Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
2 pending office actions • 1 art units • 2 examiners • 0 of 2 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 4 patents granted in the last 365 days
Optex Co., Ltd. is managing 2 pending office actions within the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems technology area. Both of these actions are concentrated in 1 distinct art unit, yet they are being reviewed by 2 distinct examiners. This concentration in a single art unit suggests that the company's technology is specialized within a specific mechanical field. The busiest examiner, MULL, FRED H, is responsible for 1 pending action, showing an even distribution of work.
The involvement of 2 distinct examiners within 1 distinct art unit means that the company will receive two different perspectives from the same department. Practitioners can benefit from this by comparing the feedback from each examiner to identify common themes or conflicting requirements within that art unit. However, the relationship of pending actions to examiners means no single official can resolve more than one matter.
With 2 pending office actions, the company must maintain a consistent technical narrative across all filings to ensure success in the 1 distinct art unit. The fact that MULL, FRED H and the other examiner each have only 1 pending action prevents any consolidation of the prosecution effort. This structure requires a coordinated approach to handle the 2 distinct examiners simultaneously.
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 |
|---|---|
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MULL, FRED H | 1 | 67.5% | +15.9% |
| QI, ZHENGQING J | 1 | 68.1% | +12.8% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18869766 | VEHICLE DETECTION SENSOR AND VEHICLE DETECTION SENSOR PROGRAM | MULL, FRED H | — |
| 18717080 | SENSING SENSOR | QI, ZHENGQING J | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18869766 | VEHICLE DETECTION SENSOR AND VEHICLE DETECTION SENSOR PROGRAM | MULL, FRED H | — |
| 18717080 | SENSING SENSOR | QI, ZHENGQING J | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3648 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18869766 | VEHICLE DETECTION SENSOR AND VEHICLE DETECTION SENSOR PROGRAM | MULL, FRED H | 3648 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 26, 2024 |
| 18717080 | SENSING SENSOR | QI, ZHENGQING J | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 06, 2024 |
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