US 9832017

US patent 9832017, titled "Apparatus for personal voice assistant, location services, multi-media capture, transmission, speech to text conversion, photo/video image/object recognition, creation of searchable metatag(s)/ contextual tag(s), storage and search retrieval," was issued on November 28, 2017. The patent was filed on September 21, 2016, under application number US15/272,013. The inventor is Michael F. Malone, and the current assignee is MYPORT TECHNOLOGIES Inc.

Abstract:
The invention describes a network interface device comprising a first capture device that captures external information, a processor that stores this information in a first media format, and a transmitter that sends this stored information to a remote location on a network. At the remote location, a processing system with a database and receiver gets the transmitted information. A data converter then transforms the received information into a second, searchable format before it is stored in the database.

Legal Status and Litigation:
The legal status of US9832017 is "Expired - Fee Related". The patent family has been involved in litigation, with cases filed in the Texas Eastern District Court, the Delaware District Court, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Additionally, there have been PTAB (Patent Trial and Appeal Board) cases, specifically IPR2025-01464 (Not Instituted - Procedural) and IPR2023-00023 (Settlement). While a search of CAFC 2026 dockets did not specifically list US9832017 among the scheduled cases for May 2026, the patent information itself indicates a case was filed with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1: Remote Storage and Processing System
  This claim describes a system for recording images and sounds and storing them on a remote network. It includes a microphone and a camera that capture audio and visual information, respectively. The audio is converted into a digital format, and the image is stored as a digital image within the capture device. This digital audio and image data are then sent by a transmitter to a remote location on a network. At this remote location, a dedicated system receives the data. This system converts the digital audio into a text format to create a searchable "text context tag" and uses image recognition to create a searchable "image recognition context tag" from the digital image. Finally, these text and image recognition tags are linked to the digital image and stored together in a database.

• Claim 6: Local Storage and Processing System within a Capture Device
  This claim outlines a capture device designed for local storage and processing of image and audio information. The device contains internal storage, a microphone to capture external audio, and a camera to capture images. The captured external audio is processed and stored digitally within the device's internal storage, and the captured image is also stored digitally internally. A component within the device connects, or "associates," the stored digital audio with the stored digital image. A media data converter (also within the capture device) then processes the captured digital audio into a text-based searchable tag and generates an image recognition searchable tag from the digital image. These tags are associated with the digital image, and the internal storage keeps the digital image along with these created tags.

• Claim 13: Local Capture and Tagging System
  Similar to Claim 6, this claim describes a system for capturing and storing image and audio information locally. It features internal storage, a microphone for capturing external audio, and a camera for capturing an image. The microphone's first data converter processes and stores the audio digitally within the capture device, and the camera processes and stores the image digitally. A "second data converter" (which functions similarly to the media data converter in Claim 6) converts the captured digital audio into a text-based searchable tag and performs image recognition on the digital image to create an image recognition searchable tag. These text and image recognition tags are then associated with the digital image, and the internal storage saves the digital image along with its associated tags.