Invalidity dossier
US 9479191
Linearized optical digital-to-analog modulator
Current assignee: Ramot at Tel Aviv University Ltd
Added 9/23/2026, 11:56:43 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US9479191B2
Title: Linearized optical digital-to-analog modulator
Patent number: US9479191B2 (application US14/922,165; pre-grant publication US20160043732A1)
Assignee: Ramot at Tel Aviv University Ltd. (original and current assignee listed)
Inventors: Yossef Ehrlichman, Ofer Amrani, Shlomo Ruschin
Key dates (as supplied): Priority date 2007-06-13; filing date 2015-10-25; publication date 2016-10-25; granted 2016-10-25; anticipated expiration 2028-06-12. Status listed as Active.
Purpose and plain-language scope: The patent concerns converting a digital input into an analog optical output using a linearized optical digital-to-analog modulator. The prior-art keywords listed ("bits," "digital," "optical," "electrode," "actuating") indicate the subject matter involves actuating electrodes driven by digital bits to modulate light. Classifications place it in optical modulation and digital-to-analog conversion areas — e.g., H04B10/516 (coding/modulation details), H04B10/54 and H04B10/541 (intensity and digital intensity/amplitude modulation), G02F1/225 (interference-based modulation in an optical waveguide structure, Mach-Zehnder type), G02F7/00 (optical analogue/digital converters), and H03M1/66 (digital-to-analogue converters). Read together, these indicate a device/arrangement for driving optical modulation with digital signals so the resulting optical amplitude corresponds to the digital value.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US9479191](/patent/US9479191)/en (fetched 2026-09-23).
What the excerpt does not establish:
- No claims, claim text, embodiments, or figures were supplied, so the specific claimed scope cannot be stated.
- No description of how linearization is achieved, what electrode/bit architecture is used, or performance figures.
- No information on priority-chain specifics beyond listed dates, or on the family members cited (e.g., US10205527B2, US10033465B2, US10270535B1, US10461866B2, US11133872B2, US11342998B2, US11716148B2, US12191912B2, US12388533B2, US20250350366A1) other than their numbers and priority links.
- The excerpt references litigation entries but does not establish their substance; per instructions, no litigation assessment is made here.
- Legal status is expressly an assumption per the source and is not a legal conclusion.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:32:11 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 9479191. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
No cases on file mention this patent. Upload a CSV or add a case manually in Admin → Manage litigation cases.
Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.