2. According to paragraph 5 of Article 22 of the Patent Law, existing technology refers to the technology known to the public at home and abroad before the filing date. Existing technologies include technologies that have been publicly published in domestic and foreign publications, publicly used at home and abroad or known to the public in other ways before the filing date (the priority date shall prevail if there is priority). The existing technology should be the technical content that the public can know before the application date. In other words, the existing technology should be available to the public before the application date, and it should contain contents that can enable the public to learn substantive technical knowledge from it.
3. "Any unit or individual has filed an application with the Patent Office before the application date, and recorded the patent application documents or announced patent documents published after the application date" refers to conflicting applications. The public can't know its contents before the filing date, so it doesn't belong to the existing technology.
4. The application of conflict can only evaluate novelty, not creativity.