Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
17 pending office actions • 7 art units • 17 examiners • 0 of 17 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 36 patents granted in the last 365 days
KEYENCE Corporation is currently handling 17 pending office actions within the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area. There are 17 distinct examiners assigned to these actions, resulting in a perfect match between the number of examiners and pending matters. This indicates that no single examiner is currently reviewing more than 1 application for the company. The portfolio is distributed across 7 distinct art units.
MAURICE C SMITH is listed as the busiest examiner with 1 pending office action. The presence of 17 distinct examiners across 7 art units suggests that while the technology is concentrated in semiconductors and optics, the specific examination is highly decentralized among many different patent office personnel. Managing 17 pending office actions across 17 distinct examiners requires a strategy that accounts for a wide variety of individual examiner preferences. This distribution across 7 distinct art units highlights the technical breadth of the company's current semiconductor and optics filings.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 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 | 2 (12%) |
| §103 only | 5 (29%) |
| §102 only | 1 (6%) |
| §112 only | 2 (12%) |
| Double-patenting only | 2 (12%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (29%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMITH, MAURICE C | 1 | 84.5% | -4.0% |
| CUTLER, ALBERT H | 1 | 79.4% | +21.1% |
| PATEL, PARESH H | 1 | 79.5% | -1.1% |
| MAHONEY, CHRISTOPHER E | 1 | 83.0% | +11.8% |
| RHODES-VIVOUR, TEMILADE S | 1 | 88.7% | +7.6% |
| CARTER, AARON W | 1 | 84.9% | +8.9% |
| ELLIS, SUEZU Y | 1 | 76.8% | +21.6% |
| VOLENTINE, REBECCA A | 1 | 76.2% | +17.8% |
| THOMPSON, LESLIE J. | 1 | 68.4% | +9.3% |
| TRAN, TAM T | 1 | 81.1% | +11.6% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19095069 | OPTICAL DISPLACEMENT MEASUREMENT SYSTEM | SMITH, MAURICE C | — |
| 19015903 | PROXIMITY SENSOR | MAHONEY, CHRISTOPHER E | — |
| 19015892 | PROXIMITY SENSOR | RHODES-VIVOUR, TEMILADE S | — |
| 18887064 | INSPECTION SETTING DEVICE | TRAN, TAM T | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 7 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18912643 | IMAGE MEASUREMENT APPARATUS | VOLENTINE, REBECCA A | 34d |
| 19064072 | PORTABLE INFORMATION TERMINAL AND IMAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD | CUTLER, ALBERT H | — |
| 19015884 | PROXIMITY SENSOR | PATEL, PARESH H | — |
| 18986869 | COLONY COUNTING DEVICE AND CONTROL METHOD | CARTER, AARON W | — |
| 18785075 | LEVEL METER | HUANG, DAVID Z | — |
| 18222489 | REVERSE ENGINEERING SUPPORT APPARATUS | TAMIRU, ABRHAM ALEHEGN | — |
| 17688968 | ANALYSIS DEVICE AND ANALYSIS METHOD | NEGIN, RUSSELL SCOTT | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18912643 | IMAGE MEASUREMENT APPARATUS | VOLENTINE, REBECCA A | 34d |
| 19064072 | PORTABLE INFORMATION TERMINAL AND IMAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD | CUTLER, ALBERT H | — |
| 19015903 | PROXIMITY SENSOR | MAHONEY, CHRISTOPHER E | — |
| 18985152 | CONTROLLER AND CODE READER SYSTEM | ELLIS, SUEZU Y | — |
| 18887064 | INSPECTION SETTING DEVICE | TRAN, TAM T | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2876 | 1 |
| 2483 | 1 |
| 2853 | 1 |
| 2668 | 1 |
| 2118 | 1 |
| 1798 | 1 |
| 1684 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19095069 | OPTICAL DISPLACEMENT MEASUREMENT SYSTEM | SMITH, MAURICE C | — | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 31, 2025 |
| 19064072 | PORTABLE INFORMATION TERMINAL AND IMAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD | CUTLER, ALBERT H | — | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 26, 2025 |
| 19015884 | PROXIMITY SENSOR | PATEL, PARESH H | — | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 10, 2025 |
| 19015903 | PROXIMITY SENSOR | MAHONEY, CHRISTOPHER E | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 10, 2025 |
| 19015892 | PROXIMITY SENSOR | RHODES-VIVOUR, TEMILADE S | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 10, 2025 |
| 18986869 | COLONY COUNTING DEVICE AND CONTROL METHOD | CARTER, AARON W | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 19, 2024 |
| 18985152 | CONTROLLER AND CODE READER SYSTEM | ELLIS, SUEZU Y | 2876 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 18, 2024 |
| 18912643 | IMAGE MEASUREMENT APPARATUS | VOLENTINE, REBECCA A | 2483 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 34d | Pending | Oct 11, 2024 |
| 18911856 | INK JET PRINTER | THOMPSON, LESLIE J. | 2853 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 10, 2024 |
| 18887064 | INSPECTION SETTING DEVICE | TRAN, TAM T | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 17, 2024 |
| 18785075 | LEVEL METER | HUANG, DAVID Z | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 26, 2024 |
| 18780568 | OPTICAL DISPLACEMENT METER | STAFIRA, MICHAEL PATRICK | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 23, 2024 |
| 18443381 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD | LIN, JESSICA YIFANG | 2668 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 16, 2024 |
| 18411085 | PROCESS QUANTITY MEASUREMENT DEVICE | YOON, ERIC | 2118 | §103 | Final Rejection | 28d | Pending | Jan 12, 2024 |
| 18222489 | REVERSE ENGINEERING SUPPORT APPARATUS | TAMIRU, ABRHAM ALEHEGN | — | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 17, 2023 |
| 18221407 | COLONY COUNTING DEVICE, AND CONTROL METHOD | MUTREJA, JYOTI NAGPAUL | 1798 | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 13, 2023 |
| 17688968 | ANALYSIS DEVICE AND ANALYSIS METHOD | NEGIN, RUSSELL SCOTT | 1684 | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 08, 2022 |
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