USPTO Examiner BIRKHIMER CHRISTOPHER D - Art Unit 2138

Recent Applications

Detailed information about the 100 most recent patent applications.

Application NumberTitleFiling DateDisposal DateDispositionTime (months)Office ActionsRestrictionsInterviewAppeal
18785672COALESCING MULTIPLE SMALL WRITES TO LARGE FILES OR MULTIPLE WRITES TO A NUMBER OF SMALL FILES TO GENERATE LARGER COMPRESSIBLE CHUNKS FOR INLINE COMPRESSIONJuly 2024February 2026Allow1820NoNo
18758537Method and Apparatus for Generating Chunk Group and DeviceJune 2024February 2026Allow2020NoNo
18751685IMAGE MANAGEMENT APPARATUS MANAGING AUTOMATIC IMAGE DELETION OF TRANSFERRED IMAGE BASED ON GRACE PERIOD, AND IMAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD AND RECORDING MEDIUMJune 2024March 2026Allow2020YesNo
18731676IN-MEMORY COMPUTATION DEVICE FOR PERFORMING A SIGNED MAC OPERATIONJune 2024November 2025Allow1700NoNo
18731019ADAPTIVE SEGMENT HEIGHT CALCULATION TO MINIMIZE PINNED SPACEMay 2024February 2026Allow2000NoNo
18671846CONCURRENT PAGE CACHE RESOURCE ACCESS IN A MULTI-PLANE MEMORY DEVICEMay 2024January 2026Allow1920NoNo
18652155METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MANAGING VEHICLE DATA FOR PERFORMING AUTONOMOUS DRIVING CONTROLMay 2024December 2025Allow1920YesNo
18644641METHOD FOR DATA DEDUPLICATION OF STORAGE APPARATUS USING STORAGE CLASS MEMORY TO STORE FINGERPRINT DATA, AND STORAGE APPARATUS INCLUDING STORAGE CLASS MEMORY TO STORE FINGERPRINT DATAApril 2024February 2026Allow2220YesNo
18644558MEMORY DEVICE, MEMORY SYSTEM, AND OPERATING METHOD OF COMPRESSION USING POSITION VALUESApril 2024January 2026Allow2100NoNo
18595769MEMORY DEVICE, OPERATING METHOD OF MEMORY DEVICE AND MEMORY SYSTEM INCLUDING A FIRST SUBBLOCK CONFIGURED TO PERFORM OPERATIONS INDEPENDENTLY OF A SECOND SUBBLOCKMarch 2024March 2026Allow2420YesNo
18409357TEMPERATURE DEPENDENT OPERATION OF MEMORIESJanuary 2024March 2026Allow2610NoNo
18545630SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LOW COST DATA INDEXINGDecember 2023January 2026Allow2530YesNo
18354767COMPUTATIONAL STORAGE DEVICE CONFIGURED TO TRANSFER INTERMEDIATE DATA BETWEEN COMPUTE ENGINES AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE DEVICEJuly 2023October 2025Allow2710YesNo
18099246SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND APPARATUS FOR DATA PLACEMENT IN A STORAGE DEVICEJanuary 2023January 2026Allow3650YesNo
18065054SPEEDING CACHE SCANS WITH A BYTEMAP OF ACTIVE TRACKS WITH ENCODED BITSDecember 2022January 2026Allow3730YesNo
18056842HYBRID DESIGN FOR LARGE SCALE BLOCK DEVICE COMPRESSION USING FLAT HASH TABLENovember 2022October 2025Allow3530NoNo
16968371WRITE BUFFER CONTROL IN MANAGED MEMORY SYSTEMAugust 2020November 2025Allow6050NoNo
16383776QUEUING READ REQUESTS BASED ON WRITE REQUESTSApril 2019January 2020Allow920NoNo
16370013TECHNOLOGIES FOR EFFICIENT EXIT FROM HYPER-DIMENSIONAL SPACE IN THE PRESENCE OF ERRORSMarch 2019October 2020Allow1900NoNo
16248640Distributed Dataset Modification, Retention, and ReplicationJanuary 2019December 2020Allow2310NoNo
15982792BUFFERED FREEPOINTER MANAGEMENT MEMORY SYSTEMMay 2018May 2020Allow2410NoNo
15469163SATISFYING RECOVERY SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS (SLAs)March 2017March 2020Allow3630YesNo
15457199FRAME CHOOSING DURING STORAGE CONSTRAINT CONDITIONMarch 2017June 2017Allow310NoNo
15428316ASYNCHRONOUS CLEANUP AFTER A PEER-TO-PEER REMOTE COPY (PPRC) TERMINATE RELATIONSHIP OPERATIONFebruary 2017June 2017Allow410NoNo
15272303LOG SNAPSHOT PROCEDURE CONTROL ON AN AUTOMATED DATA STORAGE LIBRARYSeptember 2016May 2020Allow6060YesYes
15136872MULTI-CELL STRUCTURE FOR NON-VOLATILE RESISTIVE MEMORYApril 2016October 2020Allow5460YesNo
14882590VIRTUAL DRIVE MAPPINGOctober 2015April 2016Allow610YesNo
14811911DATA COLLECTION IN A MULTI-THREADED PROCESSORJuly 2015May 2019Allow4580YesNo
14730368PARALLEL BLOCK ALLOCATION FOR DECLUSTERED LOGICAL DISKSJune 2015June 2015Allow100NoNo
14715196SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REGULATING ACCESS TO MEMORY MAPPING INFORMATION AT A MEMORY MANAGEMENT UNITMay 2015October 2015Allow510NoNo
14656941MEMORY CONTROLLER, STORAGE APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, AND CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAMEMarch 2015February 2017Allow2400NoNo
14468666PARALLEL BLOCK ALLOCATION FOR DECLUSTERED LOGICAL DISKSAugust 2014May 2015Allow810NoNo
14188650SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VALIDATION OF CACHE MEMORY LOCKINGFebruary 2014November 2015Allow2000NoNo
14186773DATA ACCESS TO A STORAGE TIER ON A CLIENT IN A MULTI-TIERED STORAGE SYSTEMFebruary 2014August 2016Allow3010YesNo
14186507OPTIMIZING PEER-TO-PEER REMOTE COPY (PPRC) TRANSFERS FOR PARTIAL WRITE OPERATIONS USING A MODIFIED SECTORS BITMAPFebruary 2014August 2016Allow3010NoNo
13772295DYNAMICALLY THROTTLING HOST COMMANDS TO DISK DRIVESFebruary 2013October 2015Allow3230YesNo
13167246DISK DRIVE WITH RECENT WRITE STREAMS LIST FOR DATA REFRESH DETERMINATIONJune 2011September 2015Allow5130YesNo
13166985SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTISTAGE PROCESSING IN A MEMORY STORAGE SUBSYSTEMJune 2011June 2015Allow4811YesNo
11932575RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR DATA STORAGE SERVICESOctober 2007April 2010Allow3020YesNo
11063809POLICY BASED DATA SHREDDING FOR STORAGE CONTROLLERFebruary 2005January 2010Allow5960YesNo
11029322APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING RECALL OF LOGICAL VOLUMES IN A VIRTUAL TAPE SERVERJanuary 2005February 2010Allow6020YesYes

Appeals Overview

This analysis examines appeal outcomes and the strategic value of filing appeals for examiner BIRKHIMER, CHRISTOPHER D.

Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Decisions

Total PTAB Decisions
2
Examiner Affirmed
2
(100.0%)
Examiner Reversed
0
(0.0%)
Reversal Percentile
4.1%
Lower than average

What This Means

With a 0.0% reversal rate, the PTAB affirms the examiner's rejections in the vast majority of cases. This reversal rate is in the bottom 25% across the USPTO, indicating that appeals face significant challenges here.

Strategic Value of Filing an Appeal

Total Appeal Filings
2
Allowed After Appeal Filing
0
(0.0%)
Not Allowed After Appeal Filing
2
(100.0%)
Filing Benefit Percentile
2.6%
Lower than average

Understanding Appeal Filing Strategy

Filing a Notice of Appeal can sometimes lead to allowance even before the appeal is fully briefed or decided by the PTAB. This occurs when the examiner or their supervisor reconsiders the rejection during the mandatory appeal conference (MPEP § 1207.01) after the appeal is filed.

In this dataset, 0.0% of applications that filed an appeal were subsequently allowed. This appeal filing benefit rate is in the bottom 25% across the USPTO, indicating that filing appeals is less effective here than in most other areas.

Strategic Recommendations

Appeals to PTAB face challenges. Ensure your case has strong merit before committing to full Board review.

Filing a Notice of Appeal shows limited benefit. Consider other strategies like interviews or amendments before appealing.

Examiner BIRKHIMER, CHRISTOPHER D - Prosecution Strategy Guide

Executive Summary

Examiner BIRKHIMER, CHRISTOPHER D works in Art Unit 2138 and has examined 25 patent applications in our dataset. With an allowance rate of 100.0%, this examiner allows applications at a higher rate than most examiners at the USPTO. Applications typically reach final disposition in approximately 30 months.

Allowance Patterns

Examiner BIRKHIMER, CHRISTOPHER D's allowance rate of 100.0% places them in the 94% percentile among all USPTO examiners. This examiner is more likely to allow applications than most examiners at the USPTO.

Office Action Patterns

On average, applications examined by BIRKHIMER, CHRISTOPHER D receive 2.24 office actions before reaching final disposition. This places the examiner in the 62% percentile for office actions issued. This examiner issues a slightly above-average number of office actions.

Prosecution Timeline

The median time to disposition (half-life) for applications examined by BIRKHIMER, CHRISTOPHER D is 30 months. This places the examiner in the 59% percentile for prosecution speed. Prosecution timelines are slightly faster than average with this examiner.

Interview Effectiveness

Conducting an examiner interview provides a +0.0% benefit to allowance rate for applications examined by BIRKHIMER, CHRISTOPHER D. This interview benefit is in the 13% percentile among all examiners. Note: Interviews show limited statistical benefit with this examiner compared to others, though they may still be valuable for clarifying issues.

Request for Continued Examination (RCE) Effectiveness

When applicants file an RCE with this examiner, 21.9% of applications are subsequently allowed. This success rate is in the 27% percentile among all examiners. Strategic Insight: RCEs show below-average effectiveness with this examiner. Carefully evaluate whether an RCE or continuation is the better strategy.

After-Final Amendment Practice

This examiner enters after-final amendments leading to allowance in 41.7% of cases where such amendments are filed. This entry rate is in the 64% percentile among all examiners. Strategic Recommendation: This examiner shows above-average receptiveness to after-final amendments. If your amendments clearly overcome the rejections and do not raise new issues, consider filing after-final amendments before resorting to an RCE.

Pre-Appeal Conference Effectiveness

When applicants request a pre-appeal conference (PAC) with this examiner, 0.0% result in withdrawal of the rejection or reopening of prosecution. This success rate is in the 5% percentile among all examiners. Note: Pre-appeal conferences show limited success with this examiner compared to others. While still worth considering, be prepared to proceed with a full appeal brief if the PAC does not result in favorable action.

Appeal Withdrawal and Reconsideration

This examiner withdraws rejections or reopens prosecution in 50.0% of appeals filed. This is in the 15% percentile among all examiners. Strategic Insight: This examiner rarely withdraws rejections during the appeal process compared to other examiners. If you file an appeal, be prepared to fully prosecute it to a PTAB decision. Per MPEP § 1207, the examiner will prepare an Examiner's Answer maintaining the rejections.

Petition Practice

When applicants file petitions regarding this examiner's actions, 0.0% are granted (fully or in part). This grant rate is in the 1% percentile among all examiners. Strategic Note: Petitions are rarely granted regarding this examiner's actions compared to other examiners. Ensure you have a strong procedural basis before filing a petition, as the Technology Center Director typically upholds this examiner's decisions.

Examiner Cooperation and Flexibility

Examiner's Amendments: This examiner makes examiner's amendments in 4.0% of allowed cases (in the 83% percentile). Per MPEP § 1302.04, examiner's amendments are used to place applications in condition for allowance when only minor changes are needed. This examiner frequently uses this tool compared to other examiners, indicating a cooperative approach to getting applications allowed. Strategic Insight: If you are close to allowance but minor claim amendments are needed, this examiner may be willing to make an examiner's amendment rather than requiring another round of prosecution.

Quayle Actions: This examiner issues Ex Parte Quayle actions in 0.0% of allowed cases (in the 11% percentile). This examiner rarely issues Quayle actions compared to other examiners. Allowances typically come directly without a separate action for formal matters.

Prosecution Strategy Recommendations

Based on the statistical analysis of this examiner's prosecution patterns, here are tailored strategic recommendations:

  • Examiner cooperation: This examiner frequently makes examiner's amendments to place applications in condition for allowance. If you are close to allowance, the examiner may help finalize the claims.

Relevant MPEP Sections for Prosecution Strategy

  • MPEP § 713.10: Examiner interviews - available before Notice of Allowance or transfer to PTAB
  • MPEP § 714.12: After-final amendments - may be entered "under justifiable circumstances"
  • MPEP § 1002.02(c): Petitionable matters to Technology Center Director
  • MPEP § 1004: Actions requiring primary examiner signature (allowances, final rejections, examiner's answers)
  • MPEP § 1207.01: Appeal conferences - mandatory for all appeals
  • MPEP § 1214.07: Reopening prosecution after appeal

Important Disclaimer

Not Legal Advice: The information provided in this report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with a qualified patent attorney or agent for advice specific to your situation.

No Guarantees: We do not provide any guarantees as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the statistics presented above. Patent prosecution statistics are derived from publicly available USPTO data and are subject to data quality limitations, processing errors, and changes in USPTO practices over time.

Limitation of Liability: Under no circumstances will IronCrow AI be liable for any outcome, decision, or action resulting from your reliance on the statistics, analysis, or recommendations presented in this report. Past prosecution patterns do not guarantee future results.

Use at Your Own Risk: While we strive to provide accurate and useful prosecution statistics, you should independently verify any information that is material to your prosecution strategy and use your professional judgment in all patent prosecution matters.