Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026

Examiner: RINEHART, SEAN MICHAEL

Tech Center 2600 • Art Units: 2694

This examiner grants 71% of resolved cases

Performance Statistics

70.6%
Allow Rate
+8.6% vs TC avg
40
Total Applications
+50.0%
Interview Lift
1074
Avg Prosecution Days
Based on 17 resolved cases, 2023–2026

Rejection Statute Breakdown

2.0%
§101 Eligibility
24.5%
§102 Novelty
44.8%
§103 Obviousness
26.5%
§112 Clarity

Currently Pending Office Actions

App #TitleStatusAssignee
18712717 INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM Non-Final OA Sony Group Corporation
18404304 DIAPHRAGM AND ELECTROACOUSTIC TRANSDUCER Final Rejection Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
18571586 CONTROL AND MEMORY ACCESSES USING STREAMING AUDIO Non-Final OA Intel Corporation
18747871 REDUCING LOW DROPOUT (LDO) QUIESCENT CURRENT USING DIGITAL AUDIO CONFIGURATION Non-Final OA QUALCOMM Incorporated
18352867 AUDIO WITH EMBEDDED TIMING FOR SYNCHRONIZATION Non-Final OA QUALCOMM Incorporated
18337407 ELECTRONIC DEVICE Final Rejection AAC Microtech (Changzhou) Co., Ltd.
18557330 ACOUSTIC DEVICE, ACOUSTIC DEVICE CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM Non-Final OA AlphaTheta Corporation
18675961 METHOD FOR OPERATING A SMART MOBILE DEVICE, HEARING DEVICE AND HEARING SYSTEM Non-Final OA Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
18519324 METHOD FOR OPERATING A HEARING SYSTEM AND HEARING SYSTEM Final Rejection Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
18799279 ELECTROACOUSTIC TRANSDUCER Non-Final OA Audio-Technica Corporation
17544749 AUTOMATIC TINNITUS MASKER FOR AN EAR-WEARABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE Final Rejection Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
18496116 SOUND LEAK MITIGATION FOR A PERSONAL LISTENING DEVICE Final Rejection Motorola Mobility LLC
18172996 UNDERWATER BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES FOR AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS Non-Final OA Finnovate Group LLC
18376777 USER INTERFACE CONTROL FOR CONTACTLESS IN-PERSON TRANSACTION VIA SOUND Final Rejection CoinCircle, Inc.

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