Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/452,380

TRANSFERRING APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Aug 18, 2023
Examiner
BIDWELL, JAMES R
Art Unit
3651
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Samsung Electronics
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
90%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 10m
To Grant
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 90% — above average
90%
Career Allow Rate
1394 granted / 1556 resolved
+37.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
1y 10m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
1582
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
§103
30.3%
-9.7% vs TC avg
§102
41.9%
+1.9% vs TC avg
§112
13.5%
-26.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1556 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1 and 12-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Jacobs et al. (US 9,008,831) . Jacobs et al. show a transferring apparatus 100 having a frame best shown in Figure 1, a track 104 which includes a stator, a pair of magnets 122 (Figure 4), a body 114 which extends around an edge of the stator, the magnets 122 face upper and lower surfaces of the stator, a seating block best shown in Figure 4 and a controller shown in Figure 3. Re claim 12, see Figure 4 for rollers. Re claim 13, the rollers roll on protruding support rails or ribs. Re claim 14, see Figure 4. Re claim 15, the side edge serves as a groove for seating an object. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. Claim (s) 10 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jacobs et al. in view of Lloyd et al. (GB 2,133,757) . Jacobs et al. do not disclose the use of a damper on a side surface of mover 114. However, such a damper 15, 20 is taught by Lloyd et al. on a side surface of a mover 14. To include a damper on Jacobs et al. would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as it would help prevent damage to the movers should they contact ne another as is extremely well known in the field of movers. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2-9 and 16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R BIDWELL whose telephone number is (571)272-6910 . The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 to 4. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gene Crawford , can be reached at telephone number (571)272-6911 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center to authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to the USPTO patent electronic filing system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/InterviewPractice . /JAMES R BIDWELL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651 03/04/2026
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Aug 18, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 04, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12600518
CONTAINER TRANSPORT SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSPORTING CONTAINERS
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12595121
Container Transport Facility
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12589948
APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PREFORMS
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12583685
OPERATOR PLATFORM UNITS FOR USE WITH CONVEYORS
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12577066
System and Method for Mounting Fixtures on an Independent Cart
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 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
90%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+8.3%)
1y 10m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1556 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