Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/837,473

STEEL SHEET AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING STEEL SHEET

Non-Final OA §112
Filed
Aug 09, 2024
Priority
Feb 25, 2022 — JP 2022-028110 +1 more
Examiner
WU, JENNY R
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
NIPPON STEEL Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
64%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
80%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 64% of resolved cases
64%
Career Allowance Rate
549 granted / 865 resolved
+3.5% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+16.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
52 currently pending
Career history
899
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.4%
-38.6% vs TC avg
§103
53.6%
+13.6% vs TC avg
§102
10.9%
-29.1% vs TC avg
§112
23.8%
-16.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 865 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
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 . Status of Claims Claims 1-12 are pending and are presented for this examination. Priority Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 08/09/2024 and 03/30/2026 and is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Claim 1 recited “extreme value statistics” is unclear as to whether the term means well known Extreme value theory or extreme value analysis (EVA), which is the study of extremes in statistical distributions or something else. Clarification is required. As a result of rejected claim 1, all dependent claims are also rejected under the same statue. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 1-12 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JENNY R WU whose telephone number is (571)270-5515. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30 AM-5:00 PM. 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, Keith Hendricks can be reached on (571)272-1401. 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 the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JENNY R WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1733
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Aug 09, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 27, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12742221
HIGH-STRENGTH STAINLESS STEEL SEAMLESS PIPE FOR OIL COUNTRY TUBULAR GOODS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME
3y 2m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
Patent 12742231
STEEL SHEET AND PLATED STEEL SHEET
3y 1m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
Patent 12741447
STEEL SHEET FOR HOT PRESS FORMED MEMBER
2y 12m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
Patent 12742230
MULTI-COMPONENT HIGH ENTROPY ALLOY WITH NANOSCALE ATOMIC SELF-ORDERING STRUCTURE AND PREPARATION METHODS THEREOF
2y 6m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
Patent 12742232
METHOD OF FORMING AND HEAT TREATING COILED TUBING
2y 5m to grant Granted Sep 22, 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
64%
Grant Probability
80%
With Interview (+16.0%)
3y 1m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 865 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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