Assignment history

Inventors

• Samuel English Anthony: Co-founder and CTO of Perceptive Automata at the time of filing. Prior to Perceptive Automata, he was at the Vision Sciences Lab at Harvard, working on his PhD research.
• Kshitij Misra: Co-founder and CEO of Perceptive Automata. His LinkedIn profile indicates he was a Product Manager / Consulting Brand Manager from 2018-present, and M.Tech in Geoinformatics, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (2025). Other public profiles for a Kshitij Misra show a Ph.D. Student, CSE Department, Indian Institute of Technology Patna. This may indicate a common name, or a departure from Perceptive Automata to pursue further education or other ventures.
• Avery Wagner Faller: Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Perceptive Automata at the time of filing.

It is not immediately determinable if all inventors departed the original assignee within 12 months of filing. However, Perceptive Automata "wound down operations in 2022" after failing to close Series B funding. Samuel English Anthony (co-founder and CTO) spent the years from 2016 to 2022 building Perceptive Automata.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Perceptive Automata Inc. They developed human behavior prediction software called "State of Mind AI (SOMAI)" designed to help autonomous vehicles understand people's intentions and awareness for safer navigation. They claimed to be solving "the hardest problem for autonomous vehicles: human behavior prediction technology for the safe large-scale rollout of highly automated and autonomous vehicles, especially in urban areas." The company was actively working with OEMs, suppliers, and autonomous technology companies.

Perceptive Automata Inc. is currently out of business. They shut down in August 2022 after failing to secure Series B funding, and their intellectual property was being offered for sale.

Assignment timeline

• 2022-03-09 (executed) / recorded 2022-03-09 — Reel 058784/0488
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: Faller, Avery Wagner; Misra, Kshitij; Anthony, Samuel English
  • Assignee: PERCEPTIVE AUTOMATA, INC.
  • Correspondent: Matthew F. P. Prew, Esq., Perceptive Automata, Inc., 201 Washington Street, Suite 3520, Boston, MA 02108.
  • Context: Internal transfer from inventors to the original assignee.
• 2025-02-19 (executed) / recorded 2025-02-19 — Reel 066736/0885
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: PERCEPTIVE AUTOMATA, INC.
  • Assignee: PERCEPTIVE AUTOMATA LLC
  • Correspondent: Matthew F. P. Prew, Esq., Perceptive Automata, Inc., 201 Washington Street, Suite 3520, Boston, MA 02108. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Internal reorganization / change of entity type.
• 2025-03-25 (executed) / recorded 2025-03-25 — Reel 066914/0593
  • Conveyance: Patent Security Agreement
  • Assignor: PERCEPTIVE AUTOMATA LLC
  • Assignee: PICCADILLY PATENT FUNDING LLC, AS SECURITY HOLDER
  • Correspondent: Joshua R. Simon, Esq., Simon Law Firm, 80 Park Plaza, 5th Floor, Newark, NJ 07102.
  • Context: Securitization of patent assets.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11753046
    2017 : Priority date
    2021 : Application filed by Perceptive Automata Inc
    2022 : Inventors assigned to Perceptive Automata Inc
         : Perceptive Automata Inc becomes out of business
    2023 : Patent issued
    2025 : Perceptive Automata Inc assigned to Perceptive Automata LLC
         : Assigned to Piccadilly Patent Funding LLC
    2026 : IPR filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The original operating company, Perceptive Automata Inc., ceased operations in August 2022. The patent was then assigned to Perceptive Automata LLC in February 2025, a different legal entity, followed by a security interest assigned to Piccadilly Patent Funding LLC in March 2025. Perceptive Automata LLC has been actively asserting these patents against Tesla, indicating a licensing-focused operation rather than product development. (Reel 066736/0885, Reel 066914/0593).
2. Known asserter in the chain — Unclear. While Perceptive Automata LLC is actively asserting the patent, it is not listed as a known NPE on common public directories like Unified Patents (which is actually challenging this patent through an IPR). However, its behavior aligns with that of an asserter. Piccadilly Patent Funding LLC's primary business appears to be patent funding/securitization, which is often associated with patent assertion.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. Matthew F. P. Prew, Esq. is listed as the correspondent for both the 2022-03-09 assignment to Perceptive Automata, Inc. (Reel 058784/0488) and the 2025-02-19 assignment to Perceptive Automata LLC (Reel 066736/0885).
4. Cascading transfers — Present. There were two consecutive assignments within a short period (February 2025 and March 2025). The transfer from Perceptive Automata Inc. to Perceptive Automata LLC, followed by the security agreement with Piccadilly Patent Funding LLC, occurred within two months. (Reel 066736/0885, Reel 066914/0593).
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The assignment to Perceptive Automata LLC (February 19, 2025) and the security agreement with Piccadilly Patent Funding LLC (March 25, 2025) occurred shortly before infringement suits against Tesla were filed in July 2025 (Case No. 7:25-cv-00594 and 2:25-cv-00742).
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Present. Perceptive Automata Inc. shut down in August 2022 due to a lack of funding, and its intellectual property was being sold. While not explicitly a "bankruptcy" filing, the winding down of operations and subsequent IP sale functions similarly to a fire-sale of assets.
7. Privateering — Unclear. There's no public evidence directly linking an operating company transferring the patent to Perceptive Automata LLC to assert on their behalf against competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain does not end at a known defensive aggregator. In fact, Unified Patents has filed an IPR against this patent, which suggests it is being asserted.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The original assignee, Perceptive Automata Inc., ceased operations and its intellectual property was offered for sale in August 2022. Subsequently, the patent was transferred to Perceptive Automata LLC in February 2025, and a security agreement was granted to Piccadilly Patent Funding LLC in March 2025, immediately preceding infringement lawsuits against Tesla in July 2025. This pattern, combined with the presence of a repeat correspondent and cascading transfers, strongly indicates an NPE assertion strategy.

Verify on USPTO Assignment Center: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/