Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Computing & Software • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
14 pending office actions • 9 art units • 14 examiners • 0 of 14 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 9 patents granted in the last 365 days
Zodiac Pool Systems LLC operates in the Computing & Software technology area with 13 pending office actions. These actions are spread across 8 distinct art units. This indicates that the company's filings are reviewed by several different specialized groups within the patent office. The prosecution involves 13 distinct examiners.
VALVIS, ALEXANDER M is the busiest examiner for this portfolio, currently overseeing 1 busiest examiner pending office action. This 1 busiest examiner pending office action is a small part of the total workload. The number of 13 distinct examiners matches the number of pending office actions, which means each case is likely handled by a different individual. The Computing & Software technology area is the primary focus for these matters.
Practitioners should observe that VALVIS, ALEXANDER M is the busiest examiner despite having only a small pending workload. This suggests an even distribution of cases among the distinct examiners. With 8 distinct art units involved, the company's intellectual property strategy is spread across several technical niches within the patent office.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 5 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. 5 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 | 1 (7%) |
| §103 only | 6 (43%) |
| §112 only | 1 (7%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 6 (43%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| VALVIS, ALEXANDER M | 1 | 62.5% | +55.2% |
| NGUYEN, TUAN N | 1 | 68.1% | +26.3% |
| MURSHED, OSAMAH | 1 | — | — |
| YU, HENRY W | 1 | 69.6% | +28.3% |
| DYER, ANDREW R | 1 | 60.0% | +39.6% |
| HENSON, KATINA N | 1 | 56.6% | +31.9% |
| NGUYEN, VINH | 1 | 62.7% | +69.2% |
| PRINCE JR, FREDDIE GARY | 1 | 79.0% | +20.7% |
| TRAN, VINCENT HUY | 1 | 86.6% | +9.7% |
| NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | 1 | 23.8% | +30.0% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 7 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18231405 | WATER QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | TRAN, VINCENT HUY | 25d overdue |
| 18097957 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRE-HEATING SWIMMING POOLS OR SPAS | KOSSEK, MAGDALENA IZABELLA | 34d |
| 19229232 | VARIABLE FLOW CONTROL NOZZLE FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | VALVIS, ALEXANDER M | — |
| 19072351 | HEATER FOR POOLS AND SPAS WITH IMPROVED SENSOR CONTROL | NGUYEN, TUAN N | — |
| 18941608 | CONTROL DEVICE DETECTION FOR POOL OR SPA SYSTEMS | MURSHED, OSAMAH | — |
| 18680104 | AUTOMATIC SWIMMING POOL CLEANER FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | HENSON, KATINA N | — |
| 18231653 | DEBRIS CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18929230 | DUAL PROTOCOL COMMUNICATION WITH POOL AUTOMATION CONTROLLER | YU, HENRY W | 10d overdue |
| 19229232 | VARIABLE FLOW CONTROL NOZZLE FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | VALVIS, ALEXANDER M | — |
| 19072351 | HEATER FOR POOLS AND SPAS WITH IMPROVED SENSOR CONTROL | NGUYEN, TUAN N | — |
| 18821974 | POWER CONSUMPTION MEASUREMENT OF POOL OR SPA EQUIPMENT USING A POOL AUTOMATION CONTROLLER | DYER, ANDREW R | — |
| 18680104 | AUTOMATIC SWIMMING POOL CLEANER FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | HENSON, KATINA N | — |
| 18636139 | SERIAL ADDRESSING FOR MULTIPLE POOL OR SPA EQUIPMENT ITEMS | NGUYEN, VINH | — |
| 18587405 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TREATING WATER IN SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | PRINCE JR, FREDDIE GARY | — |
| 18231653 | DEBRIS CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1779 | 2 |
| 3754 | 1 |
| 2181 | 1 |
| 2453 | 1 |
| 2115 | 1 |
| 2685 | 1 |
| 2117 | 1 |
| 3761 | 1 |
| 2857 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19229232 | VARIABLE FLOW CONTROL NOZZLE FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | VALVIS, ALEXANDER M | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 05, 2025 |
| 19072351 | HEATER FOR POOLS AND SPAS WITH IMPROVED SENSOR CONTROL | NGUYEN, TUAN N | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 06, 2025 |
| 18941608 | CONTROL DEVICE DETECTION FOR POOL OR SPA SYSTEMS | MURSHED, OSAMAH | 3754 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 08, 2024 |
| 18929230 | DUAL PROTOCOL COMMUNICATION WITH POOL AUTOMATION CONTROLLER | YU, HENRY W | 2181 | §103 | Final Rejection | 10d overdue | Pending | Oct 28, 2024 |
| 18821974 | POWER CONSUMPTION MEASUREMENT OF POOL OR SPA EQUIPMENT USING A POOL AUTOMATION CONTROLLER | DYER, ANDREW R | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 30, 2024 |
| 18680104 | AUTOMATIC SWIMMING POOL CLEANER FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | HENSON, KATINA N | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 31, 2024 |
| 18636139 | SERIAL ADDRESSING FOR MULTIPLE POOL OR SPA EQUIPMENT ITEMS | NGUYEN, VINH | 2453 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 15, 2024 |
| 18587405 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TREATING WATER IN SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | PRINCE JR, FREDDIE GARY | 1779 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 26, 2024 |
| 18231405 | WATER QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | TRAN, VINCENT HUY | 2115 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | 25d overdue | Pending | Aug 08, 2023 |
| 18231653 | DEBRIS CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS | NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | 1779 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 08, 2023 |
| 18223851 | EQUIPMENT FOR SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS WITH NEAR-FIELD COMMUNICATION | NGUYEN, NAM V | 2685 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 56d overdue | Pending | Jul 19, 2023 |
| 18097957 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRE-HEATING SWIMMING POOLS OR SPAS | KOSSEK, MAGDALENA IZABELLA | 2117 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 34d | Pending | Jan 17, 2023 |
| 18093913 | HYBRID HEATER FOR POOLS AND SPAS | PAIK, SANG YEOP | 3761 | §103 | Final Rejection | 60d overdue | Pending | Jan 06, 2023 |
| 17836188 | REMOTELY CONTROLLING ASPECTS OF POOLS AND SPAS | RIVERA VARGAS, MANUEL A | 2857 | §112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 09, 2022 |
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