Continuing patent application

Inventors could file patent applications on improvements to their inventions on improvements known as "additional improvement patents" (A.I) Up to 1861, these patents were issued. The patent examiner will examine patent claims and amendments in an original patent application for two rounds of "office actions" before ending examination. If examiner feels that the references on the IDS are material, a Request for Continuous Examination is executed and examination is reopened. It is possible to use the same specifications as the pending parent application, claims priority based on the filing date, and must name at least one of the inventors named in the parent application. This type of application is useful when a patent examiner allowed some, but rejected other claims in an application, or where an applicant may not have exhausted all useful ways of claiming different embodiments of the invention. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has a system that allows applications to be submitted in the last minute.