Proxense Sues LG on Nine Proximity Authentication Patents Over Voice ID TVs and Healthcare Thin Clients.

The case

The case is Proxense, LLC v. LG Electronics Inc., No. 2:26-cv-00964 (E.D. Tex., Marshall Division), assigned to Judge Rodney Gilstrap. The complaint is signed by David L. Hecht of Hecht Partners LLP in Austin, Texas. It describes Proxense as a Delaware limited liability company based in Bend, Oregon, LG Electronics Inc. as a Korean corporation based in Seoul, and LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. as a Delaware corporation based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Electronics Inc.

Venue against the Korean parent is pleaded under 28 U.S.C. 1391(c)(3), as a foreign corporation, and against the U.S. subsidiary under 28 U.S.C. 1400(b), based on two facilities in Fort Worth, Texas that the complaint says the subsidiary owns. The complaint also cites earlier Eastern District of Texas cases in which, it says, LG admitted or did not contest personal jurisdiction, and alleges, on information and belief, that LG admitted or did not contest venue in such cases.

The nine patents

The asserted patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 9,418,205, 9,807,091, 10,171,460 and 11,095,640, each titled Proximity-Based System for Automatic Application or Data Access and Item Tracking; 8,508,336, titled Proximity-Based Healthcare Management System With Automatic Access to Private Information; 8,918,854 and 9,450,956, each titled Proximity-Based System for Automatic Application Initialization; and 9,251,332 and 11,086,979, each titled Security System and Method for Controlling Access to Computing Resources. The complaint says Proxense's founder and chief executive is a named inventor on each, and that Proxense owns or exclusively licenses them with the right to sue. USPTO assignment records list Proxense as the assignee of all nine.

The complaint describes Proxense's technology as built on personal digital keys, small wireless devices uniquely associated with a person that readers can detect and authenticate to trigger automatic login, application launch, personalized content, and lockout when the user leaves.

The television claims

Counts I to III accuse the TVs. Claim 1 of the '205 patent covers a system that determines whether a computing device is physically shared or physically private based on its location, sets different access prerequisites for each, with biometric authentication and selection of a user name required for a shared device, receives profiles from two personal digital keys of two users within the device's wireless proximity zone, and, after biometric authentication and selection of the first user's name, launches applications based on that user's profile.

Claims 1 and 16 of the '091 patent, the asserted system and method claims, cover a physically shared computing device whose access prerequisites include biometric authentication and selection of a user name: after biometric authentication of two users, the system identifies their user names, receives one as the selected name, and launches applications based on it. Claims 1 and 16 of the '460 patent cover the same sequence with authentication generally rather than biometric authentication, for a device physically shared by a plurality of users.

The complaint's theory is that a television in a common household area is a physically shared computing device, that Voice ID is voice biometric recognition of household members, and that the TV switches to the recognized member's My Page with that member's applications. It accuses 2024 to 2026 OLED evo, QNED evo, NanoCell and Micro RGB evo models, and 2022 to 2024 webOS models updated through LG's webOS Re:New program, and points to household members' phones running the LG ThinQ app.

The healthcare terminal claims

Counts III to IX accuse the healthcare terminals under the '460 patent and the other six patents. The complaint names models 24CR671IK-6P and 24CR661W and earlier 24CN670N series models, and alleges that LG sells them with a dual band RFID module for proximity badge single sign-on, that LG's specifications describe the 24CR671IK-6P as compatible with Imprivata, and that LG offers the terminals preloaded with IGEL OS. It quotes LG's product page as saying that with the RFID module multiple people can use the device as a personalized thin client.

Claim 1 of the '640 patent covers a system with a personal digital key holding a user profile and an authentication interval measured from when the profile was last authenticated, a reader that receives both when the key is nearby, and a device that automatically logs the user out when a specified criterion relative to the key is met. Claim 13 adds that the device is a computer workstation in a healthcare facility, and claim 17 covers a device with a reader and an authentication server that logs the user out after the key exceeds a defined proximity. Claim 1 of the '336 patent covers a healthcare management system in which a reader differentiates between the keys of multiple users in its proximity zone, selects one based on accumulated key data, and an auto login server gives a healthcare provider access to a patient database while that provider's key is in the zone.

Claim 1 of the '854 patent covers a reader, a computing device, an auto login server that logs in the user identified by a key's profile, and an application server that launches applications, where a second user with a different priority can take over the session or device. Claim 1 of the '956 patent covers a shared computing device that gives a second user access to the device or session in use by the first user based on the two users' relative priorities. Claim 1 of the '332 patent covers a security system that controls access to computing resources using set up data stored in an encrypted portion of memory, including a biometric confirmation option, and terminates access when the key and reader are out of range. Claims 1 and 12 of the '979 patent cover a computing device or method that, on detecting a personal digital key associated with a protected item within range, retrieves a set up record from vault storage and automatically performs the security action it specifies.

The counts and the knowledge allegations

Each of the nine counts alleges direct infringement under 35 U.S.C. 271(a), induced infringement under 35 U.S.C. 271(b), and contributory infringement under 35 U.S.C. 271(c). For knowledge, the complaint alleges that Proxense's counsel wrote on August 10, 2016 to the then CEO of LG Electronics North America identifying a portfolio of over 30 patents and more than 20 pending applications, and that Proxense's 2024 suit against both LG entities in the Western District of Texas, No. 6:24-cv-00302, asserted among others the '332 and '979 patents. The complaint dates that suit June 6, 2024; the Western District docket shows it filed May 31, 2024, with the '332 and '979 patents among seven patents attached as exhibits. In the alternative it pleads willful blindness, on information and belief.

The relief sought

Proxense asks for a judgment of direct and indirect infringement, damages of no less than a reasonable royalty with interest and costs, a finding of willfulness with enhanced damages up to three times under 35 U.S.C. 284, a finding that the case is exceptional with attorney fees under 35 U.S.C. 285, and a permanent injunction under 35 U.S.C. 283 or, in the alternative, an ongoing royalty. It demands a jury.