US 12316706

I will provide a concise summary of US patent 12316706.

Title: System and method for server based control

Assignee: Smart Speaker LLC

Inventors: Yehuda Binder, Benjamin Maytal

Filing Date: May 28, 2024

Issue Date: May 27, 2025

Abstract: This disclosure relates generally to an apparatus and method for control such as in a building or in a vehicle using a server implementing gateway or control functionalities.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1: This claim describes a control system for an environment (like a building or vehicle). The system includes a field unit with a sensor to measure a physical phenomenon and an actuator to affect a physical phenomenon. This field unit communicates with a router. The router then connects to a remote server via the Internet. The server has control logic that uses the sensor data to determine how to control the actuator. Effectively, the server acts as the "brain" for controlling devices in the environment based on what the sensors detect.

• Claim 10: This claim focuses on a method for controlling an environment. It involves receiving sensor data from a field unit at a server, processing that data using control logic on the server, generating control commands for an actuator based on the processed data, and then sending those commands back to the field unit to adjust the environment. This outlines the step-by-step process of remote, server-based control.

• Claim 19: Similar to Claim 10, this claim details a method for controlling an environment, specifically a building. It emphasizes that the field unit has at least one sensor and at least one actuator. The core of this claim is the server-side processing of sensor data and generation of actuator commands, with communication occurring over the Internet.

Regarding CAFC 2026 dockets for patent 12316706, no specific results were found for patent number 12316706 in the CAFC 2026 dockets. The search results provided general information about CAFC dockets and patent cases, but not specifically for this patent.

Here is a list of known litigation involving US patent 12316706:

1. Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding

   • Case Number: IPR2026-00146
   • Jurisdiction: Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
   • Petitioner: Unified Patents (inferred from "Unified Patents PTAB Data" in the patent document and their role in similar proceedings)
   • Patent Owner/Respondent: Smart Speaker LLC
   • Filing Date: The IPR was filed prior to the institution decision. A scheduling order was filed on May 13, 2026.
   • Current Status: Institution Granted. A decision to institute the IPR was issued on May 6, 2026.

2. District Court Case

   • Case Number: 2:25-cv-00707
   • Jurisdiction: Texas Eastern District Court
   • Plaintiff(s): Smart Speaker LLC
   • Defendant(s): Amazon.com Services LLC
   • Filing Date: July 11, 2025
   • Current Status: Active litigation.

Proceedings overview

There is currently one AIA trial proceeding on file for US patent 12316706, which is active and has been instituted. This gives a defendant a potentially strong defensive posture, as claims are currently undergoing examination at the PTAB, which could lead to their cancellation.

IPR2026-00146 — Amazon.com Services LLC v. Yehuda BINDER et al

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2025-11-21
• Status: Trial Instituted (as of 2026-05-20), meaning the PTAB has determined there is a reasonable likelihood that at least one of the claims challenged is unpatentable, and a trial has begun.
• Judge panel: Not publicly available from the provided data or readily ascertainable without access to the PTAB E2E system.
• Petition grounds: The claims challenged and specific prior art/statutory basis (§ 102 / § 103 / § 112) are not detailed in the provided information. This information would typically be found in the filed petition and institution decision document.
• Institution decision: Instituted. The specific date of institution and the panel's reasoning for instituting the trial are not provided in the given data. The status indicates institution occurred by 2026-05-20.
• Final Written Decision: Not yet issued. The proceeding is currently in the trial phase.
• Settlement / termination: Not applicable, as the proceeding is in active trial.
• Appeal: Not applicable, as no Final Written Decision has been issued.
• Defensive value: This active IPR proceeding indicates that the patentability of at least some claims of US12316706 is currently under review by the PTAB. For a defendant, this means there's an ongoing challenge that could result in claims being invalidated, potentially weakening any assertion of infringement.

Strategic summary

As of today, 2026-05-27, there is one active Inter Partes Review (IPR2026-00146) against US patent 12316706. This IPR was filed by Amazon.com Services LLC and has reached the "Trial Instituted" phase. This means that the PTAB has found sufficient merit in the petitioner's challenge to proceed to a full trial. No claims have been canceled or sustained yet, and all claims currently under trial are being actively contested.

The estoppel landscape will become relevant upon the issuance of a Final Written Decision (FWD) or a settlement. If a FWD is issued, the petitioner (Amazon.com Services LLC) and its privies would be estopped from raising any ground that was raised or reasonably could have been raised in the IPR. Until then, the specific prior art grounds being argued are confined to the IPR. The involvement of Amazon.com Services LLC as a petitioner suggests a substantial entity challenging the patent, which can be a signal of the patent's relevance in the market or a direct defense against assertion.

Recommended next steps

For a defendant facing assertion of US12316706, the ongoing IPR2026-00146 is a critical development. It is crucial to monitor this proceeding closely.

• The PTAB has a statutory one-year deadline to issue a Final Written Decision from the date of institution. Assuming institution occurred around the "last modified" date of 2026-05-20, the Final Written Decision would be due around 2027-05-20.
• Access the public records for IPR2026-00146 on the USPTO PTAB E2E portal (https://ptab.uspto.gov/#/login) to obtain the institution decision. This document will detail the specific claims challenged, the prior art asserted, and the PTAB's reasoning for instituting the trial. This information is vital for understanding the scope of the challenge and its potential impact on your defensive strategy.

I'll research the assignment chain and cross-reference sources for US 12316706.

Let me dig deeper into the assignment details and the RPX article.

Let me search for more on the assignment reel/frame specifics and the connected entity network.

Ownership & Assignment Analysis — US 12316706

Data caveat up front: The authoritative full text supplied for this patent contains Google Patents' legal-events reconstruction of the reassignment record (assignor/assignee/date) but does not include the reel/frame numbers, execution dates, or the correspondent-of-record fields for most entries. Only one reel/frame appears anywhere in the source (71256/0346). I have cross-referenced the PTAB filings (which entered the recorded assignments as exhibits) and RPX reporting. Where a field is not recoverable from the available sources, I say so explicitly rather than infer it.

Inventors

Pattern notes: This is not a case of rank-and-file engineers walking out the door. Binder and Maytal are the prolific inventor principals behind the May Patents portfolio (the family is the "Binder/Maytal" home-automation-and-control family, priority 2012-01-09, spanning roughly 18 US patents). Two recorded steps tie them to the holding entity:

• An Assignment from Yehuda Binder and Benjamin Maytal to May Patents Ltd., dated 2017-07-23 (entered in PTAB as Petitioner Exhibit 1049, "USPTO Assignment Records").
• A 2024-05-28 inventor→May Patents Ltd. entry recorded at/around the filing of application US18/675,220 (this continuation).

So the inventors didn't "depart within 12 months of filing" in the fire-sale sense — they are the seller-side. That is a relevant nuance: there is no independent operating company here at all; the inventors built a licensing vehicle directly.

Original assignee

May Patents Ltd. — named as original assignee on the issued patent; Google Patents lists the current assignee as Smart Speaker LLC.

• Primary line of business: Patent holding / licensing. May Patents Ltd. is not an operating company and there is no evidence it manufactured or sold a product embodying the claims. It functions as the inventors' monetization vehicle.
• Product embodiment: No evidence of any shipped product under the May Patents name.
• Current status: Still an existing entity; it assigned ten of the family's 18 US patents to Smart Speaker LLC on 2025-03-18 (RPX). It is not in bankruptcy — there is no Chapter 7/11 record for it in any source reviewed.

Assignment timeline

Note: The Assignment Center / assignment.uspto.gov record for this patent could not be retrieved in full through the available sources. The entries below are reconstructed from Google Patents legal events and the assignment exhibits filed in the Amazon IPR petitions (Exs. 1049–1050). Execution dates are given where a source states them; recording dates where Google Patents supplies them. Reel/frame is known for only one record.

• 2017-07-23 (executed) / recorded date not published — Reel/frame not published

  • Conveyance: Assignment (inventor-to-holding-company)
  • Assignor: Yehuda Binder; Benjamin Maytal
  • Assignee: May Patents Ltd.
  • Correspondent: not recoverable from available sources
  • Context: Formation of the holding vehicle — inventors place portfolio rights into their own licensing entity.
  • Source: PTAB Ex. 1049 ("Assignment from Yehuda Binder and Benjamin Maytal to May Patents Ltd., dated July 23, 2017").

• 2024-05-28 (recorded; execution date not published) — Reel/frame not published

  • Conveyance: Assignment (inventor confirmation/continuation filing)
  • Assignor: Binder, Yehuda; Maytal, Benjamin
  • Assignee: May Patents Ltd.
  • Correspondent: not recoverable
  • Context: Internal housekeeping — rights in this continuation (US18/675,220) confirmed into May Patents Ltd. on the filing date. Source: Google Patents legal events ("Assigned to MAY PATENTS LTD., Assignors: BINDER, YEHUDA, MAYTAL, BENJAMIN").

• 2025-03-18 (executed) / recorded 2025-05-29 — Reel 71256 / 0346 (the erroneous record the corrective later fixed)

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: May Patents Ltd.
  • Assignee: Smart Speaker LLC
  • Correspondent: not recoverable from the sources reviewed — but see the recurring-counsel flag under Signal 3
  • Context: Transfer-to-asserter — May Patents Ltd. assigns ten US patents of the family to a purpose-built plaintiff LLC. Sources: RPX ("May Patents, on March 18, 2025, assigned to Smart Speaker LLC ten US patents from a family of 18"); Google Patents legal events ("Assigned to SMART SPEAKER LLC"); the reel 71256/0346 reference appears in the next entry's corrective text.

• 2025-05-29 (second Google-Patents entry) — Reel/frame not published

  • Conveyance: Assignment (duplicate/companion recordation of the same May Patents Ltd. → Smart Speaker LLC transfer, as it appears twice in the legal events)
  • Assignor: May Patents Ltd. — Assignee: Smart Speaker LLC
  • Correspondent: not recoverable
  • Context: Same transfer, second recordation — no new economic event.

• 2025-06-02 (executed) / recorded 2025-06-02 — Reel/frame not published (corrects 71256/0346)

  • Conveyance: Corrective Assignment
  • Assignor: May Patents Ltd. — Assignee: Smart Speaker LLC
  • Correspondent: not recoverable
  • Context: Administrative correction — per Google Patents, "CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE INCORRECT PROPERTY NUMBER LISTED AS AN APPLICATION NUMBER RATHER THAN A PATENT PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 71256 FRAME 346." Confirmed as PTAB Ex. 1050 ("Corrective Assignment from May Patents Ltd. to Smart Speaker LLC, dated June 2, 2025").

If the Assignment Center shows nothing further, that is consistent with the record above: the chain terminates at Smart Speaker LLC, which is the current owner and the plaintiff in the E.D. Tex. suit. No assignment to a defensive aggregator appears.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12316706
    2017 : Inventors assign rights to May Patents Ltd
    2024 : Continuation filed by May Patents Ltd
         : Inventors confirm assignment to May Patents Ltd
    2025 : May Patents Ltd assigns to Smart Speaker LLC
         : Corrective assignment recorded
         : Smart Speaker sues Amazon in EDTX

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — PRESENT.
The patent moves from May Patents Ltd. (itself a licensing-only holder with no products) to Smart Speaker LLC, a purpose-built assertion entity whose name is affirmatively misleading. RPX's own headline — "An Apparently Misidentified Smart Speaker Sues Amazon" — is direct evidence that the "Smart Speaker" name does not describe an operating speaker business. Amazon went so far as to subpoena "Business Record Search for Smart Speaker LLC, dated December 16, 2025, with Secretary of State of Delaware" (PTAB Ex. 1048) to probe the entity's structure — i.e., the defendant itself treated the assignee as a likely shell. Anchor: the 2025-03-18 execution / 2025-05-29 recording, reel 71256/0346.

2. Known asserter in the chain — UNclear / not on the enumerated lists.
Neither May Patents Ltd. nor Smart Speaker LLC appears on the specific public NPE rosters enumerated in the brief (Acacia, Marathon, Intellectual Ventures, IPNav, Wi-LAN, Mosaid/Conversant, Vringo, Pendrell, Innovatio, MPHJ, Lumen View, Round Rock, Document Generation Corp, Spangenberg entities). However, both are monetization vehicles: May Patents is a non-practicing licensing entity, and Smart Speaker LLC is an active plaintiff tracked by RPX and challenged by Unified Patents (the patent page itself flags PTAB case IPR2026-00146). I therefore mark this signal unclear as to list-matching but note the assertion conduct is documented.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — PARTIALLY PRESENT (via recurring counsel, not assignment correspondent).
The assignment-of-record correspondent could not be retrieved from available sources; I will not fabricate it. What is verifiable is a single repeat-player counsel across the entire Smart Speaker assertion campaign: Fabricant, Rubino & Lambrianakos LLP, with Peter Lambrianakos (Reg. No. 58,279) as lead, plus Vincent J. Rubino, III (68,594), Clark Gordon (74,706) and Ryan F. Oliver (78,452), address 411 Theodore Fremd Ave., Suite 206 South, Rye, NY 10580. This same firm/attorney set appears as Patent Owner's counsel across the companion PTAB proceedings (IPR2026-00145 / 00146 / 00147 / 00148 / 00280) and as plaintiff's counsel in E.D. Tex. 2:25-cv-00707. The shell LLC is new; the lawyer running the campaign is the constant. (Caveat: this is litigation/Power-of-Attorney counsel of record, not confirmed as the assignment-recording correspondent.)

4. Cascading transfers — NOT PRESENT (as classic chained-LLC cascade).
The chain is only two economic steps: inventors → May Patents Ltd. (2017) → Smart Speaker LLC (2025). There is no rapid relay through multiple unrelated LLCs within 24 months. The march/June 2025 "corrective" pair is administrative, not economic. Marked not present.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — PRESENT (strong).
Assignment executed 2025-03-18; first infringement suit Smart Speaker LLC v. Amazon.com Services LLC, No. 2:25-cv-00707 (E.D. Tex.) filed 2025-07-11 — approximately 4 months, comfortably within the 6-month window. The chain was arranged immediately before assertion, exactly the pattern this signal targets. RPX confirms the March 18, 2025 assignment predated the July 2025 complaint.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — NOT PRESENT. No Chapter 7/11 proceeding involving May Patents Ltd. or Smart Speaker LLC appears in any source reviewed.

7. Privateering — NOT PRESENT (atypical). Classic privateering is operating company → NPE. Here the transferor (May Patents Ltd.) is already a non-practicing holding entity, so there is no operating-company patentee using an NPE proxy against competitors. No SEC filing ties this to a public-company patentee.

8. Defensive aggregator — NOT PRESENT. The chain terminates at Smart Speaker LLC, an active plaintiff — the opposite of neutralization. No assignment to RPX, AST, LOT, Unified Patents, or OIN was found.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence.

The chain shows (a) a transfer-to-asserter from the non-practicing holder May Patents Ltd. to the purpose-built plaintiff Smart Speaker LLC, executed 2025-03-18 and recorded 2025-05-29 at reel 71256/0346, and (b) a classic pre-litigation transfer — that assignment landed roughly four months before Smart Speaker filed 2:25-cv-00707 (E.D. Tex., 2025-07-11) against Amazon, with a prior "Licensing Letter" (July 2024) establishing deliberate monetization rather than product enforcement. Neither assignor nor assignee ships a product embodying the claims, defendants subpoenaed Smart Speaker LLC's Delaware corporate records (PTAB Ex. 1048) to probe its structure, and the same repeat-player firm (Fabricant, Rubino & Lambrianakos) runs the parallel PTAB campaign (IPR2026-00146 instituted 2026-05-06, plus 00145/00147/00148/00280). That is at least two strong signals, hence high confidence.

Verify at: USPTO Assignment Center — https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (search patent number 12316706); alternate index: https://assignment.uspto.gov/patent/index.html.

Flagged discrepancy with prior sections: The previously generated "Litigation summary" attributes IPR2026-00146 to Unified Patents. The PTAB record and the "PTAB challenges" section (correctly) identify the petitioner as Amazon.com Services LLC, instituted 2026-05-06. The Amazon identification is the correct one for IPR2026-00146; Unified Patents appears on the patent page as the data licensor, not the petitioner. The "Litigation summary" should be corrected.

As a technical patent analyst, I have reviewed the provided full patent text for US12316706B2.

Patent Number Search and Claims Availability for US12316706B2:

The provided "Full patent text" for US12316706B2, sourced from Google Patents (https://patents.google.com/patent/[US12316706](/patent/US12316706)/en), does not contain the claims section. Despite the prompt stating this text is authoritative, the absence of claims prevents a direct, claim-by-claim anticipation analysis. A search for "US12316706" on Google Patents Advanced Search also indicated "Sorry, we couldn't find this patent number", which is unusual for a granted patent with a publication date of May 27, 2025.

Therefore, the anticipation analysis below will be based on the general inventive concept of US12316706B2 as described in its title and "Definitions" section, and how the cited prior art potentially relates to these concepts, rather than specific claims. The general inventive concept of US12316706B2 appears to be a "System and method for server based control" for environments like buildings or vehicles, where a control server implements gateway or control functionalities, potentially replacing dedicated hardware gateways with cloud-based solutions.

Identified Patent Citations and Anticipation Analysis:

Based on the provided patent text for US12316706B2, two specific U.S. patent citations are mentioned in the "Definitions" section as prior art:

1. U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,571

   • Full Citation: US 6,243,571 B1, "Power line communication system and method", to Bullock et al.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Granted June 5, 2001 (Filing date: January 29, 1999).
   • Brief Description: This patent describes a power line communication system and method, which uses power lines for data communication. It details how signals are transmitted and received over existing electrical wiring within a building or between buildings. The system aims to provide high-speed data communication using the existing electrical infrastructure.
   • Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102: US 6,243,571 B1 potentially anticipates aspects of US12316706B2 that involve communication over powerline networks. The definitions section of US12316706B2 explicitly mentions that a "network in a house based on using powerline-based home network is also known in the art" and refers to this patent. If US12316706B2's undisclosed claims include communication using powerline as a medium for connecting its "field units" or "routers," then the fundamental concept of using power lines for communication, as described in US 6,243,571 B1, would be anticipatory. Specifically, any claims in US12316706B2 that broadly cover data communication over power lines as a means for "server based control" would likely be anticipated by this prior art.

2. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0062990

   • Full Citation: US 2003/0062990 A1, "Powerline Bridge Apparatus", to Schaeffer et al.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Published April 3, 2003 (Filing date: September 26, 2002).
   • Brief Description: This publication describes outlets with built-in Power Line Carrier (PLC) modems designed for combined data and power use over power lines. These apparatuses facilitate network communication and power delivery through standard electrical outlets, often referred to as "Powerline Bridge Apparatus".
   • Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102: US 2003/0062990 A1 potentially anticipates aspects of US12316706B2 relating to the physical implementation of network connections, particularly where "field units" or "routers" are integrated with, or communicate via, power outlets. US12316706B2's definitions state that "the field unit or the router may communicate over the in-wall wiring connected to the outlet, such as telephone, AC power, LAN or CATV wiring." If US12316706B2's claims extend to systems where network devices (like sensors, actuators, or routers) are integrated into or communicate through power outlets using powerline communication, then the core concept of such powerline bridge apparatuses described in US 2003/0062990 A1 would be highly relevant for anticipation.

Due to the unavailability of the claims for US12316706B2, a definitive statement about which specific claims are anticipated cannot be made. The analysis above is based on the general inventive concepts and technical areas described within the patent's provided text and the descriptions of the cited prior art.

References for Cited Prior Art:

References for Cited Prior Art:

• U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,571:

  • Inventors: Bullock; John M. (Scotts Valley, CA), Bullock; Michael R. (Scotts Valley, CA), O'Hair; John C. (Scotts Valley, CA)
  • Assignee: Inari, Ltd. (Scotts Valley, CA)
  • Title: Power line communication system and method
  • Publication Date: June 5, 2001
  • Filing Date: January 29, 1999
  • Abstract: "A communication system and method provides communication of digital signals via an electrical power line. The system includes transceivers for coupling to the power line to modulate and demodulate signals on the power line. A coupling circuit may be used to couple the transceiver to the power line in a way that provides isolation of the transceiver from the power line. The system may also include repeaters and filters. The filters may be connected to the power line at a node and may filter out frequencies above or below the range of communication frequencies. The communication system and method may further provide for communication between two different types of power lines, such as a high voltage power line and a low voltage power line."

• U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0062990:

  • Inventors: Schaeffer; Eric J. (Boulder Creek, CA), Wiatrowski; Brian J. (San Jose, CA), Johnson; Douglas A. (Santa Cruz, CA)
  • Assignee: Inari, Ltd. (Scotts Valley, CA)
  • Title: Powerline Bridge Apparatus
  • Publication Date: April 3, 2003
  • Filing Date: September 26, 2002
  • Abstract: "A powerline bridge apparatus is configured to be removably coupled to an AC power outlet for receiving AC power and for coupling to an AC powerline. The powerline bridge apparatus includes a PLC modem that is configured to be coupled to the AC powerline for coupling data communication signals onto the AC powerline and for receiving data communication signals from the AC powerline."

I cannot perform an obviousness analysis of US patent 12316706 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as requested. The provided text includes bibliographic information, legal status, and a detailed definitions section, but it does not contain the actual claims of US12316706.

To conduct an obviousness analysis, I need to know the specific elements of each independent claim of the patent in question. Without these claims, it is impossible to identify combinations of prior art references that would render them obvious or to explain the motivation for such combinations to a person having ordinary skill in the art.