Example 6: A method of playing a game in which cards with n´n (n is an odd number that is three or more) numbers thereon are distributed to each player, each player marks a number drawn by a computer if his/her card includes the drawn number, and a player who first marks all numbers in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row can be a winner
(Explanation)
It does not fall under “the invention” since the method described above applies only the specific rules of the game as a whole where each player marks a drawn number if the player has such number in the card and the player who first marks all numbers in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row can be a winner, although the drawing is carried out by the computer as the technical means.
2.1.5 Those not regarded as technical ideas
(1) Personal skill (which is acquired through personal experience and cannot be shared with others as knowledge due to lack of objectivity)
Example 1: A method of throwing a split-fingered fast ball characterized in the way of holding the ball in fingers and throwing the same
(2) Mere presentation of information (where the feature resides solely in the content of the information, and the main object is to present information)
Example 2: A written manual for instructing an operation of a machine or directing a use of a chemical substance
Example 3: An audio CD the feature of which resides solely in music recorded thereon
Example 4: Image data taken with a digital camera
Example 5: A program of an athletic meeting made by a word processor
Example 6: A computer program list (mere representation of computer programs by means of printing them on paper, displaying them on a screen, etc.)
If a technical feature resides in presentation of information (presentation per se, means for presentation, a method for presentation, etc.), a claimed invention is not considered as mere presentation of information.
Example 7: A test pattern for use in checking the performance of a television set
(Explanation)
The technical feature resides in the pattern per se.
Example 8: A plastic card on which information is recorded with characters, letters and figures embossed on it
(Explanation)
The information is printed on the plastic card by emboss processing and the printed information on the card is copied by affixing the card on paper. The technical feature resides in the means for presentation.
(3) Mere aesthetic creations
Example 9: paintings, carvings, etc.
2.1.6 Those for which it is clearly impossible to solve the problem to be solved by any means presented in a claim
Example: A method of preventing explosion in a volcano by forming balls of neutron-absorbing material (e.g., boron) covered with substance having a relatively high melting temperature (e.g., tungsten) and throwing them into the volcanic vent
(Explanation)
This invention allegedly works on the assumption that volcanic explosion is caused by nuclear fission substances like uranium at the bottom of the volcanic vent.
2.2 Points to consider in examination on an invention utilizing computer software
(1) Those utilizing the laws of nature as a whole and being considered as a "creation of a technical idea utilizing the laws of nature" (e.g., (i) or (ii) shown below) constitute a statutory "invention" without being examined from a viewpoint of computer software, even though they utilize computer software (Note).
(i) Those concretely performing control of an apparatus (e.g., rice cooker, washing machine, engine, hard disk drive, chemical reaction apparatus, nucleic acid amplifier), or processing with respect to the control
(ii) Those concretely performing information processing based on the technical properties such as physical, chemical, biological or electric properties of an object (e.g., rotation rate of engine, rolling temperature, relation between gene sequence and expression of a trait in a living body, physical or chemical relation of bound substances)
(Note) "Computer software" means a program related to the operation of a computer or any other information that is to be processed by a computer equivalent to a program (same as "program etc." in Article 2(4), and hereinafter also referred to as "software").
A "program" means a set of instructions given to a computer which are combined in
order to produce a specific result (Article 2(4)).
Those "equivalent to programs" mean those which are not direct instructions to
computers and thus cannot be called programs, but have similar properties to programs in terms of prescribing computer processing. For example, "data structure" (a logical structure of data that is expressed by correlations between data elements) can be equivalent to a program.
Computer software for causing a computer to execute a procedure of a
method, which is a "creation of a technical idea utilizing the laws of nature" and thus constitutes a statutory "invention", or a computer or system for executing such a procedure is normally a creation of a technical idea utilizing the laws of nature as a whole, and thus, it constitutes a statutory "invention".
(2) There is possibility for an invention to be considered as a "creation of a technical idea utilizing the laws of nature" where the invention is made having an intention of utilizing computer software as a whole such as software used in doing business, in playing a game or in calculating a mathematical formula, even though the invention is made related to a method for doing business, playing a game or calculating a mathematical formula, which is not determined to correspond to (i) or (ii) stated above.
An examiner shall examine whether such an invention is to be considered as a "creation of a technical idea utilizing the laws of nature" from a viewpoint of computer software. In other word, an examiner shall examine from this viewpoint, because those utilizing computer software are "creation of a technical idea utilizing the laws of nature" if "information processing by the software is concretely realized by using hardware resources (Note)".
For inventions relating to a method for doing business, playing a game or calculating a mathematical formula, since there are cases in which the claimed invention a part of which utilizes a computer software is determined as not utilizing the laws of nature when considered as a whole, whether they are "creation of a technical idea utilizing the laws of nature" shall be carefully examined (see Examples 5 and 6 of “2.1.4
Those in which the laws of nature are not utilized”).
(Note) Hardware resources include a physical device or physical element that is used in processing, operation, or implementation of a function. For example, they include a computer as a physical device, and a CPU, memory, input device, output device, or physical device connected to a computer, which are components thereof.
