Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
663 pending office actions • 202 art units • 551 examiners • 0 of 663 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 1,645 patents granted in the last 365 days
Kia Corporation has 682 pending office actions in Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems. The matters are distributed across 563 distinct examiners and 204 distinct art units, indicating a large and widely allocated prosecution program. The examiner count shows substantial breadth, while the lower art-unit count indicates more recurring technical placement and an opportunity to organize work by art unit.
SWEENEY, BRIAN P is the busiest examiner, with 5 pending matters. That assignment merits focused monitoring, but it represents only one part of a docket spread across many examination relationships. A practical program would combine centralized technical and claim standards with art-unit-level coordination, examiner-specific preparation, and consistent tracking of related applications.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 181 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. 181 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 | 23 (3%) |
| §101 + other | 55 (8%) |
| §103 only | 278 (42%) |
| §102 only | 35 (5%) |
| §112 only | 24 (4%) |
| Double-patenting only | 2 (0%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 4 (1%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 236 (36%) |
| No statute on record | 6 (1%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWEENEY, BRIAN P | 5 | 93.4% | +7.6% |
| SHUDY, ANGELINA M | 4 | 76.5% | +7.6% |
| MILLER, LEAH NICOLE | 4 | 54.2% | -4.5% |
| YANG, JAMES J | 4 | 57.0% | +22.3% |
| BEMKO, TARAS P | 4 | 84.4% | +19.2% |
| CATALANO, JACKSON RICHARD | 4 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| WEST, ROBERT GENE | 4 | 73.8% | +21.7% |
| HEIM, MARK ROBERT | 3 | 55.6% | -3.6% |
| KHUU, IRENE C | 3 | 42.3% | +68.5% |
| LEVY, MERRITT E | 3 | 31.7% | +35.6% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 6 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19349454 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING SWITCHING TO MANUAL DRIVING MODE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE | SWEENEY, BRIAN P | — |
| 19349570 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING SWITCHING TO MANUAL DRIVING MODE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE | SWEENEY, BRIAN P | — |
| 19349586 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING SWITCHING TO MANUAL DRIVING MODE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE | SWEENEY, BRIAN P | — |
| 19349575 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING SWITCHING TO MANUAL DRIVING MODE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE | SWEENEY, BRIAN P | — |
| 18938795 | PICKUP VEHICLE WITH LOWER VEHICLE BODY HAVING DRAINAGE STRUCTURE FOR PROTECTING POWER ELECTRONICS SYSTEM | CATALANO, JACKSON RICHARD | — |
| 18889146 | BATTERY COOLING DUCT FOR VEHICLES | BEMKO, TARAS P | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18422790 | SOUND ABSORPTION AND INSULATION MODULE FOR VEHICLE | LUKS, JEREMY AUSTIN | 132d overdue |
| 18476649 | VEHICLE INCLUDING REMOTE CONTROL KEY AND SERVER | GARCIA, CARLOS E | 132d overdue |
| 18743322 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PERFORMING RESPONSE ACTION FOR VOICE COMMAND CONSIDERING PASSENGER PROFILE | SLOWIK, ELIZABETH J | 104d overdue |
| 17983056 | METHOD OF CONDITIONING BATTERY OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE | THOMPSON, JOSEPH LEIGH | 74d overdue |
| 18514248 | System and Method for Generating Driving Path in Vehicle | TANG, BRYANT | 66d overdue |
| 18349589 | Method and System for Automatized Selection and Documentation of Personal Highlights During Journeys with a Motor Vehicle | LEGGETT, ANDREA C. | 50d overdue |
| 18407831 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING HEATING OF VEHICLE BATTERY | ROBERSON, JASON R | 45d overdue |
| 18214987 | COOLING STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING A HOUSING INCLUDING SAME | STEFANON, JUSTIN | 44d overdue |
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 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18971629 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISTINGUISHING OBJECTS USING ULTRASOUND FOR PARKING OF VEHICLE | YANG, JAMES J | 29d overdue |
| 18077851 | System and Method for Updating High-Definition Maps for Autonomous Driving | KHUU, IRENE C | 8d overdue |
| 18664814 | VIRTUAL ENGINE SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR VEHICLE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME | YANG, JAMES J | 5d overdue |
| 18610921 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PERFORMING ENHANCED SELF-PARK MANEUVER USING AUDIO SENSOR INPUT | YANG, JAMES J | 1d overdue |
| 18219039 | APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING TORQUE AND METHOD THEREOF | LEVY, MERRITT E | 33d |
| 18132811 | ALL-SOLID-STATE BATTERY WITH MINIMAL CHANGE IN VOLUME | WEST, ROBERT GENE | 41d |
| 19230968 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A SEAT OF A VEHICLE | KHUU, IRENE C | — |
| 18994739 | VEHICLE FOR PERFORMING MINIMAL RISK MANEUVER, AND VEHICLE OPERATION METHOD | KHUU, IRENE C | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3668 | 26 |
| 3663 | 25 |
| 3662 | 23 |
| 3665 | 21 |
| 3612 | 20 |
| 3669 | 19 |
| 3664 | 18 |
| 3666 | 17 |
| 3667 | 13 |
| 1723 | 13 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18994330 | VEHICLE FOR PERFORMING MINIMAL RISK MANEUVER AND OPERATION METHOD FOR VEHICLE | NGUYEN, TAN QUANG | 3661 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 19, 2025 |
| 19393165 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONVERTING FILES | MCQUITERY, DIEDRA M | 2161 | §101§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 18, 2025 |
| 19391140 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING LANE CHANGE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE | CAMPBELL, JOSHUA A | 3747 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 17, 2025 |
| 19384818 | BATTERY AND AIR CONDITIONING CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD | SEOL, DAVIN | 3662 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 10, 2025 |
| 19382850 | VEHICLE CONTROL DEVICE AND METHOD | HEIM, MARK ROBERT | 3668 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 07, 2025 |
| 19476076 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING/DECODING IMAGE AND RECORDING MEDIUM FOR STORING BITSTREAM | CARTER, RICHARD BRUCE | 2485 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 16, 2025 |
| 19475693 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING/DECODING IMAGE AND RECORDING MEDIUM FOR STORING BITSTREAM | ABDOU TCHOUSSOU, BOUBACAR | 2482 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 15, 2025 |
| 19349454 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING SWITCHING TO MANUAL DRIVING MODE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE | SWEENEY, BRIAN P | 3668 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 03, 2025 |
| 19349570 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING SWITCHING TO MANUAL DRIVING MODE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE | SWEENEY, BRIAN P | 3668 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 03, 2025 |
| 19349586 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING SWITCHING TO MANUAL DRIVING MODE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE | SWEENEY, BRIAN P | 3668 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 03, 2025 |
| 19349575 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING SWITCHING TO MANUAL DRIVING MODE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE | SWEENEY, BRIAN P | 3668 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 03, 2025 |
| 19471614 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING/DECODING IMAGE AND RECORDING MEDIUM FOR STORING BITSTREAM | DEMOSKY, PATRICK E | 2486 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 01, 2025 |
| 19470679 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING/DECODING IMAGE AND RECORDING MEDIUM FOR STORING BITSTREAM | KIM, MATTHEW DAVID | 2483 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 29, 2025 |
| 19336459 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTIMATING A YAW RATE AND PREDICTING A PATH OF A TARGET | OH, HARRY Y | 3657 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 22, 2025 |
| 19324633 | MODELING AN AREA OF A ROBOT WITH CIRCLES AND GENERATING A PATH USING THE SAME | KAN, YURI | 3662 | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 10, 2025 |
| 19325097 | Autonomous Vehicle Control Device and Method | BEAN, JARED C | 3669 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 10, 2025 |
| 19325365 | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE AND METHOD, A PROGRAM, AND A COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM FOR AVOIDING REAR CROSS-TRAFFIC COLLISION | PATEL, SHARDUL D | 3664 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 10, 2025 |
| 19307603 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR UPDATING NAVIGATION MAP INFORMATION | SCHNEIDER, PAULA LYNN | 3668 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 22, 2025 |
| 19305092 | SALES SYSTEM USING A MOBILE ROBOT AND AN OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | MUTSCHLER, JOSEPH M | 3627 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 20, 2025 |
| 19304095 | STEERING CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICL | LIANG, HONGYE | 3664 | §101§102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 19, 2025 |
| 19302968 | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE AND METHOD FOR DRIVING OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE ON HIGH-CURVATURE CURVE | PAIGE, TYLER D | 3664 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 18, 2025 |
| 19301276 | CONTROL DEVICE FOR A HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE AND A CONTROL METHOD THEREOF | AZHAR, ARSLAN | 3656 | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 15, 2025 |
| 19299860 | Apparatus and Method for Controlling Autonomous Driving Vehicle | SARWAR, BABAR | 3667 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 14, 2025 |
| 19155677 | CONTROL METHOD AND CONTROL DEVICE FOR SMART FACTORY | GUNN, JEREMY L | 3624 | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 12, 2025 |
| 19285148 | SYSTEM FOR RECOGNIZING INSIDE STRUCTURE OF TUNNEL BY USING LiDAR POINT DATA AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MODULE AND METHOD IMPLEMENTING THE SAME | STRYKER, NICHOLAS F | 3665 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 30, 2025 |
| 19282813 | MOBILE DEVICE, A VEHICLE HAVING THE SAME, AND A CONTROL METHOD THEREOF | PENDLETON, DIONNE | 2689 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 28, 2025 |
| 19279633 | METHOD, DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR REMOTELY CONTROLLING MOBILITY DEVICE | MALKOWSKI, KENNETH J | 3667 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 24, 2025 |
| 19278092 | APPARATUS AND METHOD OF MANAGING ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING IN CHARGING STATION | SHUDY, ANGELINA M | 3668 | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 23, 2025 |
| 19278616 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AUTOMATED PARKING FOR VEHICLE | MILLER, LEAH NICOLE | 3663 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 23, 2025 |
| 19275722 | DRIVING METHOD IN CASE OF MOTOR FAILURE | KAZIMI, MAHMOUD M | 3665 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 21, 2025 |
| 19272277 | METHOD OF PERFORMING MOBILITY SHARING BASED ON DISINFECTION INFORMATION AND APPARATUS FOR THE SAME | WALSH, EMMETT K | 3626 | §101 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 17, 2025 |
| 19270577 | ELECTRIFIED VEHICLE AND METHOD OF POWER SOURCE CONTROL FOR THE SAME | BARNETT, JOEL | 2836 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 16, 2025 |
| 19271512 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING VEHICLE MOTION | CODUROGLU, JALAL C | 3665 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 16, 2025 |
| 19269414 | Device and Method for Controlling Vehicle | TRAN, ANHTAI V | 2168 | Other | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 15, 2025 |
| 19266787 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING USER INTERFACE IN IMAGE | PETERSON, CHRISTOPHER K | 2637 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 11, 2025 |
| 19265841 | APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING A VEHICLE, A SYSTEM HAVING THE SAME AND A METHOD THEREOF | AFRIFA-KYEI, ANTHONY D | 2686 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 10, 2025 |
| 19265509 | PRESSURE VESSEL AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING PRESSURE VESSEL | SONG, INJA | 1744 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 10, 2025 |
| 19264605 | A VEHICLE CONTROL METHOD AND A VEHICLE IMPLEMENTING THE SAME | CAIN, AARON G | 3656 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 09, 2025 |
| 19263481 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING ELECTRIC POWER USAGE OF VEHICLE HAVING STAY MODE | MARTINEZ, ELIZABETH GALYN | 3668 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 08, 2025 |
| 19263474 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DUAL BATTERIES AND VEHICLE USING THE SAME | INSERRA, MADISON RENEE | 3662 | §102§103Other | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 08, 2025 |
| 19254541 | REMOTE REQUEST PROCESSING METHOD AND SYSTEM | BRADY III, PATRICK MICHAEL | 3665 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 30, 2025 |
| 19251239 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR WARNING OF COLLISION RISK WITH A DYNAMIC OBJECT IN ALL DIRECTIONS AROUND AN EGO VEHICLE | SCHOECH, ASHLEY TIFFANY | 3669 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 26, 2025 |
| 19250853 | VIDEO RECORDING APPARATUS AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF | AYNALEM, NATHNAEL B | 2488 | §103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 26, 2025 |
| 19249186 | METHOD FOR ESTIMATING COMMERCIAL VEHICLE WEIGHT BASED ON DRIVING DATA AND APPARATUS THEREFOR | KHATIB, RAMI | 3669 | §101§102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 25, 2025 |
| 19245866 | AVAILABLE POWER OUTPUT DETERMINATION APPARATUS AND METHOD OF FUEL CELL STACK | KWIATKOWSKA, LIDIA | 3666 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 23, 2025 |
| 19241868 | ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ACTIVATING A VEHICLE FEATURE ON DEMAND (FOD) SERVICE AND AN FOD SERVER AND METHOD FOR SUPPORTING A VEHICLE FOD SERVICE | CERVETTI, DAVID GARCIA | 2409 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 18, 2025 |
| 19241008 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING DATA OF VEHICLE | WOO, ISAAC M | 2163 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 17, 2025 |
| 19240752 | DIGITAL TWIN-BASED AUTOMATED LOGISTICS FACILITY OPERATION SYSTEM AND METHOD | MITCHELL, NATHAN A | 3627 | §112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 17, 2025 |
| 19235176 | VALVE ASSEMBLY | SANCHEZ-MEDINA, REINALDO | 3753 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 11, 2025 |
| 19137774 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING/DECODING IMAGE AND RECORDING MEDIUM FOR STORING BITSTREAM | GINGRICH, SHADAN HAGHANI | 2485 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 11, 2025 |
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Start Free TrialKia Corporation has 663 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 202 art units and 551 examiners.
Brian P Sweeney has the most, with 5 of Kia Corporation's pending office actions.
Mostly Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems (USPTO Tech Center 3600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
