Technology area: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
3 pending office actions • 2 art units • 3 examiners • 0 of 3 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 1 patents granted in the last 365 days
Smiths Detection-Watford Limited is currently managing 3 pending office actions within the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area. These 3 pending office actions are distributed across 2 distinct art units, suggesting that the company's innovations cover multiple specialized sub-sectors within the semiconductor field. The prosecution involves 3 distinct examiners, which provides a variety of perspectives from the patent office. This distribution across 2 distinct art units indicates the technical scope of the portfolio.
NGUYEN, KIET TUAN is the busiest examiner for this portfolio, currently overseeing 1 pending office action. Since the 3 pending office actions are split among the distinct examiners, the workload is distributed across the art units. This distribution means that each of the 3 distinct examiners is responsible for a unique portion of the portfolio. Practitioners should be prepared to address the specific requirements of the examiners while navigating the 2 distinct art units involved in the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics sector. The 1 pending office action assigned to NGUYEN, KIET TUAN requires a targeted strategy based on that examiner's history. Coordinating between the distinct art units is necessary to ensure consistent prosecution.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NGUYEN, KIET TUAN | 1 | 88.8% | +0.1% |
| WEST, PAUL M | 1 | 84.2% | +13.9% |
| GASSEN, CHRISTOPHER J | 1 | 80.3% | +24.1% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17927137 | AN ION SHUTTER, A METHOD OF CONTROLLING ION SHUTTER, AND DETECTION METHODS AND APPARATUS | GASSEN, CHRISTOPHER J | 43d overdue |
| 18860880 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING FALSE ALARM RATE IN TRACE DETECTION | NGUYEN, KIET TUAN | — |
| 18857108 | DETECTOR INLET AND METHOD | WEST, PAUL M | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17927137 | AN ION SHUTTER, A METHOD OF CONTROLLING ION SHUTTER, AND DETECTION METHODS AND APPARATUS | GASSEN, CHRISTOPHER J | 43d overdue |
| 18857108 | DETECTOR INLET AND METHOD | WEST, PAUL M | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2881 | 2 |
| 2855 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18860880 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING FALSE ALARM RATE IN TRACE DETECTION | NGUYEN, KIET TUAN | 2881 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 28, 2024 |
| 18857108 | DETECTOR INLET AND METHOD | WEST, PAUL M | 2855 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 15, 2024 |
| 17927137 | AN ION SHUTTER, A METHOD OF CONTROLLING ION SHUTTER, AND DETECTION METHODS AND APPARATUS | GASSEN, CHRISTOPHER J | 2881 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 43d overdue | Pending | Nov 22, 2022 |
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Start Free TrialSmiths Detection-Watford Limited has 3 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 2 art units and 3 examiners.
Kiet Tuan Nguyen has the most, with 1 of Smiths Detection-Watford Limited's pending office actions.
Mostly Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics (USPTO Tech Center 2800), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
