Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Communications • Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
26 pending office actions • 11 art units • 25 examiners • 0 of 26 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 61 patents granted in the last 365 days
Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH maintains an active patent portfolio with 27 pending office actions in the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area. These actions are distributed across 11 distinct art units, reflecting a range of technical focuses within the company's research and development efforts. This number of art units suggests that the company's innovations span multiple specialized sub-fields.
The prosecution workload is managed by 26 distinct examiners, indicating that nearly every pending action is being reviewed by a unique individual. This distribution minimizes the impact of any single examiner's tendencies on the overall portfolio. MCCORMACK, JASON L is the busiest examiner for the company, currently overseeing 2 busiest examiner pending actions.
With 27 pending office actions and 26 distinct examiners, the portfolio demonstrates a decentralized prosecution strategy. The fact that the busiest examiner only handles 2 actions further emphasizes this distribution. Practitioners managing this portfolio must navigate 11 distinct art units, requiring a versatile approach to address the various examination standards encountered across the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics sector.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 9 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. 9 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 | 1 (4%) |
| §101 + other | 4 (15%) |
| §103 only | 5 (19%) |
| §102 only | 2 (8%) |
| §112 only | 1 (4%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 13 (50%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCCORMACK, JASON L | 2 | 84.6% | +8.1% |
| TURCHEN, JAMES R | 1 | 82.4% | +33.6% |
| ALAVI, AMIR | 1 | 93.6% | +3.8% |
| ABDOU TCHOUSSOU, BOUBACAR | 1 | 68.7% | +13.6% |
| WANG, JING | 1 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| YAO, JULIA ZHI-YI | 1 | 63.1% | +48.3% |
| CHEN, XUEMEI G | 1 | 77.0% | +25.6% |
| DUFFY, CAROLINE TABANCAY | 1 | 80.2% | +18.3% |
| LANTZ, KARSTEN FOSTER | 1 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| RAKOWSKI, CARA E | 1 | 65.0% | +7.0% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18360197 | Fastening an object to a manipulator and/or to an object holder in a particle beam apparatus | MCCORMACK, JASON L | 46d overdue |
| 18807391 | Method for providing source data for training or validating processing model for processing analyte image sequences | LANTZ, KARSTEN FOSTER | — |
| 17974702 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A SAMPLE ON AN OBJECT, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT, AND MATERIAL PROCESSING DEVICE FOR CARRYING OUT THE METHOD | MCCORMACK, JASON L | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18109304 | Beam Splitter Assembly, Method for the Dimensioning Thereof and Microscope | GAGNON, GRANT A | 73d overdue |
| 18419776 | MICROSCOPE WITH AT LEAST ONE OPTICAL BEAM PATH | GROSS, ALEXANDER P | 45d overdue |
| 18240461 | TRAINING OF INSTANT SEGMENTATION ALGORITHMS WITH PARTIALLY ANNOTATED IMAGES | LU, ZHIYU | 44d overdue |
| 18304266 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PREPARING MICROSCOPIC SAMPLES | LOGIE, MICHAEL J | 21d |
| 18204593 | IMAGING, PROCESSING, AND/OR ANALYZING AN OBJECT USING A PARTICLE BEAM DEVICE | GOURLIE, LAURA ELOISE | 40d |
| 19073140 | METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATING IMAGE DATA | TURCHEN, JAMES R | — |
| 18953972 | CELL COUNTING OR CELL CONFLUENCE WITH RESCALED INPUT IMAGES | ALAVI, AMIR | — |
| 18939071 | METHOD AND OPTICAL DEVICE FOR ACQUIRING FRAMES USING A PLURALITY OF DETECTION CHANNELS | ABDOU TCHOUSSOU, BOUBACAR | — |
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 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19073140 | METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATING IMAGE DATA | TURCHEN, JAMES R | — |
| 18939071 | METHOD AND OPTICAL DEVICE FOR ACQUIRING FRAMES USING A PLURALITY OF DETECTION CHANNELS | ABDOU TCHOUSSOU, BOUBACAR | — |
| 18899097 | INSTANCE SEGMENTATION USING OVERLAPPING TILES AND OVERLAP HANDLING | YAO, JULIA ZHI-YI | — |
| 18821806 | PROCESSING OF IMAGE DATA WITH A MACHINE-LEARNED FOUNDATION MODEL | CHEN, XUEMEI G | — |
| 18821023 | METHOD FOR GENERATING AN IMAGE OF A SAMPLE | DUFFY, CAROLINE TABANCAY | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2881 | 6 |
| 2872 | 4 |
| 2482 | 1 |
| 2664 | 1 |
| 2486 | 1 |
| 2871 | 1 |
| 2669 | 1 |
| 2665 | 1 |
| 2128 | 1 |
| 2672 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19073140 | METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATING IMAGE DATA | TURCHEN, JAMES R | — | §101§102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 07, 2025 |
| 18953972 | CELL COUNTING OR CELL CONFLUENCE WITH RESCALED INPUT IMAGES | ALAVI, AMIR | — | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 20, 2024 |
| 18939071 | METHOD AND OPTICAL DEVICE FOR ACQUIRING FRAMES USING A PLURALITY OF DETECTION CHANNELS | ABDOU TCHOUSSOU, BOUBACAR | 2482 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 06, 2024 |
| 18910644 | PARTICLE BEAM SYSTEM WITH COOLING SYSTEM | WANG, JING | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 09, 2024 |
| 18899097 | INSTANCE SEGMENTATION USING OVERLAPPING TILES AND OVERLAP HANDLING | YAO, JULIA ZHI-YI | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 27, 2024 |
| 18821806 | PROCESSING OF IMAGE DATA WITH A MACHINE-LEARNED FOUNDATION MODEL | CHEN, XUEMEI G | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 30, 2024 |
| 18821023 | METHOD FOR GENERATING AN IMAGE OF A SAMPLE | DUFFY, CAROLINE TABANCAY | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 30, 2024 |
| 18807391 | Method for providing source data for training or validating processing model for processing analyte image sequences | LANTZ, KARSTEN FOSTER | 2664 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 16, 2024 |
| 18804614 | ILLUMINATION UNIT FOR AN OPTICAL MICROSCOPE AND METHOD FOR THE USE THEREOF | RAKOWSKI, CARA E | — | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 14, 2024 |
| 18782171 | Microscopy system and method for processing a microscope image | BOYLAN, JAMES T | 2486 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 16d | Pending | Jul 24, 2024 |
| 18772319 | OPTICAL ELEMENT, FRONT OPTICAL UNIT OF AN OBJECTIVE, OBJECTIVE AND MICROSCOPE | DABBI, JYOTSNA V | 2872 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 15, 2024 |
| 18424034 | METHOD OF OPERATING A PARTICLE BEAM SYSTEM AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT | STOFFA, WYATT A | 2881 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 26, 2024 |
| 18419776 | MICROSCOPE WITH AT LEAST ONE OPTICAL BEAM PATH | GROSS, ALEXANDER P | 2871 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 45d overdue | Pending | Jan 23, 2024 |
| 18519239 | Method and apparatus for assigning image areas from image series to result classes by means of analyte data evaluation system with processing model | PEDAPATI, CHANDHANA | 2669 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Nov 27, 2023 |
| 18240461 | TRAINING OF INSTANT SEGMENTATION ALGORITHMS WITH PARTIALLY ANNOTATED IMAGES | LU, ZHIYU | 2665 | §101§103 | Final Rejection | 44d overdue | Pending | Aug 31, 2023 |
| 18235529 | Microscopy System and Method for Testing a Quality of a Machine-Learned Image Processing Model | STORK, KYLE R | 2128 | §101§102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 18, 2023 |
| 18360170 | METHOD FOR ATTACHING AN OBJECT TO A MANIPULATOR AND FOR MOVING THE OBJECT IN A PARTICLE BEAM APPARATUS, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT, AND PARTICLE BEAM APPARATUS | GASSEN, CHRISTOPHER J | 2881 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 27, 2023 |
| 18360197 | Fastening an object to a manipulator and/or to an object holder in a particle beam apparatus | MCCORMACK, JASON L | 2881 | §102 | Final Rejection | 46d overdue | Pending | Jul 27, 2023 |
| 18339316 | ILLUMINATION DEVICE AND MICROSCOPY METHOD FOR GENERATING A COMPOSITE IMAGE OF A SAMPLE | ABDUR, RAHMAN | 2872 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 149d overdue | Pending | Jun 22, 2023 |
| 18204593 | IMAGING, PROCESSING, AND/OR ANALYZING AN OBJECT USING A PARTICLE BEAM DEVICE | GOURLIE, LAURA ELOISE | 2881 | §102§112 | Final Rejection | 40d | Pending | Jun 01, 2023 |
| 18304266 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PREPARING MICROSCOPIC SAMPLES | LOGIE, MICHAEL J | 2881 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 21d | Pending | Apr 20, 2023 |
| 18109304 | Beam Splitter Assembly, Method for the Dimensioning Thereof and Microscope | GAGNON, GRANT A | 2872 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 73d overdue | Pending | Feb 14, 2023 |
| 18102168 | Microscopy System and Method for Editing Overview Images | RODRIGUEZ, ANTHONY JASON | 2672 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 27, 2023 |
| 17974702 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A SAMPLE ON AN OBJECT, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT, AND MATERIAL PROCESSING DEVICE FOR CARRYING OUT THE METHOD | MCCORMACK, JASON L | 2881 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 27, 2022 |
| 17938123 | COLLISION PROTECTION FOR A MICROSCOPE | NGUYEN, THONG Q | 2872 | §102 | Non-Final OA | 30d | Pending | Oct 05, 2022 |
| 17462234 | Microscopy System and Method for Monitoring a Learning Process of a Machine Learning Model | KAPOOR, DEVAN | 2126 | §101§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 31, 2021 |
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