Invalidity dossier
US 6942248
Occupant restraint device control system and method
Current assignee: Automotive Technologies International, Inc.
Added 9/22/2026, 6:46:29 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 6,942,248 B2
Title: "Occupant restraint device control system and method" (source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6942248/en).
Identifiers: Publication US6942248B2; application US10/114,533, filed 2002-04-02; granted/publication date 2005-09-13; published application US20020140214A1 (2002-10-03). Inventors: David S. Breed, Wilbur E. DuVall, Wendell C. Johnson. Original assignee and current assignee listed: Automotive Technologies International Inc. Priority date listed as 1992-05-05 (a continuation-family chain through many earlier applications). Legal status shown as "Expired - Fee Related," with an adjusted expiration of 2013-03-03.
Purpose: Per the title, the patent concerns controlling an occupant restraint device (e.g., an airbag or similar passive safety arrangement), which the classifications place within electrical circuits for triggering passive safety arrangements, including detecting passenger presence/position and related safety parameters.
Plain-language scope (from the supplied text): The excerpt provides only classification-based scope, not claims. Classifications cover occupant-detection means mounted in or on vehicle seats, including sensing of anthropometric parameters (e.g., heart rate, body temperature), driver-fatigue detection, and detection of passenger motion. The "prior art keywords" listed are vehicle, seat, signal, occupant, and contents, and the listed field includes cruise control, steering, and tire monitoring as well as occupant restraint control.
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not reproduce the claims, written description, drawings, or any prior-art discussion, so no specific claim scope or inventive feature can be quoted. It does not establish the accuracy of the assignee, priority, expiration, or status entries (Google expressly labels these as assumptions/non-legal conclusions). It also does not establish any facts about litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or prior art, which are outside this overview by instruction.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:54:19 PM
Cases on file (2)
Group view →Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 6942248. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
- 1:06-cv-00391-GMSU.S. District Court for the District of Delawareterminated May 18, 2017dismissed with prejudice
Defendants: Hyundai Motor America, BMW of North America LLC, Kia Motors America, Inc.
Other patents asserted: 6757602, 5901978, 6325414, 6422595, 6484080, 6712387, 6833516, 6850824, 6869100, 6958451
- Automotive Technologies International, Inc. v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. et al.filed Mar 17, 20061:06-cv-00187-GMSU.S. District Court for the District of Delawareclosed
Defendants: American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Elesys North America Inc., General Motors Corp.
Other patents asserted: 6757602, 5901978, 6242701, 6325414, 6397136, 6422595, 6869100, 6712387, 6950022, 6958451, 6484080, 6850824
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: Automotive Technologies International, Inc.
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.
Keep exploring
More patents asserted by Automotive Technologies International, Inc.
- US 6757602I'll check live sources for the patent and any CAFC/appellate docket activity before summarizing. Let me pull the actual claim set for US 6,757,602 and check docket status. Let me retrieve the abstract and confirm the full…
- US 5901978Patent Overview — US 5,901,978 A Title: Method and apparatus for detecting the presence of a child seat. Patent number / application: US 5,901,978 A; application US 09/084,641. Assignee: Automotive Technologies International Inc. (original…
- US 6242701US 6,242,701 B1 — Patent Overview Title: Apparatus and method for measuring weight of an occupying item of a seat Patent number: US6242701B1 Application number: US09/193,209 Inventors: David S. Breed, Wilbur E. DuVall, Jeffrey L. Morin…
- US 6325414Patent Overview — US 6325414 B2 Title: Method and arrangement for controlling deployment of a side airbag Assignee / Original Assignee: Automotive Technologies International Inc. (later recorded as AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL…
- US 6397136Patent Overview — US 6397136 B1 Title: System for determining the occupancy state of a seat in a vehicle Patent number / application: US 6397136 B1; application US 09/474,147, filed 1999-12-29; granted/publication date 2002-05-28. Assignee…
- US 6422595Patent Overview: US6422595B1 (excerpt-based) Title: Occupant position sensor and method and arrangement for controlling a vehicular component based on an occupant's position Patent number: US6422595B1 | Application number: US09/639,299…
- US 6869100Patent Overview — US6869100B2 Title: Method and apparatus for controlling an airbag Patent number / application: US6869100B2; application US10/234,067, filed 2002-09-03; published as US20030001368A1 (2003-01-02); granted 2005-03-22…
- US 6712387Patent Overview: US 6,712,387 B1 Title: Method and apparatus for controlling deployment of a side airbag Patent number: US6712387B1 Application number: US09/437,535 Inventor(s): David S. Breed; Wilbur E. DuVall; Wendell C. Johnson…
This patent in court (2)
2 tracked lawsuits name US 6942248.