Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/462,052

JIG FOR INSTALLATION OF GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT BASE BOARD

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 06, 2023
Examiner
TRINH, MINH N
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
AMD Design LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allowance Rate
1312 granted / 1534 resolved
+25.5% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+9.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
68 currently pending
Career history
1572
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
§103
36.5%
-3.5% vs TC avg
§102
15.3%
-24.7% vs TC avg
§112
38.7%
-1.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1534 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 Group II, claims 1-16 in the reply filed on 7/13/26 is acknowledged. Claims 17-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention I, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse. An OA on the merits of claims 1-16 as follows: Drawings The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “504” has been used to designate both dolly and foam pad 9 (see Fig. 6 and ¶ [0043]). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance. Specification The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: In ¶ [0043] the reference 504 represents both dolly 504 and foam pad 504. Appropriate correction is required. Beside the above formal matter, the specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification. Claim Objections Claims 1-16 are objected to because of the following informalities: Since the scope of the claims clearly directed to “a jig”, therefore only the jig structure elements will be considered. In formulate the rejection on the merits the examiner presumes that the claims solely directed to the Jig and claims will be rejected accordingly. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. Claim(s) 1-5, 8-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang et al (US 11706892). Liang et al discloses the claimed jig comprising: PNG media_image1.png 585 738 media_image1.png Greyscale a sliding component 100 operable to receive a GPU board when the sliding component is in a reception configuration, wherein the sliding component 100 is operable to transition from the reception configuration to a deployment configuration where the GPU board 10 is received in the GPU tray (see Figs. 3A, 7-8). Regarding to: “a lifting component operable to receive a graphics processing unit (GPU) tray, wherein the lifting component includes one or more grooves operable to receive the GPU tray;” appears to meet by the Liang et al (see Fig. 8A, where 20 readable as the lifting component and groove between 40 42). (Note that the phrase:” “operable to” is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2111.04 and/or 2173.05(d). The office hereby notes the phrase(s) do not limit a claim to a particular structure but rather makes optional and does not denote how features are structurally associated). Claim 2 does not further limit the claim jig since only functionally intended use existed in claim 2. Therefore, not inventive features when depart from the applied reference above (refer to Fig. 3A for teaching dolly 110 in conjunction with GPU board 10 of Fig. 2). As applied to claims 3-4 refer to Fig. 5, roller 156 and/or foam pad for as friction reducing devices. As applied to claim 5, refer to base 130 (see Fig. 8A). As applied to claims 8-12 is/ are met by the applied reference (see discussion in col. 2, lines 40-50, and Figs. 3A, 7-8A which depicts the structure features set forth in the above claims such as base 130, two frames both sides of the base 130, one or more grooves between the frame , and handle 116, respectively). Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang et al (US 11706892) in view of Blume et al (9913394). Liang et al as applied upon above does not teach the specific feature of wherein the two frames are hingedly coupled with the base. The Blume et al discloses such above (see Figs.5-6, depicts that the Regarding to this, the two frames are hingedly coupled with the base by 33, 34). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art the effective filing date of the invention to employ the Blume ‘s teaching as noted above onto the invention of Liang in order to form a connection between the two components by utilizing the known and available pivotally and/or hinge connection, facilitate of operation would result. Potential Allowable claims Claims 6-7, 14-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINH N TRINH whose telephone number is (571)272-4569. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH ~5:00-3:30. 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, Thomas J Hong can be reached at 571-272-0993. 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. /MINH N TRINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729 mt
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 06, 2023
Application Filed
Sep 08, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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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
86%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+9.8%)
2y 9m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1534 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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