Extensions

A detailed analysis of US Patent 11995685 regarding patent term adjustments (PTA), patent term extensions (PTE), continuation/divisional applications, related family members, and projected expiration date is provided below.

Patent Term Adjustments (PTA)

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) can add days to the 20-year term of a U.S. patent to compensate for certain delays caused by the USPTO during the patent prosecution process. These delays fall into categories such as:

• Failure to issue an office action within 14 months of filing.
• Failure to respond to a reply or appeal within four months.
• Failure to issue the patent within three years of the application filing date.
• Delays due to interference, secrecy orders, or appellate review.

Applicant delays can, however, reduce the PTA awarded.

To determine the exact PTA for US11995685, one would typically need to consult the "Issue Notification Letter" from the USPTO, which provides the final PTA calculation at the time of patent issuance. Without direct access to the official USPTO Patent Center for US11995685, the specific PTA amount cannot be definitively stated. However, the Google Patents page for US11995685 lists the "Anticipated expiration" date as "2029-02-03". This date is typically calculated from the earliest priority date plus 20 years, with any PTA added.

Given the Filing Date of June 1, 2023, and Issue Date of May 28, 2024, the patent issued in less than one year, which is well within the USPTO's 3-year target for issuing patents. This suggests that significant "B delay" (delays due to application pendency exceeding three years) is unlikely. Any PTA would likely stem from other types of USPTO delays (A, C delays) or be offset by applicant delays.

Patent Term Extensions (PTE)

Patent Term Extensions (PTE) are available for patents claiming products that require regulatory approval from agencies like the FDA (e.g., human drugs, medical devices, food additives, animal drugs). PTE aims to restore patent term lost during the regulatory review period.

US Patent 11995685 relates to "Efficient and secure communication using wireless service identifiers," which falls under the domain of communication technology rather than products requiring regulatory approval. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that US11995685 would be eligible for a Patent Term Extension under 35 U.S.C. § 156.

Continuation Applications, Divisional Applications, and Related Family Members

To identify continuation and divisional applications, as well as other related family members, one typically looks at the "Related U.S. Application Data" or "Continuity Data" section within the patent document or its prosecution history in USPTO Patent Center.

The Google Patents record for US11995685 lists the following "Other versions" and "Priority to" information, which can indicate related applications:

• US20230325881A1 (Publication of US11995685 as an application)
• Priority to US18/204,528 (This is the application number for US11995685)
• Priority to US18/437,306 (Filing date 2024-02-09, patent/US12430667B2/en)
• Priority to US19/027,075 (Filing date 2025-01-17, patent/US20250166009A1/en)
• Priority to US19/027,020 (Filing date 2025-01-17, patent/US20250166008A1/en)

Based on this information:

• US18/204,528 is the original application that led to US11995685.
• US20230325881A1 is the published application for US18/204,528.
• US18/437,306, US19/027,075, and US19/027,020 are subsequent applications that claim priority to an earlier application in the family, making them potential continuation or divisional applications. Without further detail from the prosecution history, it's not possible to definitively classify them as continuations, continuations-in-part, or divisionals, but they are clearly related family members.

Projected Expiration Date

The basic patent term for a U.S. utility patent filed on or after June 8, 1995, is 20 years from its earliest effective filing date. This term can be adjusted by PTA or PTE.

For US11995685:

• Earliest Filing Date: The Google Patents record indicates the priority date is September 8, 2008.
• Base Expiration Date (20 years from priority date): September 8, 2028.
• Anticipated Expiration (from Google Patents): February 3, 2029.

The difference between the base expiration date (September 8, 2028) and the anticipated expiration date (February 3, 2029) is approximately 4 months and 26 days. This difference likely represents the Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) granted to the patent due to USPTO delays during prosecution. Given that the patent was filed on June 1, 2023, and issued on May 28, 2024, it is highly probable that the "priority date" of 2008-09-08 listed on Google Patents refers to an earlier application in a chain of continuing applications, and this earlier date is used to calculate the 20-year term.

Therefore, the projected expiration date for US Patent 11995685 is February 3, 2029.