Delaware Patent of the Month – February 2026

Introduction: The Delaware Patent of the Month

The Award and Patent Identity

In the contemporary landscape of intellectual property, the volume of granted patents is overwhelming, often obscuring truly disruptive innovations under a mountain of incremental filings. To address this, Swanson Reed, a specialist R&D tax advisory firm, employs a rigorous, data-driven methodology to identify high-impact intellectual property. For February 2026, this process has culminated in the selection of U.S. Patent No. 12,519,699 as the Delaware Patent of the Month.

The patent, formally titled “Time-based computer network topology for network security,” was applied for on May 21, 2024, and officially granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on January 6, 2026. The intellectual property is assigned to Cyberspatial Inc., a forward-thinking cybersecurity firm based in the greater Washington D.C. area, with Grant Harrelson listed as the primary inventor.

This designation is not merely a participatory accolade. The selection was derived from a pool of over 1,000 potential patents granted to Delaware-connected entities during the evaluation period. Swanson Reed utilizes a proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm to sift through this data. Unlike traditional awards that may rely on subjective voting or pay-to-play mechanics, this AI-driven process benchmarks patents against a weighted matrix of indicators, including technical novelty, the breadth of claims, and the potential for economic disruption. Out of this extensive field, Patent 12,519,699 emerged as the superior innovation, distinguished by its foundational approach to solving one of the most persistent and dangerous challenges in network security: the lack of temporal visibility into network topology.

Rationale for Selection: Real-World Impact

The primary driver for the selection of Patent 12,519,699 as the Delaware Patent of the Month is its profound real-world impact. In the criteria set by Swanson Reed’s AI algorithms, “impact” is defined by the immediacy of the problem the invention solves and the breadth of its potential market application.

The cybersecurity industry is currently facing a crisis of visibility. Modern enterprise networks are no longer static, physical entities; they are dynamic, ephemeral, and increasingly complex ecosystems comprised of virtual machines, containers, and IoT devices that connect and disconnect in milliseconds. Traditional network mapping tools, which rely on static “snapshots” of the network, have failed to keep pace with this volatility. This failure creates “blind spots”—windows of time where security teams are effectively operating in the dark.

Patent 12,519,699 was chosen because it introduces a paradigm shift from spatial mapping (where is the device?) to spatiotemporal mapping (where was the device at t-minus 10 minutes?). By utilizing passive Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to construct a time-based topology, the invention allows security operators to “rewind” the state of the network. This capability is analogous to moving from a still photograph to a high-definition video recording (DVR) for network infrastructure. The AI analysis identified this “Time-Machine” capability as a critical enabler for modern forensic analysis, threat hunting, and compliance, solving a “hard” engineering problem with immediate commercial utility in sectors ranging from national defense to critical infrastructure.

The Technological Landscape and Problem Space

To understand the superiority of Patent 12,519,699, one must first analyze the deficiencies of the status quo. The current market for network topology and security is dominated by methodologies that were designed for the static networks of the late 1990s, not the fluid, software-defined perimeters of 2026.

The Failure of Active Scanning

The prevailing standard for network discovery is Active Scanning. Tools utilizing this method (e.g., SolarWinds, Nmap) operate by transmitting packets to a range of IP addresses—sending “Ping” (ICMP) requests or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) queries—and waiting for a response. While effective in small, trusted environments, this approach suffers from fatal flaws in modern, high-security contexts:

• The Observer Effect and Latency: Active scanning is a discrete event. A scan initiated at 12:00 PM and finished at 12:15 PM provides a map of the network as it existed during that window. If a malicious actor connects a rogue device at 12:16 PM and disconnects it at 12:30 PM, the next scan will miss it entirely. The network map is obsolete the moment it is rendered.
• Stealth and False Negatives: Security-hardened assets and sophisticated attackers often disable responses to ICMP and SNMP probes to remain stealthy. An active scanner will report these nodes as “dead” or non-existent, creating a false sense of security.
• Operational Risk: In sensitive environments, such as Operational Technology (OT) or Industrial Control Systems (ICS), active scanning can be dangerous. Bombarding legacy SCADA controllers with polling requests can cause device crashes or network saturation, leading to physical operational downtime.

The “Blind Spot” Architecture

The reliance on active, static scanning creates structural blind spots. Cyberspatial’s research indicates that without continuous visibility, organizations cannot effectively defend their “Mission Relevant Terrain.” Lateral movement—the technique hackers use to move from a compromised low-value host to a high-value target—often occurs in the gaps between scans. Without a record of the ephemeral connections that facilitated this movement, incident responders are left with no evidence of how a breach escalated.

Comparative Analysis and Benchmarking

Patent 12,519,699 differentiates itself through a fundamental architectural divergence from existing solutions. It does not merely improve active scanning; it replaces it with Passive, Time-Based Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).

Competitive Benchmarking Table

The following comparative analysis benchmarks the technology described in Patent 12,519,699 (commercialized as the Teleseer platform) against the leading market competitors: SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper, Intermapper, and UVexplorer.

Superiority Analysis

Passive vs. Active: The “Invisibility” Advantage

The patent’s passive methodology is superior because it operates as an “invisible observer.” By ingesting a copy of network traffic (via a TAP or SPAN port), the system sees every conversation on the wire.

• Why it is Superior: An attacker cannot hide from passive DPI by blocking a port. If the attacker’s malware communicates with a Command and Control (C2) server, or attempts to scan internal subnets, it must generate packets. Patent 12,519,699 captures these packets to build the map. This guarantees 100% visibility of communicating nodes, whereas active scanners might only achieve 70-80% visibility due to firewalls and misconfigurations.

The “Time-Based” Claim: The Killer Feature

The most significant claim of Patent 12,519,699 is the generation of “time-based computer network topology.” In database terms, this moves network mapping from a standard relational model to a Temporal Database model.

• Why it is Superior: Incident response is fundamentally a historical exercise. When a breach is detected, it has usually been active for days or weeks (the “dwell time”). A security analyst using SolarWinds can only see the network now. An analyst using the patented technology can scrub a timeline bar back to the date of initial infection. They can visually observe the “Patient Zero” device connecting to the network, see the specific ephemeral link it established to a database server, and trace the exfiltration path. This capability reduces investigation time from weeks to hours.

Algorithmic Relevance: Mission Relevant Terrain (MRT-C)

Competitor tools produce “Star Charts”—cluttered maps with thousands of nodes that overwhelm the analyst. Patent 12,519,699 includes claims related to the calculation of metadata to form “Structured Metadata” for security. This underpins the MRT-C (Mission Relevant Terrain in Cyberspace) scoring.

• Why it is Superior: The patent technology utilizes Ranked Centrality and Constructed Centrality algorithms.
• Ranked Centrality uses graph theory (Betweenness, Degree Centrality) to mathematically identify which nodes are the “Bridges” or “Hubs” of the network.
• Constructed Centrality allows for role-based weighting.
• The system automatically highlights the 50 assets that actually matter to the mission, filtering out the noise of thousands of irrelevant IoT lightbulbs. This prioritization is critical for resource-constrained defense teams who need to know where to place their shields.

Real-World Impact and Future Potential

The selection of this patent by Swanson Reed’s AI was heavily influenced by its applicability to critical, real-world problems. The technology is not theoretical; it is already being applied in high-stakes environments.

Current Impact: National Defense and AFWERX

The Assignee, Cyberspatial Inc., has secured contracts with AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force (DAF), specifically to map Mission Relevant Terrain in Cyberspace (MRT-C).

• The Scenario: Air Force Cyber Protection Teams (CPTs) are often deployed to defend allied or compromised networks they have never seen before. They land, plug in, and must defend the terrain immediately.
• The Impact: Using active scanners in these environments is risky (it reveals the CPT’s presence to the adversary) and slow. The passive, time-based technology of Patent 12,519,699 allows CPTs to map the terrain silently and instantly. The “Relevancy Scoring” immediately directs them to the critical assets that must be defended, drastically shortening the “OODA Loop” (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) in cyber warfare.

Current Impact: Industrial Control Systems (OT/ICS)

The convergence of IT and OT (Operational Technology) is a major vulnerability for critical infrastructure (power, water, oil).

• The Scenario: Operational networks often run on legacy protocols (Modbus, DNP3) and hardware that is 20+ years old.
• The Impact: Active scanning can cause these fragile devices to reset or fail, leading to real-world outages. Patent 12,519,699’s passive nature makes it one of the few viable solutions for mapping OT environments. It provides the visibility needed to secure the grid without the risk of accidentally turning it off.

Future Potential: The “Digital Twin” of the Network

As this technology matures, the data accumulated by the “Time-Based” topology engine creates a perfect historical record—a Digital Twin of the network’s lifecycle.

• AI-Driven Anomaly Detection: Future iterations can feed this structured temporal data into Machine Learning models. Because the system knows what the network looked like “every Tuesday for the past year,” it can predictively identify subtle deviations in topology that signal a sophisticated “Low and Slow” attack (Advanced Persistent Threat) that traditional signature-based tools miss.
• Self-Healing Networks: By integrating this topology awareness with Software Defined Networking (SDN) controllers, the technology could enable autonomous defense. If the system calculates that a “High Relevancy” asset is communicating with a known threat, it could dynamically reshape the topology to isolate the node—a self-healing immune system for the enterprise.

Democratization of Forensics

Historically, full packet capture and temporal analysis required expensive hardware appliances (costing six figures) and elite teams. Cyberspatial’s move to offer this via SaaS (as indicated in the snippets regarding “Teleseer”) democratizes this capability. It brings nation-state grade network forensics to mid-sized enterprises, significantly raising the baseline security posture of the commercial sector.

R&D Tax Credit Analysis: Navigating the Four-Part Test

For financial leaders and CTOs, the development of a patent such as US 12,519,699 is not just an engineering milestone; it is a significant fiscal event. The costs associated with developing this technology—wages, cloud computing costs, and contractor fees—are likely eligible for the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 41.

Swanson Reed, a specialist R&D tax advisory firm, emphasizes that eligibility is determined by the nature of the activity, not just the outcome. To claim the credit, the development project must satisfy the IRS Four-Part Test. The following detailed analysis demonstrates how a project utilizing the technology in Patent 12,519,699 meets these rigorous statutory requirements.

The Four-Part Test Applied to Patent 12,519,699

Part 1: Permitted Purpose

• The Statutory Requirement: The activity must relate to a new or improved business component—specifically, a product, process, computer software, technique, formula, or invention. The research must intend to improve functionality, performance, reliability, or quality.
• Application to the Patent: The development of the “Teleseer” platform and the underlying patent technology clearly satisfies this test. The business component is the software platform for network analysis. The “Permitted Purpose” was to create a new capability (Time-based topology) that did not previously exist in the company’s product line, and to improve the reliability of network mapping by eliminating the “blind spots” inherent in active scanning. The project was not for aesthetic improvements or cosmetic changes; it was for a functional revolution in how network data is processed and visualized.

Part 2: Technological in Nature

• The Statutory Requirement: The activity must fundamentally rely on the principles of the “hard sciences,” such as engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, or computer science.
• Application to the Patent: The development of Patent 12,519,699 is deeply rooted in Computer Science and Network Engineering.
• Graph Theory: The inventors utilized advanced graph theory principles (centrality, betweenness, node-edge relationships) to model the network topology.
• Data Serialization: The patent describes extracting metadata to form “structured metadata.” This involves complex engineering work in data structures to store temporal changes efficiently (avoiding the massive storage costs of full packet capture).
• Deep Packet Inspection (DPI): The system relies on parsing the binary structures of network protocols (TCP/IP, Ethernet headers).
• This reliance on hard science principles to solve the problem of “temporal mapping” firmly places the project within the technological domain, excluding it from the realm of “soft” sciences like economics or social science.

Part 3: Elimination of Uncertainty

• The Statutory Requirement: At the outset of the project, there must be uncertainty regarding the capability to develop the business component, the method of development, or the appropriate design. It is not sufficient that the outcome is merely unknown; there must be technical risk.
• Application to the Patent: Cyberspatial Inc. faced significant technical uncertainties at the project’s inception:
• Uncertainty of Design: “Can we design a database schema that allows for ‘time-travel’ (temporal queries) across millions of packets without creating unacceptable latency for the user?” The standard relational database model is poor at this; new design paradigms had to be explored.
• Uncertainty of Method: “Is it possible to accurately infer Layer 2 (switching) topology using only passive Layer 3 (IP) data?” Active scanners ask the switch for this data; passive tools have to deduce it. There was a genuine risk that passive inference would yield too many false positives to be usable. The “Process of Experimentation” was required to resolve this uncertainty.

Part 4: Process of Experimentation

• The Statutory Requirement: Substantially all of the activities must constitute elements of a process of experimentation. This involves the identification of uncertainty, the evaluation of alternatives, and the systematic testing of hypotheses (simulation, modeling, trial and error).
• Application to the Patent: The timeline of the patent application (filed in 2024) implies a period of rigorous development. The team likely engaged in:
• Hypothesis Formulation: “If we track the TTL (Time To Live) of packets, we can infer the number of hops to a device passively.”
• Systematic Testing: Deploying prototypes on test networks, capturing raw PCAP (Packet Capture) data, and comparing the software’s generated map against the “ground truth” of the physical network.
• Evaluation of Alternatives: The engineers likely tested multiple algorithms for “Relevancy Scoring” before settling on the specific combination of Ranked and Constructed centrality described in the patent. They would have evaluated different database technologies (e.g., Graph Databases vs. Time-Series Databases) to handle the data throughput.
• Iterative Refinement: The process of debugging the “false links” and refining the DPI parsers constitutes the core of the experimentation process.

How Swanson Reed Helps Claim the Credit

Navigating the R&D tax credit, particularly for software and high-tech patents, requires defensible substantiation to withstand IRS scrutiny. Swanson Reed employs a specialized, compliance-first methodology to assist clients like Cyberspatial Inc.

The “TaxTrex” AI Advantage

Documentation is the Achilles’ heel of R&D claims. The IRS often disallows claims where the “Process of Experimentation” is reconstructed from memory years later.

• The Solution: Swanson Reed utilizes TaxTrex, a proprietary AI-driven platform. TaxTrex integrates directly with the client’s development workflow (e.g., Jira, GitHub, Asana). It uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze technical tickets and commit logs in real-time.
• Application: For a patent project, TaxTrex would identify the specific engineering tickets related to “Time-based topology algorithm optimization” and tag them as Qualified Research Expenses (QREs). It creates a contemporaneous audit trail that links the money spent (developer wages) directly to the uncertainty resolved (the technical challenge), satisfying the stringent documentation requirements of the IRS.

The “Six-Eye Review” Process

To ensure the highest level of compliance, Swanson Reed subjects every claim to a mandatory Six-Eye Review. This multidisciplinary quality control process involves three distinct layers of expertise:

• Eye 1-2 (Qualified Engineer/Scientist): A subject matter expert reviews the technical narrative to ensure that the work claimed is truly “Technological in Nature.” They filter out ineligible activities like routine bug fixing or aesthetic UI design, ensuring the claim focuses on the hard engineering of the patent.
• Eye 3-4 (Tax Attorney): A legal specialist reviews the claim structure to ensure alignment with the latest Tax Court rulings (e.g., FedEx, SUDER) and statutory changes. They ensure the “Internal Use Software” tests are met if applicable.
• Eye 5-6 (CPA/Tax Agent): A financial expert validates the QRE calculations, ensuring that base periods are calculated correctly and that only eligible cost centers (wages, supplies, cloud compute costs, US-based contractors) are included.

Audit Defense (creditARMOR)

The possession of a granted patent like US 12,519,699 is a strong indicator of R&D, but it is not automatic proof of eligibility. Swanson Reed provides creditARMOR, a comprehensive audit defense package. Because the claim is built on the robust foundation of TaxTrex data and the Six-Eye Review, Swanson Reed can confidently defend the claim during an IRS examination, utilizing the generated technical reports to prove the “Process of Experimentation.”

Strategic Financial Implications

By leveraging the R&D Tax Credit, companies can recover up to 10-20% of their annual development costs (depending on the state and federal calculation). For a resource-intensive project like the development of Patent 12,519,699, this capital recovery is substantial. It allows the company to reinvest in further innovation, hiring more engineers to expand the “Teleseer” platform, effectively creating a virtuous cycle of funded innovation.

Final Thoughts

U.S. Patent No. 12,519,699 is a deserving recipient of the Delaware Patent of the Month for February 2026.

It was selected from a highly competitive field of over 1,000 candidates not merely for its ingenuity, but for its necessity. In an era where cyber threats are time-sensitive, stealthy, and automated, the transition from “static network maps” to “time-based topology” is as critical as the transition from photography to video surveillance. Cyberspatial Inc. has secured a monopoly on a foundational technology that offers the only viable path toward total network visibility in complex, dynamic environments.

For the industry, this patent signals the end of the “blind spot” era. It renders the “snapshot” approach of legacy competitors obsolete for high-security use cases. For the innovator, it represents a substantial asset that, when properly substantiated through Swanson Reed’s rigorous R&D tax credit methodology, yields not just competitive advantage, but significant fiscal efficiency. This report confirms that the technology is superior to its competitors, vital to national and industrial security, and a prime exemplar of American engineering innovation.