Washington Patent of the Month – November 2025
Littlebird Connected Care Inc. has secured a pivotal patent in connected care technology. This innovation establishes a secure, automated system for tracking the supervision of a monitored being, providing peace of mind for responsible parties. The patented system, detailed in U.S. Patent No. 12458230, titled ‘Wearable device for monitoring the health and supervision of a supervised being and related systems and methods’, creates a verifiable chain of custody record. It ensures continuous oversight using wearable electronic devices and cloud services.
Handoff Automation and Security
The core innovation is a method for administering control over a pet. It detects when a new responsible person’s device enters the pet’s vicinity. This proximity automatically initiates a handoff of supervision. The system verifies the transaction by sending a request to either the owner or the previous responsible person. Confirmation or denial determines if the change is logged in the pet’s custody record. This process is immediate and rules-based.
Rules-Based Supervision
The new method allows pet owners to set specific control rules. These rules define which caregivers are authorized for a handoff. They can also specify an acceptable time frame for the transfer. If an unauthorized person attempts to assume control, the system denies the handoff. It then sends an error or unauthorized party alert to the owner. This functionality significantly improves security and accountability in shared care environments.
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The Research & Experimentation Tax Credit (or R&D Tax Credit), is a general business tax credit under Internal Revenue Code section 41 for companies that incur research and development (R&D) costs in the United States. The credits are a tax incentive for performing qualified research in the United States, resulting in a credit to a tax return. For the first three years of R&D claims, 6% of the total qualified research expenses (QRE) form the gross credit. In the 4th year of claims and beyond, a base amount is calculated, and an adjusted expense line is multiplied times 14%. Click here to learn more.
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