Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
6 pending office actions • 3 art units • 6 examiners • 0 of 6 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 7 patents granted in the last 365 days
Nearfield Instruments B V manages 6 pending office actions within the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area. These actions are distributed across 6 distinct examiners and 3 distinct art units. This distribution indicates that while the matters are spread among several examiners, they are concentrated within a smaller number of administrative units. Specifically, the 6 actions are being handled within 3 art units, suggesting some overlap in the technical classification of the company's pending applications.
The busiest examiner for this portfolio is WANG, JING, who is responsible for 1 pending office action. This 1 action represents the maximum workload for any individual examiner within the current set of 6 pending actions. The alignment of 6 actions with 6 distinct examiners shows that each matter is being reviewed by a different official. For the practitioner, this means that while the art unit environment is somewhat consolidated across the 3 units, the individual examiner interactions are unique for each of the 6 pending matters. The prosecution strategy must account for 6 different perspectives.
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 | 2 (33%) |
| §103 only | 1 (17%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WANG, JING | 1 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| DEVITO, ALEX T | 1 | 72.1% | +12.3% |
| VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | 1 | 54.2% | +38.1% |
| LUCK, SEAN M | 1 | 62.7% | +27.5% |
| EINHORN, MICA JILLIAN | 1 | 71.4% | +40.0% |
| OSENBAUGH-STEWART, ELIZA W | 1 | 73.0% | +16.7% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18572344 | METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR REFURBISHING A PROBE FOR USE IN A SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY DEVICE, AND A COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PERFORMING SAID METHOD | DEVITO, ALEX T | 19d overdue |
| 18289407 | SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY, INCLUDING A GRID PLATE QUALIFICATION TOOL | LUCK, SEAN M | 9d overdue |
| 18697040 | ACTIVE DITHER BALANCING OF A MOTION STAGE FOR SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY | WANG, JING | — |
| 18567881 | LASER DIODE ARRANGEMENT, METHOD OF OPERATING A LASER DIODE AND SCANNING MICROSCOPE DEVICE COMPRISING A LASER DIODE | VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | — |
| 17928190 | A PROBE CASSETTE FOR STORING, TRANSPORTING AND HANDLING ONE OR MORE PROBE DEVICES FOR A PROBE BASED SYSTEM | OSENBAUGH-STEWART, ELIZA W | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18288660 | METHOD OF CALIBRATING IN A SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY SYSTEM AN OPTICAL MICROSCOPE, CALIBRATION STRUCTURE AND SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY DEVICE | EINHORN, MICA JILLIAN | 42d overdue |
| 18572344 | METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR REFURBISHING A PROBE FOR USE IN A SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY DEVICE, AND A COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PERFORMING SAID METHOD | DEVITO, ALEX T | 19d overdue |
| 18289407 | SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY, INCLUDING A GRID PLATE QUALIFICATION TOOL | LUCK, SEAN M | 9d overdue |
| 18567881 | LASER DIODE ARRANGEMENT, METHOD OF OPERATING A LASER DIODE AND SCANNING MICROSCOPE DEVICE COMPRISING A LASER DIODE | VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | — |
| 17928190 | A PROBE CASSETTE FOR STORING, TRANSPORTING AND HANDLING ONE OR MORE PROBE DEVICES FOR A PROBE BASED SYSTEM | OSENBAUGH-STEWART, ELIZA W | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2881 | 3 |
| 2855 | 1 |
| 2878 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18697040 | ACTIVE DITHER BALANCING OF A MOTION STAGE FOR SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY | WANG, JING | 2881 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 29, 2024 |
| 18572344 | METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR REFURBISHING A PROBE FOR USE IN A SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY DEVICE, AND A COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PERFORMING SAID METHOD | DEVITO, ALEX T | 2855 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | 19d overdue | Pending | Dec 20, 2023 |
| 18567881 | LASER DIODE ARRANGEMENT, METHOD OF OPERATING A LASER DIODE AND SCANNING MICROSCOPE DEVICE COMPRISING A LASER DIODE | VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 07, 2023 |
| 18289407 | SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY, INCLUDING A GRID PLATE QUALIFICATION TOOL | LUCK, SEAN M | 2878 | §101§102§103 | Final Rejection | 9d overdue | Pending | Nov 03, 2023 |
| 18288660 | METHOD OF CALIBRATING IN A SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY SYSTEM AN OPTICAL MICROSCOPE, CALIBRATION STRUCTURE AND SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY DEVICE | EINHORN, MICA JILLIAN | 2881 | §103 | Final Rejection | 42d overdue | Pending | Oct 27, 2023 |
| 17928190 | A PROBE CASSETTE FOR STORING, TRANSPORTING AND HANDLING ONE OR MORE PROBE DEVICES FOR A PROBE BASED SYSTEM | OSENBAUGH-STEWART, ELIZA W | 2881 | §101§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Nov 28, 2022 |
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