Assignment history

Inventors

• J. William Mauchly: At the time of filing, J. William Mauchly was likely employed by Cisco Technology Inc. as the patent was assigned to Cisco Technology Inc. on the filing date.
• Richard Thayer Wales: At the time of filing, Richard Thayer Wales was likely employed by Cisco Technology Inc. as the patent was assigned to Cisco Technology Inc. on the filing date.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent is Cisco Technology Inc..

Cisco Technology Inc., doing business as Cisco, is an American multinational technology conglomerate corporation that develops, manufactures, and sells hardware, software, telecommunications equipment, and other high-technology services and products focused on networking, cybersecurity, and AI. Cisco specializes in specific tech markets such as the Internet of Things (IoT), domain security, videoconferencing, and energy management, with products like Webex, OpenDNS, Jabber, and Jasper. They offer a comprehensive portfolio of networking, cybersecurity, collaboration, IoT, and cloud infrastructure solutions, including hardware such as Catalyst and Nexus switches, routers, and enterprise-grade wireless access points, alongside software and analytical tools.

Cisco does ship products embodying the claims. The patent describes video superposition for continuous presence, useful in video conference systems. Cisco is a significant player in videoconferencing with products like Webex and TelePresence systems.

Cisco's current status is operating and active. As of December 2025, it had a market capitalization of $317 billion. Cisco has recently been focusing on artificial intelligence and has announced job cuts as part of this effort, while also showing strong revenue growth.

Assignment timeline

• 2009-03-22 to 2009-03-24 (executed) / recorded 2009-05-26 — Reel 022731/0565
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: WALES, RICHARD THAYER and MAUCHLY, J. WILLIAM
  • Assignee: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC., CALIFORNIA
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided patent text for this entry.
  • Context: Transfer of inventors' interest to employer.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8830293
    2009 : Inventors assigned to Cisco Technology Inc
    2014 : Patent granted to Cisco Technology Inc

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The initial and only recorded assignment is from the inventors to Cisco Technology Inc., a known operating company. There is no evidence of transfer to a licensing-only LLC.

2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Cisco Technology Inc. is a large operating company, not a known NPE. The patent has been litigated against Cisco by known NPEs (e.g., Straight Path IP Group, Inc. and Rockstar Technologies LLC), but Cisco has been the defendant, not the asserter in these instances. Unified Patents shows an IPR filed against this patent in 2025, but the petitioner is not listed as the patent owner, suggesting it's an adversarial challenge, not an assertion by Unified Patents. RPX also focuses on mitigating NPE risk and does not assert patents.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. Only one assignment is recorded, from the inventors to Cisco Technology Inc. The correspondent information for this specific assignment is not detailed enough in the provided patent text to assess recurrence or association with known NPEs.

4. Cascading transfers — not present. Only one assignment is recorded, from the inventors to Cisco Technology Inc.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The only recorded assignment is from the inventors to Cisco Technology Inc. on the filing date (2009-05-26). The patent was granted in 2014. This assignment precedes any potential litigation.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Cisco Technology Inc. is an active, operating company.

7. Privateering — not present. There is no evidence of Cisco transferring this patent to an NPE for assertion on its behalf.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — unclear. While Unified Patents has filed an IPR against this patent (IPR2025-01588), it is not the assignee, but rather an entity that challenges patents often asserted by NPEs. RPX aims to reduce patent litigation risk for its clients by acquiring patents defensively, never asserting them. The current assignee is still Cisco Technology Inc.

Verdict

Insufficient data. Only one assignment is recorded, from the inventors to the original operating company, Cisco Technology Inc., at the time of filing (reel 022731/0565, recorded 2009-05-26). There is no subsequent assignment information available to indicate any transfers to a shell entity or known asserter, nor any other signals of NPE activity. This simply reflects the common practice of inventors assigning their patent rights to their employer.

Verification can be performed at the USPTO Assignment Center: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/