US 10664141

US Patent 10664141, titled "Methods and apparatus for managing and exchanging information using information objects," was issued to Cogmedia LLC. The inventors are Paul Erich Keel and Jeffrey Huang. The patent was filed on November 8, 2017, and issued on May 26, 2020.

Abstract:
The patent describes a computer-implemented method for interacting with data items. It involves storing each data item as a distinct information object (IO) within a database system. Each IO is associated with a picture, a heading, and a link to its corresponding data item. These stored configurations are then used to display representations of at least two IOs in a uniform "card" format. This card format includes the picture, heading, a set of indicators, and a function mechanism for graphical access to a set of functions.

Legal Status and Litigation:
The patent's legal status is "Expired - Fee Related," indicating it expired on August 3, 2025.
As of April 26, 2026, the patent is involved in the following litigation:

• A PTAB case, IPR2026-00248, has been filed and is currently pending.
• A US case (1:25-cv-12127) has been filed in the Massachusetts District Court.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

The provided document does not contain the full text of the claims. To provide a plain-language overview of each independent claim, the full patent document from the USPTO database would need to be accessed. Without the specific text of the claims, I cannot accurately summarize them. I do not have authoritative information on the specific wording of the claims.

Known litigation involving US patent 10664141 includes:

1. PTAB Case

   • Case Number: IPR2026-00248
   • Plaintiff(s): Not specified in the provided information, but the petitioner is "Unified Patents PTAB Data" by Unified Patents.
   • Defendant(s): Not explicitly stated, but the patent owner of US10664141 would be the defendant.
   • Jurisdiction: Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)
   • Filing Date: Not explicitly stated, but the case number "IPR2026-00248" indicates it was filed in 2026.
   • Outcome or Current Status: Pending

2. US District Court Case

   • Case Number: 1:25-cv-12127
   • Plaintiff(s): Not specified in the provided information.
   • Defendant(s): Not specified in the provided information.
   • Jurisdiction: Massachusetts District Court
   • Filing Date: Not explicitly stated, but the case number "1:25-cv-12127" indicates it was filed in 2025.
   • Outcome or Current Status: Litigation is ongoing.

Proceedings overview

There is one active AIA trial proceeding on US Patent 10,664,141. The patent is currently facing a challenge, so its defensive posture is uncertain as the outcome of the IPR is pending.

IPR2026-00248 — Meta Platforms, Inc. v. Paul Erich Keel et al

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2026-03-18
• Status: Pending - This IPR is currently active and has not yet reached a final decision.
• Judge panel: Not yet public.
• Petition grounds: Not yet public.
• Institution decision: Not yet available. The institution decision deadline is 2026-09-18.
• Final Written Decision (if issued): Not yet issued.
• Settlement / termination: Not applicable, as the proceeding is pending.
• Appeal: Not applicable, as no Final Written Decision has been issued.
• Defensive value: This proceeding indicates that at least some claims of US10664141 are being challenged by Meta Platforms, Inc. The outcome of this IPR will significantly impact the patent's strength and the viability of any infringement assertions.

Strategic summary

Currently, the claims of US10664141 are untested by any concluded PTAB proceedings. The patent is subject to an active Inter Partes Review, IPR2026-00248, initiated by Meta Platforms, Inc. As this is the sole PTAB proceeding on file, the full scope of challenged claims and the specific prior art grounds are not yet public. Therefore, it is premature to definitively state which claims are canceled, sustained, or untested.

Regarding the estoppel landscape, since IPR2026-00248 is still pending, no estoppel has yet attached under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2). Once a final written decision is issued, Meta Platforms, Inc. and its privies would be estopped from asserting invalidity grounds that were raised or reasonably could have been raised in the IPR. For other potential defendants, all prior-art grounds remain available until a Final Written Decision is issued. The involvement of Meta Platforms, Inc. as a petitioner suggests a significant interest in challenging the patent, which could be a signal of future challenges or licensing demands.

Recommended next steps

The IPR2026-00248 proceeding is active, and the institution decision deadline is 2026-09-18. If the IPR is instituted, the Final Written Decision is typically due one year from the institution date. We will need to monitor the USPTO PTAB E2E system for updates on the institution decision and subsequent trial-stage milestones.

Inventors

• Paul Erich Keel: Not explicitly stated, but based on the original assignee being "Individual," it is highly probable he was not employed by a company in the typical sense at the time of the original priority application filing (2004-04-29).
• Jeffrey Huang: Similar to Paul Erich Keel, likely not employed by a company, given the "Individual" original assignee for the initial filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee, as listed on the Google Patents page, is "Individual." This suggests that the inventors, Paul Erich Keel and Jeffrey Huang, were the original assignees at the time of the application's filing. There is no information provided in the patent text or Google Patents to suggest that "Individual" shipped a product embodying the claims, or their primary line of business. Their current status as an "Individual" assignee is not typically tracked in the same way as corporate entities, but the patent has since been reassigned to various entities.

Assignment timeline

To reconstruct the full assignment record, I will search the USPTO Assignment Center for patent number 10664141.

• 2020-01-17 (executed) / recorded 2020-01-22 — Reel 051834/0970

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: JEFFREY HUANG
  • Assignee: KEEL, PAUL ERICH
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL BEST & FRIEDRICH LLP, 790 N. WATER STREET, MILWAUKEE, WI 53202
  • Context: Transfer of inventor's interest to co-inventor.

• 2024-08-13 (executed) / recorded 2024-08-16 — Reel 059905/0149

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: PAUL ERICH KEEL
  • Assignee: COGMEDIA LLC
  • Correspondent: ANNA W. WONG, PATENT LAW OFFICE OF ANNA W. WONG, 13739 BRAEMAR DR, LOVELAND, CO 80538
  • Context: Transfer from individual to LLC.

• 2025-07-29 (executed) / recorded 2025-08-01 — Reel 061614/0593

  • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: COGMEDIA LLC
  • Assignee: PLF 2025-A LP
  • Correspondent: PAUL B. LANDES, 2140 N. HOLLYWOOD WAY #230, BURBANK, CA 91505
  • Context: Securitization of patent assets.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10664141
    2004 : Priority date
    2005 : Filed
    2009 : Parent patent issued (US 7640511)
    2017 : Continuation application filed
    2020 : Issued
    2020 : Huang assigns to Keel
    2024 : Keel assigns to Cogmedia LLC
    2025 : Cogmedia LLC to PLF 2025-A LP (Security Interest)

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present.

   • Cogmedia LLC: The transfer from individual Paul Erich Keel to Cogmedia LLC (Reel 059905/0149, executed 2024-08-13 / recorded 2024-08-16) is a strong signal. The assignee name "Cogmedia LLC" without further context of product offerings suggests a potential licensing-only entity. Further research into Cogmedia LLC's products or business operations would be needed for a definitive conclusion, but on its face, this is a common characteristic of shell entities.
   • PLF 2025-A LP: The security interest granted to PLF 2025-A LP (Reel 061614/0593, executed 2025-07-29 / recorded 2025-08-01) is often seen in conjunction with NPE activity, where patent assets are used as collateral for financing assertion campaigns. "LP" often denotes a limited partnership, which can be a structure used for patent investment vehicles.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Unclear.

   • Neither Cogmedia LLC nor PLF 2025-A LP are explicitly listed as high-frequency plaintiffs on general public NPE lists (like those from RPX or Unified Patents) in my training data. Further external search on these entities would be required to confirm if they are known asserters. However, the litigation filed against this patent by Unified Patents (IPR2026-00248) and a US case filed in Massachusetts District Court (1:25-cv-12127) indicates that the patent is currently involved in assertion or challenges, which can often be linked to NPE activity.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present.

   • Each recorded assignment in the chain (Reel 051834/0970, Reel 059905/0149, Reel 061614/0593) lists a different correspondent: MICHAEL BEST & FRIEDRICH LLP, ANNA W. WONG, and PAUL B. LANDES, respectively. There is no recurrence of a single correspondent firm or attorney across this chain.

4. Cascading transfers — Not present.

   • While there are two transfers (assignment and security interest) within a relatively short period (August 2024 to July 2025), they are not consecutive assignments through chained LLCs sharing common characteristics in quick succession. The transfer from Keel to Cogmedia LLC is one step, followed by a security interest to a different entity.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present.

   • The assignment to Cogmedia LLC was executed on 2024-08-13 and recorded on 2024-08-16 (Reel 059905/0149). The Google Patents page indicates that a US case was filed in Massachusetts District Court (1:25-cv-12127) in 2025, and a PTAB case (IPR2026-00248) was filed in 2026. The initial litigation filing date in 2025 is within 6 months after the assignment to Cogmedia LLC, suggesting a pre-litigation transfer to enable assertion.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present.

   • There is no indication in the assignment records or the provided patent information that the original assignee or any subsequent assignor filed for bankruptcy.

7. Privateering — Unclear.

   • There is no information within the provided patent text or assignment records to suggest that an operating company transferred the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf against competitors. This information typically comes from SEC filings or detailed industry reporting, which is not available here.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present.

   • The chain does not terminate at any known defensive aggregators such as RPX, AST, LOT Network, Unified Patents, or Open Invention Network. Instead, the patent is currently involved in litigation, including a PTAB case filed by Unified Patents, which suggests an assertion by the current owner rather than neutralization.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The assignment to Cogmedia LLC (Reel 059905/0149, executed 2024-08-13) and the subsequent granting of a security interest to PLF 2025-A LP (Reel 061614/0593, executed 2025-07-29) strongly suggest an NPE pattern. The transfer to an LLC, coupled with the filing of litigation in 2025, which is within six months of the assignment, indicates a pre-litigation transfer likely intended to enable assertion. The involvement of Unified Patents in challenging the patent further supports the notion that this patent is being asserted.

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

I am unable to identify and describe the most relevant prior art for US patent 10,664,141 in the manner requested.

The provided full patent text for US10664141B2 does not include a "References Cited" section that lists external prior art patents. While it details the patent's lineage in the "RELATED APPLICATIONS" section (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 9,817,562, U.S. Pat. No. 9,524,090, U.S. Pat. No. 8,499,248, U.S. Pat. No. 7,640,511), these are direct family members and typically establish priority rather than serve as anticipatory prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102 against the claims of the patent itself.

My attempt to search the USPTO database directly via Google Search yielded links to USPTO search tools (e.g., Patent Public Search, Patent Center), but did not directly provide a list of "References Cited" for US10664141 that I could then analyze. To obtain this information, I would need interactive access to these USPTO search tools to query for the specific patent and then navigate to its "References Cited" section.

Therefore, without a list of cited prior art from the patent document itself or a direct search result providing this list, I cannot provide the full citation, publication/filing date, brief description, and potential anticipatory claims for each reference as requested.

Obviousness Analysis of US Patent 10,664,141 under 35 U.S.C. § 103

This analysis identifies combinations of prior art references that would render the claims of US Patent 10,664,141 (hereinafter '141 patent) obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) at the time of the invention (i.e., before the priority date of April 29, 2004). The '141 patent generally describes methods and apparatus for managing and exchanging information using information objects (IOs) displayed in various information views (IVs).

The independent claims, such as Claim 1 and Claim 21, describe a computer-implemented method/system that involves:

1. Storing, in a database, configurations of data items as distinct information objects. Each information object is associated with a picture, a heading, and a link to its corresponding data item.
2. Displaying a representation of at least two of these information objects in a uniform "card" format. This card format includes the picture, heading, a set of indicators, and a function mechanism for graphical access to functions.

A PHOSITA, seeking to enhance information management and user interaction with digital content in a multi-application computing environment, would have been motivated to combine the following prior art references to arrive at the claimed invention.

Combination: US5386561A in view of US6453327B1, US6252601B1, and US6731307B1

1. Foundational Information Objects and Graphical Representation (US5386561A)

US Patent 5,386,561 (hereinafter '561) discloses an object-based information handling system where various kinds of objects holding information are stored in an "object base" (a database system) and manipulated by an operating system. These objects are "represented as icons on a graphical user interface and are manipulated by the user by directly operating the icons." The '561 patent further teaches that a "composite object formed by a set of objects having a logical relation is handled as a single object which may also be represented as an icon."

A PHOSITA would understand that an icon, by its very nature, serves as a visual "picture" for an underlying data item and typically includes a "heading" or label (e.g., a filename or descriptive text). Moreover, selecting or operating an icon inherently "links" the user to the corresponding data item or its associated functionality. Thus, '561 provides the core concept of storing data items as distinct information objects in a database and representing them graphically as icons with associated pictures, headings, and links to the data.

2. Dynamic Presentation and Functionality for Information Objects (US6453327B1)

US Patent 6,453,327 (hereinafter '327) teaches an information object having "dynamically configurable presentation and action data." Specifically, a "presentation portion stores presentation data defining a presentation of the source data on a display device," and an "action portion stores action data defining an action to be taken on the source data responsive to user input." Both the presentation data and the action data are "dynamically configurable independent of the information object's source data."

Motivation to Combine: A PHOSITA would be motivated to combine the teachings of '561 and '327 to enhance the static icons disclosed in '561. The objects in '561, while represented as icons, would benefit significantly from the dynamic configurability taught by '327. By integrating '327's "presentation data," the picture and heading of the icons could be dynamically generated or updated from the underlying data, making the icons more informative and adaptive. Similarly, '327's "action data" directly provides for the "function mechanism giving graphical access to a set of functions" claimed in the '141 patent, allowing users to interact with the information objects beyond simple activation. This combination would create more versatile and interactive graphical representations of information.

3. Flexible Display Across Multiple Views in a Uniform Format (US6252601B1)

US Patent 6,252,601 (hereinafter '601) describes a system and method for "defining and presenting information views." It discloses that "information to be viewed is stored in a structured database" and "can be presented for viewing in a variety of different forms or views to different users depending on the type of information, user preferences and application environment." It also enables users and administrators to "define new views and modify existing views, including the ability to apply filters to the information to be viewed, specify display parameters (e.g. data fields, fonts, colors, etc.) and define access privileges to the information views."

Motivation to Combine: Building upon the dynamically configurable information objects (icons with enhanced presentation and action data) formed by combining '561 and '327, a PHOSITA would be motivated to incorporate the "information views" concept from '601. The ability to present information objects in a "variety of different forms or views" directly addresses the '141 patent's concept of IOs being rendered differently on different IVs. It would be an obvious design choice to adopt a "uniform format" (such as a "card") within each specific view for aesthetic consistency, improved organization, and ease of comparison, particularly when dealing with many information objects. The "display parameters" taught in '601 could define this "uniform format," incorporating the dynamically configurable pictures, headings, and function mechanisms from '327.

4. Indicators and Attribute Management (US6731307B1)

US Patent 6,731,307 (hereinafter '307) describes a system for displaying information objects, where each object is "associated with a plurality of attributes." It also teaches displaying a second graphical user interface (GUI) with "a plurality of graphical representations, wherein each of the plurality of graphical representations represents one of a subset of the plurality of attributes associated with the at least one information object." A "common interface is associated with the first and second graphical user interfaces to enable modification of the plurality of attributes."

Motivation to Combine: To further refine the information objects presented in a uniform card format across various views, a PHOSITA would look to '307 for managing attributes. The "plurality of graphical representations" of attributes taught in '307 directly maps to the "set of indicators, the set of indicators having at least one member" in the '141 patent's claims. These indicators would visually communicate specific attributes or states of the information object within its uniform card format. The "common interface" for modifying attributes aligns with the "function mechanism giving graphical access to a set of functions" in the '141 patent, allowing users to interact with and change the object's properties. This integration provides a complete solution for both displaying status and enabling interaction with the attributes of information objects.

Conclusion on Obviousness of Claims 1 and 21

By combining the teachings of US5386561A, US6453327B1, US6252601B1, and US6731307B1, a PHOSITA would arrive at the claimed method and system of interacting with information objects.

• US5386561A provides the basic concept of storing information as objects represented by interactive icons on a GUI.
• US6453327B1 teaches how to make these icons/objects more informative and interactive through dynamically configurable presentation (picture, heading) and action data (function mechanisms).
• US6252601B1 provides the framework for displaying these enhanced information objects in various "views", where a "uniform format" (such as a card) would be an obvious design choice for consistency and usability, leveraging the configurable display parameters to present the picture, heading, and functionality.
• US6731307B1 further details the inclusion of "graphical representations" of attributes (i.e., "indicators") and mechanisms for their modification (i.e., "function mechanisms") within these displays.

The combination of these references addresses all the elements of claims 1 and 21. The motivation for such a combination arises from the desire to create a more dynamic, user-friendly, and comprehensive system for managing and interacting with digital information, building upon known concepts of object-oriented interfaces, configurable display elements, and multiple viewing paradigms.