North Texas Banks Secure 24 New Patents in Single Week

Financial services firms received 24 patents linked to North Texas inventors during the week of Oct. 13.

The surge marks a sharp increase from the region's recent average. Over the preceding 12 weeks, financial services companies averaged 11 North Texas patents per week. The 24 grants issued in mid-October represent nearly 14% of the 178 total patents awarded to the region that week.

Two major banks drove most of the volume. Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, secured 10 patents with local inventors. Capital One, based in McLean, Virginia, received seven. Citibank, based in New York, and USAA, based in San Antonio, each earned three patents. Wells Fargo, headquartered in San Francisco, received one. All five companies maintain large workforces in North Texas.

The granted inventions cover a range of financial technology applications. Bank of America holds a patent for a chatbot system that transfers unresolved conversations to human agents. Capital One secured a patent for a graphical user interface designed to simplify group payments. Citibank received a patent for data encryption systems. USAA was granted a patent for a fraud detection system that analyzes transaction tips. Wells Fargo holds a patent for cybersecurity data products.

North Texas ranked tenth among 250 U.S. metropolitan areas for patent activity during that week. Of the 178 regional grants, 38 included both a local inventor and a local assignee. Texas Instruments in Dallas received the most patents of any local company, with 19 grants. Crossian, a cross-border ecommerce firm based in Irving, followed with 11 design patents for pants.

Other local entities also secured intellectual property rights. Mark Cuban, a Dallas investor, and co-founders Phyllis Jager and Barry Terach of New York-based ZuMedia received a patent for an automobile grille and light design. The application process took 515 days and follows three automotive patents the group secured in June. Giga Energy, a Houston-based company, received a patent for a modular data center housed in a shipping container. Matthew Lohstroh, the company's co-founder and CEO based in Plano, is listed as a co-inventor.

Mary Kay, headquartered in Addison, was granted a patent for an instant-effect eye cream. Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, California, received two patents with North Texas co-inventors. Shelly Goel of Irving was among five inventors on a patent for detecting driver drowsiness using circadian rhythm-based data augmentation. Pardeep Shahi of Arlington was a co-inventor on a patent for a tank-based dual-mode data center cooling system. Reddy Ice in Dallas received a patent for a bagged ice dispenser designed to optimize storage space.