Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
8 pending office actions • 4 art units • 8 examiners • 0 of 8 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 42 patents granted in the last 365 days
NSK Ltd. is managing 8 pending office actions in the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area. These 8 actions are assigned to 8 distinct examiners, meaning every pending matter is currently before a different individual. This one-to-one ratio shows a lack of examiner concentration for the current portfolio. The actions are distributed across 4 distinct art units. JAMES PILKINGTON is the busiest examiner, holding 1 pending office action.
The involvement of 4 distinct art units for 8 pending actions indicates that the company's semiconductor and optics technologies are being reviewed by several different specialized groups within the patent office. Managing 8 pending office actions across 8 distinct examiners requires a broad approach to prosecution, as each application is being reviewed by a different person. This lack of concentration means that no single examiner's feedback will necessarily predict the outcome of other pending matters in the portfolio. The distribution across 4 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. 4 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. 4 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 | 1 (12%) |
| §101 + other | 2 (25%) |
| §103 only | 3 (38%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (25%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PILKINGTON, JAMES | 1 | 70.2% | +35.7% |
| JOHNSON, ERIC | 1 | 62.3% | +22.7% |
| COOK, KYLE A | 1 | 61.8% | +41.4% |
| WAITS, ALAN B | 1 | 68.8% | +29.8% |
| RAEVIS, ROBERT R | 1 | 83.3% | +15.3% |
| FAYYAZ, NASHMIYA SAQIB | 1 | 67.1% | +42.3% |
| MANG, LAL C | 1 | 76.0% | +17.2% |
| SAUNCY, TONI DIAN | 1 | 86.2% | +18.4% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18857716 | CROWN-TYPE RETAINER FOR BALL BEARING, AND BALL BEARING | WAITS, ALAN B | 42d overdue |
| 18968715 | BEARING ELEMENT MANUFACTURING METHOD, BEARING MANUFACTURING METHOD, MACHINE MANUFACTURING METHOD, VEHICLE MANUFACTURING METHOD, BEARING ELEMENT, BEARING, MACHINE, AND VEHICLE | COOK, KYLE A | 19d |
| 18246914 | STATE DIAGNOSIS METHOD, STATE DIAGNOSIS DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | SAUNCY, TONI DIAN | 20d |
| 18564433 | BEARING DEVICE STATE DETECTING METHOD, DETECTING DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | MANG, LAL C | 53d |
| 18856252 | BEARING DEVICE STATE DETECTION METHOD, DETECTION DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | RAEVIS, ROBERT R | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18857716 | CROWN-TYPE RETAINER FOR BALL BEARING, AND BALL BEARING | WAITS, ALAN B | 42d overdue |
| 18968715 | BEARING ELEMENT MANUFACTURING METHOD, BEARING MANUFACTURING METHOD, MACHINE MANUFACTURING METHOD, VEHICLE MANUFACTURING METHOD, BEARING ELEMENT, BEARING, MACHINE, AND VEHICLE | COOK, KYLE A | 19d |
| 18246914 | STATE DIAGNOSIS METHOD, STATE DIAGNOSIS DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | SAUNCY, TONI DIAN | 20d |
| 18564433 | BEARING DEVICE STATE DETECTING METHOD, DETECTING DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | MANG, LAL C | 53d |
| 19116031 | SLIDING COMPONENT | PILKINGTON, JAMES | — |
| 19106637 | BRUSH UNIT AND CONNECTION DEVICE | JOHNSON, ERIC | — |
| 18856252 | BEARING DEVICE STATE DETECTION METHOD, DETECTION DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | RAEVIS, ROBERT R | — |
| 18703537 | MAGNETOSTRICTIVE TORQUE SENSOR AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MAGNETOSTRICTIVE TORQUE SENSOR | FAYYAZ, NASHMIYA SAQIB | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3617 | 2 |
| 2857 | 2 |
| 3726 | 1 |
| 2855 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19116031 | SLIDING COMPONENT | PILKINGTON, JAMES | 3617 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 27, 2025 |
| 19106637 | BRUSH UNIT AND CONNECTION DEVICE | JOHNSON, ERIC | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 26, 2025 |
| 18968715 | BEARING ELEMENT MANUFACTURING METHOD, BEARING MANUFACTURING METHOD, MACHINE MANUFACTURING METHOD, VEHICLE MANUFACTURING METHOD, BEARING ELEMENT, BEARING, MACHINE, AND VEHICLE | COOK, KYLE A | 3726 | §102§112 | Final Rejection | 19d | Pending | Dec 04, 2024 |
| 18857716 | CROWN-TYPE RETAINER FOR BALL BEARING, AND BALL BEARING | WAITS, ALAN B | 3617 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 42d overdue | Pending | Oct 17, 2024 |
| 18856252 | BEARING DEVICE STATE DETECTION METHOD, DETECTION DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | RAEVIS, ROBERT R | — | §101§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 11, 2024 |
| 18703537 | MAGNETOSTRICTIVE TORQUE SENSOR AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MAGNETOSTRICTIVE TORQUE SENSOR | FAYYAZ, NASHMIYA SAQIB | 2855 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 22, 2024 |
| 18564433 | BEARING DEVICE STATE DETECTING METHOD, DETECTING DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | MANG, LAL C | 2857 | §101 | Final Rejection | 53d | Pending | Nov 27, 2023 |
| 18246914 | STATE DIAGNOSIS METHOD, STATE DIAGNOSIS DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | SAUNCY, TONI DIAN | 2857 | §101§103 | Final Rejection | 20d | Pending | Mar 28, 2023 |
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