Page 9 - How to Successfully Obtain Blockchain Patents Brochure

• an improved user interface for electronic devices that displays an application summary of unlaunched applications, where the particular data in the summary is selectable by a user to launch the respective application
•specific interface and implementation for navigating complex three-dimensional spreadsheets using techniques unique to computers; and
• a specific method of restricting software operation within a license
Examples where claims may not be sufficient to show an improvement in computer-functionality:
• generating restaurant menus with functionally claimed features
• accelerating a process of analyzing audit log data when the increased speed comes solely from the capabilities of a general-purpose computer
• mere automation of manual processes, such as using a generic computer to process an application for financing a purchase
• speeding up a loan-application process by enabling borrowers to avoid physically going to or calling each lender and filling out a loan application
• recording, transmitting, and archiving digital images by use of conventional or generic technology in a nascent but well-known environment, without any assertion that the invention reflects an inventive solution to any problem presented by combining a camera and a cellular telephone
• affixing a barcode to a mail object in order to more reliably identify the sender and speed up mail processing, without any limitations specifying the technical details of the barcode or how it is generated or processed;
• instructions to display two sets of information on a computer display in a non-interfering manner, without any limitations specifying how to achieve the desired result;
• providing historical usage information to users while they are inputting data, in order to improve the quality and organization of information added to a database, because an improvement to the information stored by a database is not equivalent to an improvement in the database’s functionality; and
• arranging transactional information on a graphical user interface in a manner that assists traders in processing information more quickly.
Improvements To Other Technology Or a Technical Field
Under this category, courts have also found that improvements in technology beyond computer functionality may demonstrate patent-eligibility. In one case (mentioned above), the Federal Circuit held claimed methods of automatic lip synchronization and facial expression animation using computer-implemented rules to be patent-eligible because the claims were directed to an improvement in computer animation technology. The court relied on the specification’s explanation of how the claimed rules enabled the automation of specific animation tasks that previously could not be automated. The court indicated that it was the incorporation of the particular claimed rules in computer animation that improved the existing technological process, unlike cases such as Alice where a computer was merely used as a tool to perform an existing process. The court also noted that the claims at issue described a specific way (use of particular rules to set morph weights and transitions through phonemes) to solve the problem of producing accurate and realistic lip synchronization and facial expressions in animated characters, rather than merely claiming the idea of a solution or outcome, and thus were not directed to an abstract idea.
However, it is important to keep in mind that an improvement in the abstract idea itself (e.g. a recited fundamental economic concept) is not an improvement in technology. For example, one court determined that the claimed user interface simply provided a trader with more information to facilitate market trades, which improved the business process of market trading but did not improve computers or technology.
The following are some examples relevant to blockchain (and potentially related technologies) that the courts have indicated may be sufficient to show an improvement in existing technology:
• An advance in the process of downloading content for streaming;
• Improved, particular method of digital data compression;
• Particular method of incorporating virus screening into the Internet;
• Components or methods, such as measurement devices or techniques, that generate new data;
• Particularconfigurationofinertialsensorsandaparticular method of using the raw data from the sensors; and
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How to Successfully Obtain Blockchain Patents