Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026

Sumitomo Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.

Technology area: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems

15 pending office actions • 8 art units • 15 examiners • 0 of 15 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 27 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Sumitomo Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. is currently navigating 14 pending office actions in the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems technology area. These matters are spread across 14 distinct examiners, meaning every pending action is assigned to a different individual. The workload spans 8 distinct art units, which suggests the portfolio covers several different mechanical or systems-based sub-specialties. This level of examiner diversity means that no single examiner's habits will dominate the company's overall prosecution experience.

The busiest examiner, VON VOLKENBURG, KEITH ALLEN, is responsible for 1 busiest examiner pending action. Because the distinct examiners are each handling a single pending office action, the workload is distributed across the examination staff. This distribution across 8 distinct art units requires a strategy that accounts for many different examiner perspectives and art unit cultures simultaneously. Practitioners must prepare for separate sets of examiner preferences, as there is no overlap between the individuals reviewing these cases. This arrangement can lead to varied outcomes across the portfolio.

Written from this page's own data; every figure is computed from USPTO records and verified before publication.

Portfolio Summary

15
Total Pending OAs
8
Non-Final OAs
5
Final Rejections
2
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

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.

2
Overdue
0
Due this week
0
Due this month
1
Due in next 60 days
0
Due later

Deadline Fire Line

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.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (2)Due ≤ 60 days (1)

Case Difficulty Mix

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.

10
Hard (67%)
5
Medium (33%)
0
Easy (0%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 + other2 (13%)
§103 only4 (27%)
Double-patenting + other1 (7%)
Multi-statute (no §101)8 (53%)

Industry Mix

How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.

0
Life Sciences
0% of docket
1
Information Tech
7% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
0
Semiconductors
0% of docket
8
Mechanical / Eng
53% of docket
6
Business / Other
40% of docket

Time-on-OA Estimate

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.

150 h
Manual time on pending OAs
30 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
52 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
1.3 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
WILLIAMS, PATRICK C 1 80.6% +25.3%
VON VOLKENBURG, KEITH ALLEN 1 76.9% +28.3%
LI, RUIPING 1 76.8% +18.4%
ARTIMEZ, DANA FERREN 1 57.7% +38.5%
HILGENDORF, DALE W 1 84.1% +21.7%
VU, TUAN A 1 73.2% +21.1%
SLOWIK, ELIZABETH J 1 45.2% +5.7%
PANDE, ASHUTOSH 1 58.6% -2.9%
ANWARI, MACEEH 1 81.1% +5.8%
NELESKI, ELIZABETH ROSE 1 74.8% +15.7%

Hard Cases (10)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18899565 EXCAVATOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, EXCAVATOR MANAGEMENT METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM SLOWIK, ELIZABETH J 49d overdue
18976910 EXCAVATOR ARTIMEZ, DANA FERREN 3d overdue
18743623 INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD TEKLE, DANIEL T 40d
18985801 WORK MACHINE WILLIAMS, PATRICK C —
18978425 EXCAVATOR, DISPLAY APPARATUS, AND REMOTE OPERATION ASSISTANCE APPARATUS VON VOLKENBURG, KEITH ALLEN —
18978487 EXCAVATOR AND EXCAVATOR CONTROL SYSTEM LI, RUIPING —
18931630 EXCAVATOR AND EXCAVATOR OPERATION CONTROL SYSTEM HILGENDORF, DALE W —
18895890 EXCAVATOR, EXCAVATOR CONTROL SYSTEM, AND REMOTE EXCAVATOR OPERATION SYSTEM ANWARI, MACEEH —

Interview Candidates (7)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18976910 EXCAVATOR ARTIMEZ, DANA FERREN 3d overdue
18985801 WORK MACHINE WILLIAMS, PATRICK C —
18978425 EXCAVATOR, DISPLAY APPARATUS, AND REMOTE OPERATION ASSISTANCE APPARATUS VON VOLKENBURG, KEITH ALLEN —
18978487 EXCAVATOR AND EXCAVATOR CONTROL SYSTEM LI, RUIPING —
18931630 EXCAVATOR AND EXCAVATOR OPERATION CONTROL SYSTEM HILGENDORF, DALE W —
18899454 EXCAVATOR VU, TUAN A —
18894400 EXCAVATOR, MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF EXCAVATOR, AND SUPPORT APPARATUS OF EXCAVATOR NELESKI, ELIZABETH ROSE —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
3663 2
3665 1
3667 1
3662 1
3668 1
3658 1
2481 1
3666 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
18985801 WORK MACHINE WILLIAMS, PATRICK C — §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 18, 2024
18978425 EXCAVATOR, DISPLAY APPARATUS, AND REMOTE OPERATION ASSISTANCE APPARATUS VON VOLKENBURG, KEITH ALLEN 3665 §103§112 Final Rejection — Pending Dec 12, 2024
18978487 EXCAVATOR AND EXCAVATOR CONTROL SYSTEM LI, RUIPING — §101§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 12, 2024
18976910 EXCAVATOR ARTIMEZ, DANA FERREN 3667 §103§112 Final Rejection 3d overdue Pending Dec 11, 2024
18931630 EXCAVATOR AND EXCAVATOR OPERATION CONTROL SYSTEM HILGENDORF, DALE W — §103§112 Final Rejection — Pending Oct 30, 2024
18899454 EXCAVATOR VU, TUAN A — §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 27, 2024
18899565 EXCAVATOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, EXCAVATOR MANAGEMENT METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM SLOWIK, ELIZABETH J 3662 §101§103 Final Rejection 49d overdue Pending Sep 27, 2024
18895879 SHOVEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND SHOVEL MANAGEMENT METHOD PANDE, ASHUTOSH 3668 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 25, 2024
18895890 EXCAVATOR, EXCAVATOR CONTROL SYSTEM, AND REMOTE EXCAVATOR OPERATION SYSTEM ANWARI, MACEEH 3663 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 25, 2024
18894400 EXCAVATOR, MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF EXCAVATOR, AND SUPPORT APPARATUS OF EXCAVATOR NELESKI, ELIZABETH ROSE 3658 §102§103 Final Rejection — Pending Sep 24, 2024
18891306 ASPHALT FINISHER AND POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM FOR ASPHALT FINISHER LEE, JONG SUK — §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 20, 2024
18883181 ASPHALT FINISHER, AND POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM FOR ASPHALT FINISHER HARTMANN, GARY S — §102§103§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 12, 2024
18743623 INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD TEKLE, DANIEL T 2481 §103§112 Non-Final OA 40d Pending Jun 14, 2024
18474587 EXCAVATOR BEDEWI, RAMI NABIH 3666 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 26, 2023
18059037 EXCAVATOR MARUNDA II, TORRENCE S 3663 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 28, 2022

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