Technology areas: Computing & Software • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
5 pending office actions • 5 art units • 5 examiners • 0 of 5 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 6 patents granted in the last 365 days
Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation currently manages 5 pending office actions within the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems technology area. These actions are spread across 5 distinct examiners and 5 distinct art units, showing a high degree of dispersion in the patent review process. The presence of 5 distinct art units for 5 actions indicates that the company's innovations are being evaluated by many different specialized groups, each with its own specific expertise and examination criteria.
The busiest examiner for this portfolio is BERNS, MICHAEL ANDREW, who is responsible for 1 pending office action. Since the busiest examiner only handles 1 of the 5 total actions, the prosecution process is entirely decentralized among 5 distinct examiners. This distribution means that the company must adapt its legal arguments to the individual styles of 5 different people. The variety of 5 distinct art units further emphasizes the need for a versatile prosecution strategy that can address the unique requirements of each technical field simultaneously across the 5 pending office actions.
Difficulty is derived from the rejection statutes on the most recent pending office action. §101-driven and multi-statute cases are graded Hard; §112-only and obviousness-type double-patenting cases are graded Easy; everything else is Medium. "Unknown" means we have not yet parsed a statute for that office action.
| Bucket | Cases |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 2 (40%) |
| §112 only | 1 (20%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (20%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (20%) |
How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.
Manual office-action response work runs about 10 hours per case. The time-saved bands below show what IP Author's prosecution pipeline typically delivers — a conservative 20% on the low end, 35% in the middle, 50% on the high end.
| Examiner | Apps on this docket | Allow rate | Interview lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| BERNS, MICHAEL ANDREW | 1 | 84.1% | +11.2% |
| MCCULLERS, AARON KYLE | 1 | 45.6% | +33.9% |
| SANTOS, KIRSTEN JADE M | 1 | 52.8% | +35.2% |
| COZART, JERMIE E | 1 | 83.9% | +3.3% |
| HOCKER, JOHN PAUL | 1 | 55.9% | +30.8% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19282055 | CAUSING A ROBOT TO EXECUTE A MISSION USING A BEHAVIOR TREE AND A LEAF NODE LIBRARY | BERNS, MICHAEL ANDREW | — |
| 17643296 | MANUFACTURING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING WORKPIECES | COZART, JERMIE E | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17643286 | PLANNING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING WORKPIECES | HOCKER, JOHN PAUL | — |
Cases in front of an examiner whose interview lift is 10 percentage points or more — i.e. interviewed cases historically resolve more favorably than non-interviewed ones. The top 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19282055 | CAUSING A ROBOT TO EXECUTE A MISSION USING A BEHAVIOR TREE AND A LEAF NODE LIBRARY | BERNS, MICHAEL ANDREW | — |
| 19087837 | NAVIGATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OPERATION | MCCULLERS, AARON KYLE | — |
| 19004824 | CONFLICT DETECTION AND AVOIDANCE ALONG A CURRENT ROUTE OF A ROBOT | SANTOS, KIRSTEN JADE M | — |
| 17643286 | PLANNING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING WORKPIECES | HOCKER, JOHN PAUL | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3667 | 1 |
| 3663 | 1 |
| 3664 | 1 |
| 3799 | 1 |
| 2189 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19282055 | CAUSING A ROBOT TO EXECUTE A MISSION USING A BEHAVIOR TREE AND A LEAF NODE LIBRARY | BERNS, MICHAEL ANDREW | 3667 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 28, 2025 |
| 19087837 | NAVIGATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OPERATION | MCCULLERS, AARON KYLE | 3663 | §103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 24, 2025 |
| 19004824 | CONFLICT DETECTION AND AVOIDANCE ALONG A CURRENT ROUTE OF A ROBOT | SANTOS, KIRSTEN JADE M | 3664 | §103Other | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 30, 2024 |
| 17643296 | MANUFACTURING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING WORKPIECES | COZART, JERMIE E | 3799 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 08, 2021 |
| 17643286 | PLANNING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING WORKPIECES | HOCKER, JOHN PAUL | 2189 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 08, 2021 |
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Start Free TrialAurora Flight Sciences Corporation has 5 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 5 art units and 5 examiners.
Michael Andrew Berns has the most, with 1 of Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation's pending office actions.
Mostly Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems (USPTO Tech Center 3600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
