Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026

Tsinghua University

Technology area: Computing & Software

41 pending office actions • 28 art units • 41 examiners • 0 of 41 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 91 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Tsinghua University has 40 pending office actions in the Computing & Software technology area. These 40 actions are assigned to 40 distinct examiners, ensuring that every pending matter is being reviewed by a different person. This high level of examiner variety suggests that the university must manage forty separate prosecution tracks, tailoring its approach to the specific requirements of each individual official.

The portfolio's pending actions are distributed across 28 distinct art units, reflecting a very broad technical range within the computing and software sector. WHALEN, MICHAEL F is the busiest examiner for the university, currently managing 1 pending office action. Because each of the 40 examiners handles exactly 1 action, the workload is evenly spread across the 28 art units involved. This decentralized structure means that the university's overall success is not tied to the performance or timeline of any single examiner, but rather to the collective progress of 40 independent applications being reviewed by 40 different officials at the patent office.

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

Portfolio Summary

41
Total Pending OAs
27
Non-Final OAs
13
Final Rejections
1
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 9 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

6
Overdue
0
Due this week
0
Due this month
2
Due in next 60 days
1
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. 9 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (6)Due ≤ 60 days (2)Due later (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.

26
Hard (63%)
13
Medium (32%)
2
Easy (5%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 only3 (7%)
§101 + other12 (29%)
§103 only12 (29%)
§112 only2 (5%)
Double-patenting + other1 (2%)
Multi-statute (no §101)11 (27%)

Industry Mix

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

3
Life Sciences
7% of docket
10
Information Tech
24% of docket
3
Communications
7% of docket
5
Semiconductors
12% of docket
9
Mechanical / Eng
22% of docket
11
Business / Other
27% 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.

410 h
Manual time on pending OAs
82 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
144 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
3.6 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
WHALEN, MICHAEL F 1 64.8% +18.8%
FOWLER, ALAN JEROME 1 100.0% +0.0%
MCPHERSON, JAMES M 1 82.2% +17.3%
MCNALLY, MICHAEL S 1 89.9% +8.7%
DOWNING, SAVANNAH STARR 1 79.1% +5.9%
THOMAN, EVELYN ANNE 1 100.0% +0.0%
HANCOCK, DIANA ROBERT 1 81.3% +6.0%
NGUYEN, DUNG T 1 82.2% +0.9%
WU, NICHOLAS S 1 52.4% +31.4%
TRAN, TAN H 1 60.9% +32.6%

Quick Wins (3)

Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
18880406 COMMUNICATION METHOD FOR QUANTUM DIRECT COMMUNICATION AND QUANTUM DIRECT COMMUNICATION SYSTEM MCNALLY, MICHAEL S —
18834382 INSPECTION SYSTEM AND INSPECTION METHOD HANCOCK, DIANA ROBERT —
18754400 LARGE-SCALE DISTRIBUTED PHOTOELECTRIC INTELLIGENT COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE AND CHIP SYSTEM NGUYEN, DUNG T —

Hard Cases (26)

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
18128819 NONINTRUSIVE TARGET TRACKING METHOD, SURGICAL ROBOT AND SYSTEM POTTS, RYAN PATRICK 110d overdue
18234384 RETRIEVAL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RESERVOIR WATER STORAGE HENSON, BRANDON JAMES 38d overdue
18259563 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING TRAINING DATA FOR GRAPH NEURAL NETWORK PRESSLY, KURT NICHOLAS 19d overdue
18249162 Method and Apparatus for Weight-Sharing Neural Network with Stochastic Architectures BEAN, GRIFFIN TANNER 3d overdue
18652506 RANGING METHOD AND APPARATUS RAYNAL, ASHLEY BROWN 40d
18699448 BEAM TRAINING METHOD, FIRST NODE, SECOND NODE, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, AND MEDIUM YUN, EUGENE 70d
19147049 AUTONOMOUS DECISION-MAKING CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AVOIDING SECONDARY COLLISION OF VEHICLE WHALEN, MICHAEL F —
19219376 METHOD FOR PROCESSING IONIC LIQUID PREPARATION AND TISSUE, AND APPLICATION THEREOF FOWLER, ALAN JEROME —

Interview Candidates (4)

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 4 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
19147049 AUTONOMOUS DECISION-MAKING CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AVOIDING SECONDARY COLLISION OF VEHICLE WHALEN, MICHAEL F —
19124639 CHASSIS DOMAIN CONTROLLER FOR AUTOMATED DRIVING, AND CONTROL METHOD AND VEHICLE MCPHERSON, JAMES M —
18749144 NEUROMORPHIC OPTICAL COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE SYSTEM AND APPARATUS WU, NICHOLAS S —
18711327 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENTITY ALIGNMENT TRAN, TAN H —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
2128 2
3794 2
3661 1
1691 1
3663 1
2432 1
2884 1
2871 1
3648 1
3722 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
19147049 AUTONOMOUS DECISION-MAKING CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AVOIDING SECONDARY COLLISION OF VEHICLE WHALEN, MICHAEL F 3661 §101 Non-Final OA — Pending Jul 10, 2025
19219376 METHOD FOR PROCESSING IONIC LIQUID PREPARATION AND TISSUE, AND APPLICATION THEREOF FOWLER, ALAN JEROME 1691 §103§112 Final Rejection — Pending May 27, 2025
19124639 CHASSIS DOMAIN CONTROLLER FOR AUTOMATED DRIVING, AND CONTROL METHOD AND VEHICLE MCPHERSON, JAMES M 3663 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 25, 2025
18880406 COMMUNICATION METHOD FOR QUANTUM DIRECT COMMUNICATION AND QUANTUM DIRECT COMMUNICATION SYSTEM MCNALLY, MICHAEL S 2432 §102§103§112DPOther Final Rejection — Pending Dec 31, 2024
18878613 CALIBRATION METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMAGING DEVICE AND IMAGING DEVICE DOWNING, SAVANNAH STARR 2884 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 23, 2024
18714053 IMPLANTABLE LIQUID TRANSFER DEVICE AND LIQUID TRANSFER CONTROL SYSTEM THOMAN, EVELYN ANNE — §101§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 31, 2024
18834382 INSPECTION SYSTEM AND INSPECTION METHOD HANCOCK, DIANA ROBERT — §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jul 30, 2024
18754400 LARGE-SCALE DISTRIBUTED PHOTOELECTRIC INTELLIGENT COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE AND CHIP SYSTEM NGUYEN, DUNG T 2871 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 26, 2024
18749144 NEUROMORPHIC OPTICAL COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE SYSTEM AND APPARATUS WU, NICHOLAS S — §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 20, 2024
18711327 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENTITY ALIGNMENT TRAN, TAN H — §103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 17, 2024
18652506 RANGING METHOD AND APPARATUS RAYNAL, ASHLEY BROWN 3648 §102§112 Final Rejection 40d Pending May 01, 2024
18629958 MIRROR MILLING MACHINING EQUIPMENT AND METHOD FOR LARGE-SCALE ROTARY SPHERICAL THIN-WALLED PARTS VITALE, MICHAEL J 3722 §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 09, 2024
18699448 BEAM TRAINING METHOD, FIRST NODE, SECOND NODE, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, AND MEDIUM YUN, EUGENE 2648 §102§103 Non-Final OA 70d Pending Apr 08, 2024
18695316 DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND DATA PROCESSING METHOD HINCKLEY, CHASE PAUL — §101§102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Mar 25, 2024
18590669 UNIT COMMITMENT METHOD FOR POWER SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED COMPONENTS ULLAH, ARIF 3625 §101 Final Rejection — Pending Feb 28, 2024
18422057 Spin-Orbit Torque Material and Device, and Use of Delafossite Oxide Thin Film RONO, VINCENT KIPKEMOI 2891 §102§103 Final Rejection — Pending Jan 25, 2024
18580872 COMPUTING APPARATUS AND ROBUSTNESS PROCESSING METHOD THEREFOR LEBOEUF, JEROME LARRY 2824 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 19, 2024
18416131 BIODEGRADABLE FILMS COMPRISING POLYHYDROXYALKANOATES YOON, TAE H — §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 18, 2024
18578195 PIPERIDINE DERIVATIVE, AND PHARMACEUTIAL COMPOSITION THEREOF, PREPARATION METHOD THEREFOR, AND USE THEREOF DEKARSKE, MADELINE MCGUIRE 1622 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 10, 2024
18391374 SHARED ENERGY STORAGE SCHEDULING METHOD AND SYSTEM BASED ON ENERGY FREQUENCY REGULATION AND LOAD DEMAND DIAO, M BAYE — §101§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 20, 2023
18572377 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPUTER VISION PROCESSING LEE, TSU-CHANG — §101§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 20, 2023
18565510 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DEEP LEARNING STARKS, WILBERT L — §101 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 29, 2023
18490744 CARBON EMISSION FLOW CALCULATION METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATED ENERGY SYSTEM MOLL, NITHYA JANAKIRAMAN — §101§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 19, 2023
18461717 ORGANIC ELECTROLUMINESCENT DEVICE AND DISPLAY DEVICE NGUYEN, VU ANH — §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 06, 2023
18546842 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VISUAL REASONING CORRIELUS, JEAN M 2159 §101§102§112 Final Rejection — Pending Aug 17, 2023
18546811 METHOD AND APPARATUS OF BOUNDARY REFINEMENT FOR INSTANCE SEGMENTATION RHIM, WOO CHUL 2676 §103 Non-Final OA 9d overdue Pending Aug 17, 2023
18234384 RETRIEVAL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RESERVOIR WATER STORAGE HENSON, BRANDON JAMES 3645 §101§103§112 Final Rejection 38d overdue Pending Aug 16, 2023
18263576 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DEEP NEURAL NETWORKS HAVING ABILITY FOR ADVERSARIAL DETECTION PEACH, POLINA G 2126 §103 Non-Final OA 57d Pending Jul 31, 2023
18259563 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING TRAINING DATA FOR GRAPH NEURAL NETWORK PRESSLY, KURT NICHOLAS 2125 §101§102§103 Final Rejection 19d overdue Pending Jun 27, 2023
18338313 NOVEL METHOD FOR PRODUCING ANTIBODIES NATARAJAN, MEERA 1643 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 20, 2023
18197746 MODULARIZED PARAMETRIC VISUAL PROGRAM INDUCTION ALGORITHM, DEVICE, MEDIUM AND PRODUCT LEE, MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER 2128 §101§102§112 Final Rejection — Pending May 16, 2023
18249162 Method and Apparatus for Weight-Sharing Neural Network with Stochastic Architectures BEAN, GRIFFIN TANNER 2121 §101§103 Final Rejection 3d overdue Pending Apr 14, 2023
18248917 Method and Apparatus for Neural Network Based on Energy-Based Latent Variable Models SACKALOSKY, COREY MATTHEW 2128 §101§103§112 Final Rejection — Pending Apr 13, 2023
18128819 NONINTRUSIVE TARGET TRACKING METHOD, SURGICAL ROBOT AND SYSTEM POTTS, RYAN PATRICK 2672 §103§112 Non-Final OA 110d overdue Pending Mar 30, 2023
18017829 MINIATURE SPECTRUM CHIP BASED ON UNITS OF DIFFERENT SHAPES, AND METHOD FOR GENERATING MICRO-NANO STRUCTURE ARRAY IN MINIATURE SPECTRUM CHIP DINKE, BITEW A 2812 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 24, 2023
18096021 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LEARNING GRAPH REPRESENTATION FOR OUT-OF-DISTRIBUTION GENERALIZATION, DEVICE AND STORAGE MEDIUM LEY, SALLY THI 2147 §103 Non-Final OA 4d overdue Pending Jan 12, 2023
17790414 ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE TOMOGRAPHY BASED METHOD AND DEVICE FOR GENERATING THREE-DIMENSIONAL BLOOD PERFUSION IMAGE GOMES, SRISTI DIVINA 3791 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 30, 2022
17784067 ELECTRODE BAND, ELECTRODE STRUCTURE, FEED LINE, AND ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE IMAGING DEVICE PAPE, ALYSSA MORGAN 3794 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 09, 2022
17782886 METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY IDENTIFYING DESIGN CHANGES IN BUILDING INFORMATION MODEL HOPKINS, DAVID ANDREW 2188 §101§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 06, 2022
17750052 METHOD FOR DATA PROCESSING IN NEURAL NETWORK SYSTEM AND NEURAL NETWORK SYSTEM NYE, LOUIS CHRISTOPHER 2141 §103 Final Rejection — Pending May 20, 2022
17605122 MICROELECTRODE, OCCLUDING DEVICE, MICROELECTRODE SYSTEM, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MICROELECTRODE, AND METHOD FOR USING MICROELECTRODE PREMRAJ, CATHERINE C 3794 §103 Final Rejection — Pending Oct 20, 2021

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