerly Known as L-3 Communications Security and Detection Systems, Inc.) | L3 Technologies, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Apr 3, 2020 Reel 52312, frame 125 | L3 Technologies, Inc. | L3 Fuzing and Ordnance Systems, Inc. | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Nov 5, 2021 Reel 58795, frame 611 | L3 Fuzing and Ordnance Systems, Inc. | L3HARRIS Fuzing and Ordnance Systems, Inc. | Change of Name |
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 466 days of patent term adjustment (USPTO delay) are read from the USPTO record, not recalculated by us
Disclaimer cap
This term is capped by a terminal disclaimer resolved from the filed document, referencing US 7,345,618.
Citations
53
later US patents cite this one
That is top 10% 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.