Extensions

As a senior US patent analyst, here is a detailed breakdown of US Patent 7,784,058.

Patent Overview

• Patent Number: 7,784,058
• Title: Computing system having user mode critical system elements as shared libraries
• Issue Date: August 24, 2010
• Inventors: Donn Rochette, Paul O'Leary, Dean Huffman.
• Assignee: Trigence Corp.

Patent Term and Expiration

Utility patents filed after June 8, 1995, generally have a term of 20 years from the earliest non-provisional application filing date. For this patent, the filing date is September 21, 2004.

The standard 20-year term would place the expiration date on September 21, 2024. However, it's crucial to consider any Patent Term Adjustments (PTA) or Extensions (PTE) that may alter this date.

• Patent Term Adjustment (PTA): The USPTO may grant a PTA to compensate for delays during the patent prosecution process. These adjustments are added to the 20-year term.
• Patent Term Extension (PTE): This is a separate mechanism, often related to regulatory review delays (e.g., by the FDA), and is less common for software patents.

A detailed review of the patent's file history on the USPTO's Patent Center is necessary to determine the exact PTA. Without this specific data, an exact expiration date cannot be definitively calculated. However, based on the filing date, the patent term would likely extend beyond September 2024 if any PTA was granted.

Continuity and Family Data

An examination of a patent's continuity data reveals its relationship to other applications, which can be important for understanding the scope of the invention and its priority dates.

• Continuation Applications: These applications allow an inventor to pursue additional claims related to the invention disclosed in a prior "parent" application.
• Divisional Applications: If the USPTO determines that a single application contains more than one distinct invention, the applicant can file divisional applications to pursue each invention separately.

To ascertain if US Patent 7,784,058 has any continuation or divisional applications, a thorough search of the USPTO's public records, such as the Patent Center, is required. This would involve looking for applications that claim priority to the application number of this patent.

• Related Family Members: Patent families consist of a set of patents filed in various countries to protect the same invention. Identifying international counterparts can provide insight into the global protection strategy for the technology. This information is typically available through databases like the USPTO's and the European Patent Office's Espacenet.

A comprehensive analysis of related applications would require a specific search for any domestic or international applications that claim priority to the application for US Patent 7,784,058.