Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
10 pending office actions • 6 art units • 9 examiners • 0 of 10 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 12 patents granted in the last 365 days
Smiths Medical has 10 pending office actions in Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering. The matters span 9 examiners and 6 art units, showing broad examiner distribution across a smaller set of technical groups. Counsel should use portfolio-level coordination for recurring device concepts while keeping responses tailored to individual examination assignments.
SUL, DOUGLAS YOUNG is the busiest examiner, with 2 pending matters. The limited concentration means most of the docket remains outside that examiner's assignment, making deadline management and consistent technical framing important across the portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 3 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. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 4 (40%) |
| §112 only | 1 (10%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SUL, DOUGLAS YOUNG | 2 | 54.8% | +56.0% |
| PINDERSKI, JACQUELINE M | 1 | 26.8% | +45.4% |
| DIXON, ANNETTE FREDRICKA | 1 | 74.3% | +26.0% |
| MILLER, DANIEL A | 1 | 33.9% | +58.0% |
| LUARCA, MARGARET M | 1 | 74.2% | +19.2% |
| PEKARSKAYA, LILYA | 1 | 67.7% | +41.5% |
| PONTON, JAMES D | 1 | 80.0% | +32.1% |
| ASGHAR, AMINAH | 1 | 60.8% | +46.1% |
| CIGNA, JACOB JAMES | 1 | 63.9% | +32.2% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18812645 | RESPIRATORY THERAPY APPARATUS AND METHODS | PINDERSKI, JACQUELINE M | — |
| 18557646 | HEAT AND MOISTURE EXCHANGE DEVICES, ELEMENTS AND ASSEMBLIES | DIXON, ANNETTE FREDRICKA | — |
| 18282519 | TRACHEOSTOMY TUBES AND THEIR ASSEMBLY | MILLER, DANIEL A | — |
| 18571339 | SAFETY CATHETER ASSEMBLY | PONTON, JAMES D | — |
| 17350854 | INDICIA BEARING SEPTUMS, METHODS OF MANUFACTURING THE SEPTUMS AND PORTAL THEREFOR | CIGNA, JACOB JAMES | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17600047 | DRESSINGS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PHLEBITIS DETECTION | ASGHAR, AMINAH | 21d |
| 18281701 | HME DEVICES | LUARCA, MARGARET M | 27d |
| 17916838 | REINFORCED MEDICO-SURGICAL TUBES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE | SUL, DOUGLAS YOUNG | 68d |
| 18812645 | RESPIRATORY THERAPY APPARATUS AND METHODS | PINDERSKI, JACQUELINE M | — |
| 18568882 | RESPIRATORY THERAPY DEVICES | SUL, DOUGLAS YOUNG | — |
| 18557646 | HEAT AND MOISTURE EXCHANGE DEVICES, ELEMENTS AND ASSEMBLIES | DIXON, ANNETTE FREDRICKA | — |
| 18282519 | TRACHEOSTOMY TUBES AND THEIR ASSEMBLY | MILLER, DANIEL A | — |
| 18751655 | AIR WARMER | PEKARSKAYA, LILYA | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3785 | 5 |
| 3786 | 1 |
| 3746 | 1 |
| 3783 | 1 |
| 3797 | 1 |
| 3726 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18812645 | RESPIRATORY THERAPY APPARATUS AND METHODS | PINDERSKI, JACQUELINE M | 3785 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 22, 2024 |
| 18568882 | RESPIRATORY THERAPY DEVICES | SUL, DOUGLAS YOUNG | 3785 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 11, 2023 |
| 18557646 | HEAT AND MOISTURE EXCHANGE DEVICES, ELEMENTS AND ASSEMBLIES | DIXON, ANNETTE FREDRICKA | 3785 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 27, 2023 |
| 18282519 | TRACHEOSTOMY TUBES AND THEIR ASSEMBLY | MILLER, DANIEL A | 3786 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 16, 2023 |
| 18281701 | HME DEVICES | LUARCA, MARGARET M | 3785 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 27d | Pending | Sep 12, 2023 |
| 17916838 | REINFORCED MEDICO-SURGICAL TUBES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE | SUL, DOUGLAS YOUNG | 3785 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 68d | Pending | Oct 04, 2022 |
| 18751655 | AIR WARMER | PEKARSKAYA, LILYA | 3746 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 24, 2024 |
| 18571339 | SAFETY CATHETER ASSEMBLY | PONTON, JAMES D | 3783 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 18, 2023 |
| 17600047 | DRESSINGS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PHLEBITIS DETECTION | ASGHAR, AMINAH | 3797 | §103 | Final Rejection | 21d | Pending | Sep 29, 2021 |
| 17350854 | INDICIA BEARING SEPTUMS, METHODS OF MANUFACTURING THE SEPTUMS AND PORTAL THEREFOR | CIGNA, JACOB JAMES | 3726 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 17, 2021 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialSmiths Medical has 10 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 6 art units and 9 examiners.
Douglas Young Sul has the most, with 2 of Smiths Medical's pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
