Patent 10056902

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

Active provider: Google · gemini-2.5-flash

Ownership chain (2)

Asserters network →

Structured records extracted from the assignment-history narrative below. Each entity links to its full ownership-network profile.

2018-04-25 · Assignment of Assignor's Interest
OH, KYUNG SUK, SHAEFFER, IAN P.RAMBUS INC.
initial assignment from the individual inventors to the original corporate assignee
2025-10-15 · Assignment of Assignor's Interest
RAMBUS INC.SIGNAL LLP
pre-litigation transfer

Assignment history

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Inventors

Kyung Suk Oh (Rambus Inc.)
Ian P. Shaeffer (Rambus Inc.)

Both inventors appear to have remained with Rambus Inc. for some time after the 2017 filing date of US10056902B2, based on their continued inventorship on later patents assigned to Rambus Inc. (e.g., US10270442B2 filed in 2018, US10651849B2 filed in 2019, US10944400B2 filed in 2020, and US11349478B2 filed in 2020, all of which share the same priority date as US10056902B2). This does not suggest an unusual pattern of inventors departing the original assignee.

Original assignee

Rambus Inc. was the original assignee. Rambus is a company that designs, develops, and licenses a wide range of semiconductor products and intellectual property, including memory interface technologies. They ship products embodying the claims, specifically in the area of high-speed signaling and memory controllers. Rambus Inc. is an actively operating company.

Assignment timeline

No recorded assignments for US patent 10056902 were found on the USPTO Assignment Center search portal using the patent number. Google Patents, however, indicates two assignment events:

2018-04-25 / Recorded 2018-04-25 - (No Reel/Frame information available on Google Patents)
- Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
- Assignor: OH, KYUNG SUK, SHAEFFER, IAN P.
- Assignee: RAMBUS INC.
- Context: This appears to be the initial assignment from the individual inventors to the original corporate assignee, Rambus Inc., confirming Rambus's ownership before the patent issued.
2025-10-15 / Recorded 2025-10-15 - (No Reel/Frame information available on Google Patents)
- Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
- Assignor: RAMBUS INC.
- Assignee: SIGNAL LLP
- Context: This is a transfer of ownership from the original assignee, Rambus Inc., to Signal LLP. This event is listed in Google Patents as a reassignment and indicates a change in ownership.

Without specific reel/frame numbers from USPTO, a full detailed record of the correspondents cannot be established at this time.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10056902
    2017 : Filed by Rambus Inc
    2018 : Inventors to Rambus Inc
         : Issued to Rambus Inc
    2025 : Assigned to Signal LLP
    2026 : Litigation filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — unclear. The transfer from Rambus Inc. to Signal LLP in 2025-10-15 suggests a potential shell entity. However, without further information on Signal LLP's business activities, physical address, or legal structure (e.g., if it's a registered-agent service address, or a single-member LLC), it's difficult to definitively classify it as a shell entity.
Known asserter in the chain — unclear. Signal LLP is not immediately recognizable as a high-frequency NPE from commonly referenced lists (Acacia Research Corp, Marathon Patent Group, etc.). Further investigation into Signal LLP would be needed to determine if they are a known asserter.
Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. Due to the lack of reel/frame information from Google Patents, specific correspondent details for the recorded assignments are unavailable at this time. Therefore, it's not possible to identify repeat correspondents.
Cascading transfers — not present. There is only one transfer event recorded post-issuance (Rambus Inc. to Signal LLP) on 2025-10-15, which does not constitute cascading transfers.
Pre-litigation transfer — present. The patent was assigned to Signal LLP on 2025-10-15, and litigation was filed in Texas Western District Court (case 7:26-cv-00095) and Texas Eastern District Court (case 2:26-cv-00093) in 2026. This transfer occurred within six months of the litigation filing, specifically about five months prior to the likely filing of the lawsuits (assuming early 2026 filing dates based on the case numbers).
Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Rambus Inc. is an operating company and there is no indication of bankruptcy in the assignment record or other provided information.
Privateering — unclear. While the transfer from an operating company (Rambus Inc.) to an entity like Signal LLP, followed by litigation, could be indicative of privateering, there is no direct evidence (e.g., SEC filings or specific reporting) to confirm that Signal LLP is asserting on Rambus Inc.'s behalf against competitors.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence. The primary signal supporting this verdict is the pre-litigation transfer of the patent from Rambus Inc. to Signal LLP on 2025-10-15, which occurred approximately five months before the patent was involved in litigation in Texas in 2026. This timing suggests the transfer may have been arranged to facilitate assertion. The nature of "Signal LLP" also hints at a potential shell entity, though this remains unclear without further details.

Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/25/2026, 6:45:41 PM