Patent decision

BL number

O/164/19

Concerning rights in

GB1312503.4

Hearing Officer

Miss J Pullen

Decision date

28 March 2019

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

ABB Inc.

Provisions discussed

Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The invention relates to analysing control loops in a process control system, such as may be used to maintain variables (e.g. pressure, temperature, current) at required levels within an industrial process. A control loop may comprise a controller, a measurement device (or sensor) and a final control element (e.g. a valve). A problem may arise with any of those elements in any one of potentially hundreds of control loops within an industrial process, and, particularly when a problem in one control loop adversely affects others, it can be difficult to diagnose the problem. The invention provides a graphical user interface (GUI), which presents two data sets on a single view to assist an engineer in diagnosing problems within any of the control loops. The invention goes on to allow data to be updated by the user and displayed.

The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan four step test, considered the AT&T/CVON signposts and found that the contribution fell within the excluded categories of presentation of information and a computer program as such. The application was refused under S18(3).

Full decision O/164/19 281Kb