Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/996,558

LIGHT-TRIGGERED RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) METHOD AND SYSTEM

Non-Final OA §112§Other
Filed
Jan 17, 2025
Examiner
TRAIL, ALLYSON NEEL
Art Unit
2876
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Guangdong Shixin Microelectronics Technology Co. Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 11m
To Grant
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
1088 granted / 1230 resolved
+20.5% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+6.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
1y 11m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
1255
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.7%
-38.3% vs TC avg
§103
31.9%
-8.1% vs TC avg
§102
30.4%
-9.6% vs TC avg
§112
6.1%
-33.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1230 resolved cases

Office Action

§112 §Other
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 . Continuation Data 2. This application claims priority to PCT/CN2023/105510, filed July 3, 2023. Priority 3. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file. Information Disclosure Statement 4. The Information Disclosure Statement filed on January 17, 2025 has been considered. An initialed copy of the Form 1449 is enclosed herewith. Claim Objections 5. Claims 1 and 4 are objected to because of the following informalities: Re claim 1, line 18: replace, “response” with --respond--. Re claim 4, line 3: replace, “window 2,” with --window,--. Re claim 4, line 3: replace, “chip .” with --chip.--. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 6. 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. 7. Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. 8. The term “normally” in line 4 of claim 1, is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “normally” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Similarly, line 13 recites, “a certain intensity”, which is also vague and indefinite. 9. Claim 1 recites the limitation “the values” in line 5 and “the photoinduction detection module” in line 18. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations. 10. Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are: Claim 2 recites on line 3, “a tag”. Claim 2 depends on claim 1, which also recites, “a tag”. It is unclear if the tag in claim 2 is the same tag as recited in claim 1 or a second tag. Similarly, claim 2 recites, “a direct light-triggered mode”, “a command light-triggered mode”, and “a common RFID mode”. Claim 2 depends on claim 1, which also recites said modes. It is unclear if the modes in claim 2 are the same modes as in claim 1 or a different set of modes. Remarks 11. The lack of an art rejection with this Office action is not an indication of allowable subject matter. The claimed language is such that it is impractical to put forth a reasonable search to form a prior art rejection by the Examiner. Conclusion 12. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure: See attached PTO form 892, Refence Cited. 13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Allyson N. Trail whose telephone number is (571) 272-2406. The examiner can normally be reached between the hours of 7:30AM to 4:00PM Monday thru Friday. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael G. Lee, can be reached on (571) 272-2398. The fax phone number for this Group is (571) 273-8300. Communications via Internet e-mail regarding this application, other than those under 35 U.S.C. 132 or which otherwise require a signature, may be used by the applicant and should be addressed to [allyson.trail@uspto.gov]. 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 for authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to Patent Center, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). 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) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form. /ALLYSON N TRAIL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876 December 21, 2025
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 17, 2025
Application Filed
Dec 21, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §112, §Other (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
88%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+6.9%)
1y 11m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1230 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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