BL number
O/246/17
Concerning rights in
GB1505495.0
Hearing Officer
Mr S Brown
Decision date
22 May 2017
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Fisher-Rosemount Systems Inc.
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 Section 1(2)
Keywords
Excluded fields (allowed)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The application relates to a user display system for use in a process plant. The display system is configurable, whilst the plant is running, such that a plant operator may alter which aspects of the process plant are represented on the display screen. Updated control data is generated and transmitted to the process plant based on how the display is configured. Two auxiliary claim sets were filed, the first specifying that the control data is generated manually in response to the configured display, the second that it is generated automatically.

The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan test to each claim set and decided for each that the contribution made by the invention did not fall solely within excluded matter since there was a direct causal link between the configured display and control of the process plant. In reaching this decision he also considered the decisions in AT&T Knowledge Ventures LP and CVON, and Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc v Virgin Media Limited. The application was remitted to the examiner for further processing.