US 8810803

Here's a concise summary of US patent 8810803:

• Title: Lens system
• Assignee: The current assignee is Longhorn Automotive Group LLC. The original assignee was Intellectual Ventures Holding 67 LLC.
• Inventor: Matthew Bell
• Filing Date: April 16, 2012 (for application number US13/448,321)
• Issue Date: August 19, 2014
• Abstract: A fragmented lens system is disclosed for creating an invisible light pattern useful for computer vision systems. The system generates random or semi-random dot patterns, enabling a computer to uniquely identify each patch of a projected pattern. This allows the computer to determine the position and distance of an object by recognizing the illumination pattern on the object.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1 (System for projecting a pattern of light): This claim describes a system comprising three main components:

  1. A light source that has multiple light-emitting elements arranged in a specific pattern.
  2. A cluster of lenses positioned in front of the light source. Each lens in this cluster is designed to receive light from all the emitters, and the cluster as a whole focuses and projects light from each individual emitter in various directions simultaneously.
  3. A condenser lens situated between the light source and the cluster of lenses. This condenser lens functions to gather and direct the light from each emitter towards the central area of the lens cluster.

• Claim 8 (Method for projecting a pattern of infrared light): This claim outlines a method involving four steps:

  1. Emitting multiple lights from a plurality of emitters, with these lights arranged in a pattern.
  2. Using a condenser lens to concentrate these emitted lights towards the central location of a cluster of lenses.
  3. The cluster of lenses then receives this concentrated light at various points within itself.
  4. Each lens within the cluster concurrently focuses and projects the received and concentrated light from each of the emitters in a multitude of directions.

• Claim 15 (System for projecting a pattern of light): This claim describes another system for projecting light, which includes:

  1. A light source equipped with multiple emitters that are configured to emit light.
  2. A cluster of lenses, where each lens is set up to receive light emitted from each of the numerous emitters.
  3. A condenser lens positioned between the light source and the lens cluster, which concentrates the light from each of the emitters towards the center of the lens cluster.

Litigation Information (as of April 26, 2026):
The patent US8810803B2 is currently active and is associated with litigation.

• A PTAB case, IPR2025-00955, was filed but not instituted (procedural) in 2025.
• Several US cases have been filed in the Texas Eastern District Court, including:
  • 2:26-cv-00235 (filed in 2026).
  • 2:24-cv-00933 (filed in 2024).
  • 2:24-cv-00686 (filed in 2024).
  • 2:24-cv-00685 (filed in 2024).
  • 2:24-cv-00603 (filed in 2024).
  • 2:24-cv-00554 (filed in 2024).
  • 2:24-cv-00397 (filed in 2024).