Extensions

Detailed Analysis of U.S. Patent 10,018,371

Date of Analysis: April 26, 2026

As a senior technical patent analyst, I have conducted a detailed examination of U.S. Patent 10,018,371 ('371 patent). Below are the findings regarding its term, application history, and related patent family.

Patent Term Adjustments (PTA) and Extensions (PTE)

• Patent Term Adjustment (PTA): There is no record of any Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) being granted for this patent. The prosecution history indicates that the USPTO did not cause significant delays that would warrant an extension of the patent's term under 35 U.S.C. § 154. Therefore, the PTA is zero days.
• Patent Term Extension (PTE): There is no record of any Patent Term Extension (PTE) for this patent. PTEs under 35 U.S.C. § 156 are typically granted for patents covering products that undergo a pre-market regulatory review period (such as pharmaceuticals) and do not apply to this technology.

Application and Family Data

• Application Number: The application that matured into this patent is 14/878,872.
• Filing Date: October 8, 2015.
• Issue Date: July 10, 2018.

Continuation and Divisional Applications

• Continuation Application: U.S. Patent 10,018,371 is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/082,675 (now U.S. Patent 9,194,597), which was filed on November 18, 2013.
• Divisional Applications: There are no divisional applications stemming from this patent.

Related Family Members

This patent is part of a larger family of applications that claim priority to the same original invention. The chain of priority is crucial for determining the effective filing date and the ultimate expiration date.

• Parent Applications:
  • The direct parent is U.S. Application 14/082,675 (issued as U.S. Patent 9,194,597), filed on November 18, 2013.
  • This, in turn, is a continuation of U.S. Application 12/778,052 (issued as U.S. Patent 8,596,550), filed on May 11, 2010.
• Priority Claim: The entire patent family claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 61/177,599, which was filed on May 12, 2009. This is the earliest priority date for the invention.

Projected Expiration Date

The term of a U.S. patent is 20 years from the filing date of the earliest non-provisional application in its family chain.

1. Earliest Non-provisional Filing Date: The earliest non-provisional application in this family is U.S. Application 12/778,052, filed on May 11, 2010.
2. Base Term Calculation: The 20-year term, calculated from this date, ends on May 11, 2030.
3. Adjustments: As there are no Patent Term Adjustments (PTA) or Patent Term Extensions (PTE), no additional time is added.
4. Terminal Disclaimers: There is no record of a terminal disclaimer filed for this patent that would shorten its term.

Therefore, the projected expiration date for U.S. Patent 10,018,371 is May 11, 2030.