Recent decision T 0049/04 - 3.4.03 of one of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) is related to a patent application 97935052.7 claiming, inter alia, a method for enhancing text presentation from a machine readable natural language text based on reader specific parameters including at least the viewing field dimensions which appears to be quite close to the borderline between patentable inventions and non-patentable non-inventions. The headnote goes as follows:
"[...] Following T 643/00 rather than T 125/04, the presentation of natural language text on a display in a manner which improves readability, enabling the user to perform their task more efficiently, relates to how, ie by what physical arrangement of the text, cognitive content is conveyed to the reader and can thus be considered as contributing to a technical solution to a technical problem; reasons 4.5 to 4.7. [...]"
More in detail, the reasoning is as follows:
"[...] 4.6 It is instructive to compare this decision with T 125/04 (Assessment system/COMPARATIVE VISUAL ASSESSMENTS 10 May 2005, not published in OJ EPO) also decided by Technical Board of Appeal 3.5.01 albeit in a different composition. The latter concerned a comparative visual assessment system for aiding a user in selecting a desired product by representing relevant product aspects, such as maintenance expenses or quality of engineering, as a string of vectors. The horizontal length of a vector was proportional to the score attributed to the component, and the angle the vector formed with the horizontal indicated the importance of the component for the user's choice; reasons 2.
4.6.1 Whereas the conclusion was drawn in T 643/00 that an arrangement of menu items or images on a screen may be determined by technical considerations, it was held in T 125/04 that, in general, the task of designing diagrams was non-technical, even if the diagrams arguably conveyed information in a way which a viewermay intuitively regard as particularly appealing, lucid or logical; reasons 4.5.
4.6.2 These somewhat divergent conclusions from the two decisions T 643/00 and T 125/04 appear to stem from the different assessment of the features relating to the arrangement of images and diagrams, respectively. In T 643/00 the functions and steps of processing the images in a specific format and allowing selection and display of an image at higher resolutions were considered to provide information to the user in the form of a technical tool for an intellectual task he had to perform, and therefore contributed to the technical solution of the technical problem of an efficient search, retrieval and evaluation of images; reasons 17. In T 125/04 on the other hand the features corresponding to the representation of the respective relevant product features as a string of vectors were considered to be non-technical on the grounds that only the information conveyed by the images was relevant. These features had to do with how this content was represented. Thus, unlike the situation in T 643/00, no information was provided about the computer system itself, such as the location where the data were stored; reasons 4.8.
4.6.3 The present board differs at this point from the conclusions drawn in T 125/04. Firstly, the board concurs with the view expressed in T 643/00 that technical aspects cannot be ruled out in the design and use of a graphic interface. Furthermore, the board finds that a feature which relates to the manner how the "cognitive content", such as images, is conveyed to the user can very well be considered as contributing to a technical solution to a technical problem. This would in particular be the case when, as the situation was in T 643/00, this particular manner of conveying the information enables the user to perform their task more efficiently; T 643/00, reasons 17. For these reasons, the board is also unable to subscribe to the ratio of T 125/04 which posits that the task of designing diagrams is basically non-technical even when the diagrams convey information in a way which a viewer may regard as particularly lucid and logical.
4.6.4 Hence the board finds it more appropriate to apply the ratio of T 643/00 to the present case.
4.7 Applying the above to the present case, the board judges that the means for analysing the text and dividing it into text segments relates to the physical arrangement of the overall image structure of the displayed text with a view to solving a technical problem, namely to improve the text presentation, ie readability, on a display. Therefore, the board concludes that the claimed features, viewed as a whole, do not relate to a non-invention listed in Article 52(2) EPC as such.
4.8 It follows from the above that in the present case the display of the text is also not to be considered as intended to create an aesthetic effect. Hence, the comparison made in the decision under appeal with poetry must fail (cf item VI (b) above). The division of a poem into text segments is dictated by the aesthetic effect it is intended to induce in the reader. Indeed the poetic device of enjambment is an example of a line break which deliberately breaks a syntactical unit - thus hindering readability - for aesthetic effect. Furthermore, the line breaks and indentations are inserted by the poet himself and therefore form an integral part of the artistic creation. The claimed device on the other hand breaks up the text into lines without involving the author of the text. [...]"
Decision T 643/00 is available here whereas decision T 125/04 can be accessed there.
T 0049/04 - 3.4.03 of one of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) is related to a 