Extensions

To provide a comprehensive overview of US Patent 8545247's term adjustments, related applications, and expiration, I will consult the patent document and the USPTO's public search tools. The USPTO does not calculate expiration dates for patents, but provides a calculator as a resource to help the public estimate the expiration date of a patent.

Patent Term Adjustments (PTA) and Patent Term Extensions (PTE)

• Patent Term Adjustment (PTA): PTA is granted to compensate for delays caused by the USPTO during the prosecution of a utility or plant patent application. These delays can arise if the USPTO fails to: issue an office action within 14 months, respond to a reply or appeal within four months, act on a PTAB or federal court decision within four months, issue a patent within four months of issue fee payment, or issue a patent within 36 months from the filing date. The total PTA is added to the patent's 20-year term. The patent document itself does not explicitly state the PTA awarded. To determine the exact PTA, a detailed review of the patent's prosecution history on the USPTO Patent Center would be necessary.
• Patent Term Extension (PTE): PTE is primarily granted to mitigate term loss due to regulatory approval and/or review processes, especially for patents covering products like pharmaceuticals. There is no indication in the patent text or general search results that US Patent 8545247 has received a PTE.

Continuation Applications, Divisional Applications, and Related Family Members

• Continuation Applications: A continuation application pursues additional claims based on the exact same specification as the parent application, with no new technical information. Filing a continuation is an implicit admission that obviousness-type double patenting (ODP) applies, often requiring a terminal disclaimer.
• Divisional Applications: A divisional application is filed when the USPTO examiner determines there is more than one invention disclosed in a parent patent application and issues a restriction requirement, forcing the applicant to elect one invention for examination. The applicant can then file divisional applications for the non-elected inventions, using the same specification and often the same drawings. Divisional applications can receive the parent's full priority date and are protected from ODP challenges based on the parent under 35 U.S.C. § 121's "safe harbor" provision.

Based on the provided patent text:

• Priority Applications: US8545247 claims benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/503,451, filed on June 30, 2011. [cite: The provided patent text]
• Other Versions/Related Family Members: The patent text lists US20130005179A1 as an "Other version" and US20130002193A1 also appears in the citations with the same priority date and assignee. These are likely related patent applications (e.g., continuations or divisionals) that stem from the same original subject matter. [cite: The provided patent text]
• Family Applications: The "Family Applications" section lists US13/397,486 as the application number associated with US8545247B2, with a priority date of 2011-06-30 and a filing date of 2012-02-15. [cite: The provided patent text] This is the application from which US8545247 issued.

To definitively identify all continuation and divisional applications, a detailed search of the Global Dossier or Patent Public Search (PPUBS) on the USPTO website using the application number US13/397,486 would be required.

Projected Expiration Date

Under U.S. law, most patents are limited to a term of 20 years from the earliest nonprovisional filing date, subject to any Patent Term Adjustment (PTA).

• Earliest Effective Filing Date: The earliest effective filing date for US8545247 is the priority date of the provisional application: June 30, 2011. [cite: The provided patent text]
• Base Expiration Date (before PTA): 20 years from June 30, 2011, would be June 30, 2031.
• Anticipated Expiration (with PTA): The patent text on Google Patents indicates an "Anticipated expiration" date of 2032-02-15. [cite: The provided patent text] This date includes any Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) awarded to the patent. The difference between the base expiration date (June 30, 2031) and the anticipated expiration date (February 15, 2032) suggests approximately 7 months and 16 days of PTA were granted (February 15, 2032 minus June 30, 2031).
  • This aligns with the general rule that PTA is added to the 20-year term from the earliest filing date.

Therefore, the projected expiration date for US Patent 8545247, including Patent Term Adjustment, is February 15, 2032. [cite: The provided patent text]