Technology area: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
168 pending office actions • 49 art units • 130 examiners • 0 of 168 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 342 patents granted in the last 365 days
ZF Friedrichshafen AG has 171 pending office actions in Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems. The portfolio spans 130 examiners and 48 art units, creating a substantial coordination challenge across both individual examiner relationships and technical groupings.
KING, BRADLEY T is the busiest examiner, with 9 pending matters. That assignment is meaningful for targeted monitoring, but the much larger examiner figure shows that most prosecution activity is distributed among other examiners. The art-unit figure also indicates repeated activity within technical groupings, supporting centralized art-unit intelligence alongside matter-level review.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 29 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. 29 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 + other | 13 (8%) |
| §103 only | 39 (23%) |
| §102 only | 15 (9%) |
| §112 only | 10 (6%) |
| Double-patenting only | 2 (1%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (1%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 88 (52%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KING, BRADLEY T | 9 | 70.8% | +22.5% |
| LANE, NICHOLAS J | 7 | 65.8% | +6.9% |
| LAGUARDA, GONZALO | 3 | 73.0% | +7.2% |
| WILLIAMS, THOMAS J | 3 | 78.7% | +14.2% |
| HSIAO, JAMES K | 3 | 77.1% | +15.2% |
| LEWIS, TISHA D | 3 | 87.7% | +9.6% |
| ALGARASH, KAREM AKRAM | 3 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| AUNG, SAN M | 3 | 77.7% | +20.4% |
| BURCH, MELODY M | 3 | 64.2% | +26.5% |
| SCHWARTZ, CHRISTOPHER P | 2 | 85.5% | +6.2% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18467525 | Method for Determining a Defect State of a Drive Train of a Vehicle, Monitoring Unit and Vehicle | LAGUARDA, GONZALO | 19d overdue |
| 18552932 | ELECTRIC PARKING BRAKE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCTION THEREOF | IRVIN, THOMAS W | 11d overdue |
| 18538425 | METHOD FOR BRAKE CONTROL OF A VEHICLE COMBINATION AND BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR OPERATING THIS METHOD | KING, BRADLEY T | 9d overdue |
| 17989235 | METHOD FOR OPERATING A BRAKE SYSTEM OF A MOTOR VEHICLE, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT, CONTROL UNIT AND BRAKE SYSTEM | KING, BRADLEY T | 4d overdue |
| 18743706 | ELECTRIC MACHINE FOR DRIVING A MOTOR VEHICLE | JOHNSON, ERIC | 2d overdue |
| 18517013 | AIRBAG MODULE, VEHICLE SEAT HAVING AN AIRBAG MODULE, AND VEHICLE | BECK, KAREN | 22d |
| 18579063 | ATTACHMENT OF AN ENERGY STORE TO A VEHICLE FRAME | ADAMS, PHILIP CHARLES | 23d |
| 18355245 | HEAT DISSIPATION DEVICE FOR A CONVERTER FOR A VEHICLE, POWER CONVERTER, ELECTRIC AXLE DRIVE, VEHICLE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING A HEAT DISSIPATION DEVICE | TIVARUS, CRISTIAN ALEXANDRU | 26d |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18458396 | ADAPTING A BRAKE CLEARANCE TO A TRAFFIC SITUATION | HSIAO, JAMES K | 85d overdue |
| 18538425 | METHOD FOR BRAKE CONTROL OF A VEHICLE COMBINATION AND BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR OPERATING THIS METHOD | KING, BRADLEY T | 9d overdue |
| 17989235 | METHOD FOR OPERATING A BRAKE SYSTEM OF A MOTOR VEHICLE, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT, CONTROL UNIT AND BRAKE SYSTEM | KING, BRADLEY T | 4d overdue |
| 18079557 | HYDRAULIC MOTOR VEHICLE BRAKE SYSTEM | BURCH, MELODY M | 14d |
| 18544551 | ACCUMULATOR WITH FAST FILL SUPPLY VALVE AND BRAKE SYSTEM USING SAME | KING, BRADLEY T | 29d |
| 18170942 | BRAKE SYSTEM FOR MOTOR VEHICLE | KING, BRADLEY T | 33d |
| 18447541 | BRAKE SYSTEMS WITH MOTOR-DRIVEN MASTER CYLINDERS AND ELECTRIC SECONDARY POWER TRANSMISSION UNITS | KING, BRADLEY T | 70d |
| 18524435 | BRAKE AIR THROUGH FLOW DEVICE AND BRAKE DUST COLLECTOR SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PURIFYING BRAKE AIR FROM A VEHICLE BRAKE SYSTEM | HSIAO, JAMES K | 76d |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3616 | 42 |
| 3747 | 11 |
| 3666 | 8 |
| 3655 | 8 |
| 3617 | 7 |
| 3611 | 7 |
| 2834 | 7 |
| 3614 | 5 |
| 3664 | 4 |
| 3618 | 4 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19480582 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR OPERATING AN ANTI-LOCK BRAKING SYSTEM OF A VEHICLE | BUSE, TERRY C | 3666 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 31, 2025 |
| 19475436 | METHOD FOR REDUCING CARGO THEFTS | WALLICK, STEPHANIE SHOSHANA | 3628 | §101§102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 15, 2025 |
| 19329180 | METHOD FOR MONITORING A SPACE TO THE REAR AND/OR A SPACE TO THE SIDES FOR A MULTIPLE-UNIT VEHICLE COMBINATION, COMPUTER PROGRAM AND/OR COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM, CONTROL DEVICE, TRAILER, TRACTOR VEHICLE AND MULTIPLE-UNIT VEHICLE COMBINATION | DANG, HUNG Q | 2484 | §101§102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 15, 2025 |
| 19272816 | METHOD FOR BRAKING A MULTI-PART VEHICLE, IN PARTICULAR A COMMERCIAL VEHICLE, CONTROL DEVICE FOR A TRAILER, TRAILER, COMPUTER PROGRAM AND/OR COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM | VILAKAZI, SIZO BINDA | 3747 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 17, 2025 |
| 19267294 | VEHICLE CONTROL METHOD WITH STEERING ANGLE CORRECTION | LIETHEN, KURT PHILIP | 3747 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 11, 2025 |
| 19139380 | METHOD FOR BRAKING A VEHICLE, EMERGENCY BRAKING SYSTEM AND VEHICLE | CHIN, JAMES BRIAN | 3656 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 16, 2025 |
| 19236045 | METHOD AND OPERATING SYSTEM FOR A VEHICLE | AMIN, BHAVESH V | 3657 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 12, 2025 |
| 19235460 | METHOD FOR APPROXIMATING A COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION | CHACE, CHRISTIAN | 3661 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 11, 2025 |
| 19221379 | METHOD FOR LIMITING A CONTINUOUS DECELERATION EFFORT OF A CONTINUOUS DECELERATION DEVICE | AMICK, JACOB M | 3747 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 28, 2025 |
| 19184641 | METHOD FOR MONITORING A TAILLIGHT, MONITORING SYSTEM AND VEHICLE | SMALL, NAOMI J | 2685 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 21, 2025 |
| 19171018 | METHOD FOR ADJUSTING THE APPLIED PRESSURE OF A VEHICLE BRAKE AND VEHICLE BRAKE IN QUESTION | ANWARI, MACEEH | 3663 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Apr 04, 2025 |
| 19084563 | FOIL BEARING AND BEARING BLOCK FOR RECEIVING A FOIL BEARING | PILKINGTON, JAMES | 3617 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 19, 2025 |
| 19111339 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A VEHICLE COMBINATION, AND VEHICLE COMBINATION | AN, IG TAI | 3662 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 13, 2025 |
| 19064445 | METHOD FOR REGULATING A GENERATOR BRAKING TORQUE OF AN ELECTRIC DRIVE FOR A VEHICLE, IN PARTICULAR A UTILITY VEHICLE, COMPUTER PROGRAM, COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM, CONTROL DEVICE, ELECTRIC DRIVE OR ELECTRIC BRAKING SYSTEM AND VEHICLE | NGUYEN, BAO LONG T | 3656 | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 26, 2025 |
| 19025807 | METHOD FOR PREDICTING A TRANSVERSE DYNAMIC STABILIZATION BEHAVIOR OF A PRESENT VEHICLE CONFIGURATION OF A VEHICLE | KHAYER, SOHANA T | 3657 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 16, 2025 |
| 19019086 | CONTROL SYSTEM FOR A VEHICLE | SMITH, ISAAC G | 3662 | §101§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 13, 2025 |
| 19014867 | CONTROL DEVICE FOR A VEHICLE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A CONTROL DEVICE FOR A VEHICLE | LEMBO, AARON LLOYD | 3672 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 09, 2025 |
| 19009716 | METHOD FOR SETTING AN APPLICATION PRESSURE OF A VEHICLE BRAKE AND ASSOCIATED VEHICLE BRAKE | LAGUARDA, GONZALO | 3747 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 03, 2025 |
| 18975999 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING A STEERING ROLL RADIUS, STEERING/BRAKING METHOD, CONTROLLER AND UTILITY VEHICLE | LAGUARDA, GONZALO | 3747 | §102Other | Final Rejection | 30d | Pending | Dec 10, 2024 |
| 18937831 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING A MAXIMUM COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION OF A WHEEL OF A VEHICLE ON A ROAD | ZALESKAS, JOHN M | 3747 | §101§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Nov 05, 2024 |
| 18860747 | ELECTROMECHANICAL BRAKE SYSTEM AND VEHICLE | SCHWARTZ, CHRISTOPHER P | 3616 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 28, 2024 |
| 18925976 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING A HEIGHT OF A TRAILER WHEN HITCHING | SHUI, MING | 2663 | §101§102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 24, 2024 |
| 18889455 | PLANETARY BELT DRIVE SYSTEM FOR TORQUE OVERLAY | WATKINS, NATHANIEL WILLIAM | 3617 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 19, 2024 |
| 18888280 | MODULAR ELECTRIC POWER STEERING UNIT WITH BEVEL INPUT FOR FLEXIBLE PACKAGING IN COMMERCIAL VEHICLES | WATKINS, NATHANIEL WILLIAM | 3617 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 18, 2024 |
| 18810084 | CONTROLLER, VEHICLE SYSTEM, VEHICLE AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE CONTROLLER | GREENE, MARK L | 3747 | §112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 20, 2024 |
| 18778067 | ELECTROPNEUMATIC TRAILER PARKING-BRAKE SYSTEM, TRAILER, TOWING COMBINATION | WILLIAMS, THOMAS J | 3616 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 19, 2024 |
| 18713214 | METHOD FOR FORMING A PIVOTAL CONNECTION BETWEEN A TOWING VEHICLE AND A TRAILER, STATE ASCERTAINING ASSEMBLY, AND VEHICLE | BOEHLER, ANNE MARIE M | 3611 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 24, 2024 |
| 18665964 | REDUNDANCY VALVE ASSEMBLY AND BRAKE SYSTEM HAVING PRESSURE MODULATION VIA REDUNDANTLY FORMED ABS VALVES | HSIAO, JAMES K | 3616 | §102§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 16, 2024 |
| 18630666 | DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING AN ELECTRIC DRIVE OF A TRAILER VEHICLE, SYSTEM THEREWITH AND METHOD THEREFOR | TESTARDI, DAVID A | 3664 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 09, 2024 |
| 18407061 | ELECTROPNEUMATIC PARKING BRAKE UNIT WITH A SELF-HOLDING FUNCTION IN THE EVENT OF A FAULT | LEWIS, TISHA D | 3619 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 08, 2024 |
| 18538425 | METHOD FOR BRAKE CONTROL OF A VEHICLE COMBINATION AND BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR OPERATING THIS METHOD | KING, BRADLEY T | 3616 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 9d overdue | Pending | Dec 13, 2023 |
| 18524435 | BRAKE AIR THROUGH FLOW DEVICE AND BRAKE DUST COLLECTOR SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PURIFYING BRAKE AIR FROM A VEHICLE BRAKE SYSTEM | HSIAO, JAMES K | 3616 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | 76d | Pending | Nov 30, 2023 |
| 18467525 | Method for Determining a Defect State of a Drive Train of a Vehicle, Monitoring Unit and Vehicle | LAGUARDA, GONZALO | 3747 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | 19d overdue | Pending | Sep 14, 2023 |
| 18363491 | Method and Brake System for Emergency Stopping of a Commercial Vehicle | STECKBAUER, KEVIN R | 3747 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 01, 2023 |
| 18040980 | SENSOR HOUSING, HOUSING-INTEGRATED SENSOR- AND CLEANING-DEVICE AND VEHICLE | FULL, SIDNEY DANIELLE | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 08, 2023 |
| 19350672 | METHOD FOR HEATING COMPONENTS OF A VEHICLE | VORCE, AMELIA J.I. | 3666 | §101§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 06, 2025 |
| 19161074 | METHOD AND CONTROL DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING A VEHICLE OFF-ROAD | NGUYEN, JASON TOAN | 3666 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 29, 2025 |
| 19148899 | Bottom Bracket Gearing System with an Arrangement for Actuating a Brake Shift Element | PERVIN, FARHANA | 3655 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 17, 2025 |
| 19147434 | POWER-SHIFT TRANSMISSION FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE TRANSMISSION CONFIGURED AS A GROUP CONSTRUCTION, MOTOR VEHICLE TRANSMISSION AND AGRICULTURAL OR MUNICIPAL UTILITY VEHICLE | MACARTHUR, VICTOR L | 3618 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 11, 2025 |
| 19139533 | METHOD FOR CHECKING THE PLAUSIBILITY OF A PARAMETER | CHOI, JISUN | 3666 | §101§102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 16, 2025 |
| 19127133 | SEQUENTIALLY ARRANGED PLANET GEARS | LEWIS, TISHA D | 3655 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 05, 2025 |
| 19183070 | INTERFACE SYSTEM ON A CHIP FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS | FRANKLIN, RICHARD B | 2181 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 18, 2025 |
| 19121085 | Distribution Module for a Thermal Management System, System Comprising a Heat Pump Having a Distribution Module, and Vehicle | TEITELBAUM, DAVID J | 3763 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 14, 2025 |
| 19169484 | BEARING SHELL FOR A BALL JOINT, BALL JOINT AND CHASSIS COMPONENT WITH SUCH A BEARING SHELL AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE BEARING SHELL | SKROUPA, JOSHUA A | 3678 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 03, 2025 |
| 19117215 | Method for Automatically Preventing a Bicycle from Rolling Backwards on a Slope, Control Device, Computer Program Product, Computer-Readable Medium, Bicycle | HURLEY, KEVIN | 3611 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 31, 2025 |
| 19117182 | Electric Bicycle with Emergency Running Strategy | CHOI, JISUN | 3666 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 31, 2025 |
| 19117192 | Method for Controlling a Drive Device for a Bicycle, and Control Device for Carrying out the Method | HO, MATTHEW | 3669 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 31, 2025 |
| 19116618 | Method for Automated Stabilization of an Attitude of a Bicycle, Controller, Computer Program Product, Computer-Readable Medium, Bicycle | MORA, ANTHONY GABRIEL | 3664 | §101§102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 28, 2025 |
| 19069845 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING AN ELECTRIC MACHINE IN AN AT LEAST PARTIALLY ELECTRIFIED VEHICLE WHEN THE VEHICLE IS AT A STANDSTILL | HARVEY II, KEVIN JEROME | 3664 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 04, 2025 |
| 19054089 | ARTICULATED RIGID AXLE OF A VEHICLE WITH AN AXLE SUPPORT WITH AN ELECTRIC MACHINE AS DRIVE | DANG, TINH | 3655 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 14, 2025 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialZF Friedrichshafen AG has 168 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 49 art units and 130 examiners.
Bradley T King has the most, with 9 of ZF Friedrichshafen AG's pending office actions.
Mostly Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems (USPTO Tech Center 3600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
