Patent decision

BL number

O/198/08

Concerning rights in

GB0425836.4

Hearing Officer

Mrs S E Chalmers

Decision date

14 July 2008

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

GE Medical Technology Services Inc

Provisions discussed

PA 1977Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The invention concerns the identification of potential solutions to a problem associated with medical devices such as medical imaging systems. The complexity of these devices makes identifying and correcting problems difficult and time-consuming and the solution proposed by the applicant is to automate the fault-finding process. It does this by sending data, for example operating parameters, from the medical device to a server which searches a database containing historic data for the device. The server then uses the data from the medical device and the historic data to search a database of solutions to problems associated with the medical device and finally transmits potential solution(s) to a user. The user can then download the solution in the form of a program to the medical device. The hearing officer applied the Aerotel test, found the invention to be excluded as a computer program and a method for doing business and refused the application.

Full decision O/198/08 34Kb