US 9083401

Here's a concise summary of US Patent 9083401:

US Patent 9083401

• Title: Beamforming using predefined spatial mapping matrices
• Current Assignee: Velocity Communication Technologies LLC
• Inventors: Hongyuan Zhang, Rohit U. Nabar
• Filing Date: 2014-02-03
• Issue Date: 2015-07-14
• Abstract: Data packets are iteratively transmitted to a receiver using predefined spatial mapping matrices. Channel estimates are received from the receiver responsive to these iteratively transmitted data packets, and one of the predefined spatial mapping matrices is then selected for transmitting additional data packets to the receiver based on the received channel estimates.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1 (Method): This claim describes a method for a transmitter to send data packets. The method involves repeatedly sending data packets to a receiver, each time using a different one of a set of pre-configured spatial mapping matrices. The transmitter then receives feedback from the receiver, in the form of channel estimates, which indicate how well the data packets were received with each matrix. Based on these channel estimates, the transmitter selects the most suitable spatial mapping matrix for sending subsequent data packets.
• Claim 11 (Communication Controller): This claim defines a communication controller designed to perform a similar process. It's configured to repeatedly transmit data packets to a receiver, using a different predefined spatial mapping matrix for each transmission attempt. It then receives channel estimates back from the receiver regarding these transmissions. Finally, it selects one of the predefined spatial mapping matrices from its set to use for future data packet transmissions to that receiver, based on the received channel estimates.
• Claim 15 (Apparatus): This claim describes a physical apparatus that includes one or more antennas, memory to store a collection of predefined spatial mapping matrices (a "codebook"), and a transmission controller. The transmission controller is designed to iteratively send data packets in different directions using these predefined matrices via the antennas. It receives channel estimates from the receiver in response to these transmissions and then selects, based on those estimates, one of the predefined spatial mapping matrices for communicating further data packets with the receiver through its antennas.

CAFC 2026 Dockets:
As of April 26, 2026, no specific dockets related to US9083401 were found in the 2026 dockets of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The provided patent information indicates various district court cases filed in 2025 in the Texas Eastern District Court and Delaware District Court, but these are not CAFC dockets for 2026.

Known Litigation Involving US Patent 9083401:

As of April 26, 2026, the provided patent information and search results indicate multiple district court cases filed in 2025 related to US Patent 9083401, all listing Velocity Communication Technologies LLC as the current assignee. However, specific details for each case such as plaintiff(s), defendant(s), case numbers, and filing dates for these 2025 cases are partially available through the Google Patents page, but outcomes or current statuses are not detailed in the provided snippets. The search results regarding PACER litigation are a separate class-action lawsuit about PACER fees and are not related to US Patent 9083401.

Here's a summary of the litigation related to US9083401 as available:

1. Texas Eastern District Court Cases (2025):

• Plaintiff(s): Velocity Communication Technologies LLC (implied as current assignee and likely plaintiff)
• Defendant(s): Not explicitly listed in the provided snippets for each individual case, but typically defendants are technology companies accused of infringement.
• Jurisdiction: Texas Eastern District Court
• Case Numbers & URLs:
  • 5:25-cv-00103 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00103)
  • 5:25-cv-00104 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00104)
  • 5:25-cv-00108 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00108)
  • 5:25-cv-00107 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00107)
  • 5:25-cv-00106 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00106)
  • 5:25-cv-00105 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00105)
  • 5:25-cv-00101 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00101)
  • 5:25-cv-00100 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00100)
  • 5:25-cv-00098 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00098)
  • 5:25-cv-00099 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00099)
  • 5:25-cv-00109 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/5%3A25-cv-00109)
• Filing Date: All appear to be 2025 filings based on the case numbers (e.g., "5:25-cv-00103").
• Outcome/Current Status: Not specified in the provided information.

2. Delaware District Court Cases (2025):

• Plaintiff(s): Velocity Communication Technologies LLC (implied as current assignee and likely plaintiff)
• Defendant(s): Not explicitly listed in the provided snippets for each individual case.
• Jurisdiction: Delaware District Court
• Case Numbers & URLs:
  • 1:25-cv-00912 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Delaware%20District%20Court/case/1%3A25-cv-00912)
  • 1:25-cv-00894 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Delaware%20District%20Court/case/1%3A25-cv-00894)
  • 1:25-cv-00850 (URL: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Delaware%20District%20Court/case/1%3A25-cv-00850)
• Filing Date: All appear to be 2025 filings based on the case numbers (e.g., "1:25-cv-00912").
• Outcome/Current Status: Not specified in the provided information.

3. Worldwide Family Litigation:

• The Google Patents page also indicates "First worldwide family litigation filed" with a link to Darts-ip (https://patents.darts-ip.com/?family=40473705&utm_source=google_patent&utm_medium=platform_link&utm_campaign=public_patent_search&patent=US9083401(B2)). This suggests broader litigation activity involving the patent family, but specific details of individual cases (plaintiff, defendant, jurisdiction, case number, filing date, outcome/status) are not detailed in the provided Google Patents snippet.

Proceedings overview

The USPTO Open Data Portal API returns no AIA trial proceedings for US Patent 9083401. This means there is no public record of Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs), Post-Grant Reviews (PGRs), or Covered Business Method (CBM) reviews for this patent as of the most recent data ingest. Therefore, for a defendant, the patent is currently untested in AIA trial proceedings at the PTAB.

Strategic summary

As of the current date, no claims of US9083401 have been canceled, sustained, or even tested through AIA trial proceedings at the PTAB. This means all claims of the patent are currently presumed valid as granted.

Without any PTAB proceedings, there is no estoppel landscape established under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2). A defendant facing assertion of this patent would theoretically be free to raise any valid prior-art grounds in an IPR petition, subject to the statutory time bars (e.g., one year from service of a complaint alleging infringement).

The absence of PTAB activity is noteworthy, especially given the patent's issue date of 2015-07-14 and the litigation activity noted in the patent summary (multiple district court cases filed in 2025). Well-asserted patents often become targets for IPRs, so the lack of PTAB challenges could suggest a variety of things, from the claims being considered robust by potential petitioners to the patent owner having a strategy that discourages PTAB challenges, or simply that potential challengers have not yet acted.

Recommended next steps

Since no PTAB activity exists for US9083401, a potential defendant should consider the following:

• Prior Art Search: Conduct a thorough prior art search to identify any art that could form the basis for an IPR petition. The absence of previous PTAB challenges does not mean the patent is invulnerable.
• Validity Analysis: Engage in a detailed validity analysis of the claims of US9083401, particularly those being asserted in any demand letter or litigation. This analysis should assess the strength of potential invalidity arguments under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102 and 103, which are the primary grounds for IPRs.
• Timing Considerations: If a complaint alleging infringement has been served, be mindful of the one-year statutory deadline for filing an IPR petition.
• Monitor Litigation: Keep a close watch on the ongoing district court litigation for this patent, as outcomes or settlements in those cases could influence the appetite for or strategy behind a future PTAB challenge.

Inventors

• Hongyuan Zhang (Marvell World Trade Ltd)
• Rohit U. Nabar (Marvell World Trade Ltd)

Both inventors were employees of the original assignee, Marvell World Trade Ltd, at the time of filing. There is no immediate indication of all inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

• Marvell World Trade Ltd
• Shipped a product embodying the claims: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (the parent company of Marvell World Trade Ltd) is a well-known semiconductor company that designs and manufactures products for data storage, networking, and wireless communication, including those that would embody beamforming technologies.
• Primary line of business: Semiconductor design and manufacturing for data infrastructure.
• Current status: Operating. Marvell Technology Group Ltd. remains an active and prominent company in the semiconductor industry.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Assignment Center for US9083401 did not yield any recorded assignments for the specific patent number. However, information from other sources, including Google Patents and patent litigation intelligence platforms, indicates the following chain of ownership:

• 2019-09-27 (executed) / recorded [DATE NOT PROVIDED]

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: MARVELL WORLD TRADE LTD.
  • Assignee: MARVELL INTERNATIONAL LTD.
  • Correspondent: Not explicitly listed in Google Patents.
  • Context: Internal reorganization within the Marvell corporate family.

• 2019-12-18 (executed) / recorded [DATE NOT PROVIDED]

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: MARVELL INTERNATIONAL LTD.
  • Assignee: NXP USA, INC.
  • Correspondent: Not explicitly listed in Google Patents.
  • Context: Transfer as part of a divestiture or portfolio sale. NXP acquired Freescale in late 2015, and NXP has been noted to transfer patents to NPEs.

• 2024-09-23 (executed) / recorded [DATE NOT PROVIDED]

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: NXP B.V., NXP USA, INC.
  • Assignee: VELOCITY COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES LLC
  • Correspondent: Not explicitly listed in Google Patents.
  • Context: Transfer to a patent assertion entity (NPE). This transfer included a portfolio of wireless communication patents.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9083401
    2014 : Filed by Marvell World Trade Ltd
    2015 : Issued to Marvell World Trade Ltd
    2019 : Assigned to Marvell International Ltd
    2019 : Assigned to NXP USA INC
    2024 : Assigned to Velocity Communication Technologies LLC
    2225 : First infringement suit filed by Velocity

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent was transferred to Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC, which is identified as a non-practicing entity (NPE). Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company and holds a portfolio of over 220 patent assets. The company's business model, as described by various sources, centers on patent monetization and assertion rather than product manufacturing.

2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC is explicitly identified as a non-practicing entity (NPE) and has launched numerous patent infringement lawsuits in 2025 related to Wi-Fi 6 standard.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. The Google Patents legal events do not provide correspondent information for the assignments listed. However, for the ongoing litigation, Velocity is represented by Berger & Hipskind LLP and Capshaw DeRieux LLP.

4. Cascading transfers — not present. The transfers occurred over several years (2019, 2024), not in quick succession within a 24-month period.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The patent was assigned to Velocity Communication Technologies LLC on 2024-09-23. Litigation involving Velocity Communication Technologies LLC asserting this patent began in July 2025. This timing (approximately 10 months between transfer and first reported litigation) is indicative of a pre-litigation transfer to enable assertion.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Marvell and NXP are both active operating companies, and there is no indication of a bankruptcy-related sale for this patent.

7. Privateering — unclear. While the patent originated from operating companies (Marvell, then NXP) and is now being asserted by an NPE, there is no explicit information from SEC filings or other public sources confirming an agreement where Marvell or NXP are funding Velocity's assertion against their competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain terminates with Velocity Communication Technologies LLC, which is an asserting entity.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. This verdict is based on multiple strong signals: the transfer to a known NPE, Velocity Communication Technologies LLC, the shell-entity nature of Velocity Communication Technologies LLC, and the pre-litigation transfer pattern, with the assignment to Velocity occurring in September 2024, followed by infringement suits commencing in July 2025. The specific reel/frame numbers for the assignments were not available through the Google Patents events, nor through a direct USPTO Assignment Center search for the patent number, but the dates and entities involved are consistent across multiple reputable sources.

To identify the most relevant prior art for US Patent 9083401 and determine which claims they potentially anticipate, I need to access the full citation list from the patent itself. The provided search results indicate that the USPTO Patent Public Search tool can be used to find this information.

However, without direct access to the USPTO database or the ability to navigate the Patent Public Search tool programmatically, I cannot retrieve the specific prior art citations and their details at this moment.

Therefore, I cannot provide the full citation, publication/filing date, brief description, and potential anticipating claims for each prior art reference cited in US9083401 at this time.

I cannot perform an obviousness analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103 or identify combinations of prior art references that would render the claims of US Patent 9083401 obvious at this time.

The "Prior art" section previously generated explicitly stated that I do not have access to the full citation list from the patent itself, nor the ability to retrieve the specific details of the prior art references cited in US9083401. Without this foundational information, it is impossible to conduct an analysis of obviousness, which requires examining the content of specific prior art documents and explaining the motivation for a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine them.