Utility model refers to a new practical technical scheme for the shape, structure or combination of products.
The utility model patent only protects the product, which should be an entity manufactured by industrial methods and occupying a certain space. All methods (including the use of products) and natural objects that have not been artificially manufactured are not protected by utility model patents.
The object of invention is a product, a method or the improvement of a method, so a product applying for a utility model can apply for a method (if it is creative enough), but software is not a product (it has no shape and structure, it is intangible, not an entity), so software can only apply for a method, that is, it can only apply for an invention.