Assignment history

Inventors

• John Douglas Steinberg: Co-founder and CEO of Ecofactor Inc. at the time of filing.
• Scott Douglas Hublou: Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Ecofactor Inc. at the time of filing.
• Leo Cheung: Likely an employee of Ecofactor Inc. at the time of filing.

No unusual patterns (e.g., all inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing) are determinable from the provided information.

Original assignee

Ecofactor Inc. was the original assignee named on the issued patent. Ecofactor Inc. developed and provided energy intelligence software and cloud-based technology for smart home automation, focusing on energy efficiency and HVAC fault detection. Their software adjusted thermostats to optimize energy savings, increase home comfort, and reduce environmental impact. Ecofactor Inc. was acquired by Trane's Residential HVAC business in June 2019. Its cloud-based technology now powers Trane's Nexia Intelligence platform. As of today, Ecofactor Inc. as an independent entity has been acquired and its technology integrated into Trane's offerings.

Assignment timeline

Unfortunately, a search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/) for patent number US10018371 yielded no recorded assignment records as of May 29, 2026. This indicates that the ownership of the patent remains with the original assignee, Ecofactor Inc., or its successor by operation of law (e.g., through merger or acquisition) if no separate assignment document was recorded for the patent itself.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10018371
    2009 : Priority date
    2015 : Filed by Ecofactor Inc
    2018 : Issued to Ecofactor Inc
    2019 : Acquired by Trane (tech only)

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The patent was issued to Ecofactor Inc., which was an operating company providing energy intelligence software for HVAC systems.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Ecofactor Inc. is not identified as a known NPE on major public lists. While Ecofactor Inc. has asserted patents, it was an operating company at the time of patent issuance and its core business was developing and licensing the technology.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. No assignment records were found, so no correspondent patterns can be observed.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. No assignment records were found.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. While Ecofactor Inc. has engaged in litigation (e.g., against Google, ecobee, Emerson Electric, and Resideo Technologies), the absence of recorded assignments makes it impossible to determine if a transfer occurred specifically to enable litigation. The litigation identified started in 2022, while the patent was issued in 2018. Ecofactor's technology was acquired by Trane in 2019. It is possible the right to assert the patent was retained by Ecofactor Inc. as a separate entity or part of a post-acquisition carve-out, but without assignment records, this is speculative.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Ecofactor Inc. was acquired by Trane's Residential HVAC business in an asset purchase, not a bankruptcy sale.
7. Privateering — unclear. While Ecofactor Inc. sued Google and other companies, and its technology was acquired by Trane, there is no explicit public record indicating a privateering arrangement where Ecofactor Inc. is asserting patents on behalf of Trane against Trane's competitors. Without specific contractual details or SEC filings detailing such an arrangement, this signal remains unclear.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent is currently active and has been asserted in litigation.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

The patent was issued to Ecofactor Inc., an operating company that developed and commercialized energy intelligence software for HVAC systems. Although Ecofactor's technology was acquired by Trane, Ecofactor Inc. subsequently asserted the patent in district court litigation against companies like Google, ecobee, Emerson Electric, and Resideo Technologies. This pattern indicates an assertion by an entity actively involved in the patent's underlying technology, even if post-acquisition. The absence of recorded assignments on the USPTO Assignment Center (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html) prevents a definitive assessment of any subsequent transfers, but based on available public information, the assertion originates from the original operating entity.