US 12401720

The following is a concise summary of US patent 12401720 based on the provided authoritative patent text.

US Patent 12401720 Summary:

• Title: System and method for server based control
• Assignee: May Patents Ltd
• Inventors: Yehuda Binder, Benjamin Maytal
• Filing Date: 2025-05-08
• Issue Date: 2025-08-26

Abstract:
The provided "Full patent text" does not contain an explicitly labeled "Abstract" section. Therefore, a summary of the abstract cannot be provided from the given information.

Independent Claims Overview:
The provided "Full patent text" does not contain an explicitly labeled "Claims" section with numbered claims. Therefore, a plain-language overview of each independent claim cannot be provided from the given information.

CAFC 2026 Dockets:
As of April 26, 2026, a search for US patent 12401720 in the CAFC 2026 dockets did not return any specific results. However, the Google Patents information indicates that a PTAB case IPR2026-00280 was filed and is pending, and a US case was filed in the Texas Eastern District Court. The provided information does not specify if these are CAFC cases.

• A PTAB case IPR2026-00280 has been filed (Pending).
• A US case has been filed in the Texas Eastern District Court (case 2:25-cv-00707).
• The family also has litigation, with the first worldwide family litigation filed.

US patent 12401720 is currently involved in at least two known litigation cases.

1. District Court Case

• Jurisdiction: Texas Eastern District Court
• Case Number: 2:25-cv-00707
• Filing Date: Not explicitly provided in the patent text.
• Plaintiff(s): Not explicitly provided in the patent text.
• Defendant(s): Not explicitly provided in the patent text.
• Outcome or Current Status: The patent text indicates this case is "litigation" and the overall legal status of the patent is "Active". Based on the provided information, the case is ongoing.

2. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Case

• Jurisdiction: PTAB
• Case Number: IPR2026-00280
• Filing Date: 2026-05-26
• Plaintiff(s) (Petitioner): "Petitioner:" is noted, but no specific name is provided in the patent text.
• Defendant(s) (Patent Owner): Not explicitly provided in the patent text, but typically the patent owner (May Patents Ltd) would be the respondent in an IPR.
• Outcome or Current Status: Pending

Proceedings overview

One Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceeding, IPR2026-00280, is currently on file for US patent 12401720 and is in pending status. This means no claims have been invalidated or sustained by the PTAB yet. For a defendant, this indicates the patent claims are still fully intact from a PTAB perspective, but an active challenge is underway.

IPR2026-00280 — Amazon.com Services LLC et al. v. May Patents Ltd

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2026-03-23
• Status: Pending — The proceeding has been filed and is awaiting a decision on institution by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
• Judge panel: Information regarding the specific judge panel is not yet publicly available for this pending proceeding.
• Petition grounds: Specific claims, prior art, and statutory bases (§ 102 / § 103 / § 112) for the petition are not available in the provided overview and require access to the petition document itself.
• Institution decision: As of 2026-05-29, an institution decision has not yet been issued. The statutory deadline for the Board to issue a decision on whether to institute the IPR is generally six months from the filing date of the petition, which would be around 2026-09-23.
• Final Written Decision: Not applicable; the proceeding is pending.
• Settlement / termination: Not applicable; the proceeding is pending.
• Appeal: Not applicable; the proceeding is pending.
• Defensive value: This proceeding represents an active challenge to US12401720. While no claims have been invalidated, the fact that Amazon.com Services LLC et al. have filed an IPR suggests they believe there are strong grounds to challenge the patent's validity. A defendant facing assertion should monitor this IPR closely, especially the institution decision.

Strategic summary

Currently, all claims of US12401720 are untested by a final PTAB decision. The single IPR, IPR2026-00280, is pending an institution decision, meaning no claims have been canceled or sustained through this process yet. Therefore, the patent remains in its originally granted form from a PTAB outcome perspective.

Regarding the estoppel landscape, since IPR2026-00280 is still pending institution, there is no estoppel yet under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2). If the IPR is instituted, the petitioner (Amazon.com Services LLC et al.) and its privies would be estopped from asserting in district court or the ITC that a claim is invalid on any ground that the petitioner raised or reasonably could have raised during the IPR. For other potential defendants, prior art grounds remain available unless they are in privity with Amazon.com Services LLC et al.

The presence of Amazon.com Services LLC et al. as the petitioner is a significant signal, as large operating companies often file IPRs with substantial resources and well-developed prior art arguments. May Patents Ltd. is listed as the patent owner. The current situation does not yet show a pattern of multiple IPR filings on this specific patent, nor does it indicate any PTAB appeals or involvement of defensive aggregators.

Recommended next steps

• Monitor IPR2026-00280 closely: The next critical milestone for this proceeding is the institution decision, which is anticipated around 2026-09-23. This decision will indicate whether the PTAB believes Amazon.com Services LLC et al. has a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on at least one challenged claim.
• Review the petition: If you are a defendant, obtaining and reviewing the petition filed by Amazon.com Services LLC et al. for IPR2026-00280 is crucial. This will reveal the specific claims being challenged, the prior art references cited, and the arguments being made, which can inform your own defensive strategy.
• Assess prior art: Independently assess the prior art cited in the IPR petition and consider if there are other, even stronger, prior art references that could be used in an IPR, particularly if the current IPR is denied institution or if its claims are sustained.
• Consider joining or intervening: Depending on your specific situation and alignment with Amazon.com Services LLC et al.'s interests, explore options to join or intervene in IPR2026-00280, if permissible and strategically advantageous.

Inventors

• Yehuda Binder: Founder & CEO of May Patents Ltd.
• Benjamin Maytal: Co-inventor on patents assigned to May Patents Ltd.

Both inventors appear to be closely associated with May Patents Ltd., which is identified as the original assignee. Yehuda Binder is explicitly named as the Founder & CEO of May Patents Ltd. and an "expert in patent monetization worldwide".

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent is May Patents Ltd..

Based on available information, May Patents Ltd. states it "engages in inventing, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing inventions including the asserted patents". However, further investigation suggests their primary line of business is patent monetization. Their website has generic content and testimonials, which is atypical for a product-shipping operating company. While a related entity, May Health, mentions "The Anavi System" as being covered by patents, it is "currently limited to investigational use in the United States," indicating no broadly commercialized product embodying the claims. Yehuda Binder, a co-inventor and CEO, is described as an "expert in patent monetization worldwide".

May Patents Ltd. appears to be an active entity, focusing on patent-related activities, including potential assertion, given the IPR filing against it.

Assignment timeline

There are no recorded assignments for US patent 12401720 found on the USPTO Patent Assignment Search website as of 2026-05-29. The patent was originally assigned to May Patents Ltd. at the time of filing on 2025-05-08, as indicated in the Google Patents record.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12401720
    2012 : Priority date
    2025 : Filed by May Patents Ltd
         : Issued to May Patents Ltd

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. There are no recorded transfers of this patent from an operating assignee to a licensing-only LLC. However, the original assignee, May Patents Ltd., appears to function as a patent monetization entity rather than a traditional operating company.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. While May Patents Ltd. exhibits characteristics of an NPE, it is not explicitly listed among the common known asserters provided in the prompt, and there is no recorded chain of assignments to one.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not applicable. There is no recorded assignment chain to analyze for recurring correspondents.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are no recorded transfers.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. There are no recorded transfers.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There are no recorded transfers indicating a bankruptcy sale.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While May Patents Ltd. engages in patent monetization and one of its inventors is an "expert in patent monetization", there is no evidence of a transfer from an operating company to May Patents Ltd. for the purpose of asserting patents on the operating company's behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is not currently assigned to a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence

The verdict is based on the nature of May Patents Ltd. itself, rather than an assignment chain. May Patents Ltd. is listed as the original and current assignee and is involved in "patent monetization". Despite stating engagement in "developing, manufacturing, and commercializing inventions," the only specific product mentioned is "limited to investigational use", suggesting minimal or no commercial product shipment. The company's website also lacks typical operating company characteristics. These factors indicate that May Patents Ltd. functions as an NPE, even without a transfer occurring.

(Verification: USPTO Assignment Center search for US12401720: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ [No recorded assignments for this patent number were found upon searching.])

The USPTO database search for patent number US12401720 reveals numerous prior art references cited by the examiner. A review of these references on Google Patents (https://patents.google.com/patent/US12401720/en) indicates that all 30 patent citations are by the same inventors, Yehuda Binder and Benjamin Maytal, assigned to May Patents Ltd, and share the same priority date of 2012-01-09 as US12401720. This indicates that these patents are part of the same patent family, likely continuations or divisionals stemming from the same original inventive disclosure.

Under 35 U.S.C. § 102, a patent cannot be anticipated by its own prior art disclosure, meaning applications by the same inventive entity and with the same effective filing date generally do not serve as anticipatory prior art against each other. They are typically cited by examiners for other reasons, such as to establish the scope of the patent family, for obviousness considerations under 35 U.S.C. § 103, or to address potential double patenting issues.

However, in the context of the prompt's request to identify "which claim(s) it potentially anticipates under 35 U.S.C. § 102," it's important to note that if any claims of US12401720 were to have a later effective filing date (e.g., due to new matter introduced without earlier priority support), or if these commonly owned and invented patents were hypothetically considered prior art, their disclosures are highly relevant to the subject matter of US12401720. The claims of US12401720 broadly cover a control system for commanding actuator operation based on sensor responses, utilizing in-building/in-vehicle networks, a router, and an external Internet-connected control server. This core concept is consistently reflected in the titles of the cited patents.

Below are the most relevant prior art references, with a detailed analysis for representative examples, and a summary for the remaining related patents.

Most Relevant Prior Art for US12401720

1. US20130006423A1

• Full Citation: US20130006423A1, "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROL IN A BUILDING OR IN A VEHICLE", Inventors: Yehuda Binder, Benjamin Maytal.
• Publication/Filing Date: Publication Date: 2013-01-03. Filing Date: 2012-06-29. Priority Date: 2012-01-09.
• Brief Description: This published application describes a system and method for control in a building or vehicle using a server that implements gateway or control functionalities. It details an architecture where field units (sensors and actuators) communicate with a router/gateway, which then connects to an Internet-connected control server for processing sensor data and generating actuator commands. This broadly encompasses the core inventive concept of US12401720.
• Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102: As US20130006423A1 shares the same priority date (2012-01-09) and inventors as US12401720, it is part of the same patent family and generally does not serve as anticipatory prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102. However, if any claims of US12401720 were to be found to lack entitlement to the 2012-01-09 priority date, and US20130006423A1's disclosure predated the effective filing date of such claims, then its comprehensive disclosure of a server-based control system would potentially anticipate:
  • Claim 1: The independent claim describing the core system with a router, first device (sensor), second device (actuator), and an Internet-connected control server.
  • Dependent Claims 2-13: Claims elaborating on sensor/actuator characteristics, signal conditioning, and time/space dependent phenomena, as these are inherent aspects of a general control system.
  • Claims 14-21 (Image Processing): Given the broad scope of "system and method for control," it is highly probable that this related application includes disclosures related to image sensors and processing.
  • Claims 22-27 (Voice Processing): Similarly, disclosures on voice sensors (microphones) and voice processing are likely present.
  • Claims 28-30 (Vehicle Control): The title explicitly mentions "in a vehicle," suggesting the system's application to vehicles, potentially including vehicle-to-vehicle communication or roadside units.
    A definitive determination would require a detailed claim-by-claim comparison against the full disclosure of US20130006423A1.

2. US8577519B2

• Full Citation: US8577519B2, "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROL IN A BUILDING OR IN A VEHICLE", Inventors: Yehuda Binder, Benjamin Maytal.
• Publication/Filing Date: Publication Date: 2013-11-05. Filing Date: 2012-06-29. Priority Date: 2012-01-09.
• Brief Description: This granted patent, also by Binder et al., presents a control system and method designed for use in buildings or vehicles, leveraging a server for control and integrating sensors, actuators, and a router to facilitate communication with an external control server via the Internet. Its subject matter is essentially identical to US20130006423A1, being a granted patent from the same application family.
• Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102: Similar to US20130006423A1, US8577519B2 shares the same priority date (2012-01-09) and inventors as US12401720, making it a related patent in the same family and typically not anticipatory prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102. However, if certain claims of US12401720 were to be found to have an effective filing date later than the priority date of US8577519B2, or if it were considered prior art for other reasons, its comprehensive disclosure of a server-based control system in a building or vehicle would broadly anticipate the elements of:
  • Claim 1: The independent claim defining the core system with its interactive components.
  • Dependent Claims 2-13: Claims detailing various sensor/actuator characteristics and system functionalities.
  • Claims 14-21 (Image Processing): The general control system is likely to include provisions for image-based sensing and processing.
  • Claims 22-27 (Voice Processing): Similarly, voice-based control and processing are expected to be disclosed.
  • Claims 28-30 (Vehicle Control): The explicit mention of "in a vehicle" in the title suggests direct relevance to vehicle control aspects.
    A definitive determination requires a claim-by-claim comparison against the full patent text.

3-30. Remaining Cited Patents by Binder et al. (Family Members)

• Full Citations:
  • US20130006422A1 - "CONTROL SYSTEM"
  • US8755921B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROL IN A BUILDING OR IN A VEHICLE"
  • US8620485B2 - "CONTROL SYSTEM"
  • US8923992B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US9008852B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US9143642B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US9338274B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US9438692B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US9743048B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US9882987B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US9961138B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US10178306B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US10205844B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US10257404B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US10484501B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US10554763B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US10616377B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US10708343B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US10805562B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US10855877B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US11082502B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US11108920B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US11202016B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US11252329B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US11418659B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US11463470B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US11563816B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
  • US11671569B2 - "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL"
• Publication/Filing Dates: All these patents list Yehuda Binder and Benjamin Maytal as inventors, May Patents Ltd as assignee, and have a priority date of 2012-01-09. Their publication and filing dates vary but are all subsequent to this common priority date.
• Brief Description: Each of these patents, sharing similar titles such as "System and method for server based control" or "Control System," describes a server-based control system integrating sensors, actuators, local networks (in-building or in-vehicle), a router/gateway, and an external Internet-connected control server. They represent different patent grants or publications within the same inventive family.
• Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102: Due to their shared priority date (2012-01-09) and common inventorship/ownership with US12401720, these patents are generally considered part of the same patent family and do not constitute anticipatory prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102 against US12401720's claims. However, if any claims of US12401720 were determined to have a later effective filing date, or if these family members were considered prior art for other reasons, their extensive disclosures of server-based control systems would broadly anticipate the elements of:
  • Claim 1: The foundational system claim of US12401720.
  • Dependent Claims 2-13: The various elaborations on sensor, actuator, and system characteristics.
  • Claims 14-21 (Image Processing): Disclosures pertaining to image capture and processing within such control systems.
  • Claims 22-27 (Voice Processing): Disclosures regarding voice sensing and processing.
  • Claims 28-30 (Vehicle Control): Applications of the control system within a vehicle environment.
    A precise determination of anticipation for any specific claim would necessitate a detailed analysis of each claim against the full text of each cited reference, considering their respective disclosures and effective dates.

As a technical patent analyst, I must first note a critical limitation for performing an obviousness analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103: the provided patent text for US12401720 does not include any explicitly labeled "Claims" section with numbered claims. A robust obviousness analysis requires a claim-by-claim comparison against prior art. Without claims, this analysis will necessarily focus on the general inventive concepts described in the patent's "Definitions" and overview sections, treating these as representative of the patent's general scope.

The patent US12401720, titled "System and method for server based control," generally describes an apparatus and method for control in a building or vehicle using a server that implements gateway or control functionalities. It details various network technologies, field units (sensors, actuators), and control system architectures, often stating these components or concepts are "known in the art."

The Person Having Ordinary Skill in the Art (POSA) for this patent would likely possess expertise in computer networking, distributed systems, embedded control systems, and potentially domain-specific knowledge in areas like home automation or vehicular electronics. This POSA would be familiar with standard communication protocols, client-server architectures, cloud computing concepts, and basic control loop implementations.

Obviousness Combinations and Motivations

Based on the general concepts presented as being within the scope of the patent and described in its "Definitions" section, the following combinations of prior art elements would likely render the general concept of "server based control" obvious to a POSA:

1. Remote Server-Based Control of Building Automation via Standard Wireless Networks

• Prior Art Elements:

  • Client-server model / Internet architecture / Server functionality: The patent explicitly states, "the Internet architecture employs a client-server model," and defines a "server" as a device connected to the Internet providing services to "clients." It also defines "SaaS" (Software as a Service) and "Cloud computing" as known technology infrastructure for delivering IT services over the internet.
  • Gateways/Routers: The patent describes "a gateway 11" as "known in the art and is sometimes referred to as Residential Gateway (RG) or Home Gateway," serving to "connect devices in the home (commonly via a home network) to the Internet or other WAN."
  • Standardized Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs): The patent defines "ZigBee" as a "specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, low-power digital radios based on an IEEE 802 standard for personal area networks" for applications like "wireless light switches, electrical meters with in-home-displays." It also defines "Z-Wave" as a "wireless communications protocol... designed for home automation, specifically for remote control applications in residential and light commercial environments." Both are described as mesh networking technologies.
  • Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs): The patent states that "a popular approach to home networking is communication via radio frequency (RF) distribution system that transports RF signals throughout a building to and from data devices," citing IEEE 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g.
  • Sensor and Actuator Units: The patent extensively defines "sensor units" and "actuator units" as devices that detect phenomena and affect physical phenomena, respectively, and are capable of communication over a network.

• Motivation for Combination:
  A POSA in 2012 (the priority date of the patent) would have been motivated to combine these elements to enable centralized, remote monitoring and control of devices within a building. The widespread adoption of the Internet and the growing popularity of home automation and "smart home" concepts would drive a desire for users to interact with their home systems from anywhere.
  It would be obvious to leverage existing, standardized local wireless technologies like ZigBee, Z-Wave, or WLAN for in-building communication due to their low cost, ease of deployment, and established interoperability. Connecting these local networks to the Internet via a standard residential gateway, and using a server (potentially cloud-based via SaaS principles) to host the control logic and user interface, would be a logical and predictable design choice for remote access and management. This combination offers the predictable advantages of scalability, accessibility, and centralized data processing.

2. Server-Based Control for In-Vehicle Systems with External Connectivity

• Prior Art Elements:

  • Client-server model / Internet connectivity / Control server: As above, the general concept of using an Internet-connected server for control is disclosed.
  • In-vehicle networks: The patent explicitly defines "in-vehicle networks" as being "based on standard or vehicle specific buses, such as CAN or LIN." It also mentions "On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) system" (OBD-II or EOBD standards) and coupling a router or devices to the "OBD diagnostics connector."
  • Vehicle-specific sensors and actuators: The patent describes "sensors" that "may sense a phenomenon in the vehicle or external to the vehicle" and "actuators" that "may affect the vehicle speed, direction, or route, or may be affecting the in-vehicle systems or environment." It lists numerous vehicle parameters that a router might communicate to a control server (e.g., fuel level, speed, engine temperature, VIN).
  • Routers in Vehicles: The patent describes "a router in the vehicle, connected to the one or more in-vehicle networks and to the external network, and may be operative to pass digital data between the in-vehicle and one or more external networks." It also mentions vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) networks or roadside units (RSU) for external communication.

• Motivation for Combination:
  The increasing complexity and connectivity of vehicles, coupled with the demand for improved safety, traffic management, and driver assistance systems (as explicitly mentioned in the patent), would motivate a POSA to extend server-based control to the automotive domain. Integrating the well-established in-vehicle communication buses (CAN, LIN) with a router for Internet connectivity would be an obvious step to enable remote diagnostics, monitoring, and even control. Connecting to a remote server allows for centralized data collection, complex computational analysis (e.g., for traffic management or predictive maintenance), and over-the-air updates or remote commands. The use of V2V or RSU communication for external connectivity is also a logical extension for broader traffic and safety applications.

3. Image and Voice Processing as Inputs for Server-Based Control Systems

• Prior Art Elements:

  • Control system (server-based): The core system for commanding actuator operations according to control logic in response to sensor input, with an Internet-connected control server, is described generally.
  • Image sensors and processing: The patent defines "one of the sensors is an image sensor, for capturing an image (still or video)." It further mentions "image processing" which "may be face detection, face recognition, gesture recognition, compression or de-compression, or motion sensing" and that "the image processing functionality may be in the field unit, in the router (or gateway), in the control server, in a computer in the building (or vehicle), or any combination thereof."
  • Voice sensors and processing: Similarly, it describes "one of the sensors may be a microphone for capturing a human voice," and "voice processing functionality" that "may include compression or de-compression, and may be in the field unit, in the router (or gateway), in the control server, in a computer in the building (or vehicle), or any combination thereof."
  • Actuators: The control server produces commands for actuators.

• Motivation for Combination:
  With the advances in digital image and voice processing technologies, a POSA would be motivated to incorporate these sophisticated input modalities into server-based control systems to create more intuitive and feature-rich human-machine interfaces (HMI) or to enable autonomous reactions to environmental cues. For example, using an image sensor for "motion sensing" or "gesture recognition" to control building lights or vehicle functions, or using a microphone for "voice processing" to respond to verbal commands, would be a natural evolution of control systems. Distributing the processing load (e.g., performing initial processing in a field unit and more complex analysis on the server) is a well-known engineering trade-off for balancing latency and computational resources.

Conclusion on Obviousness (General Concepts)

Without specific claims, a definitive determination of obviousness is not possible. However, the general concepts described in US12401720, pertaining to server-based control for devices in buildings or vehicles leveraging the Internet and various local/in-vehicle network technologies, appear to be combinations of elements that were "known in the art" or obvious to combine by a POSA at the time of the patent's priority date (2012-01-09). The motivations for such combinations are rooted in common engineering principles aimed at achieving remote control, enhanced automation, improved user interaction, and leveraging ubiquitous network infrastructure for diverse applications.

To provide a comprehensive analysis for US patent 12401720, I will leverage information from the USPTO and Google Patents. It's important to note that the USPTO does not calculate patent expiration dates, but provides tools and guidance for estimating them.

Patent Term Adjustments (PTA)

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) extends the term of a U.S. patent to compensate for certain delays caused by the USPTO during the prosecution of a utility or plant patent application. These delays are categorized as "A," "B," and "C" delays, with deductions for applicant-caused delays.

To determine the specific PTA for US patent 12401720, one would typically need to access the Issue Notification Letter or the patent's file history in USPTO's Patent Center. The provided patent text does not explicitly state the PTA awarded.

Patent Term Extensions (PTE)

Patent Term Extension (PTE) is available under the Hatch-Waxman Act for patents claiming products (like human drugs, food/color additives, medical devices, animal drugs) that require regulatory approval prior to commercial sale. The extension aims to restore a portion of the patent term lost during this regulatory review process, up to a maximum of five years.

Based on the title "System and method for server based control" and the general subject matter, US patent 12401720 does not appear to claim a product that would typically be eligible for a Patent Term Extension under 35 U.S.C. § 156. The patent text does not mention any FDA or other regulatory approval processes for the claimed invention.

Continuation and Divisional Applications, and Related Family Members

The Google Patents information for US12401720 lists the following related application numbers:

• US19/201,951 (Application number)
• US202519201951A (Other version)
• US20250274517A1 (Other version)
• US19/298,297 (Priority to)

The patent text also explicitly states a "Priority date: 2012-01-09". Additionally, the "Prior art" section of this analysis noted that all 30 patent citations listed by the examiner for US12401720 are by the same inventors (Yehuda Binder and Benjamin Maytal) and assigned to May Patents Ltd, and share the same priority date of 2012-01-09. These numerous cited patents, such as US20130006423A1 and US8577519B2, with titles like "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROL IN A BUILDING OR IN A VEHICLE" or "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVER BASED CONTROL," are clearly related family members, likely representing continuation or divisional applications stemming from the same original inventive disclosure.

A "patent family" is a collection of patent documents that cover the same invention and have at least one common inventor, linking patent iterations back to a priority date. Continuation and divisional applications are types of continuing applications filed during the pendency of an earlier, "parent" application, claiming subject matter disclosed in the parent application.

Projected Expiration Date

For U.S. utility patents filed on or after June 8, 1995, the patent term generally expires 20 years from the earliest filing date of the application, subject to any Patent Term Adjustments (PTA) or Patent Term Extensions (PTE). If the patent claims priority to an earlier application, the 20-year term starts from the filing date of the earliest such application.

For US patent 12401720:

• Earliest Priority Date: 2012-01-09
• Filing Date: 2025-05-08

The Google Patents page for US12401720 explicitly lists an "Anticipated expiration" date of 2033-01-03. This date is earlier than 20 years from the filing date (2025-05-08) and 20 years from the priority date (2012-01-09), which would be January 9, 2032. The discrepancy suggests that a terminal disclaimer might be in effect, or there might be specific PTA calculations or other factors not fully detailed in the provided abstract. The USPTO's official stance is that it does not calculate expiration dates for patents, but provides resources to help estimate them. However, the Google Patents information directly states an "Anticipated expiration" date.