Invalidity dossier
US 9229107
Added 9/23/2026, 7:14:05 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
US 9,229,107 B2 — "Lens System" — Overview
Patent number: US 9,229,107 B2
Title: Lens system
Inventor: Matthew Bell
Original assignee: Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC
Current assignee (as listed): Longhorn Automotive Group LLC
Prior art date: 2007-11-12
Application number: US 14/458,566; filing date: 2014-08-13
Publication date (grant): 2016-01-05
Status listed: Active; anticipated expiration 2028-11-12
Classifications include: G01S17/00, G01S17/06, G01S17/66 (optical/lidar-type position and tracking systems); G01B11/002; G02B3/00, G02B3/08 (lens arrays; Fresnel-type lenses); G02B19/00 (condensers); H04N5/33 and H04N23/20 (infrared imaging).
Purpose. The disclosed system projects a light pattern useful to computer vision, letting a computing device determine an object's position in space. The text explains that a random or semi-random pattern helps distinguish an object from a background—especially at particular distances—and supports stereo matching by ensuring objects carry texture along the axis a vision algorithm compares.
Plain-language scope. The described system includes: (1) a light source having multiple emitters arranged in a pattern, optionally infrared LEDs emitting light invisible to a human observer; (2) an optional condenser lens between the light source and a lens cluster that concentrates emitted light toward that cluster; (3) a cluster of lenses in front of the light source that focuses and projects light from the emitters in numerous directions, forming a pattern of light. Each lens in the cluster may share a focal length and/or be designed to displace an image of the emitter pattern by a given distance. A camera detects the projected pattern on an illuminated object, and a computing device executes stored instructions to determine the object's location, with results renderable on a display. The pattern may be aperiodic along one or more dimensions.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9229107/en
What the supplied excerpt does not establish: full claim language; the complete specification, figures, or drawings (figure references appear but images are not reproduced here); any litigation, ownership or validity determination; and the content or effect of the cited '747 patent and '737 application.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:42:16 PM
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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