Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/666,579

DATA ALIGNMENT SYSTEM

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
May 16, 2024
Examiner
FAN, CHIEH M
Art Unit
2632
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
11%
Grant Probability
At Risk
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 7m
To Grant
-2%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants only 11% of cases
11%
Career Allow Rate
2 granted / 18 resolved
-50.9% vs TC avg
Minimal -14% lift
Without
With
+-13.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
1y 7m
Avg Prosecution
18 currently pending
Career history
36
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.5%
-33.5% vs TC avg
§103
44.6%
+4.6% vs TC avg
§102
26.6%
-13.4% vs TC avg
§112
14.4%
-25.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 18 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 . 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. Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Park et al (2009/0207895). -Regarding claim 1, Park et al teaches data alignment system (101) (see figure 2) comprising: a bit alignment detector (132) configured to detect bit-wise alignment of a plurality of transmission signals (Rx-D1, Rx_D2,…, Rx_Dn) provided from a respective plurality of transmit channels (indicated by a respective plurality of parallel transmission paths between (101) and (201)) based on a receiver signal (being/comprising component signals (RxD-D1, RxD_D2,…, RxD_Dn) provided by a remote receiver (201), wherein the bit alignment detection is occurred when respective bits (“d0”, [0085]) of the plurality of transmission signals are in synchronized with the rising edge of a frame clock signal (clk_f) (referred to the rising edge of the frame clock signal clk_f “, [0085]), (see [0062-0070, 0085]), wherein the transmission signals being combined to generate the receiver signal via a data combiner in the remote receiver, in a manner that the transmission signals are configured for one data frame (“one data frame”, [0077]), and the transmission signals are combined, via a data combiner/controller (20-1,.., 20-n, 210) of the remote receiver, into the received signal as a data signal (“data signal”,[0054]) to be stored in the remote receiver at a write address (“address signal”, [0054]), (see [0054, 0077]); a data alignment detector (140) configured to detect alignment (being a frame alignment) of data in each of the transmission signals (see [0049, 0061, 0085]); and a delay controller (132, 120-1,…, 120-n) configured to provide at least one delay signal (C1,… and/or Cn) to at least one of the transmit channels to selectively delay a respective at least one of the transmission signals in response to at least one of the bit alignment detector failing to detect the bit-wise alignment of the transmission signals (indicated by results of (lock_sig)) and the data alignment detector failing to detect alignment of the data in each of the transmission signals (indicated by results of (err)) (see [0047-0049, 0062-0070, 0085]). -Regarding claim 2, Park et al teaches that each of the transmission signals has a predetermined logic pattern (“predetermined pattern”, [0046]), wherein the bit alignment detector is configured to detect the predetermined logic pattern in the receiver signal to detect the bit-wise alignment of the transmission signals (see [0046, 0080, 0085]). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 11-20 are allowed. Claims 3-10 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. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUONG M PHU whose telephone number is (571)272-3009. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-16:00. 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, Chieh Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. 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. /PHUONG PHU/ Primary Examiner Art Unit 2632
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Prosecution Timeline

May 16, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 08, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

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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
11%
Grant Probability
-2%
With Interview (-13.6%)
1y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 18 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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