Patent decision

BL number

O/877/21

Concerning rights in

GB1820379.4

Hearing Officer

Mr B Buchanan

Decision date

3 December 2021

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Hitachi, Ltd.

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977, section 1(2)(c)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The claimed invention relates to managing a water supply system e.g. for the supply of water to homes and businesses. Specifically, the invention seeks to determine a prioritised order for investing in infrastructure such as pipes and tanks, by supply area. This determination is made based on stored details of consumption and loss in the water supply, processing to generate a graphic display of consumption and comparison of the effects of implementing a particular maintenance or upgrade solution for each supply area. The particular solution is specified by a user. The invention then determines a priority order for implementation of the particular solution based on the efficiency of the solution in each area. The objective is to minimise water wastage within controlled costs.

The Hearing Officer followed the four stepAerotel/Macrossantest to determine whether there was a technical contribution and considered theAT&Tsignposts.The contribution was not found to provide the required technical effect and the claimed invention was found to relate solely to a program for a computer and a method for doing business as such, so the application did not meet the requirements of section 1(2)(c). The application was refused under section 18(3).

Full decisionO/877/21  570Kb