Invalidity dossier
US 8242932
Remote sensing system
Current assignee: Symbol Technologies LLC
Added 9/24/2026, 1:26:13 AM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US 8,242,932 B2
Title: Remote sensing system
Patent number: US 8,242,932 B2
Application number: US 12/624,611
Inventors: Thomas Roslak; Andrew Doorty; Luis Llamas Martinez Garza
Original/current assignee: Symbol Technologies LLC (originally Symbol Technologies, Inc.)
Priority/filing date: 2009-11-24
Publication date (grant): 2012-08-14
Earlier publication: US 2011/0121989 A1 (2011-05-26)
Adjusted expiration (as listed): 2031-03-23
Purpose: The disclosure addresses remote sensing systems for reading utility meters at commercial and/or residential establishments and transmitting read information to desired locations. It notes that manual meter monitoring is time-consuming, costly, and labor-intensive, and that conventional meters give owners little help in discerning real-time or periodic utility costs.
Plain-language scope (from the supplied text): An imaging system includes a transmission element attached to an external location of a utility meter. An imaging unit within the transmission element images the utility meter value at a prescribed frequency; the transmission element selectively communicates a reading signal corresponding to that value. A transceiving arrangement receives the reading signal and includes a converter that analyzes and converts it to a use signal comprising a use value, transmitted to at least one monitoring system in remote communication with the transceiving arrangement, where the use value is displayed. In one described embodiment the transmission element includes an antenna for wireless transmission and a plurality of solar cells providing power. A corresponding method of imaging and transmitting captured meter images is also described. The transceiving arrangement may be centralized (one for several imaging systems) or distributed (one per imaging system), communicating wired or wirelessly.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8242932/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not include the full claims, detailed description, or drawing contents; classification entries are not legal conclusions. It does not establish validity, enforceability, claim scope, ownership history beyond listed assignments, or prior art.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:31:25 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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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
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.