Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
1 pending office actions • 1 art units • 1 examiners • 0 of 1 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 2 patents granted in the last 365 days
Tennessee Technological University currently manages 1 pending office action in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. This action is assigned to 1 distinct art unit, indicating a focused prosecution effort for the university's active patent filings. The singular nature of the pending action suggests a specific technical project is currently under review rather than a broad portfolio of diverse inventions.
The examination is being conducted by 1 distinct examiner, which centralizes the feedback process for the university. NICONOVICH, ALEXANDER R is the busiest examiner for the portfolio, handling 1 busiest examiner pending action. This individual is responsible for the only active office action currently on the university's docket, making them the sole point of contact at the patent office.
Practitioners should note that with 1 pending office action and 1 distinct examiner, the prosecution strategy is highly concentrated. The focus remains entirely within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering field as managed by NICONOVICH, ALEXANDER R. There is no current data indicating a need to coordinate across multiple art units or different examiner styles for this portfolio.
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) | 1 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NICONOVICH, ALEXANDER R | 1 | 72.8% | +21.9% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18756085 | UNILATERAL ELECTRIFIED INTERLOCKING BLOCK SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF | NICONOVICH, ALEXANDER R | — |
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 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18756085 | UNILATERAL ELECTRIFIED INTERLOCKING BLOCK SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF | NICONOVICH, ALEXANDER R | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3711 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18756085 | UNILATERAL ELECTRIFIED INTERLOCKING BLOCK SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF | NICONOVICH, ALEXANDER R | 3711 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 27, 2024 |
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