Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
57 pending office actions • 15 art units • 51 examiners • 0 of 57 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 87 patents granted in the last 365 days
Bard Access Systems Inc. has 54 pending office actions in Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering. The matters are distributed among 49 examiners and 15 art units, showing extensive examiner coverage with more recurring activity at the art-unit level.
ALVARADO JR, NELSON LOUIS is the busiest examiner, with 3 pending matters. The limited concentration means that examiner-specific coordination can help with a small part of the docket, while broader management should emphasize art-unit patterns and technical issue tracking.
For prosecution counsel, centralized review can identify repeated claim or prior-art questions, but response preparation should remain sensitive to the different examiner assignments within each art unit.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 16 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
Every pending office action with a known statutory deadline, placed on a days-until-due axis. Dots left of Today are overdue; the further right, the more runway. Cases that share a deadline window stack vertically. 16 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.
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 |
|---|---|
| §101 + other | 4 (7%) |
| §103 only | 30 (53%) |
| §102 only | 2 (4%) |
| Double-patenting only | 4 (7%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (2%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 16 (28%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALVARADO JR, NELSON LOUIS | 3 | 86.7% | +18.2% |
| DIOP, FATIMATA SAHRA | 2 | 68.6% | +38.0% |
| BUI PHO, PASCAL M | 2 | 63.6% | -18.7% |
| PATEL, SHEFALI DILIP | 2 | 58.1% | +27.7% |
| BOSWORTH, KAMI A | 2 | 69.1% | +28.6% |
| DAVIS, AMELIE R | 1 | 65.1% | +33.2% |
| SEBASTIAN, KAITLYN E | 1 | 73.8% | +20.3% |
| CATTUNGAL, SANJAY | 1 | 83.4% | +10.1% |
| LI, JOHN DENNY | 1 | 63.2% | +48.4% |
| N'DURE, AMIE MERCEDES | 1 | 78.3% | +14.9% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19254637 | Fiber Optic Medical Systems and Methods for Identifying Blood Vessels | CATTUNGAL, SANJAY | — |
| 18109807 | Skin Nicking Device for Catheter Placement System | ALVARADO JR, NELSON LOUIS | — |
| 18105357 | Skin Nicking Device for Catheter Placement System | ALVARADO JR, NELSON LOUIS | — |
| 18105743 | Skin Nicking Device for Catheter Placement System | ALVARADO JR, NELSON LOUIS | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17945934 | Magnetically Oriented Fiber Optic Three-Dimensional Shape | PORTILLO, JAIRO H | 29d overdue |
| 18132261 | Catheter-Disinfecting System and Methods Thereof | ALLEN, ROBERT F | 19d overdue |
| 17716675 | Catheter Placement System with Splittable Anchor | GONZALEZ, LEI NMN | 12d |
| 18410781 | Catheter Insertion Assemblies, Introducer-Needle Subassemblies, and Methods with Needle-Stick-Injury Protection | SEBASCO CHENG, STEPHANIE | 28d |
| 18972450 | Ultrasound System with Pressure and Flow Determination Capability | FLORES, LEON | — |
| 18789564 | System and Method for Imaging Implanted Medical Devices | YANG, YI-SHAN | — |
| 18383814 | Rapidly Insertable Central Catheters Including Catheter Assemblies and Methods Thereof | VOKES, KATHLEEN PAIGE | — |
| 18195018 | Medical Device Sterilizer and Magnetizer | STOFFA, WYATT A | — |
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 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17865146 | Systems and Methods for Targeted Thrombolytic Delivery | BOSWORTH, KAMI A | 30d overdue |
| 18095968 | Introducer Needles, Catheter Insertion Assemblies, and Methods Thereof | DIOP, FATIMATA SAHRA | 26d |
| 17953959 | Insertion Assemblies of Rapidly Insertable Central Catheters and Methods Thereof | BOSWORTH, KAMI A | 33d |
| 19554598 | Optical-Fiber Connector Modules Including Shape-Sensing Systems and Methods Thereof | DAVIS, AMELIE R | — |
| 19440091 | Ultrasound Imaging System | SEBASTIAN, KAITLYN E | — |
| 19254637 | Fiber Optic Medical Systems and Methods for Identifying Blood Vessels | CATTUNGAL, SANJAY | — |
| 19225986 | Medical Sensing Devices and Systems | LI, JOHN DENNY | — |
| 19188507 | Ultrasound Imaging System Having Near-Infrared/Infrared Detection | N'DURE, AMIE MERCEDES | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3783 | 27 |
| 3797 | 6 |
| 3798 | 6 |
| 3791 | 4 |
| 3793 | 3 |
| 3741 | 2 |
| 3645 | 1 |
| 2676 | 1 |
| 3795 | 1 |
| 2881 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19554598 | Optical-Fiber Connector Modules Including Shape-Sensing Systems and Methods Thereof | DAVIS, AMELIE R | 3793 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 02, 2026 |
| 19440091 | Ultrasound Imaging System | SEBASTIAN, KAITLYN E | 3797 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 05, 2026 |
| 19254637 | Fiber Optic Medical Systems and Methods for Identifying Blood Vessels | CATTUNGAL, SANJAY | 3793 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 30, 2025 |
| 19225986 | Medical Sensing Devices and Systems | LI, JOHN DENNY | 3793 | §103§112DP | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 02, 2025 |
| 19188507 | Ultrasound Imaging System Having Near-Infrared/Infrared Detection | N'DURE, AMIE MERCEDES | 3645 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 24, 2025 |
| 19188439 | Optical-Fiber Stylet Holders and Methods Thereof | JOHNSON, GERALD | 3797 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 24, 2025 |
| 19061593 | Portable Ultrasound Systems and Methods | CELESTINE, NYROBI I | 3798 | §103 | Final Rejection | 41d | Pending | Feb 24, 2025 |
| 19058347 | Needle Guidance Using Fiber Optic Shape Sensing | LY, TOMMY TAI | 3797 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | 29d | Pending | Feb 20, 2025 |
| 18972450 | Ultrasound System with Pressure and Flow Determination Capability | FLORES, LEON | 2676 | §101DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 06, 2024 |
| 18932901 | Tactile-Feedback System and Method for Guidewire-Containing Medical Devices | HOFFPAUIR, ANDREW ELI | 3791 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 31, 2024 |
| 18899966 | Shape-Sensing Systems with Filters and Methods Thereof | ROBERTS, ANNA L | 3791 | §102Other | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 27, 2024 |
| 18827243 | Fiber Optic Medical Systems and Devices with Atraumatic Tip | BOICE, JAMES EDWARD | 3795 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 06, 2024 |
| 18789564 | System and Method for Imaging Implanted Medical Devices | YANG, YI-SHAN | 3798 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 30, 2024 |
| 18736357 | Catheters, Catheter Assemblies, and Methods for Mechanically Inhibiting Formation of Occlusions | TURKOWSKI, KAYLA MARIE | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 06, 2024 |
| 18732555 | Apparatus and Methods to Modulate Stylet Stiffness Profile | NATNITHITHADHA, NAVIN | 3791 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 03, 2024 |
| 18593431 | Rapidly Insertable Central Catheters Including Catheter Assemblies and Methods Thereof | DIOP, FATIMATA SAHRA | 3783 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 01, 2024 |
| 18410781 | Catheter Insertion Assemblies, Introducer-Needle Subassemblies, and Methods with Needle-Stick-Injury Protection | SEBASCO CHENG, STEPHANIE | 3741 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 28d | Pending | Jan 11, 2024 |
| 18410420 | Puncturing Devices, Puncturing Systems Including the Puncturing Devices, and Methods Thereof | PONTON, JAMES D | 3783 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 11, 2024 |
| 18383814 | Rapidly Insertable Central Catheters Including Catheter Assemblies and Methods Thereof | VOKES, KATHLEEN PAIGE | 3783 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 25, 2023 |
| 18371329 | Systems, Devices, and Methods for Landmarking a Medical Device | KIM, KAITLYN EUNJI | 3797 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 21, 2023 |
| 18221318 | System and Method for Suggesting Catheter Parameters | GROSS, JASON PATRICK | 3797 | §103 | Final Rejection | 70d | Pending | Jul 12, 2023 |
| 18202702 | Catheter Placement Device Including a Mechanical Advantage Mechanism | FARRAR, LAUREN PENG | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 41d | Pending | May 26, 2023 |
| 18195018 | Medical Device Sterilizer and Magnetizer | STOFFA, WYATT A | 2881 | §102§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 09, 2023 |
| 18139237 | System and Method for Monitoring a Vasculature for Sepsis | BUI PHO, PASCAL M | 3798 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 25, 2023 |
| 18132891 | System and Method for Mapping an Anatomical Pathway | ZHANG, LEI | 3798 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 10, 2023 |
| 18132261 | Catheter-Disinfecting System and Methods Thereof | ALLEN, ROBERT F | 3783 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 19d overdue | Pending | Apr 07, 2023 |
| 18123778 | Handheld, Untethered Catheter Containment System and Method | THOMAN, EVELYN ANNE | 3783 | §103 | Final Rejection | 21d | Pending | Mar 20, 2023 |
| 18120863 | Intraosseous Access System | SUNG, GERALD LUTHER | 3741 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 13, 2023 |
| 18119239 | Catheter with Adhesion Detection | TRINH, HONG-VAN N | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 08, 2023 |
| 18109807 | Skin Nicking Device for Catheter Placement System | ALVARADO JR, NELSON LOUIS | 3783 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 14, 2023 |
| 18109103 | Catheter Insertion System | KOO, BENJAMIN K | 3783 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 13, 2023 |
| 18105357 | Skin Nicking Device for Catheter Placement System | ALVARADO JR, NELSON LOUIS | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 03, 2023 |
| 18105533 | Intraosseous Hemodialysis Port | PATEL, SHEFALI DILIP | 3783 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 03, 2023 |
| 18105743 | Skin Nicking Device for Catheter Placement System | ALVARADO JR, NELSON LOUIS | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 03, 2023 |
| 18095968 | Introducer Needles, Catheter Insertion Assemblies, and Methods Thereof | DIOP, FATIMATA SAHRA | 3783 | §103 | Final Rejection | 26d | Pending | Jan 11, 2023 |
| 18087699 | U Guide for Scalpel Tip | LE, KHOA TAN | 3771 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 22, 2022 |
| 18082519 | Antimicrobial Skin Isolator for Catheters | GRASMEDER, SARAH DYMPNA | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 15, 2022 |
| 18081480 | Acute Central Venous Catheter Symmetric Filler | LALONDE, ALEXANDRA ELIZABETH | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 33d | Pending | Dec 14, 2022 |
| 18080624 | Monitoring Medical System with UV Exposure | MULLINS, JESSICA LYNN | 3792 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 13, 2022 |
| 17971182 | Guidewire Locking System for Catheter Placement | PAZ ESTEVEZ, GUILLERMO G | 3783 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 21, 2022 |
| 17953959 | Insertion Assemblies of Rapidly Insertable Central Catheters and Methods Thereof | BOSWORTH, KAMI A | 3783 | §103 | Final Rejection | 33d | Pending | Sep 27, 2022 |
| 17949734 | Introducer Adapters, Introducer Assemblies, and Methods | WITTLIFF, KATERINA ANNA | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 21, 2022 |
| 17945934 | Magnetically Oriented Fiber Optic Three-Dimensional Shape | PORTILLO, JAIRO H | 3791 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | 29d overdue | Pending | Sep 15, 2022 |
| 17894460 | Ultrasound Smart Port Accessory | DEUTSCH, TAYLOR M | 3798 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 44d overdue | Pending | Aug 24, 2022 |
| 17883490 | Introducer Components, Assemblies, and Methods Thereof | CARPENTER, WILLIAM R | 3783 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 08, 2022 |
| 17865146 | Systems and Methods for Targeted Thrombolytic Delivery | BOSWORTH, KAMI A | 3783 | §102 | Final Rejection | 30d overdue | Pending | Jul 14, 2022 |
| 17857974 | Impedance Monitoring Vascular Access Device | ROZANSKI, MICHAEL T | 3797 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 05, 2022 |
| 17742098 | Systems, Medical Devices, and Methods for Steering the Medical Devices | PATEL, SHEFALI DILIP | 3783 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 11, 2022 |
| 17731155 | Steerable Devices for Fiber Enabled Medical Systems | SMALE, AVERY E | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 19d overdue | Pending | Apr 27, 2022 |
| 17728802 | Strain-Sensing Systems, Indwelling Medical Devices, and Methods for Determining Physical Attributes | SCHMITT, BENJAMIN ALLYN | 3796 | §103 | Final Rejection | 43d | Pending | Apr 25, 2022 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialBard Access Systems Inc. has 57 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 15 art units and 51 examiners.
Nelson Louis Alvarado Jr. has the most, with 3 of Bard Access Systems Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
