Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/461,519

FILM ROLL SUPPLY DEVICE

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Sep 06, 2023
Examiner
BIDWELL, JAMES R
Art Unit
3651
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Ishida Co. Ltd.
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
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)(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. Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Meng et al. (CN 108557542). Meng et al. show a film roll supply device having a receiver 2 which receives a film roll 3 which is to be supplied to machine 9. Shown is a first driver 13 which changes an orientation of receiver 2 between a receiving orientation and a second supplying orientation. Re claim 2, driver 13 rotates receiver 2 about a rotation axis which extends in a direction which is the same as an axial direction of roll 20. Re claim 3, shown is a preliminary placement section 20. Re claim 4, in one orientation placement section 20 prevents the film roll 3 from moving and in another orientation the film roll 3 may move. Re claim 5, the roll 3 is higher than when it is in receiver 9. Re claim 6, preliminary placement section receives the roll 3 as it rolls down receiver 2 and a first surface is downwardly inclined when it is tilted. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 7-10 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. 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 10/02/2025
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 06, 2023
Application Filed
Oct 02, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (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.

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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.

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