Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 25, 2026
Application No. 19/027,210

SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSING APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §112
Filed
Jan 17, 2025
Priority
Apr 23, 2024 — RE 10-2024-0053973
Examiner
JOSEPH, TONYA S
Art Unit
3628
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
24%
Grant Probability
At Risk
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 8m
Est. Remaining
44%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants only 24% of cases
24%
Career Allowance Rate
147 granted / 607 resolved
-27.8% vs TC avg
Strong +19% interview lift
Without
With
+19.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
4y 5m
Avg Prosecution
28 currently pending
Career history
657
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
37.6%
-2.4% vs TC avg
§103
35.5%
-4.5% vs TC avg
§102
8.5%
-31.5% vs TC avg
§112
16.9%
-23.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 607 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
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 § 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 1-20 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Applicant’s Claims 1, 13 and 18 recite, “determine a control signal based on the feedforward signal, the iterative learning signal, and the feedback signal as the heater power,” It is unclear if the heater power is describing the feedback signal or if it is a result of the determination of the control signal. Appropriate Correction is required. Claims 2-12, 14-17 and 19-20 contain the same deficiencies through dependency and as such, are rejected for the same reasons. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TONYA S JOSEPH whose telephone number is (571)270-1361. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-2:30, First Fridays Off. 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, Shannon Campbell can be reached at (571) 272-5587. 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. /TONYA JOSEPH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3628
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 17, 2025
Application Filed
Sep 29, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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ENCODED PACKAGE ADDRESS FOR DELIVERY
2y 10m to grant Granted Oct 06, 2026
Patent 12738117
Methods of estimating a throughput of a resource, a length of a queue associated with the resource and/or a wait time of the queue
3y 2m to grant Granted Sep 15, 2026
Patent 12700276
Methods of estimating a throughput of a resource, a length of a queue associated with the resource and/or a wait time of the queue
3y 8m to grant Granted Aug 04, 2026
Patent 12694414
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING MALICIOUS ACTIVITY
2y 10m to grant Granted Jul 28, 2026
Patent 12675765
INFORMATION OUTPUT METHOD, INFORMATION OUTPUT APPARATUS, AND RECORDING MEDIUM
2y 7m to grant Granted Jul 07, 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
24%
Grant Probability
44%
With Interview (+19.3%)
4y 5m (~2y 8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 607 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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