Examiner Zhihan Zhou

Grant ratio: 72.7% (86th percentile in Art Unit 2482 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.85. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 72.7%
Average office actions / grant 1.85
Compared with Art unit Very easy
Compared with Work group Very easy
Compared with Technology center Very easy
Compared with USPTO Very easy

Examiner record

Examiner ID
90233
Primary art unit
2482
Work group
2480
Technology center
2400
Applications
1,029
Granted applications
748
Examiner phone
(571) 270-7284
Supervisor
Christopher Kelley
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-7331

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 20 60.2% 2.06
Group 173 59.9% 2.01
Tech Center 1,754 58.4% 2.14
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.93 1,984 office actions across 1,029 applications
Applications with office actions 99.5% 1,024 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 5 0.5%
1 OA 525 51.0%
2 OAs 261 25.4%
3 OAs 117 11.4%
4 OAs 67 6.5%
5+ OAs 54 5.2%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2013: 54.5% 2013 2014: 52.2% 2014 2015: 50.8% 2015 2016: 57.8% 2016 2017: 72.3% 2017 2018: 69.6% 2018 2019: 85.3% 2019 2020: 84.1% 2020 2021: 92.2% 2021 2022: 95.2% 2022 2023: 98.8% 2023 2024: 95.5% 2024 2025: 53.7% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
2013331854.5%
2014693652.2%
2015613150.8%
2016905257.8%
2017654772.3%
2018694869.6%
2019756485.3%
2020887484.1%
2021908392.2%
2022837995.2%
2023828198.8%
2024888495.5%
2025955153.7%
20264100.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 1,024 2.2% 4.7% 75.8% 0.7%
Action 2 499 0.2% 5.8% 85.8% 0.6%
Action 3 238 0.0% 4.2% 92.4% 0.0%
Action 4 121 0.0% 0.0% 97.5% 0.0%
Action 5 54 0.0% 1.9% 96.3% 0.0%
Action 6 29 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 7 10 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 8 7 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 9 2 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.8% 3 of 361 office actions
All years 1.2% 24 of 1,984 office actions
Change -0.4 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%
1.4%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.6%
0.0%
0.6%
0.8%
2019: PEG
2.1%
2.0%
0.7%
4.4%
4.0%
2024: AI examples
0.8%
2025: August memo
0.8%
0.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 26. Merits outcomes: 10 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 15 reversed.

Full reversal rate
57.7% 15/26 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
61.5% 16/26 decisions
Median appeal duration
15.4 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Apr. 30, 2024 16/960,127 Reversed §103
Mar. 14, 2022 16/352,916 Affirmed §103
Jan. 12, 2022 15/697,870 Reversed §103
Nov. 10, 2021 15/910,033 Reversed §103
Jun. 8, 2021 14/996,888 Reversed §103
Mar. 18, 2021 14/001,233 Affirmed §103
Sep. 25, 2020 14/005,314 Affirmed §103
May. 27, 2020 13/216,375 Affirmed §103
Mar. 11, 2020 15/416,402 Reversed §103
Jan. 31, 2020 13/802,671 Reversed §103
Apr. 13, 2018 13/354,178 Reversed §103
Mar. 19, 2018 13/593,973 Reversed §103

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.

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