Technology areas: Communications • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
2 pending office actions • 2 art units • 2 examiners • 0 of 2 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 9 patents granted in the last 365 days
Smartrend Manufacturing Group (Smg) Inc. is currently navigating 2 pending office actions in the Communications technology area. These 2 pending office actions are assigned to 2 distinct examiners, which means that each application is subject to an independent evaluation process. The portfolio is active in 2 distinct art units, indicating that the company's communications technologies are being reviewed by different specialized departments within the patent office.
LAU, HOI CHING is identified as the busiest examiner for the company, currently overseeing 1 pending office action. With 2 distinct examiners and 2 distinct art units involved, the company must manage its 2 pending office actions without the benefit of a centralized examiner relationship. This distributed workload in the Communications sector requires the applicant to be prepared for different examination styles and technical interpretations, as each of the 2 distinct examiners will bring their own perspective to the review process.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 1 (50%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (50%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAU, HOI CHING | 1 | 74.6% | +15.7% |
| LEWIS, JUSTIN V | 1 | 55.4% | +17.6% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18851921 | PORTABLE ILLUMINATED SIGN | LEWIS, JUSTIN V | 29d 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 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18851921 | PORTABLE ILLUMINATED SIGN | LEWIS, JUSTIN V | 29d overdue |
| 18970467 | SCHOOL BUS STOP ARM AND DRIVE UNIT THEREFOR | LAU, HOI CHING | 62d |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2689 | 1 |
| 3637 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18970467 | SCHOOL BUS STOP ARM AND DRIVE UNIT THEREFOR | LAU, HOI CHING | 2689 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 62d | Pending | Dec 05, 2024 |
| 18851921 | PORTABLE ILLUMINATED SIGN | LEWIS, JUSTIN V | 3637 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 29d overdue | Pending | Sep 27, 2024 |
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Start Free TrialSmartrend Manufacturing Group (Smg) Inc. has 2 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 2 art units and 2 examiners.
Hoi Ching Lau has the most, with 1 of Smartrend Manufacturing Group (Smg) Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Communications (USPTO Tech Center 2600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
