Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 04, 2026

Van Pelt, Yi & James LLP And Luminar

Technology areas: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems

13 pending office actions • 3 clients • 11 examiners • 4 art units • 0 of 13 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 14 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

VAN PELT, YI & JAMES LLP AND LUMINAR operates in the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems technology area. The firm has managed 7095 career applications and has a resolved allowance rate pct of 93.85. This 93.85 resolved allowance rate pct provides a measure of success for applications in the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems sector. Practitioners can use the 7095 career applications to evaluate the firm's historical outcomes. These metrics offer a basis for setting expectations for future filings.

Currently, the firm has 9 pending office actions. The avg office actions per allowance for the firm is 3.7. This 3.7 avg office actions per allowance reflects the number of examiner interactions typically required to reach an allowance. With 9 pending office actions, the firm continues to manage its active cases. The 3.7 avg office actions per allowance helps practitioners estimate the resources needed for the examination phase. The 93.85 resolved allowance rate pct and the 9 pending office actions provide a view of the firm's performance.

Written from this page's own data; every figure is computed from USPTO records and verified before publication.

Quality Metrics (n=7095 apps, methodology: how we score firms)

93.8%
Allowance Rate
n=7095
+0.63σ
Allowance Rate (norm)
n=7095
3.7
OAs to Allowance
n=4291
-0.01σ
OAs to Allow (norm)
n=4291
960 days
Time to Allowance
n=4291
+8.2pp
Interview Lift
n=7095
41.4%
RCE Rate
n=7095
0.8%
Appeal Rate
n=7095

Rejection Performance (% of received rejections ultimately overcome)

90.0%
§101 Overcome
n=1389
85.7%
§102 Overcome
n=1814
87.4%
§103 Overcome
n=3209
87.0%
§112 Overcome
n=1303

Specialization & Scale

G06F, H04L, G06Q
Top CPC Subclasses
42%
Top-3 CPC Share
n=7095
13
Practitioners
n=7095
545.8
Apps / Practitioner
n=7095

Portfolio Summary

13
Total Pending OAs
12
Non-Final OAs
1
Final Rejections
0
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 6 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

2
Overdue
0
Due this week
1
Due this month
2
Due in next 60 days
1
Due later

Deadline Fire Line

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. 6 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (2)Due ≤ 30 days (1)Due ≤ 60 days (2)Due later (1)

Case Difficulty Mix

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.

8
Hard (62%)
5
Medium (38%)
0
Easy (0%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 + other1 (8%)
§103 only5 (38%)
Multi-statute (no §101)7 (54%)

Industry Mix

How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.

0
Life Sciences
0% of docket
0
Information Tech
0% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
2
Semiconductors
15% of docket
5
Mechanical / Eng
38% of docket
6
Business / Other
46% of docket

Time-on-OA Estimate

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.

130 h
Manual time on pending OAs
26 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
46 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
1.1 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
HELLNER, MARK 2 90.4% +8.5%
EHRLICH, ALEXANDER JOSEPH 2 69.8% +47.5%
CHEN, CHIA-LING 1 51.3% +42.0%
THATCHER, CLINT A 1 79.7% +12.6%
FRITCHMAN, JOSEPH C 1 76.0% +30.7%
ZERON CERRATO, JOSEPH NATANAEL 1 — —
SLAUGHTER, ETHAN JAKOB 1 100.0% +0.0%
RICHTER, KARA MARIE 1 54.5% +32.9%
NASER, SANJIDA IFFAT 1 73.9% +27.5%
NICKERSON, SAMANTHA K 1 85.5% +15.6%

Quick Wins (2)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
17898071 OPTO-MECHANICAL PHASE SHIFTERS IN AN ACTIVE LIGHT DETECTION SYSTEM NICKERSON, SAMANTHA K 77d
18526327 LIDAR SYSTEM WITH MULTIPLE CHANNEL COUNT HELLNER, MARK —

Hard Cases (8)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18095457 LIDAR GROUND PLANE DETECTION USING PROJECTED AND FILTERED DATA RICHTER, KARA MARIE 4d overdue
17871230 NANOSECOND PULSED WAVELENGTH AGILE LASER EHRLICH, ALEXANDER JOSEPH 23d
18333435 SMALL APERTURE OPTICAL PERISCOPE FOR LIDAR SLAUGHTER, ETHAN JAKOB 36d
17954914 Lidar Sensor with a Redundant Beam Scan NASER, SANJIDA IFFAT 36d
18960941 LIDAR RECEIVER OPTICAL LIMITER HELLNER, MARK —
18600211 DETERMINING AN AT LEAST PARTIALLY ASBORBING BLOCKAGE ON A LIDAR SYSTEM CHEN, CHIA-LING —
18409677 ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERSION MANAGEMENT FOR MULTIPLE RECEIVER CHANNELS IN COHERENT MECHANICAL LIDAR THATCHER, CLINT A —
18514575 SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL AMPLIFIER LASER DIODE SYSTEM ZERON CERRATO, JOSEPH NATANAEL —

Interview Candidates (8)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18095457 LIDAR GROUND PLANE DETECTION USING PROJECTED AND FILTERED DATA RICHTER, KARA MARIE 4d overdue
17871230 NANOSECOND PULSED WAVELENGTH AGILE LASER EHRLICH, ALEXANDER JOSEPH 23d
17954914 Lidar Sensor with a Redundant Beam Scan NASER, SANJIDA IFFAT 36d
17898071 OPTO-MECHANICAL PHASE SHIFTERS IN AN ACTIVE LIGHT DETECTION SYSTEM NICKERSON, SAMANTHA K 77d
18600211 DETERMINING AN AT LEAST PARTIALLY ASBORBING BLOCKAGE ON A LIDAR SYSTEM CHEN, CHIA-LING —
18409677 ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERSION MANAGEMENT FOR MULTIPLE RECEIVER CHANNELS IN COHERENT MECHANICAL LIDAR THATCHER, CLINT A —
18396594 SELF-ALIGNED TRANSCEIVER CHIP FOR COHERENT MECHANICAL LIDAR FRITCHMAN, JOSEPH C —
18381982 CALIBRATED OPTICAL PULSE GENERATION EHRLICH, ALEXANDER JOSEPH —

Client Portfolio (3 clients)

Client (Assignee)Pending OAs
Luminar 11
LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 1
Luminartechnologies, Inc. 1

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
36454
41002
28282
36481

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleClientExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
18960941 LIDAR RECEIVER OPTICAL LIMITER LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. HELLNER, MARK §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 26, 2024
18600211 DETERMINING AN AT LEAST PARTIALLY ASBORBING BLOCKAGE ON A LIDAR SYSTEM LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. CHEN, CHIA-LING §101§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Mar 08, 2024
18409677 ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERSION MANAGEMENT FOR MULTIPLE RECEIVER CHANNELS IN COHERENT MECHANICAL LIDAR LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. THATCHER, CLINT A §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 10, 2024
18396594 SELF-ALIGNED TRANSCEIVER CHIP FOR COHERENT MECHANICAL LIDAR LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. FRITCHMAN, JOSEPH C §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 26, 2023
18526327 LIDAR SYSTEM WITH MULTIPLE CHANNEL COUNT LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. HELLNER, MARK 4100 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 01, 2023
18514575 SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL AMPLIFIER LASER DIODE SYSTEM LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. ZERON CERRATO, JOSEPH NATANAEL 4100 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 20, 2023
18381982 CALIBRATED OPTICAL PULSE GENERATION LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. EHRLICH, ALEXANDER JOSEPH 2828 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 19, 2023
18333435 SMALL APERTURE OPTICAL PERISCOPE FOR LIDAR LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. SLAUGHTER, ETHAN JAKOB 3648 §102§103 Non-Final OA 36d Pending Jun 12, 2023
18095457 LIDAR GROUND PLANE DETECTION USING PROJECTED AND FILTERED DATA LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. RICHTER, KARA MARIE 3645 §102§103 Non-Final OA 4d overdue Pending Jan 10, 2023
17954914 Lidar Sensor with a Redundant Beam Scan LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. NASER, SANJIDA IFFAT 3645 §102§103 Non-Final OA 36d Pending Sep 28, 2022
17898071 OPTO-MECHANICAL PHASE SHIFTERS IN AN ACTIVE LIGHT DETECTION SYSTEM Luminartechnologies, Inc. NICKERSON, SAMANTHA K 3645 §103 Non-Final OA 77d Pending Aug 29, 2022
17871230 NANOSECOND PULSED WAVELENGTH AGILE LASER LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. EHRLICH, ALEXANDER JOSEPH 2828 §102§103§112 Final Rejection 23d Pending Jul 22, 2022
17736887 DUAL-WAVELENGTH LIDAR SYSTEM WITH COINCIDENCE DETECTION AND PULSE ENCODING LUMAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. BAGHDASARYAN, HOVHANNES 3645 §103 Non-Final OA 16d overdue Pending May 04, 2022

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