In the claims, the independent claim shall reflect the technical scheme of the invention or utility model as a whole and record the necessary technical features needed to solve its technical problems. Among them, the necessary technical features refer to the technical features necessary for the invention or utility model to solve its technical problems, and their sum is enough to constitute the protected object of the invention or utility model, which distinguishes it from other technical solutions mentioned in the background.
When a claim contains multiple claims, if one claim contains all the technical features of another claim of the same type and further defines the technical scheme of the other claim, the claim is a subordinate claim. The dependent claims further define the cited claims with additional technical features, which can be technical features or additional technical features that further define the technical features in the cited claims.
Subordinate claims can only refer to previous claims. Claims further defined by dependent claims can be independent claims or dependent claims. That is to say, dependent claims can refer to independent claims, and technical features can also be added.
In addition, the dependent claims can refer to only one prior claim or two or more prior claims, and the latter is called multiple dependent claims.
Among the applied claims, the protection scope of the object defined in the independent claim is the widest. Since the dependent claims contain all the technical features of the cited claims and are further defined by the additional technical features, the protection scope of the dependent claims falls within the protection scope of the cited claims.
Paragraph 1 of Article 31 stipulates that an application for a patent for an invention or utility model shall be limited to one invention or utility model, and an invention or utility model shall have only one independent claim, but it may also include a number of subordinate claims that directly or indirectly limit the independent claim.
Paragraph 1 of Article 31 also stipulates that two or more inventions or utility models belonging to a general inventive concept may be filed as one application. In this case, there may be two or more independent claims in the claims. The independent claim written in front is called the first independent claim, and other independent claims are called parallel independent claims.
Legal basis: People's Republic of China (PRC) Patent Law.
Article 21 The claims listed in the first paragraph shall have independent claims or subordinate claims.
Article 31 Paragraph 1 An application for a patent for an invention or utility model shall be limited to one invention or utility model. An invention or utility model shall have only one independent claim, but it may also include a number of subordinate claims that directly or indirectly limit the independent claim.
Article 31. Paragraph 1: Two or more inventions or utility models belonging to a general inventive concept may be filed as one application. In this case, there may be two or more independent claims in the claims. The independent claim written in front is called the first independent claim, and other independent claims are called parallel independent claims.