Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
2 pending office actions • 2 art units • 2 examiners • 0 of 2 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 4 patents granted in the last 365 days
Discovery Energy LLC has 1 pending office action in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. This single action is being handled by 1 distinct examiner within 1 distinct art unit. TRAN, BINH Q is the busiest examiner and is responsible for the 1 pending office action. The concentration of the entire pending portfolio under 1 distinct examiner and 1 distinct art unit means that prosecution outcomes are currently tied to a single point of review.
Practitioners can focus their efforts on the specific requirements and tendencies of TRAN, BINH Q. The 1 distinct art unit involved suggests a very narrow technical focus for the company's current filings. Because there is only 1 pending office action, the administrative burden of tracking multiple deadlines is minimal. However, this also means there are no other active cases in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering area to provide additional data on art unit trends.
The 1 pending office action represents the totality of the company's current interaction with the patent office. The 1 distinct examiner will provide the sole initial feedback on the claims. This centralized structure allows for a highly tailored prosecution strategy. The Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area defines the technical boundaries of this single pending case.
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 |
|---|---|
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (50%) |
| No statute on record | 1 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BALLMAN, CHRISTOPHER D | 1 | 77.0% | +20.7% |
| TRAN, BINH Q | 1 | 88.2% | +6.6% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19356469 | COMBINED OPEN VENT AND EMERGENCY RELIEF VENT | BALLMAN, CHRISTOPHER D | — |
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 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19356469 | COMBINED OPEN VENT AND EMERGENCY RELIEF VENT | BALLMAN, CHRISTOPHER D | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3753 | 1 |
| 3746 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19356469 | COMBINED OPEN VENT AND EMERGENCY RELIEF VENT | BALLMAN, CHRISTOPHER D | 3753 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 13, 2025 |
| 19246514 | CONVERTIBLE SILENCER | TRAN, BINH Q | 3746 | Other | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 23, 2025 |
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Start Free TrialDiscovery Energy LLC has 2 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 2 art units and 2 examiners.
Christopher D Ballman has the most, with 1 of Discovery Energy LLC's pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.