“A US patent family tree: provisional US 63/987654 filed 2020-06-01, nonprovisional US 17/456789 filed 2021-06-01 and granted as US 11,234,567, with a continuation US 18/234567 granted as US 12,456,789, a pending divisional US 18/345678, and a pending continuation-in-part US 18/456789.”
Read the decisions behind it.
Keep the nonprovisional below its provisional priority filing.
Show later continuations as children of the parent.
Distinguish divisional and continuation-in-part filings.
Use this to separate US descendant applications that have different prosecution paths.
Other examples in this family.
Common questions
What is a continuation application?
It is a later US application that claims priority to an earlier nonprovisional and generally uses the same disclosure.
What is a divisional application?
It is a child application filed for an invention divided out of a parent application.
What is a continuation-in-part?
It is a continuation that adds new subject matter to the earlier disclosure.