Technology area: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
2 pending office actions • 2 art units • 2 examiners • 0 of 2 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 13 patents granted in the last 365 days
Nippon Thompson Co., Ltd. manages 2 pending office actions in the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems technology area. These matters are assigned to 2 distinct examiners across 2 distinct art units. This means that each of the 2 pending office actions is being reviewed by a different examiner. This distribution requires managing two independent prosecution tracks for its mechanical innovations.
WAITS, ALAN B is the busiest examiner with 1 pending office action. With 2 distinct examiners and 2 distinct art units, the company's current transportation portfolio is split between two different technical divisions. This lack of overlap requires a tailored approach for each of the 2 pending office actions. The company must navigate the specific requirements of 2 different art units to advance its current portfolio. Each of the 2 pending office actions represents a unique technical hurdle in the transportation sector. The resolution of these 2 pending office actions will define the company's immediate progress at the patent office.
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 | 2 (100%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAITS, ALAN B | 1 | 68.9% | +29.7% |
| BUFFINGTON, HEAVEN RICHELLE | 1 | 83.2% | +13.3% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18712508 | CURVED/STRAIGHT GUIDE DEVICE | BUFFINGTON, HEAVEN RICHELLE | — |
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 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18865920 | FOLLOWER BEARING, FOLLOWER BEARING MODULE, AND METHOD OF PRODUCING INNER MEMBER OF FOLLOWER BEARING | WAITS, ALAN B | — |
| 18712508 | CURVED/STRAIGHT GUIDE DEVICE | BUFFINGTON, HEAVEN RICHELLE | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3617 | 1 |
| 3615 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18865920 | FOLLOWER BEARING, FOLLOWER BEARING MODULE, AND METHOD OF PRODUCING INNER MEMBER OF FOLLOWER BEARING | WAITS, ALAN B | 3617 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 14, 2024 |
| 18712508 | CURVED/STRAIGHT GUIDE DEVICE | BUFFINGTON, HEAVEN RICHELLE | 3615 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 22, 2024 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialNippon Thompson Co., Ltd. has 2 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 2 art units and 2 examiners.
Alan B Waits has the most, with 1 of Nippon Thompson Co., Ltd.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems (USPTO Tech Center 3600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
