Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
215 pending office actions • 73 art units • 170 examiners • 0 of 215 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 455 patents granted in the last 365 days
Ricoh Company, Ltd. currently manages 209 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These actions are distributed across 76 distinct art units, reflecting a broad technical range for the company's chemical and imaging technologies. With 168 distinct examiners involved in these 209 cases, the company faces a high level of examiner variety, as the workload is spread among many different individuals at the USPTO.
KUIPERS, JENNA ANN is the busiest examiner for this portfolio, currently overseeing 8 pending office actions. This examiner's workload represents a small portion of the 209 total pending actions, but they are the most frequent point of contact for the company. The fact that 168 distinct examiners are active across the portfolio means that the company must adapt to many different examination styles and preferences within the 76 art units.
The presence of 76 distinct art units for 209 pending office actions suggests that the company's research is multi-faceted within Chemistry & Materials. Because the work is spread among 168 distinct examiners, the prosecution team must manage a wide range of feedback and requirements. With 8 actions assigned to KUIPERS, JENNA ANN, the remaining actions are distributed among other examiners, highlighting the need for a versatile and comprehensive legal strategy.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 38 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. 38 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 | 6 (3%) |
| §101 + other | 24 (11%) |
| §103 only | 85 (40%) |
| §102 only | 13 (6%) |
| §112 only | 6 (3%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (0%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 4 (2%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 76 (35%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| VALENCIA, ALEJANDRO | 9 | 42.5% | +5.9% |
| KUIPERS, JENNA ANN | 9 | 72.5% | -1.3% |
| NICHOLSON III, LESLIE AUGUST | 4 | 88.3% | +5.2% |
| VAJDA, PETER L | 4 | 75.0% | +12.9% |
| EVANS, BOONE ALEXANDER | 3 | 65.7% | +24.0% |
| SULLIVAN IV, CHARLES COLLINS | 3 | 69.3% | +12.0% |
| THERRIEN, CARLA J | 2 | 86.9% | +4.4% |
| HEREDIA OCASIO, ARLENE J | 2 | 75.4% | +3.0% |
| KUMAR, RAKESH | 2 | 57.1% | +28.3% |
| SHENDEROV, ALEXANDER D | 2 | 90.2% | +6.3% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19170233 | SHEET FOLDER, POST-PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM | NICHOLSON III, LESLIE AUGUST | — |
| 18774781 | SHEET PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM | NICHOLSON III, LESLIE AUGUST | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17847318 | SHOCK ABSORBER AND PACKAGING SYSTEM | STEVENS, ALLAN D | 348d overdue |
| 18176741 | BRAIN FUNCTION DETERMINATION APPARATUS, BRAIN FUNCTION DETERMINATION METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM | BAVA, JANKI MAHESH | 168d overdue |
| 19172667 | INPUT APPARATUS, INPUT METHOD, PROGRAM, AND INPUT SYSTEM | GYAWALI, BIPIN | 52d overdue |
| 18186290 | IN VITRO GENETIC DISEASE MODEL CELL AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME | SULLIVAN, STEPHANIE LAUREN | 22d overdue |
| 18955969 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND CONVERSATION SYSTEM | LEE, JENNIFER V | 11d overdue |
| 18590021 | INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD, MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-EXECUTABLE MEDIUM | MANEJWALA, ISMAIL A | 3d overdue |
| 19022197 | INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE | LEE, PO HAN | 16d |
| 18611782 | FABRIC INKJET INK, INKJET RECORDING METHOD, AND RECORDED MATTER | BOELITZ, SAMUEL FREDERICK | 16d |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17991846 | TONER, TONER PRODUCTION METHOD, TONER STORAGE UNIT, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | VAJDA, PETER L | 50d overdue |
| 18314218 | RESIN PARTICLE AND TONER | SULLIVAN IV, CHARLES COLLINS | 46d |
| 19079041 | MEDIUM PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM | KUMAR, RAKESH | — |
| 18892733 | MEDICATION SUPPORT DEVICE | KUMAR, RAKESH | — |
| 18613267 | RESIN PARTICLES, TONER, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING RESIN PARTICLES, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND METHOD OF FORMING IMAGE | EVANS, BOONE ALEXANDER | — |
| 18581614 | RESIN PARTICLE, TONER, DEVELOPING AGENT, DEVELOPING AGENT ACCOMMODATING UNIT, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING RESIN PARTICLE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD | VAJDA, PETER L | — |
| 18439850 | TWO-COMPONENT DEVELOPING AGENT, DEVELOPING AGENT ACCOMMODATING UNIT, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD | EVANS, BOONE ALEXANDER | — |
| 18402929 | RESIN PARTICLES, METHOD FOR PRODUCING RESIN PARTICLES, TONER, DEVELOPER, TONER STORAGE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | EVANS, BOONE ALEXANDER | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2853 | 10 |
| 1734 | 8 |
| 2852 | 6 |
| 1737 | 6 |
| 3653 | 4 |
| 2682 | 3 |
| 3629 | 2 |
| 3623 | 2 |
| 3688 | 2 |
| 2683 | 2 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19446933 | SCREEN SHARING SYSTEM, SCREEN SHARING METHOD, AND DISPLAY APPARATUS | SIDDIQUI, MD SAIFUL A | 2626 | §101Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 13, 2026 |
| 19392721 | DEVICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, INFORMATION PROCESSING SERVER, AND NON-TRANSITORY RECORDING MEDIUM | LEE, GENE W | 2621 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 18, 2025 |
| 19363672 | INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANAGEMENT METHOD | MONAGHAN, MICHAEL J | 3629 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 21, 2025 |
| 19360244 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM | NGUYEN, CAM LINH T | 2161 | §101Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 16, 2025 |
| 19342712 | SENSOR DEVICE, NON-TRANSITORY RECORDING MEDIUM, AND PRESUMING METHOD | SITTA, GRANT | 2622 | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 29, 2025 |
| 19322704 | MOBILE DEVICE, NETWORK SYSTEM, AND CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAME | WOO, ISAAC M | 2163 | §101§102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 09, 2025 |
| 19321326 | COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD | DANG, HUNG Q | 2484 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 08, 2025 |
| 19149854 | OBSTACLE DETECTION APPARATUS, TRAVELING BODY, OBSTACLE DETECTION METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM | SANTOS, KIRSTEN JADE M | 3664 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 22, 2025 |
| 19270662 | COMMUNICATION TERMINAL, IMAGE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, AND METHOD OF DISPLAYING IMAGE | SHIBRU, HELEN | — | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 16, 2025 |
| 19263943 | INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, IMAGE-CAPTURING DEVICE, AND DISPLAY METHOD | ITSKOVICH, MIKHAIL | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 09, 2025 |
| 19240178 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND SERVICER DEVICE WHICH TRANSMIT NAME INFORMATION | DALENCOURT, YVES | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 17, 2025 |
| 19235995 | MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD | GRIJALVA LOBOS, BORIS D | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 12, 2025 |
| 19132888 | WEARABLE DEVICE AND AROUSAL STATE CONTROL SYSTEM | WEHRHEIM, LINDSEY GAIL | — | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 27, 2025 |
| 19207359 | FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME | THERRIEN, CARLA J | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 14, 2025 |
| 19203547 | CONNECTOR MODULE, WRITING UNIT, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | BEATTY, ROBERT B | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 09, 2025 |
| 19197244 | WRITING DEVICE, DISPLAY DEVICE, AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM | PHAM, LONG D | 2623 | §103 | Final Rejection | 10d overdue | Pending | May 02, 2025 |
| 19126263 | AROUSAL STATE CONTROL SYSTEM, WEARABLE DEVICE, AND AROUSAL STATE CONTROL METHOD | HILSMIER, HEIDI ANN | — | §101§102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 01, 2025 |
| 19192131 | INFORMATION TRANSMISSION SYSTEM, INFORMATION TRANSMISSION METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM | HAMILTON, MATTHEW L | 3682 | §101 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Apr 28, 2025 |
| 19188012 | HEATING DEVICE, FIXING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | THERRIEN, CARLA J | 2852 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Apr 24, 2025 |
| 19173819 | COMMUNICATION APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM | FRANKLIN, RICHARD B | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 09, 2025 |
| 19172667 | INPUT APPARATUS, INPUT METHOD, PROGRAM, AND INPUT SYSTEM | GYAWALI, BIPIN | 2625 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 52d overdue | Pending | Apr 08, 2025 |
| 19170233 | SHEET FOLDER, POST-PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM | NICHOLSON III, LESLIE AUGUST | — | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 04, 2025 |
| 19085268 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD | HEREDIA OCASIO, ARLENE J | 2852 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 20, 2025 |
| 19083484 | LIQUID DISCHARGE HEAD, LIQUID DISCHARGE UNIT, AND LIQUID DISCHARGE APPARATUS | SOLOMON, LISA | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 19, 2025 |
| 19082171 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND SYSTEM | LAZARO, DAVID R | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 18, 2025 |
| 19079041 | MEDIUM PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM | KUMAR, RAKESH | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 13, 2025 |
| 19077103 | LIQUID DISCHARGE HEAD AND LIQUID DISCHARGE APPARATUS | SHENDEROV, ALEXANDER D | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 12, 2025 |
| 19077284 | LIQUID DISCHARGE HEAD, HEAD UNIT, AND LIQUID DISCHARGE APPARATUS | FIDLER, SHELBY LEE | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 12, 2025 |
| 19074483 | SEARCH SYSTEM, SEARCH METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM | GIBSON-WYNN, KENNEDY ANNA | — | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 10, 2025 |
| 19069274 | LIQUID DISCHARGE HEAD, LIQUID DISCHARGE APPARATUS, LIQUID DISCHARGE METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM | CHELST, SHLOMIT ESTHER | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 04, 2025 |
| 19069580 | BELT DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME | WONG, JOSEPH S | 2852 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 04, 2025 |
| 19066532 | MOVABLE DEVICE, IMAGE PROJECTION DEVICE, MOVING OBJECT, HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAY, HEAD-UP DISPLAY, LASER HEADLAMP, OBJECT RECOGNITION DEVICE, AND OBJECT RECOGNITION APPARATUS, AND EYE TRACKING APPARATUS | PIERCE-WALKER, CHAZERAE AYODELE | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 28, 2025 |
| 19066223 | LIQUID COMPOSITION, LIQUID DISCHARGER, AND LIQUID DISCHARGE METHOD | KOPEC, MARK T | 1712 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 28, 2025 |
| 19063309 | MEASURING APPARATUS AND MEASURING METHOD | AYUB, HINA F | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 26, 2025 |
| 19062040 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY RECORDING MEDIUM | LONSBERRY, HUNTER B | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 25, 2025 |
| 19062502 | IMAGE PROJECTION SYSTEM | BUI PHO, PASCAL M | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 25, 2025 |
| 19062448 | CHARACTER STRING DIVIDING APPARATUS, VOCABULARY GROUP GENERATING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM | BLANKENAGEL, BRYAN S | — | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 25, 2025 |
| 19061336 | DEVELOPING DEVICE, PROCESS CARTRIDGE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | AYDIN, SEVAN A | 2852 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 24, 2025 |
| 19057665 | POST-PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM INCORPORATING THE POST-PROCESSING APPARATUS | NICHOLSON III, LESLIE AUGUST | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 19, 2025 |
| 19056801 | MOVABLE DEVICE, IMAGE PROJECTION APPARATUS, HEAD-UP DISPLAY, LASER HEADLAMP, HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAY, OBJECT RECOGNITION APPARATUS, AND MOVING BODY | MUHAMMAD, KEY | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 19, 2025 |
| 19056791 | LIQUID DISCHARGE APPARATUS | ALSHOROOGI, RAMI ABDELNASER | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 19, 2025 |
| 19057231 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD | UHLENHAKE, JASON S | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 19, 2025 |
| 19056795 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, SCREEN GENERATION METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM | FOSTER, THOMAS JOHN | — | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 19, 2025 |
| 19051578 | NON-TRANSITORY RECORDING MEDIUM, DOCUMENT-DATA MERGING SYSTEM, AND DOCUMENT-DATA MERGING METHOD | PACHOL, NICHOLAS C | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 12, 2025 |
| 19051619 | IMAGE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, IMAGE DISTRIBUTION METHOD, AND IMAGE DISTRIBUTION DEVICE | DUONG, JOHNNYKHOI BAO | — | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 12, 2025 |
| 19051198 | BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION DETECTOR, BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE, AND BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD | KOWALKOWSKI, FIONA MARGARET | — | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 12, 2025 |
| 19050201 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM | AZAD, ABUL K | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 11, 2025 |
| 19039264 | COLOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | KNIEF, THOMAS RAY | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 28, 2025 |
| 19039381 | LIQUID EJECTION APPARATUS, LIQUID EJECTION SYSTEM, AND LIQUID EJECTION METHOD | VALENCIA, ALEJANDRO | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 28, 2025 |
| 19038838 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, SCREEN GENERATION METHOD, NON-TRANSITORY RECORDING MEDIUM, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM | NGUYEN, PHU K | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 28, 2025 |
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Start Free TrialRicoh Company, Ltd. has 215 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 73 art units and 170 examiners.
Alejandro Valencia has the most, with 9 of Ricoh Company, Ltd.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Chemistry & Materials (USPTO Tech Center 1700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.