Technology Center Explainer
This page was updated on Saturday, July 4, 2021 at 01:09 AM GMT
How Tech Centers and Art Units Are Organized
The USPTO's patent corps is organized into Technology Centers (TCs), groups of patent examiners with specific scientific and technical domain expertise. Technology Centers are further divided into Art Units (AUs) organized by major types of inventive art within a scientific or technical domain. Art Units are organized into Group Art Units, even more specialized and granular teams of examiners.
Group Art Units (GAUs) are where patent examiners prosecute patent applications. Patent applications are docketed to examiners based on of specific subject matter classifications of a particular GAU.
Understanding Technology Centers, Art Units and Group Art Units helps you understand what type of inventions are being prosecuted within each scientific and technical domain, how long it takes from the date a patent application is filed to the time a final decision on the patentability of the invention is made.
Patents examined here cover:
| Art Unit | Technical & Scientific Domains |
|---|---|
| 1610 | Organic Compounds: Bio-affecting, Body Treating, Drug Delivery, Steroids, Herbicides, Pesticides, Cosmetics, and Drugs |
| 1620 | Organic Chemistry |
| 1630 | Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, Nucleic Acids, Recombinant DNA and RNA, Gene Regulation, Nucleic Acid Amplification, Animals and Plants, Combinatorial/ Computational Chemistry |
| 1640 | Immunology, Receptor/Ligands, Cytokines Recombinant Hormones, and Molecular Biology |
| 1650 | Fermentation, Microbiology, Isolated and Recombinant Proteins/Enzyme |
| 1660 | Plants |
About Plant Patents
Plant Patents are granted by the Government to an inventor who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced a distinct and new variety of plant, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state. If you've ever eaten a pluot, you've enjoyed the fruit of a plant patent.
Plant patent numbers begin with a "PP" followed by a five digit number. The first Plant Patent was issued in 1931. Plant patents are valid for 20 years from the filing date.
Patents examined here cover:
| Art Unit | Technical & Scientific Domains |
|---|---|
| 1710 | Coating, Etching, Cleaning, Single Crystal Growth |
| 1720 | Fuel Cells, Batteries, Solar Cells, Liquid Crystal Composition |
| 1730 | Metallurgy, Metal Working, Inorganic Chemistry, Catalysts, Electrophotography, Photolithography |
| 1740 | Tires, Adhesive Bonding, Glass/Paper making, Plastics Shaping & Molding |
| 1760 | Organic Chemistry, Polymers, Compositions |
| 1770 | Chemical Apparatus, Separation and Purification, Liquid and Gas Contact Apparatus |
| 1780 | Miscellaneous Articles, Stock Material, Adhesive Composition, Fabrics |
| 1790 | Food, Analytical Chemistry, Sterilization, Biochemistry, Electrochemistry |
Patents examined here cover:
| Art Unit | Technical & Scientific Domains |
|---|---|
| 2110 | Coating, Etching, Cleaning, Single Crystal Growth |
| 2120 | Miscellaneous Articles, Stock Material, Adhesive Composition, Fabrics |
| 2130 | Fuel Cells, Batteries, Solar Cells, Liquid Crystal Composition |
| 2140/2170 | Metallurgy, Metal Working, Inorganic Chemistry, Catalysts, Electrophotography, Photolithography |
| 2150/2160 | Tires, Adhesive Bonding, Glass/Paper making, Plastics Shaping & Molding |
| 2180 | Organic Chemistry, Polymers, Compositions |
| 2190 | Chemical Apparatus, Separation and Purification, Liquid and Gas Contact Apparatus |
Patents examined here cover:
| Art Unit | Technical & Scientific Domains |
|---|---|
| 2410/2460/2470 | Multiplex, VoIP |
| 2420 | Cable and Television |
| 2430/2490 | Cryptography and Security |
| 2440/2450 | Computer Networks |
| 2480 | Recording and Compression |
Patents examined here cover:
| Art Unit | Technical & Scientific Domains |
|---|---|
| 2610 | Computer Graphic Processing, 3D Animation, Display Color Attribute, Object Processing, Hardware and Memory |
| 2620 | Selective Visual Display Systems |
| 2630 | Digital and Optical Communications |
| 2640 | Telecommunications: Analog Radio Telephone; Satellite and Power Control; Transceivers, Measuring and Testing; Bluetooth; Receivers and Transmitters; Equipment Details |
| 2650 | Videophones and Telephonic Communications; Audio Signals; Digital Audio Data Processing; Linguistics, Speech Processing and Audio Compression |
| 2660 | Digital Cameras; Image Analysis; Applications; pattern Recognition; Color and Compression; Enhancement and Transformation |
| 2670 | Facsimile; Printer; Color; halftone; Scanner; Computer Graphic Processing; 3-D Animation; Display Color; Attributes; Object Processing; Hardware and Memory |
| 2680 | Telemetry and Code Generation; Vehicles and System Alarms; Selective Communication; Dynamic Storage Systems; Mechanical parts of Disk Drives; Signal Processing and Control Processing in Disk Drives |
| 2690 | Selective Visual Display Systems |
More broadly TC 2800 Art Units cover Semiconductors/Memory, Circuits/Measuring and Testing, Optics/Photocopying, Printing/Measuring and Testing.
Patents examined here cover:
| Art Unit | Technical & Scientific Domains |
|---|---|
| 2810/2820/2890 | Semiconductors/Memory |
| 2830/2840 | Electrical Circuits and Systems |
| 2850/2860 | Printing/Measuring and Testing |
| 2870/2880 | Optics |
About Design Patents
The design FOR an article. Not to the design OF an article.
Patents examined here cover Design patents cover the appearance of an article. The design for an article consists of the visual characteristics embodied in or applied to an article. Since a design is manifested in appearance, the subject matter of a design patent application may relate to the configuration or shape of an article, to the surface ornamentation applied to an article, or to the combination of configuration and surface ornamentation.
Design is inseparable from the article to which it is applied and cannot exist alone merely as a scheme of surface ornamentation. It must be a definite, preconceived thing, capable of reproduction and not merely the chance result of a method.
Design patent numbers begin with a "D" followed by a six digit number. The first Design Patent was issued in 1843. The term of a design patent is 15 years measured from the date of grant, if the design application was filed on or after May 13, 2015 (or 14 years if filed before May 13, 2015).
Patents examined here cover:
| Art Unit | Technical & Scientific Domains |
|---|---|
| 3610 | Surface Transportation |
| 3620 | Business Methods — Incentive Programs, Coupons; Operations Research; Electronic Shopping; Health Care; Point of Sale, Inventory, Accounting; Cost/Price, Reservations, Shipping and Transportation; Business Processing |
| 3630 | Static Structures, Supports and Furniture |
| 3640 | Aeronautics, Agriculture, Fishing, Trapping, Vermin Destroying, Plant and Animal Husbandry, Weaponry, Nuclear Systems, and License and Review |
| 3650 | Material and Article Handling |
| 3660 | Computerized Vehicle Controls and Navigation, Radio Wave, Optical and Acoustic Wave Communication, Robotics, and Nuclear Systems |
| 3670 | Wells, Earth Boring/Moving/Working, Excavating, Mining, Harvesters, Bridges, Roads, Petroleum, Closures, Connections, and Hardware |
| 3680 | Business Methods — Incentive Programs, Coupons; Electronic Shopping; Business Cryptography, Voting; Health Care; Point of Sale, Inventory, Accounting; Business Processing, Electronic Negotiation |
| 3690 | Business Methods — Finance/Banking/ Insurance |
Patents examined here cover:
| Art Unit | Technical & Scientific Domains |
|---|---|
| 3710 | Amusement and Education Devices |
| 3720 | Manufacturing Devices and Processes, Machine Tools and Hand Tools |
| 3730 | Sheet Container Making, Package Making, Receptacles, Shoes, Apparel, and Tool Driving or Impacting |
| 3740 | Thermal and Combustion Technology, Motive and Fluid Power Systems |
| 3750 | Fluid Handling and Dispensing |
| 3760 | Refrigeration, Vaporization, Ventilation, and Combustion |
| 3770 | Medical & Surgical Instruments, Treatment Devices, Surgery and Surgical Supplies |
| 3780 | Body Treatment, Kinestherapy, and Exercising |
More About Tech Centers
In fiscal year 2020 USPTO completed 606,135 patent application production units — the complete examination of a single application. The utility, plant, and reissue (UPR) patent application production units are a measure of the patent examination work completed by the USPTO. The production units are the total first office actions plus the total disposals completed, divided by two. The number of production units is the actual number of units completed in the current fiscal year.
As of November 20, 2020, USPTO's backlog of unexamined patent applications (inventory) reported to Congress was 576,103. The Office's Fiscal Year 2021 backlog of unexamined patent applications is projected to be 571,600 applications.
First Office Action pendency is the average number of months from the patent application filing date to the date a First Office Action is mailed by the USPTO. The pendency for applications is 14.8 to first office action. Total pendency is 23.3 months. For more up-to-date information look here.
USPTO reports its productivity and performance numbers using Technology Centers. The table that follows provides an overview of key data on USPTO’s patent prosecution workload organized by Technology Center reported to Congress.
Tech Center Performance
| Tech Center | 1600 | 1700 | 2100 | 2400 | 2600 | 2800 | 3600 | 3700 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applications | 28,347 | 37,255 | 27,802 | 35,614 | 40,122 | 72,249 | 54,615 | 53,971 |
| Track One One year decision |
1,960 | 1,105 | 1,230 | 1,954 | 1,243 | 1,069 | 2,038 | 1,968 |
| First Office Action — In Months |
13.3 | 16.8 | 16.0 | 12.9 | 11.4 | 13.1 | 16.7 | 17.7 |
| Pendency In Months |
22.6 | 26.9 | 26.5 | 23.1 | 19.2 | 21.1 | 26.4 | 28.0 |
| Examiner Staff | 577 | 910 | 855 | 967 | 890 | 1247 | 1204 | 1185 |
| Examiner Tenure In Years |
14.9 | 13.2 | 11.4 | 11.3 | 13.8 | 14.1 | 11.1 | 10.8 |
| Unexamined Inventory | 37,589 | 63,230 | 45,482 | 45,345 | 39,359 | 88,341 | 89,268 | 92,865 |
| RCE Inventory | 2,113 | 2,467 | 2,043 | 1,802 | 811 | 1,272 | 2,841 | 2,916 |
| Total Inventory | 86,669 | 125,961 | 86,443 | 92,944 | 82,474 | 160,846 | 162,769 | 168,432 |
| Granted Patents | 26,987 | 38,705 | 30,695 | 41,729 | 46,801 | 80,615 | 49,630 | 53,762 |
| Final Rejections | 22,473 | 35,676 | 24,201 | 27,012 | 22,236 | 30,242 | 38,101 | 40,408 |
| Allowance | 52.2% | 51.8% | 57.5% | 62.4% | 70.1% | 74.8% | 56.0% | 57.1% |