Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
6 pending office actions • 3 art units • 6 examiners • 0 of 6 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 15 patents granted in the last 365 days
Inficon GmbH is managing 5 pending office actions within the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area. These actions are spread across 2 distinct art units, suggesting a relatively focused technical scope for their current patent applications. The 5 pending office actions are being reviewed by 5 distinct examiners, which indicates that each examiner is handling a single case for the company.
NUR, ABDULLAHI is the busiest examiner for this portfolio, currently overseeing 1 pending office action. Because the 5 pending office actions are split among 5 distinct examiners, there is no concentration of matters with any one individual. The distribution across 2 distinct art units means the company is dealing with 2 different supervisory groups within the patent office. This arrangement requires the company to manage 5 distinct examiner relationships while navigating the specific requirements of the 2 distinct art units involved.
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 + other | 1 (17%) |
| §103 only | 2 (33%) |
| §112 only | 1 (17%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (33%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NUR, ABDULLAHI | 1 | 88.2% | +6.1% |
| SCHMITT, BENJAMIN R | 1 | 84.2% | +15.9% |
| THOMAS, BINU | 1 | 72.7% | +26.5% |
| WAESCO, JOSEPH M | 1 | 46.5% | +42.6% |
| MCCALL, ERIC SCOTT | 1 | 87.8% | +6.3% |
| RAEVIS, ROBERT R | 1 | 83.3% | +15.3% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18394187 | SNIFFING LEAK DETECTOR WITH SWITCHING VALVE AND BUFFER CHAMBER | RAEVIS, ROBERT R | 18d overdue |
| 19223816 | PARTICLE DETECTOR | NUR, ABDULLAHI | — |
| 18693121 | AUTOMATED LEAK DETECTION METHOD USING A ROBOTIC SNIFFER LEAK DETECTOR | MCCALL, ERIC SCOTT | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18290233 | METHOD OF OPTIMIZING EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEM | WAESCO, JOSEPH M | 1d overdue |
| 18580234 | QUARTZ CRYSTAL MICROBALANCE (QCM) SENSOR HAVING RAPID REGISTRATION RESPONSE | SCHMITT, BENJAMIN R | 9d |
| 18577147 | UPSTREAM PROCESS MONITORING FOR DEPOSITION AND ETCH CHAMBERS | THOMAS, BINU | — |
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 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18394187 | SNIFFING LEAK DETECTOR WITH SWITCHING VALVE AND BUFFER CHAMBER | RAEVIS, ROBERT R | 18d overdue |
| 18290233 | METHOD OF OPTIMIZING EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEM | WAESCO, JOSEPH M | 1d overdue |
| 18580234 | QUARTZ CRYSTAL MICROBALANCE (QCM) SENSOR HAVING RAPID REGISTRATION RESPONSE | SCHMITT, BENJAMIN R | 9d |
| 18577147 | UPSTREAM PROCESS MONITORING FOR DEPOSITION AND ETCH CHAMBERS | THOMAS, BINU | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2855 | 2 |
| 2852 | 1 |
| 3625 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19223816 | PARTICLE DETECTOR | NUR, ABDULLAHI | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 30, 2025 |
| 18580234 | QUARTZ CRYSTAL MICROBALANCE (QCM) SENSOR HAVING RAPID REGISTRATION RESPONSE | SCHMITT, BENJAMIN R | 2852 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 9d | Pending | Jan 18, 2024 |
| 18577147 | UPSTREAM PROCESS MONITORING FOR DEPOSITION AND ETCH CHAMBERS | THOMAS, BINU | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 05, 2024 |
| 18290233 | METHOD OF OPTIMIZING EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEM | WAESCO, JOSEPH M | 3625 | §101§112 | Final Rejection | 1d overdue | Pending | Nov 10, 2023 |
| 18693121 | AUTOMATED LEAK DETECTION METHOD USING A ROBOTIC SNIFFER LEAK DETECTOR | MCCALL, ERIC SCOTT | 2855 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 18, 2024 |
| 18394187 | SNIFFING LEAK DETECTOR WITH SWITCHING VALVE AND BUFFER CHAMBER | RAEVIS, ROBERT R | 2855 | §112Other | Final Rejection | 18d overdue | Pending | Dec 22, 2023 |
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