Invalidity dossier
US 6325414
Method and arrangement for controlling deployment of a side airbag
Current assignee: Automotive Technologies International, Inc.
Added 9/22/2026, 6:46:26 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 6325414 B2
Title: Method and arrangement for controlling deployment of a side airbag
Assignee / Original Assignee: Automotive Technologies International Inc. (later recorded as AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL, INC.)
Key dates (as listed in the source):
- Priority date: 1992-05-05
- Filing date: 2000-12-14
- Publication date: 2001-12-04 (grant)
- Anticipated expiration: 2013-03-31
- Legal status: Expired – Fee Related
Inventors: David S. Breed, Wilbur E. DuVall, Wendell C. Johnson
Application number: US09/737,138; also published as US20010015547A1.
Purpose / plain-language scope: The patent concerns an arrangement and method for controlling whether and how a side airbag deploys. Based on the supplied excerpt, the disclosed approach involves sensing conditions relating to the vehicle and/or seat occupant and using that information to make deployment decisions. The excerpt indicates the subject matter is classified for: electrical circuits for triggering passive safety arrangements responsive to vehicle motion parameters (including frequency or waveform analysis); seats with occupancy detection means (sensor type/measurement, occupant identification or categorization, occupant or body-part position, and occupant motion detection); and powered, logic-controlled seat adjustment using sensors/detectors for adapting the seat to occupant position or detecting seat-part position.
Prior art keywords listed: vehicle, seat, occupant, waves, side airbag.
Family / litigation flags shown: The source indicates the family has litigation and lists two Delaware District Court case links plus a Darts-IP family litigation link. Per instructions, these are not analyzed here.
What the excerpt does not establish: The supplied text is an excerpt of the Google Patents page — the abstract, full description, and complete claim set are largely absent, so the precise claimed elements, claim count, and independent/dependent claim structure cannot be stated. Specific sensor types, thresholds, algorithms, and embodiments are not established by this excerpt. No findings are made regarding prior art, validity, enforceability, ownership chain, or litigation substance.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:54:21 PM
Cases on file (2)
Group view →Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 6325414. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
- 1:06-cv-00391-GMSU.S. District Court for the District of Delawareterminated May 18, 2017dismissed with prejudice
Defendants: Hyundai Motor America, BMW of North America LLC, Kia Motors America, Inc.
Other patents asserted: 6757602, 5901978, 6422595, 6484080, 6712387, 6833516, 6850824, 6869100, 6942248, 6958451
- Automotive Technologies International, Inc. v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. et al.filed Mar 17, 20061:06-cv-00187-GMSU.S. District Court for the District of Delawareclosed
Defendants: American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Elesys North America Inc., General Motors Corp.
Other patents asserted: 6757602, 5901978, 6242701, 6397136, 6422595, 6869100, 6712387, 6942248, 6950022, 6958451, 6484080, 6850824
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: Automotive Technologies International, Inc.
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.
Keep exploring
More patents asserted by Automotive Technologies International, Inc.
- US 6757602I'll check live sources for the patent and any CAFC/appellate docket activity before summarizing. Let me pull the actual claim set for US 6,757,602 and check docket status. Let me retrieve the abstract and confirm the full…
- US 5901978Patent Overview — US 5,901,978 A Title: Method and apparatus for detecting the presence of a child seat. Patent number / application: US 5,901,978 A; application US 09/084,641. Assignee: Automotive Technologies International Inc. (original…
- US 6242701US 6,242,701 B1 — Patent Overview Title: Apparatus and method for measuring weight of an occupying item of a seat Patent number: US6242701B1 Application number: US09/193,209 Inventors: David S. Breed, Wilbur E. DuVall, Jeffrey L. Morin…
- US 6397136Patent Overview — US 6397136 B1 Title: System for determining the occupancy state of a seat in a vehicle Patent number / application: US 6397136 B1; application US 09/474,147, filed 1999-12-29; granted/publication date 2002-05-28. Assignee…
- US 6422595Patent Overview: US6422595B1 (excerpt-based) Title: Occupant position sensor and method and arrangement for controlling a vehicular component based on an occupant's position Patent number: US6422595B1 | Application number: US09/639,299…
- US 6869100Patent Overview — US6869100B2 Title: Method and apparatus for controlling an airbag Patent number / application: US6869100B2; application US10/234,067, filed 2002-09-03; published as US20030001368A1 (2003-01-02); granted 2005-03-22…
- US 6712387Patent Overview: US 6,712,387 B1 Title: Method and apparatus for controlling deployment of a side airbag Patent number: US6712387B1 Application number: US09/437,535 Inventor(s): David S. Breed; Wilbur E. DuVall; Wendell C. Johnson…
- US 6942248Patent Overview — US 6,942,248 B2 Title: "Occupant restraint device control system and method" (source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6942248/en). Identifiers: Publication US6942248B2; application US10/114,533, filed 2002-04-02…
This patent in court (2)
2 tracked lawsuits name US 6325414.