Patent ... no longer Pending

My patent attorney called this afternoon to tell me that something very unusual happened. My patent application for the control software of the "Digitally Pitch-Shifted Pedal Steel Guitar" was approved. Right off. First shot.

From what he told me, this is Very Unusual. Normally, a patent application takes several months to rise to the top of the assigned patent examiner's pile of applications sitting on top of their desk.

After his/her consideration, it's common for the examiner to send it back with particular points to be changed, tweaked, etc. Some claim here too broad, some other claim there too narrow. This yes, that no. You do more work to fix it. Then another go 'round. Then another.

Then you pay more money for the privilege of another three go 'rounds. Finally, after months, or much more likely years, a yay or a nay.

This is crazy good. Done. Much time and money and effort saved (better spent in development). In a couple of months I'll have my GPO-printed copy in hand. Wow.

UPDATE May 8, 2018: Patent number 9,966,055 has issued officially! (The provisional patent dates from August 2016).