Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
24 pending office actions • 8 art units • 22 examiners • 0 of 24 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 37 patents granted in the last 365 days
United States Postal Service has 23 pending office actions in the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems technology area. These actions are distributed across 8 distinct art units and 21 distinct examiners. This indicates that the count of pending actions is higher than both the count of examiners and the count of art units involved, leading to a decentralized prosecution environment.
GOMEZ, CHRISTOPHER ALBERT is the busiest examiner, managing 2 pending office actions. This is a portion of the 23 pending office actions, showing that no single examiner dominates the current workload. The 8 distinct art units suggest that the agency's innovations are focused on several specific technical sub-domains within transportation and e-commerce. Practitioners should be prepared to engage with 21 distinct examiners, each potentially bringing a unique perspective to the 8 distinct art units, while noting that the busiest examiner handles only 2 of the pending matters.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 7 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. 7 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 |
|---|---|
| §101 only | 4 (17%) |
| §101 + other | 9 (38%) |
| §103 only | 5 (21%) |
| §112 only | 2 (8%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (4%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (12%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GOMEZ, CHRISTOPHER ALBERT | 2 | 26.4% | +30.9% |
| WALSH, EMMETT K | 2 | 52.7% | +20.3% |
| ZHOU, YINGYING | 1 | 47.7% | +46.9% |
| WATSON, PETER HUCKLEBERRY | 1 | 55.1% | +39.0% |
| MOLNAR, HUNTER A | 1 | 50.6% | +33.1% |
| REAGAN, JAMES A | 1 | 71.4% | +19.9% |
| ADDY, THJUAN KNOWLIN | 1 | 89.4% | +6.3% |
| WU, PAYSUN | 1 | 65.5% | +18.7% |
| OH, HARRY Y | 1 | 85.2% | +17.0% |
| HOLMES, JUSTIN | 1 | 88.9% | +10.0% |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19059128 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ACOUSTIC PROCESS MONITORING AND CONTROL | ADDY, THJUAN KNOWLIN | — |
| 19052802 | ROBOTIC VEHICLE INSPECTION | OH, HARRY Y | — |
| 19030996 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSPORTING DISTRIBUTION ITEMS | HOLMES, JUSTIN | — |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18473634 | INTELLIGENT DYNAMIC ROUTING AND DELIVERY SYSTEMS | WALSH, EMMETT K | 70d overdue |
| 18410730 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR CREATING A DISTRIBUTION CAMPAIGN AND ASSOCIATED DIGITAL CONTENT | DAGNEW, SABA | 2d overdue |
| 18990612 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ELECTRONIC AND PHYSICAL MAIL CATEGORIZATION AND TARGETED DELIVERY | RAK, TAYLOR SIMON DUANE | 21d |
| 18886140 | USE OF GEOSPATIAL COORDINATE SYSTEMS FOR TRACKING ITEM DELIVERY | GOMEZ, CHRISTOPHER ALBERT | 34d |
| 18431835 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY RECOGNIZING DELIVERY POINT INFORMATION | THIRUGNANAM, GANDHI | 34d |
| 16746557 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE CONTROL | GOMEZ, CHRISTOPHER ALBERT | 54d |
| 19283065 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DATA AUTHENTICATION SERVICES | ZHOU, YINGYING | — |
| 19268109 | KEY CAPTURE LOCK | WATSON, PETER HUCKLEBERRY | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18473634 | INTELLIGENT DYNAMIC ROUTING AND DELIVERY SYSTEMS | WALSH, EMMETT K | 70d overdue |
| 18886140 | USE OF GEOSPATIAL COORDINATE SYSTEMS FOR TRACKING ITEM DELIVERY | GOMEZ, CHRISTOPHER ALBERT | 34d |
| 16746557 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE CONTROL | GOMEZ, CHRISTOPHER ALBERT | 54d |
| 19283065 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DATA AUTHENTICATION SERVICES | ZHOU, YINGYING | — |
| 19268109 | KEY CAPTURE LOCK | WATSON, PETER HUCKLEBERRY | — |
| 19267112 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CREATING AND USING A HYBRID-DIGITAL MAILBOX | MOLNAR, HUNTER A | — |
| 19246348 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING AND IMPLEMENTING A HOUSEHOLD CUSTOMER DATABASE | REAGAN, JAMES A | — |
| 19056324 | USE OF GEOSPATIAL COORDINATE SYSTEMS FOR MODIFYING MAP AND ROUTE INFORMATION | WU, PAYSUN | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3628 | 6 |
| 3697 | 5 |
| 3621 | 2 |
| 3665 | 1 |
| 3657 | 1 |
| 3624 | 1 |
| 2672 | 1 |
| 2675 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19283065 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DATA AUTHENTICATION SERVICES | ZHOU, YINGYING | 3697 | §101§103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 28, 2025 |
| 19268109 | KEY CAPTURE LOCK | WATSON, PETER HUCKLEBERRY | — | §103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 14, 2025 |
| 19267112 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CREATING AND USING A HYBRID-DIGITAL MAILBOX | MOLNAR, HUNTER A | — | §101DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 11, 2025 |
| 19246348 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING AND IMPLEMENTING A HOUSEHOLD CUSTOMER DATABASE | REAGAN, JAMES A | 3697 | §101DP | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 23, 2025 |
| 19059128 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ACOUSTIC PROCESS MONITORING AND CONTROL | ADDY, THJUAN KNOWLIN | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 20, 2025 |
| 19056324 | USE OF GEOSPATIAL COORDINATE SYSTEMS FOR MODIFYING MAP AND ROUTE INFORMATION | WU, PAYSUN | 3665 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 18, 2025 |
| 19052802 | ROBOTIC VEHICLE INSPECTION | OH, HARRY Y | 3657 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 13, 2025 |
| 19030996 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSPORTING DISTRIBUTION ITEMS | HOLMES, JUSTIN | — | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 17, 2025 |
| 18990612 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ELECTRONIC AND PHYSICAL MAIL CATEGORIZATION AND TARGETED DELIVERY | RAK, TAYLOR SIMON DUANE | 3697 | §103§112Other | Final Rejection | 21d | Pending | Dec 20, 2024 |
| 18974385 | TRANSFORMABLE TRAY AND TRAY SYSTEM FOR RECEIVING, TRANSPORTING AND UNLOADING ITEMS | MYERS, GLENN F | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 09, 2024 |
| 18934649 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR TRACKING MAIL PIECES BASED ON HASH VALUES | ZEROUAL, OMAR | 3628 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 60d overdue | Pending | Nov 01, 2024 |
| 18934659 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR TRACKING MAILED ITEMS BASED ON HASH VALUES | KIRK, BRYAN J | 3628 | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 01, 2024 |
| 18886140 | USE OF GEOSPATIAL COORDINATE SYSTEMS FOR TRACKING ITEM DELIVERY | GOMEZ, CHRISTOPHER ALBERT | 3628 | §101 | Final Rejection | 34d | Pending | Sep 16, 2024 |
| 18821410 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROCESSING ITEMS | ROSARIO, DENNIS | — | §101§102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 30, 2024 |
| 18662670 | INFORMED MOBILITY PLATFORM FOR AN ITEM PROCESSING SUPERVISOR OR USER WITHIN A DISTRIBUTION FACILITY | OBAID, HAMZEH M | 3624 | §101Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 13, 2024 |
| 18658255 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS USING GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES FOR ITEM DELIVERY | WALSH, EMMETT K | 3628 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 08, 2024 |
| 18431835 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY RECOGNIZING DELIVERY POINT INFORMATION | THIRUGNANAM, GANDHI | 2672 | §101§112Other | Final Rejection | 34d | Pending | Feb 02, 2024 |
| 18421603 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BUILDING MACHINE LEARNING OR DEEP LEARNING DATA SETS FOR RECOGNIZING LABELS ON ITEMS | ROZ, MARK | 2675 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 24, 2024 |
| 18410730 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR CREATING A DISTRIBUTION CAMPAIGN AND ASSOCIATED DIGITAL CONTENT | DAGNEW, SABA | 3621 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | 2d overdue | Pending | Jan 11, 2024 |
| 18473634 | INTELLIGENT DYNAMIC ROUTING AND DELIVERY SYSTEMS | WALSH, EMMETT K | 3628 | §101 | Non-Final OA | 70d overdue | Pending | Sep 25, 2023 |
| 17359119 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY DETECTING AND RESOLVING ITEM DELIVERY ISSUES IN DISTRIBUTION NETWORK | SITTNER, MICHAEL J | 3621 | §101§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 25, 2021 |
| 16785354 | SECURE VOTING SYSTEM | HAYES, JOHN W | 3697 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 07, 2020 |
| 16746557 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE CONTROL | GOMEZ, CHRISTOPHER ALBERT | 3628 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 54d | Pending | Jan 17, 2020 |
| 16101248 | CRYPTOGRAPHICALLY TRACKED AND SECURED VOTE BY MAIL SYSTEM | GETACHEW, WODAJO | 3697 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 10, 2018 |
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