Detailed information about the 100 most recent patent applications.
| Application Number | Title | Filing Date | Disposal Date | Disposition | Time (months) | Office Actions | Restrictions | Interview | Appeal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18827648 | DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING | September 2024 | November 2025 | Abandon | 14 | 2 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 18759603 | METHODS FOR GENERATING DENTAL MODELS AND APPLIANCES | June 2024 | June 2025 | Allow | 11 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18611793 | MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING APPARATUS, AND MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD | March 2024 | March 2026 | Allow | 23 | 0 | 0 | No | No |
| 18397525 | GAMING ENVIRONMENT TRACKING OPTIMIZATION | December 2023 | September 2025 | Allow | 20 | 0 | 0 | No | No |
| 18389714 | GROUP SPARSITY MODEL FOR IMAGE UNMIXING | December 2023 | November 2024 | Allow | 11 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18518522 | COMPLEX INDUSTRIAL IMAGE EDGE EXTRACTION METHOD BASED ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND COMPLEX INDUSTRIAL IMAGE EDGE EXTRACTION DEVICE THEREOF | November 2023 | October 2025 | Allow | 23 | 0 | 0 | No | No |
| 18502725 | IMAGE-BASED DETECTION OF PLANOGRAM PRODUCT SPACES | November 2023 | July 2025 | Allow | 20 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18474629 | OBJECT TRACKING METHOD AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS THEREFOR | September 2023 | February 2026 | Allow | 28 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 18446927 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE AND METHOD USING VIDEO AREA SPLITTING, AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME | August 2023 | January 2026 | Allow | 30 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 18273872 | ROTATION STATE ESTIMATION APPARATUS, METHOD THEREOF, AND PROGRAM | July 2023 | January 2026 | Allow | 30 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 18224551 | HAND POSE ESTIMATION FOR MACHINE LEARNING BASED GESTURE RECOGNITION | July 2023 | November 2024 | Allow | 16 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18224373 | HAND POSE ESTIMATION FOR MACHINE LEARNING BASED GESTURE RECOGNITION | July 2023 | June 2024 | Allow | 11 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18352109 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF WINDOWING TIME SERIES DATA FOR PATTERN DETECTION | July 2023 | January 2025 | Allow | 18 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18259718 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING TRACKING TARGET AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE | June 2023 | February 2026 | Allow | 31 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18213485 | METHOD, APPARATUS, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, COMPUTER PROGRAM AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM FOR DETECTING LANE MARKING BASED ON VEHICLE IMAGE | June 2023 | March 2026 | Allow | 33 | 3 | 0 | No | No |
| 18338430 | RATING SYSTEM UTILIZING AN AUTOMATED SELF-REGULATING CONTROL LOOP | June 2023 | March 2025 | Allow | 21 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18331921 | NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN REGISTRATION AND VERIFICATION METHODS | June 2023 | August 2025 | Allow | 26 | 0 | 0 | No | No |
| 18203701 | REDUCING NOISE IN VIDEO FRAMES | May 2023 | October 2025 | Allow | 28 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18314311 | VEHICULAR VISION SYSTEM WITH OBJECT DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION WITH ADAPTIVE THRESHOLDING | May 2023 | June 2025 | Allow | 25 | 0 | 0 | No | No |
| 18304176 | GENERATING MODIFIED TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGES BY CUSTOMIZING FOCAL POINTS VIA THREE-DIMENSIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGES | April 2023 | June 2025 | Allow | 26 | 0 | 0 | No | No |
| 18249549 | METHOD AND IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE FOR IMPROVING SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO OF IMAGE FRAME SEQUENCES | April 2023 | January 2026 | Allow | 33 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 18133835 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING TAILGATING | April 2023 | September 2025 | Allow | 29 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18128184 | SHOT NOISE REDUCTION USING FRAME AVERAGING | March 2023 | January 2026 | Allow | 33 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18189233 | METHOD, APPARATUS, TERMINAL, AND STORAGE MEDIUM FOR IMAGE PROCESSING | March 2023 | February 2026 | Allow | 35 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 18179513 | VEHICLE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME | March 2023 | October 2025 | Allow | 31 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18115426 | SYSTEM FOR COUNTING QUANTITY OF GAME TOKENS | February 2023 | July 2024 | Allow | 16 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18042422 | DEFECT DETECTION METHOD AND DEVICE FOR AN LCD SCREEN | February 2023 | November 2025 | Allow | 32 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18020914 | METHOD OF DETERMINING IMAGE FEATURE, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND STORAGE MEDIUM | February 2023 | April 2025 | Abandon | 27 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18107173 | TEMPORAL SEMANTIC BOUNDARY LOSS FOR VIDEO SEMANTIC SEGMENTATION NETWORKS | February 2023 | October 2025 | Allow | 32 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18152712 | Real-time Image Segmentation | January 2023 | November 2025 | Abandon | 34 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18015201 | A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRACKING AND/OR MONITORING AN ACTIVITY | January 2023 | November 2025 | Abandon | 34 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 18068792 | Method for detecting the motion of at least one object, and corresponding electronic device, system, computer program product and medium. | December 2022 | February 2026 | Allow | 38 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 18063825 | MODELING PLANAR SURFACES USING DIRECT PLANE FITTING | December 2022 | May 2025 | Allow | 29 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 18075904 | Predictive Parcel Damage Identification, Analysis, And Mitigation | December 2022 | March 2025 | Allow | 27 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17984110 | IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS, COMPUTER DEVICE, COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT | November 2022 | July 2025 | Allow | 32 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17979782 | METHOD, DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR TRACKING POTENTIAL INFECTED PERSONS IN PUBLIC PLACE DURING EPIDEMIC PERIOD | November 2022 | June 2025 | Allow | 32 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17978541 | AUTONOMOUS MEDIA CAPTURING | November 2022 | December 2023 | Abandon | 13 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17975899 | System and Method for Employing Residual Noise in Deep Learning Denoising for X-Ray Imaging | October 2022 | September 2025 | Allow | 34 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17975287 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD | October 2022 | November 2025 | Allow | 36 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 18046736 | STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTIC EXTRACTION FROM 3D IMAGES | October 2022 | September 2025 | Allow | 35 | 4 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17943922 | PIXEL-LEVEL BASED MICRO-FEATURE EXTRACTION | September 2022 | October 2024 | Allow | 25 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 17941981 | METHOD FOR DETECTING HOLOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS ON DOCUMENTS IN A VIDEO STREAM | September 2022 | January 2025 | Allow | 28 | 0 | 0 | No | No |
| 17903712 | SELF-SUPERVISED TRAINING FROM A TEACHER NETWORK FOR COST VOLUME BASED DEPTH ESTIMATES | September 2022 | December 2024 | Allow | 28 | 0 | 0 | No | No |
| 17821162 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR ASCERTAINING OBJECT DETECTIONS OF AN IMAGE | August 2022 | December 2024 | Allow | 28 | 0 | 0 | No | No |
| 17887604 | CHECKING MECHANISM FOR WORKSHOP SECURITY AND METHOD FOR SECURITY INSPECTION | August 2022 | February 2025 | Allow | 30 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17818149 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED GRADING AND TRADING OF NUMISMATICS AND TRADING CARDS | August 2022 | April 2025 | Abandon | 32 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17873684 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETECTING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE USING PLURALITY OF IMAGE SENSORS | July 2022 | October 2025 | Abandon | 39 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 17790168 | Method and Device of Correction of Ring Artifact in CT Image and Computer Program Medium | June 2022 | April 2025 | Allow | 33 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17805124 | Vehicle path restoration system through sequential image analysis and vehicle path restoration method using the same | June 2022 | January 2025 | Allow | 32 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17745682 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING DISPLAY MISALIGNMENT CORRECTION | May 2022 | July 2025 | Abandon | 38 | 2 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17770194 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE, COMPONENT MOUNTING SYSTEM, AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD | April 2022 | November 2024 | Allow | 31 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17704000 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM | March 2022 | April 2025 | Allow | 37 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17641215 | INTELLIGENT MIRROR AND INTELLIGENT MIRROR AWAKENING METHOD | March 2022 | June 2025 | Abandon | 39 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 17687432 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING FACIAL POSE, IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM, AND STORAGE MEDIUM | March 2022 | November 2024 | Allow | 32 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17686059 | PER-PIXEL FILTER | March 2022 | October 2024 | Allow | 32 | 3 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17592341 | Generating and Applying Editing Presets | February 2022 | November 2024 | Allow | 33 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17581934 | ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR RECOGNIZING IMAGES BASED ON TEXTURE CLASSIFICATION | January 2022 | February 2025 | Allow | 36 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 17581806 | SIDE BY SIDE IMAGE DETECTION METHOD AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS USING THE SAME | January 2022 | August 2024 | Allow | 31 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17569778 | LANDMARK DETECTION USING DEEP NEURAL NETWORK WITH MULTI-FREQUENCY SELF-ATTENTION | January 2022 | February 2025 | Allow | 38 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 17624237 | VIDEO DENOISING METHOD AND DEVICE, AND COMPUTER READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM | December 2021 | September 2024 | Allow | 32 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17484545 | Object Recognition Method and Apparatus | September 2021 | January 2025 | Allow | 40 | 2 | 1 | Yes | No |
| 17484264 | VIEW-INDEPENDENT MULTI-CAMERA VOLUMETRIC CAPTURE SYSTEM | September 2021 | September 2024 | Allow | 36 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17484601 | KEYPOINT DETECTION AND FEATURE DESCRIPTOR COMPUTATION | September 2021 | November 2024 | Allow | 37 | 1 | 1 | Yes | No |
| 17448247 | SIMULATING VIEWPOINT TRANSFORMATIONS FOR SENSOR INDEPENDENT SCENE UNDERSTANDING IN AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS | September 2021 | March 2025 | Allow | 42 | 3 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17445823 | TEMPORAL METRICS FOR DENOISING DEPTH IMAGE DATA | August 2021 | August 2024 | Allow | 36 | 1 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17410193 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING VEHICLE DEFECTS | August 2021 | January 2026 | Allow | 53 | 5 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17406825 | SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND DEVICES FOR AUTOMATED METER READING FOR SMART FIELD PATROL | August 2021 | October 2024 | Allow | 38 | 3 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17402259 | OBJECT-RECOGNITION TRAINING | August 2021 | May 2025 | Abandon | 45 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 17443939 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR BREAST TOMOSYNTHESIS | July 2021 | January 2025 | Allow | 42 | 2 | 1 | No | No |
| 17381611 | PROPERTY MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT USING A DRONE | July 2021 | March 2026 | Abandon | 56 | 4 | 0 | No | Yes |
| 17345324 | IMAGE DISPLAY APPARATUS AND STORAGE MEDIUM | June 2021 | February 2025 | Abandon | 44 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 17339413 | OCCLUSION-AWARE MULTI-OBJECT TRACKING | June 2021 | August 2024 | Allow | 39 | 3 | 1 | Yes | No |
| 17244510 | AMBIENT ILLUMINANCE SENSOR SYSTEM | April 2021 | September 2024 | Allow | 40 | 3 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17217299 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR VISUALIZING PERIODIC MOTIONS IN MECHANICAL COMPONENTS | March 2021 | December 2024 | Allow | 45 | 2 | 1 | Yes | No |
| 17205416 | IMAGE PROCESSING PIPELINE FOR OPTIMIZING IMAGES IN MACHINE LEARNING AND OTHER APPLICATIONS | March 2021 | March 2026 | Abandon | 60 | 5 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 17275592 | STORAGE, DISPLAY, AND ANALYSIS OF FACTORED MULTIDIMENSIONAL IMAGES | March 2021 | August 2024 | Allow | 41 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 17172744 | MEDIA ENHANCEMENT USING DISCRIMINATIVE AND GENERATIVE MODELS WITH FEEDBACK | February 2021 | July 2024 | Allow | 42 | 2 | 1 | Yes | No |
| 16642921 | METHOD OF SIZE MEASUREMENT IN MONO-VISION SCOPE IMAGE | February 2020 | August 2024 | Allow | 54 | 2 | 1 | No | No |
| 15988928 | Method For Fingerprint Identification And Terminal | May 2018 | October 2018 | Allow | 5 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 15863977 | TEXTILE MATCHING USING COLOR AND PATTERN RECOGNITION AND METHODS OF USE | January 2018 | August 2018 | Allow | 8 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 15836105 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DIGITAL TOOTH IMAGING | December 2017 | September 2018 | Allow | 9 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 15815571 | METHOD OF DETERMINING JOINT STRESS FROM SENSOR DATA | November 2017 | July 2018 | Allow | 8 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 15623971 | REMOTE RECOGNITION PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD | June 2017 | July 2018 | Allow | 13 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 15524051 | MOUNTER AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING SUCTION POSTURE OF ELECTRONIC COMPONENT USING MOUNTER | May 2017 | September 2018 | Allow | 18 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 15329495 | IMAGE BACKGROUND REMOVAL USING MULTI-TOUCH SURFACE INPUT | January 2017 | January 2020 | Allow | 35 | 3 | 0 | No | No |
| 15404441 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM STORING A PROGRAM THAT GENERATES AN IMAGE FROM A CAPTURED IMAGE IN WHICH AN INFLUENCE OF FINE PARTICLES IN AN ATMOSPHERE HAS BEEN REDUCED | January 2017 | October 2018 | Allow | 21 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 15398049 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, MOVING IMAGE REPRODUCING APPARATUS, AND PROCESSING METHOD AND PROGRAM THEREFOR | January 2017 | January 2019 | Abandon | 25 | 4 | 0 | No | No |
| 15125099 | FINGERPRINT DETECTING APPARATUS AND DRIVING METHOD THEREOF | September 2016 | October 2018 | Allow | 25 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 15123166 | INFORMATION DISPLAY PROCESSING DEVICE AND CONTROL PROGRAM FOR INFORMATION DISPLAY PROCESSING DEVICE | September 2016 | June 2019 | Allow | 33 | 3 | 1 | No | No |
| 15238442 | Electronic Travel Album Generating Method and Computing Device | August 2016 | December 2018 | Abandon | 28 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 15114438 | GENERATING A BREAST PARAMETER MAP | July 2016 | November 2018 | Allow | 27 | 2 | 0 | Yes | No |
| 15198173 | SPECULAR LIGHT SHADOW REMOVAL FOR IMAGE DE-NOISING | June 2016 | August 2019 | Allow | 37 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 15109346 | THREE DIMENSIONAL IMAGING METHOD OF A LIMITED ZONE OF A PATIENT'S VASCULATURE | June 2016 | July 2018 | Allow | 25 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 15197574 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR TANK LEVEL MONITORING AND ALERTING | June 2016 | July 2018 | Allow | 25 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
| 15103684 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING LESION SIMILARITY OF MEDICAL IMAGE | June 2016 | January 2019 | Allow | 31 | 3 | 0 | No | No |
| 14392309 | VEHICLE DETECTION METHOD BASED ON HYBRID IMAGE TEMPLATE | May 2016 | July 2018 | Allow | 31 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 15056528 | Self-Organizing Discrete Recurrent Network Digital Image Codec | February 2016 | September 2018 | Allow | 31 | 2 | 1 | No | No |
| 14824364 | Communication Using Handwritten Input | August 2015 | November 2018 | Abandon | 39 | 2 | 0 | No | No |
| 13727838 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING STEREO IMAGE ACCORDING TO FREQUENCY CHARACTERISTICS OF INPUT IMAGE AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REPRODUCING THE CREATED STEREO IMAGE | December 2012 | June 2013 | Allow | 7 | 0 | 1 | No | No |
| 13059925 | IMAGE ANALYSIS BASED ON PIXEL BRIGHTNESS GROUPING | February 2011 | June 2013 | Allow | 28 | 1 | 0 | No | No |
This analysis examines appeal outcomes and the strategic value of filing appeals for examiner CHU, RANDOLPH I.
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.
⚠ Filing a Notice of Appeal shows limited benefit. Consider other strategies like interviews or amendments before appealing.
Examiner CHU, RANDOLPH I works in Art Unit 2667 and has examined 46 patent applications in our dataset. With an allowance rate of 84.8%, this examiner has an above-average tendency to allow applications. Applications typically reach final disposition in approximately 36 months.
Examiner CHU, RANDOLPH I's allowance rate of 84.8% places them in the 60% percentile among all USPTO examiners. This examiner has an above-average tendency to allow applications.
On average, applications examined by CHU, RANDOLPH I receive 2.09 office actions before reaching final disposition. This places the examiner in the 55% percentile for office actions issued. This examiner issues a slightly above-average number of office actions.
The median time to disposition (half-life) for applications examined by CHU, RANDOLPH I is 36 months. This places the examiner in the 36% percentile for prosecution speed. Prosecution timelines are slightly slower than average with this examiner.
Conducting an examiner interview provides a +11.6% benefit to allowance rate for applications examined by CHU, RANDOLPH I. This interview benefit is in the 46% percentile among all examiners. Recommendation: Interviews provide a below-average benefit with this examiner.
When applicants file an RCE with this examiner, 36.7% of applications are subsequently allowed. This success rate is in the 83% percentile among all examiners. Strategic Insight: RCEs are highly effective with this examiner compared to others. If you receive a final rejection, filing an RCE with substantive amendments or arguments has a strong likelihood of success.
This examiner enters after-final amendments leading to allowance in 47.1% of cases where such amendments are filed. This entry rate is in the 71% 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.
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 11% 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.
When applicants file petitions regarding this examiner's actions, 40.0% are granted (fully or in part). This grant rate is in the 30% percentile among all examiners. Strategic Note: Petitions show below-average success regarding this examiner's actions. Ensure you have a strong procedural basis before filing.
Examiner's Amendments: This examiner makes examiner's amendments in 0.0% of allowed cases (in the 22% percentile). This examiner rarely makes examiner's amendments compared to other examiners. You should expect to make all necessary claim amendments yourself through formal amendment practice.
Quayle Actions: This examiner issues Ex Parte Quayle actions in 0.0% of allowed cases (in the 28% percentile). This examiner issues Quayle actions less often than average. Allowances may come directly without a separate action for formal matters.
Based on the statistical analysis of this examiner's prosecution patterns, here are tailored strategic recommendations:
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.