Examiner Zhi Chen

Grant ratio: 51.4% (38th percentile in Art Unit 2196 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.46. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 51.4%
Average office actions / grant 2.46
Compared with Art unit Very hard
Compared with Work group Very hard
Compared with Technology center Very hard
Compared with USPTO Very hard

Examiner record

Examiner ID
90815
Primary art unit
2196
Work group
2190
Technology center
2100
Applications
286
Granted applications
147
Examiner phone
(571) 272-0805

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 24 51.5% 2.10
Group 238 52.6% 2.03
Tech Center 1,781 52.8% 2.19
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.83 810 office actions across 286 applications
Applications with office actions 99.7% 285 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 1 0.3%
1 OA 82 28.7%
2 OAs 83 29.0%
3 OAs 34 11.9%
4 OAs 39 13.6%
5+ OAs 47 16.4%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2014: 63.6% 2014 2015: 80.0% 2015 2016: 63.6% 2016 2017: 73.7% 2017 2018: 40.9% 2018 2019: 56.3% 2019 2020: 62.5% 2020 2021: 80.0% 2021 2022: 39.1% 2022 2023: 52.9% 2023 2024: 55.6% 2024 2025: 45.2% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
201411763.6%
2015201680.0%
2016221463.6%
2017191473.7%
201822940.9%
2019321856.3%
2020241562.5%
2021151280.0%
202223939.1%
202317952.9%
2024181055.6%
2025311445.2%
20263200.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 285 1.1% 1.1% 90.5% 7.0%
Action 2 203 3.0% 10.8% 82.3% 3.0%
Action 3 120 3.3% 3.3% 90.0% 3.3%
Action 4 86 3.5% 0.0% 91.9% 4.7%
Action 5 47 2.1% 0.0% 97.9% 0.0%
Action 6 33 0.0% 0.0% 93.9% 6.1%
Action 7 19 0.0% 0.0% 94.7% 5.3%
Action 8 11 0.0% 0.0% 90.9% 9.1%
Action 9 4 0.0% 0.0% 50.0% 0.0%
Action 10 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 5.4% 11 of 203 office actions
All years 2.1% 17 of 810 office actions
Change +3.3 pts Percentage points

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

By year

0.0%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
3.3%
2019: PEG
1.6%
0.0%
2.0%
3.0%
1.5%
2024: AI examples
10.1%
2025: August memo
5.6%
0.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 4. Merits outcomes: 3 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 1 reversed.

Full reversal rate
25.0% 1/4 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
25.0% 1/4 decisions
Median appeal duration
9.9 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Apr. 22, 2025 16/654,225 Reversed §103
Jan. 25, 2024 15/917,317 Affirmed §103 · §112
Mar. 2, 2022 14/936,702 Affirmed §103
Nov. 29, 2018 13/918,049 Affirmed §102 · §103 · §112 · §120

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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