Patent decision
- BL number
- O/029/19
- Concerning rights in
- GB1116031.4
- Hearing Officer
- Mrs S E Chalmers
- Decision date
- 16 January 2019
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- General Electric Company
- Provisions discussed
- Patents Act Section 1(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (allowed)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The invention relates to evaluating the operation of a generator using a computer by obtaining diagnostic data from one or more sensors in the generator, determining whether an anomaly exists using a knowledge base and if so providing a fault code to a user indicating the nature of an error that caused the anomaly.
The Hearing Officer applied the four-step approach set out in Aerotel/Macrossan in the light of the AT&T and HTC judgments but was unable to identify an actual contribution in view of prior art identified by the examiner. The alleged contribution of the invention was considered and found to be more than a program for a computer as such. The application has been remitted back to the examiner for further substantive examination.
Full decision O/029/19 75Kb