Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
117 pending office actions • 36 art units • 100 examiners • 0 of 117 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 512 patents granted in the last 365 days
SanDisk Technologies Inc. has 119 pending office actions in the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area. These actions are distributed across 101 distinct examiners and 36 distinct art units. This distribution indicates a large and technically diverse portfolio with a wide range of examination oversight.
The busiest examiner is KORTMAN, CURTIS JAMES, who is currently handling 3 pending office actions. While there are 101 distinct examiners involved, the 119 pending office actions are concentrated enough that some examiners handle multiple files. The 36 distinct art units involved suggest that the company's technology spans many specialized groups within the semiconductor and optics fields. Practitioners must manage 119 pending office actions by tailoring strategies to the specific requirements of 36 distinct art units. This level of activity across 101 distinct examiners requires careful coordination to maintain consistency in the company's overall patent strategy. The involvement of 101 distinct examiners highlights the importance of understanding individual examiner behavior across the 119 pending office actions.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 26 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. 26 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 + other | 2 (2%) |
| §103 only | 43 (37%) |
| §102 only | 12 (10%) |
| §112 only | 8 (7%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (1%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 2 (2%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 49 (42%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KORTMAN, CURTIS JAMES | 3 | 79.4% | +24.0% |
| BASHAR, MOHAMMED A | 3 | 95.1% | +3.4% |
| OBERLY, ERIC T | 2 | 74.1% | +14.7% |
| ELAHIAN, DANIEL | 2 | 74.4% | +52.4% |
| LUU, PHO M | 2 | 96.9% | +3.3% |
| WELLS, JAMES STEVEN | 2 | 88.9% | +2.5% |
| HIDALGO, FERNANDO N | 2 | 93.4% | +1.3% |
| LUONG, DUY HAN | 2 | 95.1% | +7.7% |
| SMET, UYEN TRAN | 2 | 93.0% | +3.2% |
| RADKE, JAY W | 2 | 86.0% | +8.4% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18220387 | BITLINE TIMING-BASED MULTI-STATE PROGRAMMING IN NON-VOLATILE MEMORY STRUCTURES | LUONG, DUY HAN | 2d overdue |
| 18743421 | PROACTIVE ERROR DETECTION IN A MEMORY DEVICE | LUONG, DUY HAN | 1d overdue |
| 18647612 | PERFORMANCE SAVING DURING BLOCK JUMPING | SMET, UYEN TRAN | 9d |
| 18614774 | NONVOLATILE MEMORY WITH FAST PROGRAM VOLTAGE RAMP DOWN | RADKE, JAY W | 30d |
| 19062880 | OVONIC THRESHOLD SWITCH DEVICES WITH ASYMMETRIC ELECTRODES AND METHODS FOR FORMING THE SAME | LUU, PHO M | — |
| 18978534 | PROGRAM-VERIFY TECHNIQUES IN A MEMORY DEVICE | LUU, PHO M | — |
| 18978514 | MULTI-PASS PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES FOR MEMORY DEVICES | BASHAR, MOHAMMED A | — |
| 18887730 | TECHNIQUE TO DETECT AN UNSELECTED SUB-BLOCK STATUS IN A MEMORY DEVICE | BASHAR, MOHAMMED A | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18357379 | SOLDER BARRIER CONTACT FOR AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT | SEVEN, EVREN | 29d overdue |
| 18748836 | PROGRAMMING WITHOUT PRE-CHARGE IN NONVOLATILE MEMORY DEVICES | BRASWELL, DONALD H.B. | 19d overdue |
| 18545601 | HYBRID THERMAL INTERFACE MATERIAL WITH EMBEDDED METAL LAYER | ENAD, CHRISTINE A | 18d overdue |
| 18360555 | SEMICONDUCTOR DIE STACKING ARCHITECTURE AND CONNECTION METHOD THEREFORE | NICELY, JOSEPH C | 15d overdue |
| 18649558 | COOLING APPARATUS FOR DISSIPATING HEAT IN AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE | MUIR, MATTHEW SINCLAIR | 12d |
| 18473774 | SCHEDULING EXECUTION OF COMMANDS IN A DATA STORAGE DEVICE BASED ON COMMAND PARAMETERS | HEADLY, MELISSA A | 13d |
| 18464779 | BACK GRINDING TAPE HAVING TABS TO ASSIST IN REMOVING THE BACK GRINDING TAPE FROM A WAFER | TURNER, BRIAN | 26d |
| 18365394 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR INCREASING CROSS BIT LINE PITCH IN NON-VOLATILE MEMORY CONTROL CIRCUITS | SALERNO, SARAH KATE | 27d |
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 7 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18488421 | IMPROVED HOST DRAM AND PCIE BANDWIDTH UTILIZATION FOR DRAM-LESS DEVICES | KORTMAN, CURTIS JAMES | 56d |
| 19223785 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE WITH DUAL MEMORY SPACES ACCESSIBLE CONCURRENTLY BY A HOST USING DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS | OBERLY, ERIC T | — |
| 19205728 | DATA STORAGE DEVICES WITH DUAL MEMORY SPACES | OBERLY, ERIC T | — |
| 19066145 | Unlocking a Data Storage Device Using a Web Application | ELAHIAN, DANIEL | — |
| 19032509 | OPTIMIZING SEARCHING OF LOGICAL-TO-PHYSICAL (L2P) ADDRESS TRANSLATION TABLE ENTRIES IN DATA STORAGE DEVICES | KORTMAN, CURTIS JAMES | — |
| 18924819 | Communication with a Data Storage Device with a Web Application | ELAHIAN, DANIEL | — |
| 18660521 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR SUB-BLOCK READ REFRESH FOR NONVOLATILE MEMORY DEVICES | KORTMAN, CURTIS JAMES | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2824 | 12 |
| 2827 | 12 |
| 2825 | 7 |
| 2812 | 6 |
| 2818 | 6 |
| 2184 | 5 |
| 2139 | 4 |
| 2893 | 4 |
| 2898 | 4 |
| 2137 | 3 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19279786 | Adaptive Use of Multiple Channels and Memory Cell Conversion in a Storage Device | LOONAN, ERIC T | — | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 24, 2025 |
| 19265663 | I/O Prioritization During Model Load | GEBRIL, MOHAMED M | 2135 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 10, 2025 |
| 19223785 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE WITH DUAL MEMORY SPACES ACCESSIBLE CONCURRENTLY BY A HOST USING DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS | OBERLY, ERIC T | 2184 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 30, 2025 |
| 19205728 | DATA STORAGE DEVICES WITH DUAL MEMORY SPACES | OBERLY, ERIC T | 2184 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 12, 2025 |
| 19089263 | HOST WORKLOAD BASED ADDRESS TABLE UPDATE MANAGEMENT IN DATA STORAGE DEVICES | WARREN, TRACY A | 2137 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 25, 2025 |
| 19075844 | MULTI-TIER NONVOLATILE MEMORY WITH FAILURE AND ERROR MITIGATION | YANG, HAN | 2824 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 11, 2025 |
| 19066145 | Unlocking a Data Storage Device Using a Web Application | ELAHIAN, DANIEL | 2407 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 27, 2025 |
| 19065882 | DATA ROUTING AND MEMORY BLOCK MANAGEMENT IN A SUB-BLOCK MEMORY SYSTEM | RUIZ, ARACELIS | 2139 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 27, 2025 |
| 19062880 | OVONIC THRESHOLD SWITCH DEVICES WITH ASYMMETRIC ELECTRODES AND METHODS FOR FORMING THE SAME | LUU, PHO M | 2824 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 25, 2025 |
| 19046563 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR MEMORY STARTUP USING SELECTIVE POWER ON READ BYPASS | DOAN, KHOA D | 2133 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 06, 2025 |
| 19046314 | SEQUENCE FOR FIRST FIRE AND FORMING IN CROSS-POINT ARRAYS | HUANG, MIN | 2827 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 05, 2025 |
| 19046037 | READ TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING PERFORMANCE IN MULTI-BIT MEMORY CELLS | HEISTERKAMP, JUSTIN BRYCE | 2827 | §102§103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 05, 2025 |
| 19046048 | SUB-BLOCK MODE ERASE TECHNIQUES IN A MEMORY DEVICE | NGUYEN, VIET Q | 2827 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 05, 2025 |
| 19044957 | Storage Optimization of CAT Table During Background Operations | MAMO, ELIAS | 2184 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 04, 2025 |
| 19044081 | WORD LINE BIT IGNORE PARAMETERS IN A MEMORY DEVICE | CHO, SUNG IL | 2825 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 03, 2025 |
| 19039948 | Data Storage Device and Method for Bit-Error-Rate Balancing in Fractional-Bit-Per-Cell Memory | WELLS, JAMES STEVEN | 2825 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 29, 2025 |
| 19040410 | Hidden L0p Exit Latency In Read Workload | FATIMA, AYMAN | 2176 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 29, 2025 |
| 19039962 | Data Storage Device and Method for Read Threshold Calibration in Fractional-Bit-Per-Cell Memory | WELLS, JAMES STEVEN | 2825 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 29, 2025 |
| 19033889 | PROTECTING DATA IN AN UNLOCKED STORAGE DEVICE | CHAPPELL, DANIEL C | 2135 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 22, 2025 |
| 19032509 | OPTIMIZING SEARCHING OF LOGICAL-TO-PHYSICAL (L2P) ADDRESS TRANSLATION TABLE ENTRIES IN DATA STORAGE DEVICES | KORTMAN, CURTIS JAMES | 2139 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 21, 2025 |
| 18986018 | COMBINATION SINGLE-LEVEL CELL PROGRAM MODES TO IMPROVE CELL ENDURANCE | HIDALGO, FERNANDO N | 2827 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 18, 2024 |
| 18982579 | DATA RETENTION READ METHOD | BUI, THA-O H | 2825 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 16, 2024 |
| 18982906 | RECYCLE CURRENT DURING SENSE OF MEMORY CELLS | BASHAR, MOHAMMED A | 2824 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 16, 2024 |
| 18982656 | EDGE WORD LINE BIAS ENGINEERING FOR THRESHOLD VOLTAGE MARGIN IMPROVEMENT OF SUB-BLOCK MODE | COON, BRADLEY SCOTT | 2827 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 16, 2024 |
| 18978534 | PROGRAM-VERIFY TECHNIQUES IN A MEMORY DEVICE | LUU, PHO M | 2824 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 12, 2024 |
| 18978514 | MULTI-PASS PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES FOR MEMORY DEVICES | BASHAR, MOHAMMED A | 2824 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 12, 2024 |
| 18943157 | ELECTRICAL STRESS DETECTION CIRCUITRY FOR A SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | YENINAS, STEVEN LEE | 2858 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 11, 2024 |
| 18924819 | Communication with a Data Storage Device with a Web Application | ELAHIAN, DANIEL | 2407 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 23, 2024 |
| 18916844 | NONVOLATILE MEMORY WITH MULTI-CELL WEIGHT STRUCTURE | HO, HOAI V | 2827 | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 16, 2024 |
| 18902041 | ELECTRONIC DEVICE ENCLOSURE HAVING A PLURALITY OF SURFACE FEATURES | MANDEVILLE, JASON M | 2623 | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 30, 2024 |
| 18897573 | WORD LINE ZONE ERASE TECHNIQUES FOR MEMORY DEVICES | TRAN, MICHAEL THANH | 2827 | §102§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 26, 2024 |
| 18894234 | SYNCHRONIZATION POINT BASED PARAMETER TUNING IN A STORAGE DEVICE | ALROBAIE, KHAMDAN N | 2824 | §112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 24, 2024 |
| 18887730 | TECHNIQUE TO DETECT AN UNSELECTED SUB-BLOCK STATUS IN A MEMORY DEVICE | BASHAR, MOHAMMED A | 2824 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 17, 2024 |
| 18829622 | Dynamic Lane Allocation On Power Limited, Dual Port PCIe Device | HUYNH, KIM T | 2184 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 10, 2024 |
| 18803091 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE HAVING BIFACIAL SEMICONDUCTOR WAFERS | MICHAUD, ROBERT J | 2622 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 13, 2024 |
| 18780696 | LINK RECEIVER CIRCUITRY FOR CONTROLLER-MEMORY DEVICE INTERFACES IN DATA STORAGE DEVICES | LIENG, MALANE | 2843 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 23, 2024 |
| 18776797 | Data Integrity Protection Of SSDs Utilizing Streams | THAMMAVONG, PRASITH | 2137 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 18, 2024 |
| 18774511 | AUTHENTICATABLE ENCLOSURE FOR AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE | POLLEY, CHRISTOPHER M | 1785 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 34d | Pending | Jul 16, 2024 |
| 18770407 | Dynamic Integrity and Datat Encryption (IDE) Aggregation Size | MUNGUIA, DUILIO | 2497 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 43d overdue | Pending | Jul 11, 2024 |
| 18756374 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING PAIRED MEMORY DEVICES | GREWAL, HEIM KIRIN | 2812 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 27, 2024 |
| 18748383 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING AN INTEGRATED TIM-ON-DIE | LE, THAO P | 2818 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 20, 2024 |
| 18748836 | PROGRAMMING WITHOUT PRE-CHARGE IN NONVOLATILE MEMORY DEVICES | BRASWELL, DONALD H.B. | 2825 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 19d overdue | Pending | Jun 20, 2024 |
| 18743421 | PROACTIVE ERROR DETECTION IN A MEMORY DEVICE | LUONG, DUY HAN | 2825 | §103 | Final Rejection | 1d overdue | Pending | Jun 14, 2024 |
| 18740674 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING AN INTEGRATED WAFER LEVEL HEAT SINK WINDOW PLATE | PAPE, ZACHARY | 2841 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 12, 2024 |
| 18738634 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING EMBEDDED SEMICONDUCTOR DIES | SABUR, ALIA | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 10, 2024 |
| 18738801 | SSD WAFER DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SAME | TRAN, THANH Y | — | §102DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 10, 2024 |
| 18665523 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE INCLUDING A SEMICONDUCTOR DIE MATRIX TILE | SHOOK, DANIEL P | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 15, 2024 |
| 18660521 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR SUB-BLOCK READ REFRESH FOR NONVOLATILE MEMORY DEVICES | KORTMAN, CURTIS JAMES | 2139 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 10, 2024 |
| 18649558 | COOLING APPARATUS FOR DISSIPATING HEAT IN AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE | MUIR, MATTHEW SINCLAIR | 2835 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 12d | Pending | Apr 29, 2024 |
| 18647612 | PERFORMANCE SAVING DURING BLOCK JUMPING | SMET, UYEN TRAN | 2824 | §103 | Final Rejection | 9d | Pending | Apr 26, 2024 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialSanDisk Technologies Inc. has 117 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 36 art units and 100 examiners.
Curtis James Kortman has the most, with 3 of SanDisk Technologies Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics (USPTO Tech Center 2800), based on where its pending office actions are examined.