Examiner Carolyn Smith

Grant ratio: 38.9% (55th percentile in Art Unit 1631 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.10. Most common rejection type: §102.

Appears inactive Last office action in data: July 2012
Grant ratio 38.9%
Average office actions / grant 2.10
Compared with Art unit Very easy
Compared with Work group Very easy
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO Very hard

Examiner record

Examiner ID
79727
Primary art unit
1631
Work group
1630
Technology center
1600
Applications
157
Granted applications
61

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 31 35.4% 2.35
Group 245 37.4% 2.18
Tech Center 1,373 38.0% 2.02
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.80 282 office actions across 157 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 157 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 75 47.8%
2 OAs 51 32.5%
3 OAs 21 13.4%
4 OAs 9 5.7%
5+ OAs 1 0.6%

Each application is counted once. “5+” includes all higher counts.

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 14.6% 2008 2009: 37.5% 2009 2010: 56.4% 2010 2011: 50.0% 2011 2012: 60.0% 2012

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200841614.6%
2009481837.5%
2010392256.4%
2011241250.0%
20125360.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 157 0.6% 57.3% 24.8% 15.9%
Action 2 82 3.7% 41.5% 37.8% 17.1%
Action 3 31 0.0% 35.5% 61.3% 3.2%
Action 4 10 0.0% 20.0% 60.0% 20.0%
Action 5 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 6 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years N/A 0 of 0 office actions
All years 1.4% 4 of 282 office actions
Change N/A Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-08-28–2026-08-28. All years includes every dated office action in the data.

By year

1.2%
2.3%
0.0%
0.0%
20.0%

Each bar is the percentage of office actions with a §101 rejection.

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 2. Merits outcomes: 1 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 1 reversed.

Full reversal rate
50.0% 1/2 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
50.0% 1/2 decisions
Median appeal duration
9.1 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Jul. 14, 2011 10/218,880 Reversed §103
Dec. 30, 2009 10/394,337 Affirmed §103 · §112

The examiner match uses the last recorded office action before the decision. Reversal rates exclude rehearings, remands, dismissals, and other decisions that did not reach the merits. Data through Aug. 27, 2026.

Job History

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