Examiner Kimberly S. Smith

Grant ratio: 33.7% (2nd percentile in Art Unit 3644 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.74. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 33.7%
Average office actions / grant 1.74
Compared with Art unit Very hard
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
78383
Primary art unit
3644
Work group
3640
Technology center
3600
Applications
395
Granted applications
133
Examiner phone
(571) 272-6909
Supervisor
Pinky Boveja
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-8105

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 33 68.3% 1.55
Group 281 52.9% 1.75
Tech Center 2,381 46.2% 2.12
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.79 708 office actions across 396 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 396 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 207 52.3%
2 OAs 123 31.1%
3 OAs 31 7.8%
4 OAs 26 6.6%
5+ OAs 9 2.3%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 28.4% 2008 2009: 33.8% 2009 2010: 42.2% 2010 2011: 40.0% 2011 2012: 21.9% 2012 2013: 56.3% 2013 2014: 27.1% 2014 2015: 0.0% 2015 2020: 66.7% 2020 2025: 11.1% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
2008742128.4%
2009712433.8%
2010451942.2%
2011652640.0%
201232721.9%
2013321856.3%
2014481327.1%
2015800.0%
20206466.7%
20259111.1%
2026500.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 396 0.5% 8.1% 76.8% 5.1%
Action 2 189 1.6% 4.2% 83.1% 2.6%
Action 3 66 0.0% 0.0% 87.9% 7.6%
Action 4 35 2.9% 2.9% 88.6% 8.6%
Action 5 9 0.0% 11.1% 77.8% 11.1%
Action 6 5 20.0% 0.0% 60.0% 0.0%
Action 7 4 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 8 2 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
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 0.0% 0 of 16 office actions
All years 1.0% 7 of 708 office actions
Change -1.0 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%
0.8%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.5%
2014: Alice
6.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2025: August memo
0.0%
0.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 16. Merits outcomes: 11 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 4 reversed.

Full reversal rate
25.0% 4/16 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
31.3% 5/16 decisions
Median appeal duration
29.1 months
New grounds of rejection
1
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Jun. 21, 2016 12/107,381 Affirmed §101 · §102 · §103 · §112
Mar. 15, 2016 12/327,912 Affirmed New ground of rejection N/A
Jan. 21, 2016 12/807,899 Affirmed §103
Jan. 15, 2016 11/965,946 Affirmed §103 · §112
Oct. 16, 2015 10/322,381 Affirmed N/A
Jun. 24, 2015 12/263,100 Affirmed N/A
May. 20, 2015 12/533,618 Affirmed N/A
Dec. 11, 2014 12/236,356 Reversed N/A
Feb. 26, 2014 13/374,975 Affirmed N/A
Aug. 21, 2013 11/487,188 Reversed §103 · §112
Mar. 27, 2013 11/402,099 Affirmed N/A
Sep. 7, 2012 11/839,114 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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