How to apply for a patent after developing a software?

Can computer software be patented? How to apply for a computer software patent? Under what circumstances can I apply for a software patent? How to write a patent application? What should I pay attention to? Are there any samples of related patent books that can be downloaded? These are all topics that software developers are concerned about. This paper focuses on the analysis of the main points of several provisions on the examination of invention patent applications involving computer programs in the examination of patent substance. I suggest you read the article "How to Apply for a Patent by Teaching You to Write a Patent Application" again after reading this article, so as to know more about how to write related patent applications. Can computer software be patented? The answer is yes, but there are conditions. As we all know, computer software can register software copyright and be protected by copyright law. However, some computer software related to hardware can also apply for patents, which makes the protection more sufficient and effective. For example, the automation equipment used in industrial production needs to be controlled by computer software, so researchers have designed a new set of computer software to improve its control accuracy and greatly improve the operation efficiency of automation equipment, thus effectively improving production efficiency and producing good technical effects. This kind of computer software can be protected by applying for a patent, which makes the protection more powerful. There is a passage in Chapter 9 "Several Provisions on the Examination of Applications for Patents for Inventions Involving Computer Programs" in the Guide to Patent Examination: An invention involving computer programs refers to a solution that controls or processes the external or internal objects of a computer based on all or part of the processing flow of the computer program in order to solve the problems raised by the invention. The control or processing of external objects includes controlling some external operating processes or external operating equipment, processing or exchanging external data, etc. The control or processing of internal objects includes the improvement of internal performance of computer system, the management of internal resources of computer system and the improvement of data transmission. Solutions involving computer programs do not necessarily involve changes in computer hardware. According to Item (2) of Paragraph 1 of Article 25 of the Patent Law, no patent right is granted to the rules and methods of intellectual activities. "Several Provisions on Examining Applications for Patent for Invention Involving Computer Programs" states that applications for patent for invention involving computer programs shall be examined according to the following principles: (1) If a claim only involves algorithms or mathematical calculation rules, or the computer program itself or computer programs only recorded on carriers (such as tapes, disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, ROM, PROM, VCD, DVD or other computer-readable media), or If a claim only relates to an algorithm or mathematical calculation rule, or the program itself, or the rules and methods of the game, except for its subject name, the claim essentially only relates to the rules and methods of intellectual activities and does not belong to the object of patent protection. For example, a computer-readable storage medium or computer program product limited only by recorded programs, or a computer game device limited only by game rules and not including any technical features, such as not including any physical entity features, does not belong to the object of patent protection, because it only involves the rules and methods of intellectual activities in essence. However, if the medium claimed in the patent application involves the improvement of its physical characteristics, such as stacking structure, track spacing, materials, etc. , does not belong to this category. (2) In addition to the above-mentioned situation (1), if a claim contains both the contents of rules and methods of intellectual activities and the contents of technical features in all its definitions, for example, the contents defining the above-mentioned game device include both rules and technical features, then the claim as a whole does not belong to the rules and methods of intellectual activities, and the possibility of obtaining a patent right should not be ruled out according to the provisions of Article 25 of the Patent Law. According to the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law, the invention as mentioned in the Patent Law refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement. An application for a patent for invention involving a computer program is the object of patent protection only if it constitutes a technical scheme. If the solution of an application for a patent for invention involving a computer program is to solve technical problems, running a computer program on a computer to control or handle external or internal objects embodies the technical means of following the laws of nature, and thus obtains the technical effect in line with the laws of nature, then this solution belongs to the technical solution mentioned in the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law and belongs to the object of patent protection. If the solution of an application for a patent for invention involving a computer program is not aimed at solving technical problems, or if the computer program is run on a computer to control or handle external or internal objects, the technical means of using natural laws are not embodied, or the effect of being bound by natural laws is not obtained, then the solution does not belong to the technical solution described in the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law and does not belong to the object of patent protection. For example, if the solution of an invention patent application involving a computer program executes a computer program to control the industrial process, measurement or testing process, and the industrial process control program is executed by a computer to complete a series of controls at various stages of the industrial process in accordance with the laws of nature, so as to obtain the industrial process control effect in accordance with the laws of nature, then the solution belongs to the technical scheme described in the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law and belongs to the object of patent protection. If the solution of an invention patent application involving a computer program is to process external technical data, execute a technical data processing program by a computer, and complete a series of technical processing on the technical data according to the natural laws, so as to obtain the technical data processing effect conforming to the natural laws, then the solution belongs to the technical solution described in the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law and belongs to the object of patent protection. If the solution of an application for a patent for invention involving a computer program is to improve the internal performance of a computer system, the computer will execute the program for improving the internal performance of the computer system, and complete a series of settings or adjustments for each component of the computer system according to the laws of nature, so as to obtain the effect of improving the internal performance of the computer system in line with the laws of nature, then the scheme belongs to the technical scheme described in the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law and belongs to the object of patent protection. It feels strange and a little hard to understand, doesn't it? For example, the method of solving pi by computer program and the method of automatically calculating dynamic friction coefficient μ belong to intellectual activities and are not protected by patents. Another example is to control the preparation of ink color by computer program, aiming at better controlling the proportion of ink color and solving technical problems. This method completes the ink color matching process by executing the computer program, which embodies the accurate real-time control according to the natural principle (CMYK four-color preparation principle) and adopts the technical means following the natural law. Because the color ratio is accurately controlled in real time, the preparation efficiency and quality are greatly improved. It is concluded that the application for a patent for invention is a scheme to realize industrial process control by executing computer programs, which belongs to the technical scheme stipulated in the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law and the object of patent protection. You got it? Let's take another example of Chinese character coding and keyboard input method: for example, "Wu Bi font", which divides all Chinese characters into five basic strokes (horizontal 65438+ vertical 0, vertical 2, left 3, left 4 fold 5), and then follows some artificial rules, such as "one" and "green" in the root of a horizontal character, and so on. However, if we continue to do more work, combine it with the keyboard, combine the key where G is located with "Wang Pang Qing Tou, Mayday", and form a computer Chinese character input method or computer Chinese character information processing method for processing Chinese characters with computer programs, so that the computer system can control or process external objects or internal objects with Chinese character information as instructions, then this computer Chinese character input method or computer Chinese character information processing method constitutes the technical scheme described in the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law. Ok. Is that clearer? In principle, the requirements for writing the description and claims of an application for a patent for invention involving a computer program are the same as those for applications for a patent for invention in other technical fields. The following only explains the special requirements of the description and claims of the invention patent application involving computer programs. The description of an application for a patent for invention involving a computer program shall not only describe the technical scheme of the invention as a whole, but also clearly and completely describe the design idea, technical characteristics and methods for realizing its technical effects. In order to clearly and completely describe the main technical features of the computer program, the main flow chart of the computer program should be given in the attached drawings of the specification. Instructions should be based on the given computer program flow and describe the steps of the computer program in natural language according to the time sequence of the flow. The description of the main technical features of the computer program in the manual should be based on the fact that the technicians in this field can compile the computer program that can realize the technical effect according to the flow chart and its description recorded in the manual. For the sake of clarity, if necessary, the applicant can briefly extract some key computer source programs for reference in the usual markup programming language, but it is not necessary to submit all computer source programs. Where an application for a patent for invention involving a computer program contains an invention that changes the hardware structure of a computer device, the attached drawings of the specification shall give the hardware entity structure diagram of the computer device, and the specification shall clearly and completely describe the hardware composition of the computer device and their interrelationships according to the hardware entity structure diagram, subject to the understanding of the technicians in the field. The writing of the claims relates to an application for a patent for invention of a computer program. A claim can be written as a method claim or a product claim, that is, a device for realizing the method. No matter what form the claim is written, it must be supported by the specification, and it must reflect the technical scheme of the invention as a whole and record the necessary technical characteristics to solve the technical problems, rather than simply describing the functions of the computer program and the effects that can be achieved by the functions. If the method claim is written, the functions executed by the computer program and how to complete these functions should be described in detail according to the steps of the method flow; If it is written as a device claim, it should specifically describe the various components of the device and their relationships, and describe in detail which components have completed the functions of the computer program and how to complete these functions. If the equipment claim is based on the computer program flow, it is written in a completely corresponding and consistent manner with each step of the computer program flow, or in a completely corresponding and consistent manner with the method claim reflecting the computer program flow, that is, each component of the equipment claim is completely corresponding and consistent with each step of the computer program flow or each step of the method claim, Then each component in the device claim should be understood as a functional module that must be established to realize each step of the program flow or each step of the method. The device claim defined by such a set of functional modules should be understood as a functional module framework that mainly realizes the solution through the computer program recorded in the specification, and should not be understood as an entity device that mainly realizes the solution through hardware.