For Christmas Day – and this year the start of Hanukkah too! – IPWatchdog is back with its annual list of the best technologies from patents issued this year by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This time around, the list features a host of semiconductor technologies, reflecting the critical importance of computer chips to today’s international economy. Artificial intelligence is another recurring theme that often intersects with microprocessor innovations, as this year’s list highlights. Some of this year’s selections also reflect the still uncertain nature of patent validity law, which may or may not threaten some of the patent rights discussed below.
#1: US Patent No. 11875246, Intelligent FODAS system and method based on AI chip
As generative artificial intelligence (AI) has stolen the spotlight among AI applications in 2024, our #1 patent for 2024 represents both an important AI application with broad usage scenarios, but also the rise of China as a major creator of fundamental technologies. The ‘246 patent, issued in January to Sichuan Guangsheng IOT Technology of China’s Chengdu High-Tech Zone, claims an advancement in distributed fiber optic sensing technologies enhancing oil and gas exploration and warning systems for weather disasters and military combat.
The ‘246 patent claims fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing (FODAS) with an AI chip data processor and an optical fiber including both a circulator and a sensing fiber. The claimed invention enables ultra-precise real-time monitoring of long-distance networks by addressing the constraints faced by central processing units (CPUs) as part of the parallel processing requirements of AI algorithms.
#2: US Patent No. 11895219, Semiconductor artificial intelligence computing device and storage device comprising same
Improvements in the hardware powering AI applications are revealed by the ‘219 patent, issued in February to Korean technology conglomerate Samsung Electronics, which has overtaken IBM as the largest recipient of U.S. patents in recent years. The technology claimed by this year’s second-place patent aims to prevent the leakage of sensitive personal information by providing a semiconductor device with improved computing speed, capable of performing homomorphic encryption on ciphertext without decipher the text.
The ‘219 patent claims a semiconductor AI computing device having a multiply and accumulate calculator that performs homomorphic encryption by generating second ciphertexts, cyclically shifting to obtain a plurality of ciphertexts rotating and performing multiplication, addition and subtraction calculations on the rotating ciphertexts. ciphertexts. Ciphertext rotation reduces the amount of calculations required to perform homomorphic encryption by enabling simple matrix multiplication techniques.
#3: US Patent No. 12143380, Cancel biometrics
Many financial services companies expect that the use of biometric identifiers for secure authorization techniques will eventually replace traditional passwords. The third ‘380 patent, issued in November to US telecommunications giant AT&T, claims technology providing ephemeral biometrics that resolves system recognition failures. The claimed system determines the expiration of a voiding biometric from an image, deciding whether to deny authentication based on natural physiological processes associated with the voiding biometric. Preferred embodiments of the invention include machine-readable barcodes printable on nail plates or human hair, the expiration of which is determined by natural growth rates.
#4: US Patent No. 11965177, Method for manufacturing dual-specificity T cells for use in cancer immunotherapy
Modern medicine has made great strides in the fight against cancer through immunotherapy of patients. The Versiti Foundation Blood Research Institute in Milwaukee, WI, was awarded the ‘177 patent in April. It claims a purified population of dual-specific autologous lymphocytes isolated from a patient and expressing an endogenous receptor for a tumor-associated antigen. The technology improves the efficiency of adoptive cell transfer against solid tumors, which exhibit an immunosuppressive microenvironment and reduced T cell migration.
#5: US Patent No. 11984205, Non-fungible token systems and methods for storing and accessing health data
Blockchain technologies are once again in the spotlight, with the price of bitcoin surpassing US$100,000. Medical technology developer Carlsmed of Carlsbad, California, was granted the ‘205 patent in May, claiming a blockchain-enabled medical implant and related systems and methods for storing and accessing health data in blockchain-managed digital filing cabinets. The claimed medical implant includes a proximity communications component and a memory storing a private key allowing an external device to access a patient’s electronic medical records from a distributed blockchain ledger. The use of blockchain-enabled implants enables the recovery of patient data if a patient is unconscious following an accident while improving the security of patient records.
#6: US Patent No. 12073720, Vehicle-to-vehicle payment system for traffic prioritization in autonomous vehicles
Independent inventors make up a small but essential part of the U.S. innovator community, and the sixth-place ‘720 patent, issued to Matthew Roy of Montreal, Canada, in August claims an intriguing method of prioritizing traffic for the coming advent of autonomous vehicles . The claimed vehicle includes a processor cooperating with a radio frequency data transceiver to receive a price for traffic prioritization determined by a central server that facilitates transactions for traffic prioritization requests. Unfortunately, the claimed advancement relies on a range of navigation and imaging tools already used by self-driving cars, leaving the question of whether this patent and other issued patents on this list would survive a challenge from validity under the current jurisprudence of Article 101.
#7: US Patent No. 12061999, Systems and methods for automated damage estimation
The ‘999 patent, issued to insurance provider United States Automobile Association in August, is another example of technology solving industrial problems that could face validity issues under the current Section 101 of the law. This patent claims a machine-readable medium including executable instructions for generating a virtual model of an environment based on pre-event image data, an inventory list including items identified in the virtual model having a value exceeding a threshold, and a comparison report indicating a change in the status of inventory items and an estimate of losses. While it can be argued that humans have long used these techniques in the insurance industry, the resulting invention increases the accuracy of loss assessments while eliminating the need for claims adjusters with prior knowledge of the property.
#8: US Patent No. 12070912, Using expanded, hydrophobic popcorn to produce three-dimensional shaped parts
The eighth patent on this year’s list reflects materials engineering carried out at Germany’s University of Göttingen to create lightweight, flexible molded articles with less flammability and better recycling characteristics than plastics. Issued last August, the ‘912 patent claims a molded article made from a compound composed of popcorn particles, approximately 95 percent by weight of which are surrounded by a hydrophobic polymer and a binder. Besides popcorn, the popcorn of this invention could be created from quinoa, amaranth, rice or wheat.
#9: US Patent No. 11883031, Device to limit blood flow to aneurysms
Brain aneurysms are very difficult to detect and can affect people of any age. Issued in January to Israeli medical technology developer EndoStream, the ‘031 patent claims a device configured to cover an orifice of a vascular malformation to restrict blood flow, thereby promoting the gradual healing of an aneurysm while preventing recanalization, which occurs in approximately 30% of aneurysms.
#10: US Patent No. 12060517, Thermally conductive silicone composition, semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
Number 10 is another advancement in semiconductors, this one designed to create favorable heat dissipation properties in the face of increased heat production due to the higher clock frequencies of today’s processors. Issued to Japanese conglomerate Shin-Etsu Chemical, the ‘517 patent claims a silicone composition comprising an organopolysiloxane pre-ceramic polymer, an organohydrogenopolysiloxane crosslinker, and a catalyst for adding silicone-hydrogen to unsaturated bonds.
#11: US Patent No. 12084672, Genetically engineered land plants that express increased seed yield protein and/or increased seed yield RNA
Government projections show that food demand will increase globally over the coming decades due to both population growth and rising incomes. The ‘672 patent, issued in September to Yield10 Bioscience of Woburn, MA, claims a genetically engineered land plant with increased expression of a protein to promote a higher yield of seeds, fruits and tubers. The use of proteins already present in the food and oilseed crops which are the subject of the invention aims to overcome the challenges of regulatory approval and social acceptance of transgenic plants using genetically modified organisms (GMO). Regulatory approval of a single GMO trait can cost more than $100 million, according to specifications in the ‘672 patent.
#12: US Patent No. 12154060, Installation of drones
Drone delivery services could allow retailers to reach many more customers, but the complexity of these services increases with the volume of shipments. Flirtey Holdings of Reno, NV, was granted the ‘060 patent in November to protect its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) installation featuring a detection system that identifies delivery shipments by an identification code indicating physical characteristics of a payload. The identification code not only ensures correct delivery accuracy, but can also improve the processing of sensitive shipments or those with potentially dangerous contents.
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Author: lipmic
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