Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
16 pending office actions • 4 art units • 13 examiners • 0 of 16 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 50 patents granted in the last 365 days
Bissell Inc. has 17 pending office actions in Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering. The matters involve 14 examiners and 4 art units, so examiner distribution is broader than art-unit distribution. Multiple matters therefore sit within some of the reported art units, while most examiner assignments remain distinct.
MULLER, BRYAN R is the busiest examiner with 3 pending matters. That assignment is the clearest examiner-level concentration identified in the data. Counsel may benefit from coordinating responses for those matters while preserving art-unit-specific analysis across the broader portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
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 | 9 (56%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 2 (12%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (31%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MULLER, BRYAN R | 3 | 43.7% | +31.0% |
| FORDJOUR, SARAH AKYAA | 2 | 51.4% | +23.2% |
| SHUM, KENT N | 1 | 38.5% | +48.3% |
| GARDNER, NICOLE | 1 | 69.4% | +14.6% |
| RODGERS, THOMAS RAYMOND | 1 | 58.7% | +59.3% |
| WEISS, NICHOLAS J | 1 | 59.5% | +43.4% |
| GOLIK, ARTHUR PAUL | 1 | 70.2% | +45.5% |
| REITZ, MICHAEL K. | 1 | 69.1% | +5.1% |
| SAENZ, ALBERTO | 1 | 68.9% | +30.9% |
| MCFARLAND, TYLER JAMES | 1 | 44.0% | +33.8% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19037405 | CLEANING HEAD FOR VACUUM CLEANER | SHUM, KENT N | — |
| 18753317 | WAND OVERRIDE TOOL FOR EXTRACTION CLEANER | GARDNER, NICOLE | — |
| 18610597 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS HAVING A SPRAY BAR ASSEMBLY | GOLIK, ARTHUR PAUL | — |
| 18599487 | SURFACE CLEANING DEVICE AND CONCENTRATED STEAM SHOT ACCESSORY FOR SURFACE CLEANING DEVICE | REITZ, MICHAEL K. | — |
| 18080945 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS WITH STEAM DELIVERY | CHANG, SUKWOO JAMES | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18242714 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS | FORDJOUR, SARAH AKYAA | 83d |
| 19037405 | CLEANING HEAD FOR VACUUM CLEANER | SHUM, KENT N | — |
| 18966600 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS | MULLER, BRYAN R | — |
| 18937296 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS WITH STEAM | FORDJOUR, SARAH AKYAA | — |
| 18931162 | APPARATUS FOR CLEANING A SURFACE | MULLER, BRYAN R | — |
| 18753317 | WAND OVERRIDE TOOL FOR EXTRACTION CLEANER | GARDNER, NICOLE | — |
| 18733257 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS AND TRAY | RODGERS, THOMAS RAYMOND | — |
| 18635395 | CLEANING TOOL FOR A SURFACE CLEANER | WEISS, NICHOLAS J | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3723 | 11 |
| 3745 | 2 |
| 3711 | 1 |
| 1776 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19037405 | CLEANING HEAD FOR VACUUM CLEANER | SHUM, KENT N | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 27, 2025 |
| 18966600 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS | MULLER, BRYAN R | 3723 | §103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 03, 2024 |
| 18937296 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS WITH STEAM | FORDJOUR, SARAH AKYAA | 3723 | §103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 05, 2024 |
| 18931162 | APPARATUS FOR CLEANING A SURFACE | MULLER, BRYAN R | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 30, 2024 |
| 18753317 | WAND OVERRIDE TOOL FOR EXTRACTION CLEANER | GARDNER, NICOLE | 3723 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 25, 2024 |
| 18733257 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS AND TRAY | RODGERS, THOMAS RAYMOND | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 04, 2024 |
| 18635395 | CLEANING TOOL FOR A SURFACE CLEANER | WEISS, NICHOLAS J | 3711 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 15, 2024 |
| 18610597 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS HAVING A SPRAY BAR ASSEMBLY | GOLIK, ARTHUR PAUL | 3745 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 20, 2024 |
| 18599487 | SURFACE CLEANING DEVICE AND CONCENTRATED STEAM SHOT ACCESSORY FOR SURFACE CLEANING DEVICE | REITZ, MICHAEL K. | 3745 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 08, 2024 |
| 18422892 | UNATTENDED SPOT CLEANING WITH SURFACE SANITIZATION | MULLER, BRYAN R | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 25, 2024 |
| 18375059 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS | SAENZ, ALBERTO | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 29, 2023 |
| 18242714 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS | FORDJOUR, SARAH AKYAA | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 83d | Pending | Sep 06, 2023 |
| 18237478 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARTAUS | MCFARLAND, TYLER JAMES | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 24, 2023 |
| 18228120 | AIR PURIFIER WITH ROTATABLE FILTER | ANBACHT, BRIT ELIZA | 1776 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 70d | Pending | Jul 31, 2023 |
| 18214147 | ACCESSORY TOOL FOR EXTRACTION CLEANER | HAWKINS, JASON KHALIL | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 26, 2023 |
| 18080945 | SURFACE CLEANING APPARATUS WITH STEAM DELIVERY | CHANG, SUKWOO JAMES | 3723 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 14, 2022 |
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Start Free TrialBissell Inc. has 16 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 4 art units and 13 examiners.
Bryan R Muller has the most, with 3 of Bissell Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
