Invalidity dossier
US 6741656
Image communication apparatus
Current assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
Added 9/23/2026, 2:12:48 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 6,741,656 B1
Title: Image communication apparatus
Inventor: Yosuke Tanaka
Original assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (current assignee listed as Panasonic Holdings Corp)
Application no.: US 09/464,097
Priority date: 1998-12-16
Filing date: 1999-12-16
Grant/publication date: 2004-05-25
Status: Expired – Fee Related; anticipated expiration 2019-12-16
Purpose
The patent addresses an image communication apparatus for transmitting and receiving dynamic images, still images, and audio, and more particularly "synchronization of timing when transmitting and receiving by inserting preliminarily accumulated dynamic images and still images into real-time dynamic images and still images."
Plain-language scope
The excerpt describes a standard H.324 terminal with three channels: control, dynamic-image, and audio. Real-time audio/video/control data are encoded and multiplexed into one packet for transmission, then demultiplexed and decoded at the receiver. Non-standard capability data passes through separate protocol and application-specification storage units. Because terminals may not share the same protocol or specification, a control channel is used at connection start to mutually check available additional functions.
For video, H.263 frames carry time information TR — absolute time that wraps roughly every eight seconds — derived from a sender-side counter. The decoder uses its own time axis plus TR to set each frame's display changeover timing. FIGS. 2(a)–(b) illustrate encoder/decoder stream states and display timing when switching from real-time to accumulated video: reference 201 is the first frame of accumulated video; 202 the last real-time frame; 203 the display start of that last real-time frame; 204 the display start of the first accumulated frame. The difference between TR(202) and TR(201) gives the time width from 203 to 204.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6741656/en
What the excerpt does not establish
The supplied text is explicitly an excerpt with omitted portions. It does not include the full claims, detailed description, or drawing text, so the exact claimed scope and any dependent-claim limitations cannot be verified. It does not establish validity, enforceability, litigation history, or ownership transfers beyond the listed assignment records, and no prior-art analysis is undertaken here.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:52:27 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 6741656. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
No cases on file mention this patent. Upload a CSV or add a case manually in Admin → Manage litigation cases.
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.
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.