Page 8 - How to Successfully Obtain Blockchain Patents Brochure
P. 8

 In addition to drafting the specification properly, the claims also must be carefully drafted to reflect the disclosed improvement in technology. Specifically, the guidance states that the claim must include the components or steps of the invention that provide the improvement described in the specification.
In addition to drafting the specification properly, the claims also must be carefully drafted to reflect the disclosed improvement in technology. Specifically, the guidance states that the claim must include the components or steps of the invention that provide the improvement described in the specification. However, the claim itself does not need to explicitly recite the improvement described in the specification.
An important consideration in determining whether a claim improves technology is the extent to which the claim covers a particular solution to a problem or a particular way to achieve a desired outcome, as opposed to merely claiming the idea of a solution or outcome. In this respect, the improvement consideration overlaps with other considerations, specifically the particular machine consideration and the mere instructions to apply an exception consideration.
Improvements To Computer Functionality
Under this category, the common issue is whether the claimed invention purports to improve computer capabilities or, instead, invokes computers merely as a tool. In one case, a court considered the patent-eligibility of claims related to a self-referential database and concluded the claims were not directed to an abstract idea, but rather an improvement to computer functionality. It was the specification’s discussion of the prior art and how the invention improved the way the computer stores and retrieves data in memory in combination with the specific data structure recited in the claims that demonstrated eligibility. In other words, the claim was not simply the addition of general purpose computers added post-hoc to an abstract idea, but a specific implementation of a solution to a problem in the software arts.
Other examples of improvement in computer-functionality include:
• a modification of conventional internet hyperlink protocol to dynamically produce a dual-source hybrid webpage
• inventive distribution of functionality within a network to filter internet content
• a method of rendering a halftone digital image
•a distributed network architecture operating in an unconventional fashion to reduce network congestion while generating networking accounting data records,
•a memory system having programmable operational characteristics that are configurable based on the type of processor, which can be used with different types of processors without a tradeoff in processor performance
• technical details as to how to transmit images over a cellular network or append classification information to digital image data
• particular structure of a server that stores organized digital image
• a particular way of programming or designing software to create menus
• a method that generates a security profile that identifies both hostile and potentially hostile operations, and can protect the user against both previously unknown viruses and “obfuscated code,” which is an improvement over traditional virus scanning.
 How to Successfully Obtain Blockchain Patents
www.sheppardmullin.com | 8
 

















































































   6   7   8   9   10