Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 26, 2026

Canon Inc.

Technology areas: Communications • Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics

1,369 pending office actions • 278 art units • 881 examiners • 1 of 1,369 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 2,968 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Canon Inc. has 1399 pending office actions in Communications. The portfolio spans 888 distinct examiners and 278 distinct art units, reflecting a large prosecution operation with broad examiner distribution and repeated activity across technical groupings.

VALENCIA, ALEJANDRO is the busiest examiner, with 22 pending actions. This is a notable examiner-specific concentration within the portfolio, but the much broader examiner and art-unit footprint means it does not define the entire docket. Counsel should combine centralized workload controls with focused coordination for the VALENCIA matters and separate art-unit review elsewhere.

Written from this page's own data; every figure is computed from USPTO records and verified before publication.

Portfolio Summary

1,369
Total Pending OAs
936
Non-Final OAs
387
Final Rejections
46
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 269 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

106
Overdue
16
Due this week
81
Due this month
42
Due in next 60 days
24
Due later

Deadline Fire Line

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. 269 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (106)Due ≤ 7 days (16)Due ≤ 30 days (81)Due ≤ 60 days (42)Due later (24)

Case Difficulty Mix

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.

664
Hard (49%)
611
Medium (45%)
84
Easy (6%)
10
Unknown (1%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 only32 (2%)
§101 + other132 (10%)
§103 only474 (35%)
§102 only117 (9%)
§112 only47 (3%)
Double-patenting only37 (3%)
Double-patenting + other20 (1%)
Multi-statute (no §101)500 (37%)
No statute on record10 (1%)

Industry Mix

How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.

136
Life Sciences
10% of docket
191
Information Tech
14% of docket
462
Communications
34% of docket
366
Semiconductors
27% of docket
186
Mechanical / Eng
14% of docket
28
Business / Other
2% of docket

Time-on-OA Estimate

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.

13,690 h
Manual time on pending OAs
2,738 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
4,792 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
119.8 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
VALENCIA, ALEJANDRO 22 42.7% +6.2%
BEATTY, ROBERT B 14 92.6% +3.1%
HEREDIA OCASIO, ARLENE J 10 75.3% +2.8%
ZONG, HELEN 10 79.3% +8.0%
GRAINGER, QUANA M 9 88.9% -3.7%
GUILLERMETY, JUAN M 9 72.8% +14.0%
ROTH, LAURA K 8 82.7% +1.6%
AMEH, YAOVI M 8 91.1% +7.9%
DICKERSON, CHAD S 8 62.8% +23.1%
THERRIEN, CARLA J 7 87.0% +4.5%

Quick Wins (27)

Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
19033207 DEVELOPMENT DEVICE ROTH, LAURA K 43d overdue
18949821 HEATER, FIXING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS GRAINGER, QUANA M 15d
19053091 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS THERRIEN, CARLA J 16d
19338402 IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM AND IMAGE READING APPARATUS GRAINGER, QUANA M —
19311090 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS BEATTY, ROBERT B —
19310487 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS GRAINGER, QUANA M —
19306802 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS GRAINGER, QUANA M —
19306491 PRINTING SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR, AND STORAGE MEDIUM THERRIEN, CARLA J —

Hard Cases (664)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18889730 IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS AND MOVING BODY TARKO, ASMAMAW G 163d overdue
17935994 MEDICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, MEDICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM PAULSON, SHEETAL R. 154d overdue
17702532 IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS THAT CARRIES OUT NOISE REDUCTION PROCESS WHEN PLAYING VIDEO, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM SHIBRU, HELEN 124d overdue
18435716 INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM NGUYEN, HAU H 120d overdue
18534482 COMMUNICATION APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM AUNG, SAI 84d overdue
17506804 NUCLEIC ACID DETECTION SYSTEM AND NUCLEIC ACID DETECTION METHOD GRAY, JESSICA 73d overdue
18969248 MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND X-RAY COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY APPARATUS REYES, REGINALD R 51d overdue
18299787 MEDICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD LONG, FONYA M 50d overdue

Interview Candidates (17)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
19035612 IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD DICKERSON, CHAD S —
19006367 IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS FOR OUTPUTTING IMAGE DATA, METHOD FOR CONTROLLING IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM GUILLERMETY, JUAN M —
18985728 INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM THAT CUTS MEDIUM TO BE CUT, STORAGE MEDIUM STORING CUTTING APPLICATION, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS GUILLERMETY, JUAN M —
18967016 STORAGE MEDIUM, PRINT CONTROL METHOD, AND SYSTEM DICKERSON, CHAD S —
18963316 PRINTING SYSTEM, STORAGE MEDIUM, AND METHOD GUILLERMETY, JUAN M —
18945928 INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS CAPABLE OF PROPERLY PERFORMING RESERVATION PRINTING, METHOD OF CONTROLLING SAME, AND STORAGE MEDIUM GUILLERMETY, JUAN M —
18918670 PULL-PRINTING SYSTEM, METHOD FOR CONTROLLING MOBILE TERMINAL IN PULL-PRINTING SYSTEM AND STORAGE MEDIUM DICKERSON, CHAD S —
18890819 IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM DICKERSON, CHAD S —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
2853 101
2852 90
2683 55
2682 52
2872 45
2681 39
2637 30
2639 29
2884 24
2638 18

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
19569463 INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY, CONTROL METHOD FOR INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM THAT ENABLES A USER TO VIEW IMAGES IN APPROPRIATE VISUAL RECOGNITION STATE THROUGH LEFT AND RIGHT DISPLAY UNITS RESPECTIVELY HELD IN FRONT OF BOTH EYES OF THE USER JANSEN II, MICHAEL J 2626 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Mar 17, 2026
19535039 ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM ZHANG, LEI 3798 §101§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Feb 10, 2026
19418049 CHARGE REMOVAL APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM GRAY, FRANCIS C 2852 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 12, 2025
19401083 CONTROL APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM DANG, HUNG Q 2482 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 25, 2025
19398737 DETECTION APPARATUS AND ELECTRONIC STETHOSCOPE TALTY, MARIA CHRISTINA 3797 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 24, 2025
19396551 X-RAY CT APPARATUS, MEDICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, AND MEDICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD SEREBOFF, NEAL 3683 §101§102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 21, 2025
19384303 INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS SHARIFI-TAFRESHI, KOOSHA 2628 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 10, 2025
19372502 MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS AND MEDICAL ANALYSIS METHOD BRUTUS, JOEL F 3797 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 29, 2025
19368676 DISPLAY DEVICE, DISPLAY APPARATUS, PHOTOELECTRIC CONVERSION APPARATUS, ELECTRONIC APPARATUS, MOVING BODY, AND WEARABLE DEVICE SHAH, SUJIT 2624 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 24, 2025
19368109 ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS COOK, CHRISTOPHER L 3797 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 24, 2025
19366566 INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, MOVIE RECORDING APPARATUS, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD DANG, HUNG Q 2484 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 23, 2025
19357475 OPTICAL APPARATUS, SYSTEM, MOVABLE APPARATUS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING OPTICAL APPARATUS HANNETT, JAMES M 2637 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 14, 2025
19351935 SHEET CONVEYANCE APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM SEVERSON, JEREMY R 1759 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 07, 2025
19339986 MEDICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE, MEDICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM HUYNH, EMILY 3683 §101§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 25, 2025
19338167 CONTAINER BEATTY, ROBERT B 2852 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 24, 2025
19338402 IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM AND IMAGE READING APPARATUS GRAINGER, QUANA M 2852 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 24, 2025
19168157 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCAPSULATING AND PARSING A MEDIA FILE COMPRISING NEURAL NETWORK BASED POST FILTER INFORMATION LANGHNOJA, KUNAL N 2425 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 23, 2025
19335290 ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS, MEDICAL IMAGE ANALYTIC APPARATUS, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM STORING MEDICAL IMAGE ANALYSIS PROGRAM PENG, BO JOSEPH 3797 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 22, 2025
19331478 MEDICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND MEDICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD SHELDEN, BION A 3685 §101§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 17, 2025
19331068 LENS APPARATUS AND IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS HANNETT, JAMES M 2637 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 17, 2025
19330377 SHEET CONVEYANCE APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS SANDERS, HOWARD J 3653 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 16, 2025
19324336 PRINTING APPARATUS AND STORAGE CASSETTE SANDERS, HOWARD J 3653 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 10, 2025
19324359 MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS COOK, CHRISTOPHER L 3797 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 10, 2025
19317243 INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD OF CONTROLLING INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM MORRISON, JAY A 2151 §101 Final Rejection — Pending Sep 03, 2025
19316679 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS BEATTY, ROBERT B 2852 §102§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 02, 2025
19314603 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS THAT DETERMINES COLOR MISREGISTRATION AMOUNT CHEN, SOPHIA S 2852 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 29, 2025
19314173 ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSIS APPARATUS, LESION DETECTION APPARATUS, AND LESION DETECTION METHOD KELLOGG, MICHAEL S 3798 §101§102§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 29, 2025
19314133 BIOLOGICAL TISSUE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, BIOLOGICAL TISSUE INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM VIRK, ADIL PARTAP S 3798 §101§102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 29, 2025
19313262 CONTROL APPARATUS, IMAGE PICKUP SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM AZONGHA, SARDIS F 2627 §103 Final Rejection — Pending Aug 28, 2025
19311090 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS BEATTY, ROBERT B 2852 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 27, 2025
19310487 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS GRAINGER, QUANA M 2852 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 26, 2025
19310047 IMAGING CONTROL APPARATUS, IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS, IMAGING CONTROL METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM TARKO, ASMAMAW G 2482 §103DP Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 26, 2025
19306802 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS GRAINGER, QUANA M 2852 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 21, 2025
19306491 PRINTING SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR, AND STORAGE MEDIUM THERRIEN, CARLA J 2852 DP Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 21, 2025
19304859 FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS THERRIEN, CARLA J 2852 §112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 20, 2025
19303974 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD OF IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS BANH, DAVID H 2853 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 19, 2025
19303851 MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE, ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC DEVICE, MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM FRITH, SEAN A 3798 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 19, 2025
19302557 IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS THAT CAPTURES IMAGE OF MOVING OBJECT, IMAGE CAPTURING SYSTEM, METHOD OF CONTROLLING IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM LAM, HUNG H 2639 DP Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 18, 2025
19301328 PHOTOELECTRIC CONVERSION DEVICE AND PHOTODETECTION SYSTEM AGGARWAL, YOGESH K 2637 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 15, 2025
19301728 POWER TRANSMISSION APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD OF POWER TRANSMISSION APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM LAM, ALEX W 2836 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 15, 2025
19299590 REGENERATION DEVICE FOR CLEANING BLADE, REGENERATION METHOD FOR CLEANING BLADE, AND MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR REGENERATED CLEANING BLADE BEATTY, ROBERT B 2852 §101§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 14, 2025
19299525 CARTRIDGE BEATTY, ROBERT B 2852 §102§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 14, 2025
19298716 ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC ROLLER, PROCESS CARTRIDGE, AND ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS CHEN, SOPHIA S 2852 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 13, 2025
19298490 INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR, AND STORAGE MEDIUM FOR IMPROVING DISPLAY OPERABILITY WILSON, DOUGLAS M 2622 §102§103 Final Rejection — Pending Aug 13, 2025
19297961 INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM VANG, MENG 2443 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 12, 2025
19294501 IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM JERABEK, KELLY L 2637 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 08, 2025
19294667 IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS WANG, XI 2637 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 08, 2025
19294921 CHARGE-ELIMINATING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM THERRIEN, CARLA J 2852 DP Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 08, 2025
19294824 DISPLAY APPARATUS, FINDER APPARATUS, AND IMAGING APPARATUS MOREHEAD III, JOHN H — Other Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 08, 2025
19289647 CONTROL APPARATUS, LENS APPARATUS, IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS, CAMERA SYSTEM, AND CONTROL METHOD NAZRUL, SHAHBAZ 2638 DP Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 04, 2025

View all 1,369 →

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many pending USPTO office actions does Canon Inc. have?

Canon Inc. has 1,369 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 278 art units and 881 examiners.

Which USPTO examiner handles the most Canon Inc. applications?

Alejandro Valencia has the most, with 22 of Canon Inc.'s pending office actions.

What technology area are Canon Inc.'s patent applications in?

Mostly Communications (USPTO Tech Center 2600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.

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