Invalidity dossier
US 10110961
Methods and systems for supplementing media assets during fast-access playback operations
Current assignee: DirecTV, LLC
Added 8/27/2026, 6:49:34 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-v4-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US10110961B2
Title: Methods and systems for supplementing media assets during fast-access playback operations
Patent number / application: US10110961B2; application US15/415,052; publication US20170134814A1.
Inventor / assignee: Paul T. Stathacopoulos. Original assignee Rovi Guides, Inc.; current assignee listed as Adeia Guides Inc.
Key dates (as listed): Priority date 2014-02-26 (assumed); filing date 2017-01-25; publication 2018-10-23; granted 2018-10-23; anticipated expiration 2034-02-26. Status listed as Active. The listing notes a US case filed in the California Northern District Court (litigation), but this overview does not analyze it.
Purpose (plain-language scope): Based on the title and classification, the patent concerns supplementing media assets—that is, presenting supplemental content in connection with a media asset—during fast-access playback operations such as trick-play functions (e.g., fast-forward, rewind, skip) of recorded or on-demand content. It relates to client devices (e.g., set-top boxes), end-user interfaces for controlling playback functions, and synchronization/rendering of additional data (such as supplemental content or advertisements in a separate screen region) with the content stream.
Classification: H04N21/00 (selective content distribution), H04N21/472, H04N21/47217 (playback control interfaces using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators, or bookmarks), H04N21/4307, H04N21/43074 (synchronizing rendering of multiple streams or additional data), and H04N21/4316 (displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g., an advertisement in a separate window).
What the excerpt does not establish: The supplied source provides only bibliographic, classification, assignment, and status data with the abstract/claims text omitted. It does not state the specific claims, the exact mechanism for supplementing media assets, embodiments, figures, or the substantive scope of protection. Any description of operation is inferred from title and classification only.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US10110961](/patent/US10110961)/en
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:03:37 PM
Cases on file (1)
Group view →Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 10110961. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
- DirecTV, LLC v. Adeia Inc. et al.filed Dec 29, 20253:25-cv-11048U.S. District Court for the Northern District of CaliforniaOpen; pending
Defendants: Adeia Inc., Adeia Guides Inc., Adeia Media Holdings LLC, and 2 others
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.
Current assignee: DirecTV, LLC
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.
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This patent in court (1)
1 tracked lawsuit name US 10110961.