Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Computing & Software • Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
313 pending office actions • 69 art units • 243 examiners • 0 of 313 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 865 patents granted in the last 365 days
SK hynix Inc. maintains a portfolio in the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area with 342 pending office actions. This volume of active prosecution is handled by 258 distinct examiners across 53 distinct art units. The scale of 53 distinct art units demonstrates the technical breadth of the company's innovations, requiring a management strategy to navigate many different departments at the patent office.
The busiest examiner for this portfolio is AGGER, ELIZABETH ROSE, who is currently managing 5 pending office actions. While this is the highest number for any single examiner, it represents a portion of the 342 total pending office actions. The involvement of 258 distinct examiners means that the company must manage these individual relationships, with most examiners handling a limited number of cases for the firm.
The presence of pending office actions across 53 distinct art units suggests that many units are handling multiple cases, providing opportunities for art unit-level strategy. However, the 258 distinct examiners ensure that the individual review process remains distributed. Practitioners must coordinate across these 53 distinct art units to ensure consistency, even as they address the specific concerns of the various examiners involved.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 65 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. 65 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 | 4 (1%) |
| §101 + other | 7 (2%) |
| §103 only | 134 (43%) |
| §102 only | 34 (11%) |
| §112 only | 13 (4%) |
| Double-patenting only | 8 (3%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 4 (1%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 109 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BAUMAN, SCOTT E | 4 | 47.1% | +27.1% |
| WONG, NANCI N | 3 | 87.2% | +22.5% |
| AYASH, MARWAN | 3 | 68.3% | +24.3% |
| TANG, ANTHONY THINH | 3 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| LEBOEUF, JEROME LARRY | 3 | 85.4% | +6.4% |
| MAMO, ELIAS | 3 | 82.8% | +5.9% |
| MERANT, GUERRIER | 3 | 88.7% | -2.4% |
| BASHAR, MOHAMMED A | 3 | 95.1% | +3.4% |
| CHOUDHRY, MOHAMMAD M | 3 | 82.0% | +12.0% |
| AGGER, ELIZABETH ROSE | 3 | 95.2% | -0.9% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18675833 | MEMORY DEVICES CONFIGURED TO PERFORM READ OPERATIONS FOR PSEUDO CHANNELS | BASHAR, MOHAMMED A | 9d |
| 18829125 | CONTROLLER AND MEMORY SYSTEM | MERANT, GUERRIER | 71d |
| 19324141 | DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM INCLUDING MEMORY DEVICE, AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | WONG, NANCI N | — |
| 19087605 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, MEMORY SYSTEM INCLUDING DUTY CYCLE CORRECTION CIRCUIT AND OPERATION METHOD THEREOF | TANG, ANTHONY THINH | — |
| 19073768 | VOLTAGE SUPPLY CIRCUIT | LEBOEUF, JEROME LARRY | — |
| 19052288 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE EFFICIENTLY USING DATA BUFFER, MEMORY CONTROLLER FOR THE DATA STORAGE DEVICE, AND OPERATING METHOD OF THE DATA STORAGE DEVICE | WONG, NANCI N | — |
| 19038090 | STORAGE DEVICE FOR WRITING DATA TO SUPER MEMORY BLOCKS CORRESPONDING TO TAGS, AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE STORAGE DEVICE | WONG, NANCI N | — |
| 19014838 | COMPUTING SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE HAVING EFFICIENT BUS CONNECTIONS | MAMO, ELIAS | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18813037 | MEMORY SYSTEM AND DECODING METHOD FOR THE SAME | TANG, RONG | 43d overdue |
| 17991365 | MEMORY DEVICE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD OF THE MEMORY DEVICE | PRIDEMORE, NATHAN ANDREW | 37d overdue |
| 18366404 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE | CHIU, TSZ K | 32d overdue |
| 18086019 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING A HYBRID TEMPERATURE OF A MEMORY DEVICE | HAGOS, EYOB | 30d overdue |
| 18089582 | MEMORY CONTROLLER AND MEMORY SYSTEM FOR GENERATING INSTRUCTION SET BASED ON NON-INTERLEAVING BLOCK GROUP INFORMATION | HUISMAN, DAVID J | 19d overdue |
| 18545325 | MEMORY DEVICE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD OF THE MEMORY DEVICE | MOJADDEDI, OMAR F | 9d overdue |
| 18346784 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE WITH CIRCUIT TO CHECK THRESHOLD VOLTAGE SHIFT | AGGER, ELIZABETH ROSE | 3d overdue |
| 18632972 | MEMORY DEVICE FOR PERFORMING A PROGRAM OPERATION AND AN OPERATING METHOD OF THE MEMORY DEVICE | WELLS, JAMES STEVEN | 2d overdue |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18945330 | STORAGE DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | AYASH, MARWAN | 13d |
| 18194654 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE HAVING STORAGE NODE CONTACT PLUGS AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING THE SAME | BAUMAN, SCOTT E | 27d |
| 19324141 | DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM INCLUDING MEMORY DEVICE, AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | WONG, NANCI N | — |
| 19234749 | MEMORY CONTROLLER PERFORMING A DATA DUMP OPERATION FROM SOURCE MEMORY TO TARGET MEMORY AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | AYASH, MARWAN | — |
| 19087072 | STORAGE DEVICE INCLUDING REPLAY PROTECTED MEMORY BLOCK (RPMB) HOST DEVICE ACCESSING THE RPMB, ELECTRONIC DEVICE INCLUDING STORAGE DEVICE AND HOST DEVICE, AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | AYASH, MARWAN | — |
| 19052288 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE EFFICIENTLY USING DATA BUFFER, MEMORY CONTROLLER FOR THE DATA STORAGE DEVICE, AND OPERATING METHOD OF THE DATA STORAGE DEVICE | WONG, NANCI N | — |
| 19038090 | STORAGE DEVICE FOR WRITING DATA TO SUPER MEMORY BLOCKS CORRESPONDING TO TAGS, AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE STORAGE DEVICE | WONG, NANCI N | — |
| 18814618 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING THE SAME | CHOUDHRY, MOHAMMAD M | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2898 | 25 |
| 2827 | 18 |
| 2824 | 18 |
| 2893 | 17 |
| 2899 | 14 |
| 2812 | 14 |
| 2897 | 13 |
| 2825 | 12 |
| 2818 | 12 |
| 2137 | 11 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19324141 | DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM INCLUDING MEMORY DEVICE, AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | WONG, NANCI N | 2137 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 10, 2025 |
| 19319727 | HUB DEVICE, OPERATING METHOD OF HUB DEVICE, AND CLUSTER SYSTEM INCLUDING HUB DEVICE | LI, SIDNEY | 2137 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 05, 2025 |
| 19300438 | COMPUTING SYSTEM INCLUDING STORAGE DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | YOON, ALEXANDER J | 2135 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 14, 2025 |
| 19297990 | STORAGE DEVICE FOR COMPRESSING AND STORING DATA, AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | RUIZ, ARACELIS | 2139 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 12, 2025 |
| 19291625 | STORAGE DEVICE STORING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MODEL, AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | HO, AARON D | 2139 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 06, 2025 |
| 19278788 | DATA STORAGE APPARATUS FOR PENDING AND PROCESSING READ COMMAND BASED ON PROCESSING STATUS OF WRITE COMMAND, OPERATING METHOD THEREOF, AND MEMORY CONTROLLER THEREFOR | WADDY JR, EDWARD | 2135 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 24, 2025 |
| 19279638 | STORAGE DEVICE SETTING ZONE WHERE COLD DATA IS TO BE STORED AND OPERATING METHOD OF THE STORAGE DEVICE | YU, JAE UN | 2138 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 24, 2025 |
| 19270088 | STORAGE DEVICE CONTROLLING WRITE BUFFER WHILE PROCESSING POWER OFF REQUEST AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE STORAGE DEVICE | MA, WEI | 2135 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 15, 2025 |
| 19266044 | CONTROLLER AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | WILSON, YOLANDA L | 2113 | §103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 10, 2025 |
| 19263495 | IMAGING DEVICE | BARRY, STEVEN DANIEL | 2638 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 09, 2025 |
| 19263285 | STORAGE DEVICE MIGRATING USER DATA STORED IN MEMORY DIE IN AN UNUSABLE STATE | TSAI, SHENG JEN | 2139 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 08, 2025 |
| 19260629 | CONTROLLER AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | CHOE, YONG J | 2135 | DPOther | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 07, 2025 |
| 19260081 | POWER SUPPLY APPARATUS, HEALTH MONITORING METHOD THEREFOR, AND STORAGE SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME | MCNALLY, KERRI L | 2686 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 03, 2025 |
| 19253312 | A STORAGE DEVICE CONTROLLING LOW POWER MODE ENTRY DELAY AND A METHOD FOR OPERATING THE SAME | MISIURA, BRIAN THOMAS | 2175 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 27, 2025 |
| 19253543 | MEMORY CONTROLLER, MEMORY DEVICE AND MEMORY SYSTEM | YEW, CHIE W | 2139 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 27, 2025 |
| 19248215 | CONTROLLER AND STORAGE DEVICE INCLUDING DATA STRUCTURE INFORMATION CORRESPONDING TO MAP DATA | KORTMAN, CURTIS JAMES | 2139 | §101§102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 24, 2025 |
| 19236619 | STORAGE DEVICE FOR COMPRESSING AND STORING DATA AND METHOD OF OPERATION | PARIKH, KALPIT | 2137 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 12, 2025 |
| 19234703 | MEMORY APPARATUS, MEMORY SYSTEM, AND OPERATION METHOD OF MEMORY SYSTEM | HUANG, BRYAN PAI SONG | 2114 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 11, 2025 |
| 19234749 | MEMORY CONTROLLER PERFORMING A DATA DUMP OPERATION FROM SOURCE MEMORY TO TARGET MEMORY AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | AYASH, MARWAN | 2133 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 11, 2025 |
| 19232867 | MEMORY MODULE, MEMORY SYSTEM INCLUDING MEMORY MODULE, AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | FRANKLIN, RICHARD B | 2181 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 10, 2025 |
| 19227516 | IMAGE SENSOR AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | HENN, TIMOTHY J | 2639 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 04, 2025 |
| 19226344 | METHOD FOR THE FORMATION OF THIN FILMS USING TWO TYPES OF SILICON PRECURSOR | WALTERS JR, ROBERT S | 1715 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 03, 2025 |
| 19218377 | MEMORY SYSTEM ADAPTIVELY ALLOCATING A BUFFER MEMORY, MEMORY CONTROLLER AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | DOAN, KHOA D | 2133 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 26, 2025 |
| 19215895 | PHASE-LOCKED LOOP AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | HILTUNEN, THOMAS J | 2836 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 22, 2025 |
| 19208097 | STORAGE DEVICE TRANSLATING LOGICAL ADDRESS ON THE BASIS OF SEQUENTIALITY OF NAMESPACE, AND METHOD THEREOF | CHAPPELL, DANIEL C | 2135 | §112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 14, 2025 |
| 19204640 | MEMORY CONTROLLER | CHANG, DANIEL D | 2844 | §102Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 12, 2025 |
| 19197610 | TRANSMITTING DEVICE, TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING SYSTEM USING THE TRANSMITTING DEVICE, AND TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING METHOD | ALSHACK, OSMAN M | 2112 | §101DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 02, 2025 |
| 19193709 | PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT EXPRESS DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | PEYTON, TAMMARA R | 2184 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 29, 2025 |
| 19192367 | INTERFACE DEVICE AND METHOD, DATA COMPUTING DEVICE AND DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME | BATAILLE, PIERRE MICHE | 2138 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 29, 2025 |
| 19187789 | STORAGE DEVICE DETERMINING TRANSMISSION INTERVAL OF STATUS READ COMMAND AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE SAME | BATAILLE, PIERRE MICHE | 2138 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 23, 2025 |
| 19183937 | MEMORY, CONTROLLER, MEMORY SYSTEM AND OPERATION METHOD OF MEMORY SYSTEM | PARIKH, KALPIT | 2137 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Apr 21, 2025 |
| 19170074 | IMAGE SENSOR FOR PERFORMING AN ANALOG BINNING OPERATION | TRAN, MAI THI NGOC | 2878 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 04, 2025 |
| 19169576 | MEMORY SYSTEM AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | JACKSON, JAYLUN ARMAN | 2112 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 03, 2025 |
| 19087605 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, MEMORY SYSTEM INCLUDING DUTY CYCLE CORRECTION CIRCUIT AND OPERATION METHOD THEREOF | TANG, ANTHONY THINH | 2827 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 24, 2025 |
| 19087072 | STORAGE DEVICE INCLUDING REPLAY PROTECTED MEMORY BLOCK (RPMB) HOST DEVICE ACCESSING THE RPMB, ELECTRONIC DEVICE INCLUDING STORAGE DEVICE AND HOST DEVICE, AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | AYASH, MARWAN | 2133 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 21, 2025 |
| 19086031 | OPERATING METHOD OF STORAGE DEVICE | CHEN, XIAOCHUN L | 2824 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 20, 2025 |
| 19083982 | IMAGE SENSING DEVICE AND IMAGING SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME | SELBY, GEVELL V | 2638 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 19, 2025 |
| 19077770 | ERROR CORRECTION CIRCUIT AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING SAME | NGUYEN, THIEN DANG | 2111 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 12, 2025 |
| 19109582 | MOLYBDENUM PRECURSOR COMPOUND, METHOD FOR PRODUCING SAME, AND METHOD FOR DEPOSITING MOLYBDENUM-CONTAINING THIN FILM USING SAME | PROCTOR, CACHET I | 1712 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 07, 2025 |
| 19073768 | VOLTAGE SUPPLY CIRCUIT | LEBOEUF, JEROME LARRY | 2824 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 07, 2025 |
| 19071558 | DATA STORAGE APPARATUS USING VIRTUAL ADDRESS, OPERATING METHOD THEREOF, AND MEMORY CONTROLLER THEREFOR | KIM, ELIAS YOUNG | 2135 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 05, 2025 |
| 19071154 | TEST CIRCUIT AND SEMICONDUCTOR APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME | YANG, JEFFREY ANDREW | 2111 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 05, 2025 |
| 19069236 | Bit-Flipping Algorithm for Binary Asymmetric Channels | CHASE, SHELLY A | 2112 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 04, 2025 |
| 19066055 | FAILURE INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ISSUE CLASSIFICATION OF STORAGE DEVICES | KUDIRKA, JOSEPH R | 2114 | §101 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 27, 2025 |
| 19058008 | INTERFACE CONTROL DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF, AND MEMORY DEVICE AND DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM HAVING THE SAME | SUN, SCOTT C | 2181 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 20, 2025 |
| 19057990 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE | ALHWAMDEH, KAREEM FUAD | 2112 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 20, 2025 |
| 19054279 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD | BODNARK, MATTHEW JAMES | 2668 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 14, 2025 |
| 19054181 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF | BUI, THA-O H | 2825 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 14, 2025 |
| 19052288 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE EFFICIENTLY USING DATA BUFFER, MEMORY CONTROLLER FOR THE DATA STORAGE DEVICE, AND OPERATING METHOD OF THE DATA STORAGE DEVICE | WONG, NANCI N | 2137 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 13, 2025 |
| 19049544 | STORAGE DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE STORAGE DEVICE | HO, HOAI V | 2827 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 10, 2025 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialSK hynix Inc. has 313 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 69 art units and 243 examiners.
Scott E Bauman has the most, with 4 of SK hynix Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics (USPTO Tech Center 2800), based on where its pending office actions are examined.