Extensions

Based on a detailed analysis of the public records for US Patent 9,280,220 available from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), here is an overview of its term, application history, and related patents.

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) and Patent Term Extension (PTE)

• Patent Term Adjustment (PTA): US Patent 9,280,220 has zero (0) days of Patent Term Adjustment. PTA is granted to compensate for certain administrative delays by the USPTO during the patent's prosecution. As this patent is a continuation application filed several years after its parent, it did not accrue any such delays, resulting in a PTA of 0 days.
• Patent Term Extension (PTE): There is no record of a Patent Term Extension for this patent. PTE under 35 U.S.C. § 156 is typically granted to compensate for regulatory review delays (e.g., by the FDA) and is not applicable to this technology.
• Terminal Disclaimer: The prosecution history indicates that a Terminal Disclaimer was filed on October 20, 2015. This disclaimer was filed to overcome a non-statutory double patenting rejection over its parent patent, US 9,189,101. The effect of this disclaimer is that US 9,280,220 is only enforceable for as long as it and its parent patent are commonly owned, and its term cannot extend beyond the statutory term of US 9,189,101.

Continuation and Divisional Applications

US Patent 9,280,220 is part of a chain of applications based on a single initial invention disclosure. The continuity data is as follows:

• This Patent (US 9,280,220): Issued from application number 14/593,349, filed on January 9, 2015.
• Parent Application: The '349 application is a direct continuation of application number 13/363,043, which was filed on January 31, 2012, and subsequently issued as US Patent 9,189,101.
• Provisional Priority: The parent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/553,114, filed on October 28, 2011.

There are no divisional applications stemming from this patent. The relationship is a direct line of continuation from a provisional application.

Related Patent Family Members

The patent family includes other patents and applications filed in various countries that claim priority to the original US provisional or non-provisional applications. Key international family members include:

• China: CN103917416A, CN103917416B
• Europe: EP2771783A2, EP2771783A4
• Japan: JP2015506541A, JP6277970B2
• Korea: KR20140089851A
• WIPO: WO2013066345A2, WO2013066345A3

This indicates that the assignee sought patent protection for this technology in major international markets.

Projected Expiration Date

The expiration date of a US patent is calculated based on its effective filing date and any applicable adjustments or disclaimers.

1. Standard 20-Year Term: The patent term is calculated as 20 years from the earliest non-provisional application filing date in the continuity chain. For US 9,280,220, this date is the filing date of its parent application (13/363,043), which is January 31, 2012.
2. Base Expiration Date: January 31, 2012 + 20 years = January 31, 2032.
3. Application of PTA: As the PTA is 0 days, there is no adjustment to the expiration date.
4. Effect of Terminal Disclaimer: The Terminal Disclaimer ties the expiration of this patent to that of its parent, US 9,189,101. Since the '220 patent has no PTA, its calculated expiration date is already the same as the base expiration date of its parent. Therefore, the disclaimer does not shorten the term in this instance.

The projected expiration date for US Patent 9,280,220 is January 31, 2032. This date is contingent upon the timely payment of all required maintenance fees to the USPTO for the remainder of its term.