Invalidity dossier
US 10461866
Linearized optical digital-to-analog modulator
Current assignee: Ramot at Tel Aviv University Ltd.
Added 9/23/2026, 10:44:24 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
US10461866B2 — Patent Overview
Title: Linearized optical digital-to-analog modulator
Patent number: US10461866B2 (application US16/386,391)
Inventors: Yossef Ehrlichman, Ofer Amrani, Shlomo Ruschin
Assignee: Ramot at Tel Aviv University Ltd. (original and current assignee per the listing)
Key dates: Priority date 2007-06-13; filing date 2019-04-17; publication date 2019-10-29 (grant). Legal status listed as Active, with anticipated expiration 2028-06-12.
Purpose and plain-language scope: The patent concerns converting a digital input into an analog optical signal using a modulator that is "linearized" — that is, arranged to reduce the nonlinearity that would otherwise distort the conversion. The classification data places it in optical modulation/transmission (H04B10/50, H04B10/516, H04B10/541 for digital intensity/amplitude modulation) and in optical analog/digital conversion (G02F7/00), including Mach-Zehnder-type interference devices (G02F1/225, G02F1/212) and optical analog/digital converters generally (G02F7/00; H03M1/66). Prior-art keywords recorded in the listing are: digital, modulator, optical signal, input, electrically controllable. These, plus the classifications, indicate a device receiving a digital electrical input and producing a corresponding optical output, with electrically controllable elements used to linearize the mapping.
Related family members noted in the text: US20190273561A1; continuing applications US16/532,567 (US11133872B2), US17/481,904 (US11342998B2), US17/736,876 (US11716148B2), US18/334,269 (US12191912B2), US18/822,532 (US12388533B2), and US20250350366A1.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US10461866](/patent/US10461866)/en
What the supplied excerpt does not establish: it does not establish the actual claims, the written description, the number or content of figures, the specific linearization technique, or the prior art relied upon. The excerpt also does not establish ownership or validity as legal conclusions (the listing itself describes the legal status, assignee, and priority date as assumptions/non-conclusions). Litigation references (PTAB IPR2020-00484, a Federal Circuit case, and a Darts-ip family link) appear in the listing but are not analyzed here, per instruction.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:33:12 PM
Cases on file (2)
Group view →Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 10461866. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
- 2:19-cv-00225-JRGE.D. Tex. (Judge Rodney Gilstrap)unknown
Defendants: Cisco Systems, Inc.
- IPR2020-00122Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)terminated May 15, 2020institution denied
Defendants: Ramot at Tel Aviv University Ltd.
Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
Current assignee: Ramot at Tel Aviv University Ltd.
No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
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.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.
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This patent in court (2)
2 tracked lawsuits name US 10461866.