Determining an analysis chronicle

T 1971/18

(Determining an analysis chronicle/NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY) of 8.3.2021

 

It will be difficult to progress a European application to grant where the application concerns the presentation of information in a primary sense.  Should a technical effect of some kind be present, it is likely that inventive step objections will be raised.

T 1971/18 concerned aggregation and filtering of information for presentation to a user.  Analysis criteria were grouped in a tree.  It was submitted that the invention served the technical purpose of conditionally reducing energy consumption.  It was also submitted that the number of operations would be reduced.

In terms of the presentation of information, reducing cognitive burden was seen not to constitute a technical consideration.  In terms of reducing operations and energy, the features claimed were not seen as being primarily concerned with the reduction of operations.  The purposive use of any non-technical features was seen not to solve a technical problem.

Dependent claims that could be seen to be directed to a technical problem did not make a technical contribution.  It was not sufficient to provide only a vague reference to the significance of technical features without specifying how the significance was affected.  In any event, the features of the dependent claims were seen as not being inventive.

 

(Numbering and indentation issues may be present below)