Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
10 pending office actions • 5 art units • 10 examiners • 0 of 10 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 9 patents granted in the last 365 days
Blackhawk Network Inc. currently has 10 pending office actions within the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems technology area. These actions are distributed across 5 distinct art units, showing that the company's patent applications are being processed by several different specialized groups. The portfolio involves 10 distinct examiners, which indicates that every active matter is being handled by a different individual, requiring a broad range of examiner-specific strategies.
The busiest examiner, PATEL, NEHA, is responsible for 1 pending office action. This indicates that the pending office actions are spread individually across the examination pool, with no examiner handling more than one case. For those managing the portfolio, this distribution means that each of the pending office actions will likely follow a unique trajectory based on the individual examiner's interpretation, despite the fact that all actions fall within the same broad technology area. The use of 5 distinct art units further suggests that the pending office actions are subject to the specific nuances of multiple examination teams.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 3 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. 3 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 only | 2 (20%) |
| §101 + other | 6 (60%) |
| §112 only | 1 (10%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (10%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PATEL, NEHA | 1 | 23.2% | +21.0% |
| RAHMAN, MAHFUZUR | 1 | 90.8% | +8.4% |
| HILMANTEL, ADAM J | 1 | 41.2% | +29.4% |
| MOSSER, ROBERT E | 1 | 46.7% | +9.8% |
| ROSEN, ELIZABETH H | 1 | 45.7% | +49.6% |
| MITCHELL, NATHAN A | 1 | 73.0% | +10.0% |
| LIU, CHIA-YI | 1 | 27.0% | +21.2% |
| PHAN, NICHOLAS K | 1 | 51.8% | +18.8% |
| POLLOCK, GREGORY A | 1 | 11.1% | +12.5% |
| KANERVO, VIRPI H | 1 | 47.5% | +47.6% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19203102 | USING CLIENT CERTIFICATES TO COMMUNICATE TRUSTED INFORMATION | RAHMAN, MAHFUZUR | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18241324 | CLIENT CUSTOMIZED VIRTUAL OR PHYSICAL CARD FOR USE WITH SELECTED MERCHANTS | ROSEN, ELIZABETH H | 4d overdue |
| 15796174 | System and method for targeted marketing and consumer resource management | LIU, CHIA-YI | 4d overdue |
| 14213693 | System and Method for Selecting, Distributing, Redeeming, and Reconciling Digital Offers | POLLOCK, GREGORY A | 40d |
| 19329635 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROXY CARD AND/OR WALLET REDEMPTION CARD TRANSACTIONS | PATEL, NEHA | — |
| 19055829 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DYNAMICALLY DETECTING AND PREVENTING CONSUMER FRAUD | HILMANTEL, ADAM J | — |
| 17521026 | REDEMPTION NETWORK WITH TRANSACTION SEQUENCER | MITCHELL, NATHAN A | — |
| 15796166 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONSUMER MODIFIABLE PAYMENT CARD TRANSACTIONS | PHAN, NICHOLAS K | — |
| 13619226 | System, Method, and Apparatus for Creating and Distributing a Transaction Credit | KANERVO, VIRPI H | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18241324 | CLIENT CUSTOMIZED VIRTUAL OR PHYSICAL CARD FOR USE WITH SELECTED MERCHANTS | ROSEN, ELIZABETH H | 4d overdue |
| 15796174 | System and method for targeted marketing and consumer resource management | LIU, CHIA-YI | 4d overdue |
| 14213693 | System and Method for Selecting, Distributing, Redeeming, and Reconciling Digital Offers | POLLOCK, GREGORY A | 40d |
| 19329635 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROXY CARD AND/OR WALLET REDEMPTION CARD TRANSACTIONS | PATEL, NEHA | — |
| 19055829 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DYNAMICALLY DETECTING AND PREVENTING CONSUMER FRAUD | HILMANTEL, ADAM J | — |
| 17521026 | REDEMPTION NETWORK WITH TRANSACTION SEQUENCER | MITCHELL, NATHAN A | — |
| 15796166 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONSUMER MODIFIABLE PAYMENT CARD TRANSACTIONS | PHAN, NICHOLAS K | — |
| 13619226 | System, Method, and Apparatus for Creating and Distributing a Transaction Credit | KANERVO, VIRPI H | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3691 | 3 |
| 3699 | 2 |
| 3693 | 1 |
| 3627 | 1 |
| 3692 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19329635 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROXY CARD AND/OR WALLET REDEMPTION CARD TRANSACTIONS | PATEL, NEHA | 3699 | §101DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 16, 2025 |
| 19203102 | USING CLIENT CERTIFICATES TO COMMUNICATE TRUSTED INFORMATION | RAHMAN, MAHFUZUR | — | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 08, 2025 |
| 19055829 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DYNAMICALLY DETECTING AND PREVENTING CONSUMER FRAUD | HILMANTEL, ADAM J | 3691 | §101Other | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 18, 2025 |
| 18958375 | METHOD OF INTEGRATING A RETAIL POINT OF SALE AND A THIRD-PARTY INSTANT WIN LOTTERY TICKET DISPENSER | MOSSER, ROBERT E | — | §112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 25, 2024 |
| 18241324 | CLIENT CUSTOMIZED VIRTUAL OR PHYSICAL CARD FOR USE WITH SELECTED MERCHANTS | ROSEN, ELIZABETH H | 3693 | §101DP | Non-Final OA | 4d overdue | Pending | Sep 01, 2023 |
| 17521026 | REDEMPTION NETWORK WITH TRANSACTION SEQUENCER | MITCHELL, NATHAN A | 3627 | §101§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 08, 2021 |
| 15796174 | System and method for targeted marketing and consumer resource management | LIU, CHIA-YI | 3692 | §101§112 | Non-Final OA | 4d overdue | Pending | Oct 27, 2017 |
| 15796166 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONSUMER MODIFIABLE PAYMENT CARD TRANSACTIONS | PHAN, NICHOLAS K | 3699 | §101§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 27, 2017 |
| 14213693 | System and Method for Selecting, Distributing, Redeeming, and Reconciling Digital Offers | POLLOCK, GREGORY A | 3691 | §101§112 | Non-Final OA | 40d | Pending | Mar 14, 2014 |
| 13619226 | System, Method, and Apparatus for Creating and Distributing a Transaction Credit | KANERVO, VIRPI H | 3691 | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 14, 2012 |
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