Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
257 pending office actions • 55 clients • 226 examiners • 120 art units • 0 of 257 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready
Spencer Fane LLP has 266 pending office actions in Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering and 14,737 career applications. The figures indicate a substantial active response workload and a broad historical application record in the listed technology area.
The resolved allowance rate is 90.87%, and the average is 2.88 office actions per allowance. The first measure addresses the proportion of resolved matters reaching allowance, while the second describes recorded examination activity associated with those allowances.
For practitioners, the profile supports a structured review of capacity, historical outcomes, and prosecution effort. The pending docket may be relevant to resource planning, while the outcome measures provide context for resolved work. The data does not identify matter complexity, client concentration, examiner effects, or the reasons particular actions were issued.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 72 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. 72 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 | 11 (4%) |
| §101 + other | 20 (8%) |
| §103 only | 90 (35%) |
| §102 only | 14 (5%) |
| §112 only | 8 (3%) |
| Double-patenting only | 2 (1%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 8 (3%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 104 (40%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| VERA, ELISA H | 4 | 72.4% | +26.3% |
| PINHEIRO, JASON PAUL | 4 | 63.8% | +32.2% |
| SCOLES, PHILIP GRANT | 4 | 55.6% | +16.7% |
| COMLEY, ALEXANDER BRYANT | 3 | 57.7% | +38.9% |
| PHAM, KHANH B | 3 | 72.4% | +15.5% |
| KIM, KEVIN Y | 3 | 78.3% | +15.9% |
| ZIMMERMANN, JOHN P | 3 | 82.7% | +19.5% |
| TAN, OLIVER E | 2 | 72.6% | +8.8% |
| STEITZ, RACHEL RUNNING | 2 | 54.4% | +26.1% |
| HSU, RYAN | 2 | 56.4% | +17.1% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18786696 | LIQUID EJECTION APPARATUS, LIQUID EJECTION HEAD, AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING LIQUID EJECTION HEAD | ZIMMERMANN, JOHN P | — |
| 18616239 | LIQUID EJECTING APPARATUS | ZIMMERMANN, JOHN P | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17947426 | SOLID-STATE REFRIGERATION APPARATUS | PETTITT, JOHN F | 169d overdue |
| 18429114 | REFILLABLE MASTIC CARTRIDGE, DISPENSER, FILLING STATION AND SYSTEM COMPRISING A MASTIC CARTRIDGE, A DISPENSER AND A FILLING STATION, AS WELL AS CARTRIDGE AND CONNECTOR FOR A CARTRIDGE | GRAY, PAUL J | 141d overdue |
| 17955442 | APPARATUSES AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING RATE OF PLAY AT A GAMING MACHINE | YOO, JASSON H | 131d overdue |
| 19000182 | ROTARY POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT DEVICE | DOUNIS, LAERT | 103d overdue |
| 17982782 | CONTROL DEVICE FOR HUMAN-POWERED VEHICLE | MEDANI, MOHAMED | 49d overdue |
| 18741603 | ORDER SUPPORTING METHOD, ORDER SUPPORTING SYSTEM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM | LADONI, AHOORA | 46d overdue |
| 18132023 | PARTIAL GAMBLE FEATURE FOR A WAGERING GAME | HSU, RYAN | 46d overdue |
| 18106725 | BICYCLE COMPONENT, BICYCLE COMPONENT ASSEMBLY AND CABLE CONNECTOR | STANLEY, TYLER JAY | 37d overdue |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18132023 | PARTIAL GAMBLE FEATURE FOR A WAGERING GAME | HSU, RYAN | 46d overdue |
| 17952077 | TRAINED MODEL ESTABLISHMENT METHOD, ESTIMATION METHOD, PERFORMANCE AGENT RECOMMENDATION METHOD, PERFORMANCE AGENT ADJUSTMENT METHOD, TRAINED MODEL ESTABLISHMENT SYSTEM, ESTIMATION SYSTEM, TRAINED MODEL ESTABLISHMENT PROGRAM, AND ESTIMATION PROGRAM | SCOLES, PHILIP GRANT | 45d overdue |
| 18818680 | STIRRING DEVICE, FIBER STRUCTURE MANUFACTURING APPARATUS, AND METHOD OF PRODUCING FIBER STRUCTURE | VERA, ELISA H | 10d overdue |
| 17214427 | ROULETTE STYLE BETTING STRUCTURE | PINHEIRO, JASON PAUL | 7d |
| 18136525 | PURCHASE OFFERS AT A GAMING DEVICE IN A CASINO ENVIRONMENT BASED ON PLAYER STATUS | PINHEIRO, JASON PAUL | 14d |
| 17953218 | GAMING MACHINE AND METHOD WITH MULTIPLE GAME MODES | PINHEIRO, JASON PAUL | 27d |
| 19252623 | System and Method for Auto-Provisioning AI-Based Dialog Service | PHAM, KHANH B | 62d |
| 19040779 | SCROLL COMPRESSOR AND REFRIGERATING APPARATUS | COMLEY, ALEXANDER BRYANT | 69d |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3715 | 25 |
| 3746 | 11 |
| 2853 | 11 |
| 1748 | 8 |
| 2834 | 7 |
| 3763 | 7 |
| 3673 | 6 |
| 3783 | 6 |
| 2837 | 5 |
| 3772 | 4 |
| App # | Title | Client | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19456468 | FAN | Levitronix GmbH | COMLEY, ALEXANDER BRYANT | 3746 | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 22, 2026 |
| 19375559 | METHOD FOR MONITORING SEAMING TOOLS | Ferrum Packaging AG | SMITH, JACOB A | 3731 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 31, 2025 |
| 19474206 | DISPLAY SYSTEM FOR WORK MACHINE | Komatsu Ltd. | HOLMAN, JOHN D | 3667 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 10, 2025 |
| 19157721 | WORK MACHINE AND CONTROL METHOD FOR WORK MACHINE | Komatsu Ltd. | TAN, OLIVER E | 3669 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 19, 2025 |
| 19291837 | VIDEO PROCESSING METHOD, VIDEO PROCESSING SYSTEM, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM STORING VIDEO PROCESSING PROGRAM | Yamaha Corporation | KIYABU, KARIN A | 2626 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 06, 2025 |
| 19279149 | APPARATUSES AND METHODS FOR SEGREGATING TISSUE SAMPLES FOR MULTIPLE DIAGNOSTIC MODALITIES | Virchow Medical, Inc. | WRIGHT, PATRICIA KATHRYN | 1798 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 24, 2025 |
| 19148673 | UNIT | Jatco Ltd. | FLUHART, STACEY A | 3655 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 16, 2025 |
| 19264696 | PEST CONTROL SYSTEM AND CROP PRODUCTION METHOD | Nichia Corporation | ARK, DARREN W | 3647 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 09, 2025 |
| 19259774 | System and Method for Auto-Provisioning AI-Based Dialog Service | Nextiva, Inc. | PHAM, KHANH B | 2166 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 03, 2025 |
| 19258339 | System and Method for Auto-Provisioning AI-Based Dialog Service | Nextiva, Inc. | PHAM, KHANH B | 2166 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 02, 2025 |
| 19144818 | COSMETIC APPLICATOR | Geka GmbH | STEITZ, RACHEL RUNNING | 3772 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 30, 2025 |
| 19252623 | System and Method for Auto-Provisioning AI-Based Dialog Service | Nextiva, Inc. | PHAM, KHANH B | 2166 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 62d | Pending | Jun 27, 2025 |
| 19253399 | ROTARY COMPRESSOR AND REFRIGERATION APPARATUS | Daikin Industries, Ltd. | BOGUE, JESSE SAMUEL | 3746 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 27, 2025 |
| 19249825 | UNIVERSAL AIR SURFACE | Sizewise Rentals, LLC | SUN, GEORGE | 3673 | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 25, 2025 |
| 19140382 | GUIDANCE REVISING METHOD AND GUIDANCE REVISING APPARATUS | Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. | BUTLER, RODNEY ALLEN | 3666 | §101§102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 18, 2025 |
| 19234493 | TRANSFER DEVICE | Toray Engineering Co., Ltd. | MCNALLY, DANIEL | 1746 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 11, 2025 |
| 19132396 | VISUAL SIGNAL GENERATION METHOD AND VEHICLE | Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. | GIRMA, FEKADESELASS | 2689 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 23, 2025 |
| 19216290 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CATEGORIZING AND MANAGING PERSONAL DATA STORAGE USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AGENTS | Affle (India) Limited | MOBIN, HASANUL | 2168 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 22, 2025 |
| 19215957 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING CONSOLIDATED TRAINING, HEARTBEAT VALIDATION AND ERROR MINIMIZATION APPROACH TO AI AGENTS | Affle (India) Limited | BROWN, ANTHONY D | 2408 | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 22, 2025 |
| 19216206 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSFERRING PERSONALIZED MACHINE LEARNING (ML)/ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) MODELS AND DATA | Affle (India) Limited | SAVENKOV, VADIM | 2432 | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 22, 2025 |
| 19216096 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING FRAUD THROUGH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AGENT TESTING | Affle (India) Limited | IDOWU, OLUGBENGA O | 2494 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 22, 2025 |
| 19209270 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CATEGORIZING PERSONAL INFORMATION INTO RELEVANT CATEGORIES CORRESPONDING TO SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AGENTS IN A PRIVACY AND AD-SENSITIVE MANNER | Affle (India) Limited | ANDERSON, MICHAEL D | 2433 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 15, 2025 |
| 19209213 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OWNERSHIP AND BIOMETRIC-BASED AUTHENTICATION THROUGH AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENT AGENT | Affle (India) Limited | LAKHIA, VIRAL S | 2431 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 15, 2025 |
| 19183980 | SHEET MANUFACTURING APPARATUS | Seiko Epson Corporation | MINSKEY, JACOB T | 1748 | §102§103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 21, 2025 |
| 19183977 | SHEET MANUFACTURING APPARATUS | Seiko Epson Corporation | FORTUNA, JOSE A | 1748 | §112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 21, 2025 |
| 19122609 | DISPLAY SYSTEM, REMOTE DRIVING DEVICE AND DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD | National Institute Of Advanced Industrial Science And Technology | YENKE, BRIAN P | 2422 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 18, 2025 |
| 19181456 | FLOAT | Eddy Pump Corporation | DAVIS, RICHARD G | 3644 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 17, 2025 |
| 19173877 | Wagering Game Tournament For Distributed Gaming Device Networks | Igt | HSU, RYAN | 3715 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 09, 2025 |
| 19171407 | SHEET MANUFACTURING APPARATUS | Seiko Epson Corporation | VERA, ELISA H | 1748 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 07, 2025 |
| 19169659 | TRAINING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACOUSTIC MODEL | Yamaha Corporation | VO, HUYEN X | 2656 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 03, 2025 |
| 19169733 | DISPLAY METHOD RELATING TO SOUND WAVEFORM CHARACTERISTIC DISTRIBUTION | Yamaha Corporation | FOSTER JR., MICHAEL ALAN | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 03, 2025 | |
| 19090696 | MOLD AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELING COMPOSITION | Seiko Epson Corporation | NELSON, JAMEL M | 1743 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 26, 2025 |
| 19090041 | ROTATING ELECTRIC MACHINE, COMPRESSOR, AND REFRIGERATION DEVICE | Daikin Industries, Ltd. | GONZALEZ QUINONES, JOSE A | 2834 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 25, 2025 |
| 19089062 | LIQUID DISPENSING DEVICE AND LIQUID DISPENSING UNIT | Seiko Epson Corporation | THOMPSON, LESLIE J. | 2853 | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 25, 2025 |
| 19087686 | LIQUID EJECTION APPARATUS AND ULTRAVIOLET IRRADIATION APPARATUS | Seiko Epson Corporation | SHENDEROV, ALEXANDER D | 2853 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 24, 2025 |
| 19088592 | MAGNETIC CIRCUIT COMPONENT, AIR BLOWER, COMPRESSOR, AND REFRIGERATING DEVICE | Daikin Industries, Ltd. | JOHNSON, ERIC | 2834 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 24, 2025 |
| 19087702 | PRINTING SYSTEM AND IMAGING DATA STORAGE PROGRAM | Seiko Epson Corporation | CHELST, SHLOMIT ESTHER | 2853 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 24, 2025 |
| 19087681 | LIQUID EJECTION APPARATUS AND ULTRAVIOLET IRRADIATION APPARATUS | Seiko Epson Corporation | UHLENHAKE, JASON S | 2853 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 24, 2025 |
| 19087498 | ENVIRONMENT CONDITION MEASUREMENT DEVICE AND METHOD FOR SETTING ENVIRONMENT CONDITION MEASUREMENT DEVICE | Daikin Industries, Ltd. | CULLER, JILL E | 2853 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 22, 2025 |
| 19112990 | CAPLESS FUEL FILLER ASSEMBLY | Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. | ALLEN, JEFFREY R | 3733 | §103 | Final Rejection | 15d | Pending | Mar 19, 2025 |
| 19083562 | PRINTING SYSTEM, PROGRAM, AND PRINTING CHARACTERISTIC ADJUSTMENT METHOD | Seiko Epson Corporation | WALLACE, JOHN R | 2682 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 19, 2025 |
| 19084263 | SYSTEM AND PROCESS FOR PRESSURE MANAGEMENT OF A LIQUID CARBON DIOXIDE RECEIVING FACILITY | Kraken Technology Holdings, LLC | CAHILL, JESSICA MARIE | 3753 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 19, 2025 |
| 19081982 | X-RAY INSPECTION APPARATUS | Ishida Co., Ltd. | KIM, KIHO | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 17, 2025 | |
| 19078136 | HEAT EXCHANGER | Daikin Industries, Ltd. | RUBY, TRAVIS C | 3763 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 12, 2025 |
| 19077076 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT | Seiko Epson Corporation | MORENO HERNANDEZ, JERZI H | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 12, 2025 | |
| 19076848 | GEAR PUMP OR GEAR MOTOR | Daikin Industries, Ltd. | COMLEY, ALEXANDER BRYANT | 3746 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 11, 2025 |
| 19067243 | MOUNTING DEVICE | Toray Engineering Co., Ltd. | YAZBACK, MAHER | 1735 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 28, 2025 |
| 19064787 | INJECTION MOLDING MACHINE | Seiko Epson Corporation | LIANG, SHIBIN | 1741 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 27, 2025 |
| 19105738 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM | Daikin Industries, Ltd. | WELCH, DAVID T | 2613 | §101§102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 21, 2025 |
| 19060618 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM | Daikin Industries, Ltd. | CHEN, BIAO | 2611 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 21, 2025 |
IP Author helps law firms respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free Trial90.9% of resolved applications prosecuted by Spencer Fane LLP were allowed, across 14,737 applications in USPTO records.
2.88 office actions per allowed application on average.
257 pending office actions as of October 2026, for 55 clients, before 226 examiners in 120 art units.
