[Patentcenter] Application numbers in acknowledgement receipts out of order?

[Robert Lelkes]

Today I noticed that the U.S. patent application number assigned by the
USPTO to a 371 entry into the US phase today is 18/294xxx while the US
patent application number assigned by the USPTO to a 371 entry into the US
phase on December 27, 2023, was 18/574xxx, so that today's U.S. patent
application was assigned a lower U.S. patent application number than the
preceding U.S. patent application.  

 

I thought that patent application numbers are supposed to be assigned in the
order of filing at the USPTO.  Has anyone seen this phenomenon?  Does anyone
have an explanation?

 

Bob Lelkes

US Patent Attorney

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