Examiner Daniel Whalen

Grant ratio: 73.1% (58th percentile in Art Unit 2829 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.94. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 73.1%
Average office actions / grant 1.94
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO Very easy

Examiner record

Examiner ID
84142
Primary art unit
2829
Work group
2820
Technology center
2800
Applications
1,054
Granted applications
770
Examiner phone
(571) 270-3418
Supervisor
Stephen Meier
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-2149

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 23 68.3% 1.82
Group 207 71.2% 1.64
Tech Center 2,413 62.4% 1.69
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.02 2,126 office actions across 1,054 applications
Applications with office actions 99.3% 1,047 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 7 0.7%
1 OA 477 45.3%
2 OAs 298 28.3%
3 OAs 148 14.0%
4 OAs 74 7.0%
5+ OAs 50 4.7%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2007: 100.0% 2007 2008: 61.4% 2008 2009: 59.1% 2009 2010: 71.4% 2010 2011: 74.5% 2011 2012: 80.4% 2012 2013: 79.6% 2013 2014: 79.6% 2014 2015: 75.8% 2015 2016: 84.9% 2016 2017: 91.9% 2017 2018: 91.4% 2018 2019: 83.3% 2019 2020: 82.4% 2020 2021: 91.7% 2021 2022: 81.3% 2022 2023: 83.6% 2023 2024: 79.6% 2024 2025: 52.2% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200722100.0%
2008442761.4%
2009663959.1%
2010493571.4%
2011473574.5%
2012564580.4%
2013493979.6%
2014493979.6%
2015665075.8%
2016534584.9%
2017625791.9%
2018585391.4%
2019544583.3%
2020514282.4%
2021484491.7%
2022483981.3%
2023675683.6%
2024544379.6%
2025673552.2%
20266400.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 1,047 0.8% 17.4% 73.1% 5.8%
Action 2 570 0.0% 16.1% 73.5% 7.5%
Action 3 272 0.0% 11.4% 77.2% 9.6%
Action 4 124 0.0% 8.9% 78.2% 11.3%
Action 5 50 0.0% 8.0% 76.0% 16.0%
Action 6 33 0.0% 6.1% 78.8% 12.1%
Action 7 17 0.0% 5.9% 88.2% 5.9%
Action 8 10 0.0% 20.0% 70.0% 10.0%
Action 9 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 10 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.2% 1 of 403 office actions
All years 0.4% 8 of 2,126 office actions
Change -0.1 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%
0.0%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2.2%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.9%
0.8%
0.0%
1.0%
2019: PEG
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024: AI examples
0.8%
2025: August memo
0.0%
0.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 10. Merits outcomes: 3 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 7 reversed.

Full reversal rate
70.0% 7/10 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
70.0% 7/10 decisions
Median appeal duration
24.4 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Jun. 2, 2022 16/374,720 Reversed §103
Apr. 22, 2022 16/215,148 Affirmed §102 · §112
May. 20, 2016 12/923,584 Reversed §102 · §112
Mar. 28, 2016 11/928,142 Reversed §102
Feb. 23, 2016 12/538,602 Reversed N/A
Aug. 27, 2015 12/923,834 Reversed N/A
Jun. 26, 2015 12/462,325 Reversed N/A
Dec. 12, 2014 12/366,235 Reversed §102 · §103 · §112
Apr. 30, 2014 12/366,234 Affirmed §103
Sep. 29, 2010 11/400,632 Affirmed §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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