Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 17/818,170

IMAGE-SURVEILLED SECURITY ESCORT

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Aug 08, 2022
Examiner
SHIBRU, HELEN
Art Unit
2484
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Johnson Controls Tyco Ip Holdings LLP
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
59%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 8m
To Grant
62%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 59% of resolved cases
59%
Career Allow Rate
443 granted / 756 resolved
+0.6% vs TC avg
Minimal +4% lift
Without
With
+3.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 8m
Avg Prosecution
36 currently pending
Career history
792
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
8.7%
-31.3% vs TC avg
§103
42.6%
+2.6% vs TC avg
§102
31.3%
-8.7% vs TC avg
§112
10.2%
-29.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 756 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Election/Restrictions Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1, 19 and 20 in the reply filed on 01/08/2025 is acknowledged. Applicant states, “[a]applicant notes that the Election of Species Requirement has referred to various flowchart figures to identify respective species, but has not indicated any claim groupings under the identified species. Applicant’s attention is directed to page 3 of the Restriction Requirement which states, “Applicant is advised that the reply to this requirement to be complete must include (i) an election of a species to be examined even though the requirement may be traversed (37 CFR 1.143) and (ii) identification of the claims encompassing the elected species or grouping of patentably indistinct species, including any claims subsequently added. An argument that a claim is allowable or that all claims are generic is considered nonresponsive unless accompanied by an election.” Claims 2-18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/08/2025. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Penilla et al. (US PG PUB 2016/0129883 hereinafter referred as Penilla). Regarding claim 1, Penilla discloses a method comprising: determining, by a computing device, whether a current time of day is outside a pre- determined time period and/or whether a quantity of people in an area is less than a count threshold and/or whether a security event is detected in image-surveilled data associated with a destination (see paragraph 0018 determine when the contact that was detected qualifies as an event for which the notification should be sent to the user,0035 events detected at the vehicle or proximate to the vehicle; see paragraph 0128 if an event is triggered 5 parking spaces away (or any other predefined distance) from a different user's vehicle with monitoring services enabled, the user of the second non-affected vehicle may receive a report/notification that an incident has occurred nearby and that user should use extra caution); and sending, by the computing device and responsive to the current time of day being outside the pre-determined time period and/or the quantity of people in the area being less than the count threshold and/or the security event being detected in the image-surveilled data associated with the destination, a notification to a user, wherein the notification is configured to provide one or more options for a security escort for the user to reach the destination (see 0089 If the user gets this notification, the notification can include video clips or images of the events. By having this information ahead of time, the user can determine whether or not to approach the vehicle at all, and possibly notify the authorities or local security; see 0090 when a user is attempting to park at a particular location, the vehicle can advance notify the driver of the probable safety for the location at which the user is about to park. If the location is the site or proximity of some threshold number of previous alert or security events, the driver can be notified so that the driver can determine if he or she still wishes to leave the vehicle parked at that location; see 0165 based on data collected from events to triggers of alarms, the cloud processing system can suggest specific parking spots, slots, garages, areas, areas of cities, areas of buildings, neighborhoods, etc.; see also paragraphs 0063 and 0096 security escort). Regarding claims 19-20 the limitations of claims 19-20 can be found in claim 1 above. Therefore, claims 19-20 are analyzed and rejected for the same reasons as discussed in claim 1 above. See also paragraphs 0035, 0073, 0168, figures 1 and 5). Note to the Applicant: The USPTO considers the Applicant’s “or” language to be anticipated by any reference containing one of the subsequent corresponding elements. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HELEN SHIBRU whose telephone number is (571)272-7329. The examiner can normally be reached M-TR 8:00AM-5:00PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, THAI TRAN can be reached at 571 272 7382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /HELEN SHIBRU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484 May 13, 2025
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Aug 08, 2022
Application Filed
May 13, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §102
Aug 12, 2025
Response Filed
Feb 17, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12603970
METHOD, APPARATUS, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM FOR DISPLAYING LYRIC EFFECTS
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12603112
VIDEO GENERATION METHOD, APPARATUS, DEVICE, AND STORAGE MEDIUM
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12586375
Content Validation Using Scene Modification
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12563277
USER-CUSTOMIZED ALREADY VIEWED VIDEO SUMMARY
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 24, 2026
Patent 12562194
METHOD, APPARATUS, DEVICE AND MEDIUM FOR GENERATING A VIDEO
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 24, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

AI Strategy Recommendation

Get an AI-powered prosecution strategy using examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Powered by AI — typically takes 5-10 seconds

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
59%
Grant Probability
62%
With Interview (+3.7%)
3y 8m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 756 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month