Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
4 pending office actions • 1 art units • 3 examiners • 0 of 4 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 6 patents granted in the last 365 days
Intersurgical AG manages 4 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed among 3 distinct examiners, yet they all fall within 1 distinct art unit. This suggests that while the technical subject matter is consistent enough to remain in 1 unit, the workload is spread across the 3 distinct examiners, requiring a consistent argument strategy to ensure uniformity across the portfolio. The concentration in 1 distinct art unit simplifies the technical breadth required for prosecution responses.
The busiest examiner for the company is ZHANG, TINA, who oversees 2 busiest examiner pending office actions. This represents a portion of the total 4 pending office actions for the portfolio. Because the 3 distinct examiners are all operating within the same unit, the applicant may benefit from a unified understanding of that unit's specific examination practices even as they interact with different personnel. The practitioner must balance the 2 busiest examiner pending office actions with the remaining workload handled by the other assigned examiners.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 1 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
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 (25%) |
| §103 only | 1 (25%) |
| §112 only | 1 (25%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (25%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZHANG, TINA | 2 | 56.7% | +43.9% |
| ZIEGLER, MATTHEW D | 1 | 48.3% | +53.6% |
| WOODWARD, VALERIE LYNN | 1 | 71.2% | +27.1% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18256657 | IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO FACE MASKS | ZIEGLER, MATTHEW D | — |
| 17786884 | MONITORING THE OPERATION OF RESPIRATORY SYSTEMS | ZHANG, TINA | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18256737 | IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO FACE MASKS | ZHANG, TINA | 58d overdue |
| 18256657 | IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO FACE MASKS | ZIEGLER, MATTHEW D | — |
| 17786884 | MONITORING THE OPERATION OF RESPIRATORY SYSTEMS | ZHANG, TINA | — |
| 17637685 | RESPIRATORY INTERFACE DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SEALING MEMBER FOR A RESPIRATORY INTERFACE DEVICE | WOODWARD, VALERIE LYNN | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3785 | 4 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18256657 | IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO FACE MASKS | ZIEGLER, MATTHEW D | 3785 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 09, 2023 |
| 18256737 | IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO FACE MASKS | ZHANG, TINA | 3785 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 58d overdue | Pending | Jun 09, 2023 |
| 17786884 | MONITORING THE OPERATION OF RESPIRATORY SYSTEMS | ZHANG, TINA | 3785 | §101§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 17, 2022 |
| 17637685 | RESPIRATORY INTERFACE DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SEALING MEMBER FOR A RESPIRATORY INTERFACE DEVICE | WOODWARD, VALERIE LYNN | 3785 | §112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 23, 2022 |
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