Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Computing & Software • Communications
19 pending office actions • 12 art units • 18 examiners • 1 of 19 (5%) have an AI response strategy ready • 40 patents granted in the last 365 days
Universal Electronics Inc. currently manages 18 pending office actions within the Computing & Software technology area. These 18 pending office actions are distributed across 11 distinct art units, which suggests a broad technical scope for their current applications. The involvement of 17 distinct examiners means that almost every pending case is being reviewed by a different individual, requiring an individualized prosecution strategy for each matter. This diversity requires careful coordination across the portfolio.
The busiest examiner is ABOU EL SEOUD, MOHAMED, who is responsible for 2 of the pending office actions. Because there are 17 distinct examiners and 11 distinct art units, the applicant must navigate a variety of examiner preferences and departmental standards. This level of examiner diversity across the Computing & Software sector indicates a decentralized prosecution environment. Managing the 18 pending office actions under these conditions requires attention to the specific requirements of each of the 11 distinct art units.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
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 | 1 (5%) |
| §101 + other | 1 (5%) |
| §103 only | 9 (47%) |
| §112 only | 2 (11%) |
| Double-patenting only | 3 (16%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (16%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABOU EL SEOUD, MOHAMED | 2 | 39.3% | +37.3% |
| AZIZ, ADNAN | 1 | 76.7% | +35.0% |
| VETTER, DANIEL | 1 | 20.1% | +9.0% |
| VU, MICHAEL T | 1 | 85.9% | +13.1% |
| MORRISON, RASHEN E | 1 | 85.2% | +11.3% |
| KHALID, OMER | 1 | 66.7% | +23.1% |
| KIM, HYUN SOO | 1 | 88.6% | +13.2% |
| ISLAM, MOHAMMAD K | 1 | 82.9% | +17.2% |
| SURYAWANSHI, SURESH | 1 | 88.4% | +12.6% |
| MURILLO GARCIA, FABRICIO R | 1 | 85.0% | +57.1% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19020389 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LOCATION-BASED, AUTOMATED CONTROL OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES | VU, MICHAEL T | — |
| 18940241 | POWER-SAVING SENSOR | KIM, HYUN SOO | — |
| 18939759 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING NOISE SUPPRESSION TO AN INTELLIGENT PERSONAL ASSISTANT | ISLAM, MOHAMMAD K | — |
| 18818875 | SECURITY SYSTEM AUTOMATIC BYPASS RESET | MURILLO GARCIA, FABRICIO R | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 6 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18525241 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR APPLIANCE DETECTION, APP CONFIGURATION, AND SMART LOCK CONTROL | JOSEPH, TONYA S | 24d overdue |
| 19207924 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REALIZING UTILITY COST SAVINGS | VETTER, DANIEL | — |
| 19001014 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RETROFITTING BATTERY-OPERATED DEVICES | MORRISON, RASHEN E | — |
| 18828305 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USING SECURITY SENSORS IN CONNECTION WITH A THERMOSTAT | SURYAWANSHI, SURESH | — |
| 18763551 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RECOMMENDING HOME APPLIANCES TO A CONSUMER | PHILLIPS, III, ALBERT M | — |
| 17976203 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE AND DATA TRANSFER METHODS IN A CONTROLLING DEVICE | ABOU EL SEOUD, MOHAMED | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19250299 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VOICE ACTUATED CONFIGURATION OF A CONTROLLING DEVICE | AZIZ, ADNAN | — |
| 19020389 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LOCATION-BASED, AUTOMATED CONTROL OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES | VU, MICHAEL T | — |
| 19001014 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RETROFITTING BATTERY-OPERATED DEVICES | MORRISON, RASHEN E | — |
| 18987649 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING INPUT ELEMENTS OF A CONTROLLING DEVICE | KHALID, OMER | — |
| 18940241 | POWER-SAVING SENSOR | KIM, HYUN SOO | — |
| 18939759 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING NOISE SUPPRESSION TO AN INTELLIGENT PERSONAL ASSISTANT | ISLAM, MOHAMMAD K | — |
| 18828305 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USING SECURITY SENSORS IN CONNECTION WITH A THERMOSTAT | SURYAWANSHI, SURESH | — |
| 18818875 | SECURITY SYSTEM AUTOMATIC BYPASS RESET | MURILLO GARCIA, FABRICIO R | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2422 | 2 |
| 2148 | 2 |
| 2686 | 1 |
| 2176 | 1 |
| 2653 | 1 |
| 2159 | 1 |
| 2629 | 1 |
| 3628 | 1 |
| 3645 | 1 |
| 2115 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19250299 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VOICE ACTUATED CONFIGURATION OF A CONTROLLING DEVICE | AZIZ, ADNAN | 2686 | §112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 26, 2025 |
| 19207924 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REALIZING UTILITY COST SAVINGS | VETTER, DANIEL | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 14, 2025 |
| 19020389 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LOCATION-BASED, AUTOMATED CONTROL OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES | VU, MICHAEL T | — | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 14, 2025 |
| 19001014 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RETROFITTING BATTERY-OPERATED DEVICES | MORRISON, RASHEN E | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 24, 2024 |
| 18987649 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING INPUT ELEMENTS OF A CONTROLLING DEVICE | KHALID, OMER | 2422 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 19, 2024 |
| 18940241 | POWER-SAVING SENSOR | KIM, HYUN SOO | 2176 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 07, 2024 |
| 18939759 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING NOISE SUPPRESSION TO AN INTELLIGENT PERSONAL ASSISTANT | ISLAM, MOHAMMAD K | 2653 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 07, 2024 |
| 18828305 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USING SECURITY SENSORS IN CONNECTION WITH A THERMOSTAT | SURYAWANSHI, SURESH | — | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 09, 2024 |
| 18818875 | SECURITY SYSTEM AUTOMATIC BYPASS RESET | MURILLO GARCIA, FABRICIO R | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 29, 2024 |
| 18763551 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RECOMMENDING HOME APPLIANCES TO A CONSUMER | PHILLIPS, III, ALBERT M | 2159 | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 03, 2024 |
| 18613858 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DIRECTING VOICE INPUT IN A CONTROLLING DEVICE | NGUYEN, JENNIFER T | 2629 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 22, 2024 |
| 18525241 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR APPLIANCE DETECTION, APP CONFIGURATION, AND SMART LOCK CONTROL | JOSEPH, TONYA S | 3628 | §101§103§112 | Final Rejection | 24d overdue | Pending | Nov 30, 2023 |
| 18380536 | MONITORING DEVICE HAVING 360 DEGREE SENSING CAPABILITIES | HULKA, JAMES R | 3645 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 16, 2023 |
| 18469098 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH THERMOSTAT THAT IS NOT IN COMMUNICATION WITH LAN | POUDEL, SANTOSH RAJ | 2115 | §103Other | Final Rejection | 12d | Pending | Sep 18, 2023 |
| 17976203 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE AND DATA TRANSFER METHODS IN A CONTROLLING DEVICE | ABOU EL SEOUD, MOHAMED | 2148 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 28, 2022 |
| 17951778 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE AND DATA TRANSFER METHODS IN A CONTROLLING DEVICE | ABOU EL SEOUD, MOHAMED | 2148 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 23, 2022 |
| 17552399 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING CONTROL OF AUGMENTED REALITY AND VIRTUAL REALITY CONTENT | JOSEPH, DENNIS P | 2621 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 16, 2021 |
| 16743219 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZED APPLIANCE UTILIZATION | MISIURA, BRIAN THOMAS | 2175 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | AI Ready | Jan 15, 2020 |
| 16195222 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING AN ADAPTIVE USER INTERFACE ON AN ELECTRONIC APPLIANCE | LEE, MICHAEL | 2422 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 19, 2018 |
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