Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
44 pending office actions • 14 art units • 37 examiners • 0 of 44 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 49 patents granted in the last 365 days
Nhk Spring Co., Ltd. has 45 pending office actions currently active in the Communications technology area. Prosecution is spread across 37 distinct examiners and 14 distinct art units. This distribution shows that while the company faces a variety of 37 distinct examiners, the technical focus is relatively contained within 14 specific administrative groups at the patent office. This structure allows for some consistency in prosecution strategy at the art unit level despite the variety of individual examiners.
The examiner with the highest volume for this portfolio is KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH, who is currently managing 4 pending office actions. With the distinct examiners involved in 45 pending actions, most examiners are likely handling only a single case for the company. The 14 distinct art units provide a framework for understanding how the Communications technology area is being segmented for this specific portfolio. Practitioners should monitor the 4 pending office actions with KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH for trends that could influence the broader communications portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 10 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. 10 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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 13 (30%) |
| §102 only | 6 (14%) |
| §112 only | 2 (5%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (2%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 22 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH | 3 | 80.9% | +18.2% |
| KIM, MICHELLE JINJU | 2 | 70.0% | +50.0% |
| TORRES WILLIAMS, MELANIE | 2 | 84.6% | +11.8% |
| TAUFIQ, FARAH N | 2 | 61.6% | +25.2% |
| AHMED, FAISAL | 2 | — | — |
| IRVIN, THOMAS W | 2 | 77.4% | +14.5% |
| BOOTH, ALEXANDER D | 1 | 54.4% | +37.6% |
| NELSON JR, MILTON | 1 | 84.6% | +5.7% |
| LIBBY, TROY ALAN | 1 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| YENINAS, STEVEN LEE | 1 | 73.5% | +5.4% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19186340 | VEHICLE SEAT FRAME | NELSON JR, MILTON | — |
| 19114740 | RECORDING DEVICE AND COVER | KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH | — |
| 18708112 | LEAF SPRING DEVICE | TORRES WILLIAMS, MELANIE | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18826386 | THERMAL SPRAYING EQUIPMENT AND THERMAL SPRAYING CONTROL METHOD | PENCE, JETHRO M | 10d overdue |
| 18494235 | COIL SPRING AND SUSPENSION FOR VEHICLE | IRVIN, THOMAS W | 10d overdue |
| 18290562 | GOLF SHAFT AND MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR SAME | BALDORI, JOSEPH B | 26d |
| 19276396 | HEAD DRIVING DEVICE | KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH | — |
| 18849461 | STATOR MANUFACTURING METHOD | BOOTH, ALEXANDER D | — |
| 19186272 | BLOWER MOUNTING STRUCTURE FOR VEHICLE SEAT AND VEHICLE SEAT | LIBBY, TROY ALAN | — |
| 19074933 | PROBE HOLDER AND INSPECTION METHOD | YENINAS, STEVEN LEE | — |
| 19049752 | COILING MACHINE AND PRODUCTION METHOD FOR COIL SPRINGS | ALAWADI, MOHAMMED S | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18494235 | COIL SPRING AND SUSPENSION FOR VEHICLE | IRVIN, THOMAS W | 10d overdue |
| 18321447 | COIL SPRING | IRVIN, THOMAS W | 15d |
| 19276396 | HEAD DRIVING DEVICE | KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH | — |
| 18849461 | STATOR MANUFACTURING METHOD | BOOTH, ALEXANDER D | — |
| 19114740 | RECORDING DEVICE AND COVER | KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH | — |
| 19050136 | DISK DRIVE SUSPENSION | KIM, MICHELLE JINJU | — |
| 19050137 | DISK DRIVE SUSPENSION | KIM, MICHELLE JINJU | — |
| 18871599 | VEHICLE SUSPENSION DEVICE | TORRES WILLIAMS, MELANIE | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2688 | 3 |
| 2858 | 2 |
| 3616 | 2 |
| 2485 | 1 |
| 1712 | 1 |
| 1785 | 1 |
| 1717 | 1 |
| 2834 | 1 |
| 2841 | 1 |
| 3711 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19276396 | HEAD DRIVING DEVICE | KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH | — | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 22, 2025 |
| 18849461 | STATOR MANUFACTURING METHOD | BOOTH, ALEXANDER D | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 01, 2025 |
| 19186340 | VEHICLE SEAT FRAME | NELSON JR, MILTON | — | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 22, 2025 |
| 19186272 | BLOWER MOUNTING STRUCTURE FOR VEHICLE SEAT AND VEHICLE SEAT | LIBBY, TROY ALAN | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 22, 2025 |
| 19114740 | RECORDING DEVICE AND COVER | KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH | 2688 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 24, 2025 |
| 19074933 | PROBE HOLDER AND INSPECTION METHOD | YENINAS, STEVEN LEE | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 10, 2025 |
| 19068080 | PROBE UNIT AND CONTACT PROBE | ALEJNIKOV JR, ROBERT P | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 03, 2025 |
| 19050136 | DISK DRIVE SUSPENSION | KIM, MICHELLE JINJU | 2688 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 11, 2025 |
| 19050137 | DISK DRIVE SUSPENSION | KIM, MICHELLE JINJU | 2688 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 11, 2025 |
| 19049752 | COILING MACHINE AND PRODUCTION METHOD FOR COIL SPRINGS | ALAWADI, MOHAMMED S | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 10, 2025 |
| 19036108 | CONTACT PROBE, PROBE HOLDER AND PROBE UNIT | HYDER, G.M. ALI | — | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 24, 2025 |
| 18988056 | PERSONAL WATERCRAFT AND CONTROLLING METHOD OF THE SAME | AVILA, STEPHEN P | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 19, 2024 |
| 18985392 | TERMINAL CONNECTION PORTION FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE | AYCHILLHUM, ANDARGIE M | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 18, 2024 |
| 18978193 | CONVEYANCE DEVICE AND CONVEYANCE METHOD | HARP, WILLIAM RAY | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 12, 2024 |
| 18969387 | INSPECTION DEVICE AND INSPECTION METHOD | LEE, Y YOUNG | 2485 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 05, 2024 |
| 18871599 | VEHICLE SUSPENSION DEVICE | TORRES WILLIAMS, MELANIE | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 04, 2024 |
| 18851942 | COATING METHOD AND SHEET MATERIAL | EMPIE, NATHAN H | 1712 | §103 | Final Rejection | 23d | Pending | Sep 27, 2024 |
| 18898406 | ROTARY DEVICE AND THERMAL SPRAYING APPARATUS | RAIMUND, CHRISTOPHER W | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 26, 2024 |
| 18850973 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING STABILIZER AND BASE MATERIAL | GUTHRIE, TERESA A | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 25, 2024 |
| 18891702 | DISPLACEMENT DETECTION DEVICE, DISPLACEMENT DETECTION SYSTEM AND INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT | LE, THANG XUAN | 2858 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 20, 2024 |
| 18848377 | COATING MATERIAL APPLICATION SYSTEM, CONTROL DEVICE, CONTROL METHOD, AND CONTROL PROGRAM | TAUFIQ, FARAH N | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 18, 2024 |
| 18848331 | ACCUMULATOR | AHMED, FAISAL | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 18, 2024 |
| 18885892 | EPOXY RESIN COMPOSITION FOR INTERLAYER INSULATION, RESIN SHEET FOR INTERLAYER INSULATION, LAMINATE FOR CIRCUIT BOARD, METAL- BASED CIRCUIT BOARD, AND POWER MODULE | POLLEY, CHRISTOPHER M | 1785 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 16, 2024 |
| 18846493 | DISC SPRING MEMBER | SCHWARTZ, CHRISTOPHER P | — | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 12, 2024 |
| 18826386 | THERMAL SPRAYING EQUIPMENT AND THERMAL SPRAYING CONTROL METHOD | PENCE, JETHRO M | 1717 | §102§112 | Final Rejection | 10d overdue | Pending | Sep 06, 2024 |
| 18834762 | SURFACE TREATMENT JIG | VAUGHAN, JASON L | — | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 31, 2024 |
| 18726139 | CAP BELLOWS ASSEMBLY AND ACCUMULATOR | LU, HAOTIAN | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 02, 2024 |
| 18724700 | MANUFACTURING METHOD AND EXTERIOR BODY OF ACCUMULATOR | AHMED, FAISAL | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 27, 2024 |
| 18751200 | MASKING FIXTURE | DODDS, SCOTT | — | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 22, 2024 |
| 18719232 | STATOR | SINGH, ALEXANDER A | 2834 | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 12, 2024 |
| 18739486 | SUSPENSION DEVICE | BURCH, MELODY M | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 11, 2024 |
| 18738218 | METAL MASK | TAUFIQ, FARAH N | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 10, 2024 |
| 18716979 | STABILIZER MANUFACTURING METHOD AND STABILIZER | SAHNI, VISHAL R | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 06, 2024 |
| 18708112 | LEAF SPRING DEVICE | TORRES WILLIAMS, MELANIE | — | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 07, 2024 |
| 18706163 | RECORDING DEVICE, MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREFOR, AND HOUSING | KRIM, PETER | 2841 | §103 | Final Rejection | 15d | Pending | Apr 30, 2024 |
| 18424927 | CONTACT PROBE AND PROBE UNIT | PATEL, PARESH H | 2858 | §102 | Final Rejection | 36d | Pending | Jan 29, 2024 |
| 18408598 | PIEZOELECTRIC ELEMENT AND DISK DRIVE SUSPENSION | KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 10, 2024 |
| 18290562 | GOLF SHAFT AND MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR SAME | BALDORI, JOSEPH B | 3711 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 26d | Pending | Nov 14, 2023 |
| 18494235 | COIL SPRING AND SUSPENSION FOR VEHICLE | IRVIN, THOMAS W | 3616 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 10d overdue | Pending | Oct 25, 2023 |
| 18321447 | COIL SPRING | IRVIN, THOMAS W | 3616 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 15d | Pending | May 22, 2023 |
| 18317461 | LASER WELDING JOINT AND LASER WELDING METHOD | KIM, SANG K | 3745 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 15, 2023 |
| 18008845 | AUTOMATIC SHIP HANDLING SYSTEM, SHIP CONTROL DEVICE, SHIP CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM | LI, HELEN | 3665 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 210d overdue | Pending | Dec 07, 2022 |
| 17582848 | HEATER | RHUE, ABIGAIL H | 3761 | §103 | Final Rejection | 26d | Pending | Jan 24, 2022 |
| 17564245 | CARRIER DEVICE WITH COUPLING MECHANISM | MEDANI, MOHAMED | 3611 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 36d | Pending | Dec 29, 2021 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free Trial