What does a software patent mean?

Software patent refers to a way to protect the design idea of software by applying for a patent, rather than protecting the software itself. The protection of software itself is realized through the combination of patent law and copyright law. Objectively speaking, the patent protection of software is more troublesome in practice, that is, unlike procedural copyright, it is directly registered. Even if the copyright owner is not registered for the record, as long as you create it yourself, you will naturally take the copyright of the creation. When you have a perfect idea, you can apply for software patent protection even if the invention is not successfully completed. Because in terms of patent protection, if China implements the first application system, whoever applies first will enjoy the patent right. Theoretically speaking, the protection of software design idea is much stronger than the protection of software itself. Because the protection of the software itself only protects a specific coding program, the protection of the software design idea realizes the packaging protection of all possible coding forms under this design idea. In China, software patents started late. Because before 2006, software patents were basically not approved, but the application for patents must combine software and hardware. With the development of network technology and software technology, China's patent examination system is constantly updated. Recently, the design idea of software itself has been allowed to apply for patent alone, and it is no longer required to be combined with hardware. However, the writing requirements of software patents are relatively high. According to the requirements of censorship standards, software patents can be written as products or methods. However, no matter what form it is written, highlighting the creativity of the scheme is a difficult link and requires specific case analysis. Patented software mainly includes (not limited to): (1) industrial control software, such as controlling the actions of mechanical equipment; (2) Software that can improve the internal performance of the computer, such as software that can improve the virtual memory of the computer; (3) External technical data processing software, such as digital camera image processing software. It can be said that a considerable part of software belongs to the third category. For patent protection measures, please refer to the Patent Law and the Regulations on the Protection of Computer Software.