US 9602649

A comprehensive analysis of U.S. Patent 9,602,649 reveals a method for using ambient audio to confirm the proximity of electronic devices. The patent is currently owned by an active patent licensing firm and has been subject to validity challenges.

Summary of U.S. Patent 9,602,649

• Title: Event disambiguation
• Assignee: The current assignee of record is K. Mizra LLC. The patent was originally assigned to the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research).
• Inventors: Jeroen Laarakkers, Mattijs Oskar Van Deventer, and Victor Bastiaan Klos.
• Filing Date: July 23, 2010.
• Issue Date: March 21, 2017.
• Abstract: The patent describes a method for identifying at least two nearby devices. Each device records an audio signal to create audio samples and detects a sensory identifier which acts as a trigger. The audio samples from a shared time interval relative to the trigger are then compared. A decision that the event is common to the devices is made only if their respective audio samples are sufficiently similar. The patent prefers this common time interval to begin and end before the trigger event.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims

U.S. Patent 9,602,649 has two independent claims: Claim 1 and Claim 18.

• Claim 1 (A Method): This claim outlines a method for verifying that two or more devices are near each other. The process involves:

  1. Each device records audio to capture ambient sound.
  2. Each device also detects a specific "sensory identifier," like the sound of the devices being tapped together. This detection creates a time-marker or "trigger."
  3. The audio recordings are sent from the devices to a server or one of the other devices.
  4. This central processor then compares the ambient audio samples from each device that were recorded during a specific, shared time window defined by the trigger.
  5. The devices are only confirmed to be "proximate" if their recorded ambient audio for that time window is very similar, thus using the shared "audio background" as a secondary check to prevent false matches from echoes or other misleading sensory events.

• Claim 18 (A Device): This claim describes a physical device configured to perform the method of Claim 1. The device includes several key components:

  1. A recording unit (like a microphone) to capture audio signals.
  2. A detection unit to identify the specific sensory event and create the trigger.
  3. A matching unit to compare the sensory identifiers detected by the different devices.
  4. A comparison unit to analyze and compare the recorded ambient audio samples from the shared time interval.
  5. A decision unit that makes the final determination of proximity based on whether the audio samples are similar enough.

Litigation and Ownership Context

As of the date of this analysis, there is no public record of US Patent 9,602,649 being actively litigated in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) for the 2026 docket.

However, the current assignee, K. Mizra LLC, is a known patent licensing entity and is actively engaged in patent litigation in the US and Europe. Publicly available information indicates that third-party firm Unified Patents has identified and charted prior art against US Patent 9,602,649, suggesting its validity has been scrutinized, which is a common step in pre-litigation analysis or in response to infringement assertions. This does not confirm a specific lawsuit but indicates the patent is part of an active monetization landscape.