Skip to main content Skip to footer
HomeHome
 
  • Startseite
  • Patentrecherche

    Patentwissen

    Unsere Patentdatenbanken und Recherchetools

    Zur Übersicht 

    • Übersicht
    • Technische Information
      • Übersicht
      • Espacenet - Patentsuche
      • Europäischer Publikationsserver
      • EP-Volltextrecherche
    • Rechtliche Information
      • Übersicht
      • Europäisches Patentregister
      • Europäisches Patentblatt
      • European Case Law Identifier Sitemap
      • Einwendungen Dritter
    • Geschäftsinformationen
      • Übersicht
      • PATSTAT
      • IPscore
      • Technologieanalyseberichte
    • Daten
      • Übersicht
      • Technology Intelligence Platform
      • Linked open EP data
      • Massendatensätze
      • Web-Dienste
      • Datenbestände, Codes und Statistiken
    • Technologieplattformen
      • Übersicht
      • Kunststoffe im Wandel
      • Innovationen im Wassersektor
      • Innovationen im Weltraumsektor
      • Technologien zur Bekämpfung von Krebs
      • Technologien zur Brandbekämpfung
      • Saubere Energietechnologien
      • Kampf gegen Corona
    • Nützliche Informationsquellen
      • Übersicht
      • Zum ersten Mal hier? Was ist Patentinformation?
      • Patentinformation aus Asien
      • Patentinformationszentren (PATLIB)
      • Patent Translate
      • Patent Knowledge News
      • Wirtschaft und Statistik
      • Patentinformationen rund um den einheitlichen Patentschutz
    Bild
    Plastics in Transition

    Technologieanalysebericht zur Plastikabfallwirtschaft

  • Anmelden eines Patents

    Anmelden eines Patents

    Praktische Informationen über Anmelde- und Erteilungsverfahren.

    Zur Übersicht 

    • Übersicht
    • Europäischer Weg
      • Übersicht
      • Leitfaden zum europäischen Patent
      • Einsprüche
      • Mündliche Verhandlung
      • Beschwerden
      • Einheitspatent & Einheitliches Patentgericht
      • Nationale Validierung
      • Antrag auf Erstreckung/Validierung
    • Internationaler Weg (PCT)
      • Übersicht
      • Euro-PCT-Leitfaden: PCT-Verfahren im EPA
      • Beschlüsse und Mitteilungen des EPA
      • PCT-Bestimmungen und Informationsquellen
      • Erstreckungs-/Validierungsantrag
      • Programm für verstärkte Partnerschaft
      • Beschleunigung Ihrer PCT-Anmeldung
      • Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
      • Schulungen und Veranstaltungen
    • Nationale Anmeldungen
    • Zugelassenen Vertreter suchen
    • MyEPO Services
      • Übersicht
      • Unsere Dienste verstehen
      • Zugriff erhalten
      • Bei uns einreichen
      • Akten interaktiv bearbeiten
      • Verfügbarkeit der Online-Dienste
    • Formblätter
      • Übersicht
      • Prüfungsantrag
    • Gebühren
      • Übersicht
      • Europäische Gebühren (EPÜ)
      • Internationale Gebühren (PCT)
      • Einheitspatentgebühren (UP)
      • Gebührenzahlung und Rückerstattung
      • Warnung

    UP

    Erfahren Sie, wie das Einheitspatent Ihre IP-Strategie verbessern kann

  • Recht & Praxis

    Recht & Praxis

    Europäisches Patentrecht, Amtsblatt und andere Rechtstexte

    Zur Übersicht 

    • Übersicht
    • Rechtstexte
      • Übersicht
      • Europäisches Patentübereinkommen
      • Amtsblatt
      • Richtlinien
      • Erstreckungs-/ Validierungssyste
      • Londoner Übereinkommen
      • Nationales Recht zum EPÜ
      • Système du brevet unitaire
      • Nationale Maßnahmen zum Einheitspatent
    • Gerichtspraxis
      • Übersicht
      • Symposium europäischer Patentrichter
    • Nutzerbefragungen
      • Übersicht
      • Laufende Befragungen
      • Abgeschlossene Befragungen
    • Harmonisierung des materiellen Patentrechts
      • Übersicht
      • The Tegernsee process
      • Gruppe B+
    • Konvergenz der Verfahren
    • Optionen für zugelassene Vertreter
    Bild
    Law and practice scales 720x237

    Informieren Sie sich über die wichtigsten Aspekte ausgewählter BK-Entscheidungen in unseren monatlichen „Abstracts of decisions“

  • Neues & Veranstaltungen

    Neues & Veranstaltungen

    Aktuelle Neuigkeiten, Podcasts und Veranstaltungen.

    Zur Übersicht 

     

    • Übersicht
    • News
    • Veranstaltungen
    • Europäischer Erfinderpreis
      • Übersicht
      • Die bedeutung von morgen
      • Über den Preis
      • Kategorien und Preise
      • Lernen Sie die Finalisten kennen
      • Nominierungen
      • European Inventor Network
      • Preisverleihung 2024
    • Young Inventors Prize
      • Übersicht
      • Über den Preis
      • Nominierungen
      • Die jury
      • Die Welt, neu gedacht
    • Pressezentrum
      • Übersicht
      • Patent Index und Statistiken
      • Pressezentrum durchsuchen
      • Hintergrundinformation
      • Copyright
      • Pressekontakt
      • Rückruf Formular
      • Presseinfos per Mail
    • Innovation und Patente im Blickpunkt
      • Übersicht
      • Water-related technologies
      • CodeFest
      • Green tech in focus
      • Forschungseinrichtungen
      • Women inventors
      • Lifestyle
      • Raumfahrt und Satelliten
      • Zukunft der Medizin
      • Werkstoffkunde
      • Mobile Kommunikation: Das große Geschäft mit kleinen Geräten
      • Biotechnologiepatente
      • Patentklassifikation
      • Digitale Technologien
      • Die Zukunft der Fertigung
      • Books by EPO experts
    • Podcast "Talk innovation"

    Podcast

    Von der Idee zur Erfindung: unser Podcast informiert Sie topaktuell in Sachen Technik und IP

  • Lernen

    Lernen

    Europäische Patentakademie – unser Kursportal für Ihre Fortbildung

    Zur Übersicht 

    • Übersicht
    • Schulungsaktivitäten und Lernpfade
      • Übersicht
      • Schulungsaktivitäten
      • Lernpfade
    • EEP und EPVZ
      • Übersicht
      • EEP – Europäische Eignungsprüfung
      • EPVZ – Europäisches Patentverwaltungszertifikat
      • CSP – Programm zur Unterstützung von Bewerbern
    • Lernmaterial nach Interesse
      • Übersicht
      • Patenterteilung
      • Technologietransfer und -verbreitung
      • Durchsetzung
    • Lernmaterial nach Profil
      • Übersicht
      • Geschäftswelt und IP
      • EEP und EPVZ Bewerber
      • Justiz
      • Nationale Ämter und IP-Behörden
      • Patentanwaltskanzleien
      • Lehre und Forschung
    Bild
    Patent Academy catalogue

    Werfen Sie einen Blick auf das umfangreiche Lernangebot im Schulungskatalog der Europäischen Patentakademie

  • Über uns

    Über uns

    Erfahren Sie mehr über Tätigkeit, Werte, Geschichte und Vision des EPA

    Zur Übersicht 

    • Übersicht
    • Das EPA auf einen Blick
    • 50 Jahre Europäisches Patentübereinkommen
      • Übersicht
      • Official celebrations
      • Member states’ video statements
      • 50 Leading Tech Voices
      • Athens Marathon
      • Kinderwettbewerb für kollektive Kunst
    • Rechtsgrundlagen und Mitgliedstaaten
      • Übersicht
      • Rechtsgrundlagen
      • Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Patentorganisation
      • Erstreckungsstaaten
      • Validierungsstaaten
    • Verwaltungsrat und nachgeordnete Organe
      • Übersicht
      • Kommuniqués
      • Kalender
      • Dokumente und Veröffentlichungen
      • Der Verwaltungsrat der Europäischen Patentorganisation
    • Unsere Grundsätze und Strategie
      • Übersicht
      • Auftrag, Vision und Werte
      • Strategischer Plan 2028
      • Auf dem Weg zu einer neuen Normalität
    • Führung und Management
      • Übersicht
      • Präsident António Campinos
      • Managementberatungsausschuss
    • Sustainability at the EPO
      • Übersicht
      • Environmental
      • Social
      • Governance and Financial sustainability
    • Dienste & Aktivitäten
      • Übersicht
      • Unsere Dienste & Struktur
      • Qualität
      • Nutzerkonsultation
      • Europäische und internationale Zusammenarbeit
      • Europäische Patentakademie
      • Chefökonom
      • Ombudsstelle
      • Meldung von Fehlverhalten
    • Beobachtungsstelle für Patente und Technologie
      • Übersicht
      • Technologien
      • Akteure im Innovationsbereich
      • Politisches Umfeld und Finanzierung
      • Tools
      • Über die Beobachtungsstelle
    • Beschaffung
      • Übersicht
      • Beschaffungsprognose
      • Das EPA als Geschäftspartner
      • Beschaffungsverfahren
      • Nachhaltiger Beschaffungsstandard
      • Registrierung zum eTendering und elektronische Signaturen
      • Beschaffungsportal
      • Rechnungsstellung
      • Allgemeine Bedingungen
      • Archivierte Ausschreibungen
    • Transparenzportal
      • Übersicht
      • Allgemein
      • Humankapital
      • Umweltkapital
      • Organisationskapital
      • Sozial- und Beziehungskapital
      • Wirtschaftskapital
      • Governance
    • Statistics and trends
      • Übersicht
      • Statistics & Trends Centre
      • Patent Index 2024
      • EPO Data Hub
      • Clarification on data sources
    • Die Geschichte des EPA
      • Übersicht
      • 1970er-Jahre
      • 1980er-Jahre
      • 1990er-Jahre
      • 2000er-Jahre
      • 2010er-Jahre
      • 2020er Jahre
    • Die EPA Kunstsammlung
      • Übersicht
      • Die Sammlung
      • Let's talk about art
      • Künstler
      • Mediathek
      • What's on
      • Publikationen
      • Kontakt
      • Kulturraum A&T 5-10
      • "Lange Nacht"
    Bild
    Patent Index 2024 keyvisual showing brightly lit up data chip, tinted in purple, bright blue

    Verfolgen Sie die neuesten Technologietrends mit unserem Patentindex

 
Website
cancel
en de fr
  • Language selection
  • English
  • Deutsch
  • Français
Main navigation
  • Homepage
    • Go back
    • Sind Patente Neuland für Sie?
  • Sind Patente Neuland für Sie?
    • Go back
    • Patente für Ihr Unternehmen?
    • Warum ein Patent?
    • Was ist Ihre zündende Idee?
    • Sind Sie bereit?
    • Darum geht es
    • Der Weg zum Patent
    • Ist es patentierbar?
    • Ist Ihnen jemand zuvorgekommen?
    • Patentquiz
    • Video zum Einheitspatent
  • Patentrecherche
    • Go back
    • Übersicht
    • Technische Information
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Espacenet - Patentsuche
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Datenbanken der nationalen Ämter
        • Global Patent Index (GPI)
        • Versionshinweise
      • Europäischer Publikationsserver
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Versionshinweise
        • Konkordanzliste für Euro-PCT-Anmeldungen
        • EP-Normdatei
        • Hilfe
      • EP-Volltextrecherche
    • Rechtliche Information
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Europäisches Patentregister
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Versionshinweise: Archiv
        • Dokumentation zu Register
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Datenverfügbarkeit für Deep Links
          • Vereinigtes Register
          • Ereignisse im Register
      • Europäisches Patentblatt
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Patentblatt herunterladen
        • Recherche im Europäischen Patentblatt
        • Hilfe
      • European Case Law Identifier Sitemap
      • Einwendungen Dritter
    • Geschäftsinformationen
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • PATSTAT
      • IPscore
        • Go back
        • Versionshinweise
      • Technologieanalyseberichte
    • Daten
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Technology Intelligence Platform
      • Linked open EP data
      • Massendatensätze
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Manuals
        • Sequenzprotokolle
        • Nationale Volltextdaten
        • Daten des Europäischen Patentregisters
        • Weltweite bibliografische Daten des EPA (DOCDB)
        • EP-Volltextdaten
        • Weltweite Rechtsereignisdaten des EPA (INPADOC)
        • Bibliografische Daten von EP-Dokumenten (EBD)
        • Entscheidungen der Beschwerdekammern des EPA
      • Web-Dienste
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Open Patent Services (OPS)
        • Europäischer Publikationsserver (Web-Dienst)
      • Datenbestände, Codes und Statistiken
        • Go back
        • Wöchentliche Aktualisierungen
        • Regelmäßige Aktualisierungen
    • Technologieplattformen
      • Go back
      • Kunststoffe im Wandel
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Verwertung von Plastikabfällen
        • Recycling von Plastikabfällen
        • Alternative Kunststoffe
      • Übersicht
      • Innovative Wassertechnologien
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Sauberes Wasser
        • Schutz vor Wasser
      • Innovationen im Weltraumsektor
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Kosmonautik
        • Weltraumbeobachtung
      • Technologien zur Bekämpfung von Krebs
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Prävention und Früherkennung
        • Diagnostik
        • Therapien
        • Wohlergehen und Nachsorge
      • Technologien zur Brandbekämpfung
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Branderkennung und -verhütung
        • Feuerlöschen
        • Schutzausrüstung
        • Technologien für die Sanierung nach Bränden
      • Saubere Energietechnologien
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Erneuerbare Energien
        • CO2-intensive Industrien
        • Energiespeicherung und andere Enabling-Technologien
      • Kampf gegen Corona
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Impfstoffe und Therapeutika
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Impfstoffe
          • Übersicht über Therapieansätze für COVID-19
          • Kandidaten für antivirale Therapeutika
          • Nukleinsäuren zur Behandlung von Coronavirus-Infektionen
        • Diagnose und Analyse
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Protein-und Nukleinsäure-Nachweis
          • Analyseprotokolle
        • Informatik
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Bioinformatik
          • Medizinische Informatik
        • Technologien für die neue Normalität
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Geräte, Materialien und Ausrüstung
          • Verfahren, Maßnahmen und Aktivitäten
          • Digitale Technologien
        • Erfinderinnen und Erfinder gegen das Coronavirus
    • Nützliche Informationsquellen
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Zum ersten Mal hier? Was ist Patentinformation?
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Grundlegende Definitionen
        • Patentklassifikation
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Gemeinsame Patentklassifikation
        • Patentfamilien
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Einfache DOCDB Patentfamilie
          • Erweiterte INPADOC Patentfamilie
        • Daten zu Rechtsstandsereignissen
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • INPADOC-Klassifikationssystem
      • Patentinformation aus Asien
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • China (CN)
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Facts and figures
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
          • Useful terms
          • Searching in databases
        • Chinesisch-Taipei (TW)
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
          • Useful terms
          • Searching in databases
        • Indien (IN)
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Facts and figures
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
        • Japan (JP)
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Facts and figures
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
          • Useful terms
          • Searching in databases
        • Korea (KR)
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Facts and figures
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
          • Useful terms
          • Searching in databases
        • Russische Föderation (RU)
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Facts and figures
          • Numbering system
          • Searching in databases
        • Useful links
      • Patentinformationszentren (PATLIB)
      • Patent Translate
      • Patent Knowledge News
      • Wirtschaft und Statistik
      • Patentinformationen rund um den einheitlichen Patentschutz
  • Anmelden eines Patents
    • Go back
    • Übersicht
    • Europäischer Weg
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Leitfaden zum europäischen Patent
      • Einsprüche
      • Mündliche Verhandlung
        • Go back
        • Kalender der mündlichen Verhandlungen
          • Go back
          • Kalender der mündlichen Verhandlungen
          • Technische Richtlinien
          • Zugang für die Öffentlichkeit zum Beschwerdeverfahren
          • Zugang für die Öffentlichkeit zum Einspruchsverfahren
      • Beschwerden
      • Einheitspatent & Einheitliches Patentgericht
        • Go back
        • Einheitspatent
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Rechtlicher Rahmen
          • Wesentliche Merkmale
          • Beantragung eines Einheitspatents
          • Kosten eines Einheitspatents
          • Übersetzungsregelungen und Kompensationssystem
          • Starttermin
          • Introductory brochures
        • Übersicht
        • Einheitliches Patentgericht
      • Nationale Validierung
      • Erstreckungs- /Validierungsantrag
    • Internationaler Weg
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Euro-PCT-Leitfaden
      • Eintritt in die europäische Phase
      • Beschlüsse und Mitteilungen
      • PCT-Bestimmungen und Informationsquellen
      • Erstreckungs-/Validierungsantrag
      • Programm für verstärkte Partnerschaft
      • Beschleunigung Ihrer PCT-Anmeldung
      • Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
        • Go back
        • Programm "Patent Prosecution Highway" (PPH) - Übersicht
      • PCT: Schulungen und Veranstaltungen
    • Nationaler Weg
    • MyEPO Services
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Unsere Dienste verstehen
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Exchange data with us using an API
          • Go back
          • Versionshinweise
      • Zugriff erhalten
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Versionshinweise
      • Bei uns einreichen
        • Go back
        • Bei uns einreichen
        • Wenn unsere Dienste für die Online-Einreichung ausfallen
        • Versionshinweise
      • Akten interaktiv bearbeiten
        • Go back
        • Versionshinweise
      • Verfügbarkeit der Online-Dienste
    • Gebühren
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Europäische Gebühren (EPÜ)
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Beschlüsse und Mitteilungen
      • Internationale Gebühren (PCT)
        • Go back
        • Ermäßigung der Gebühren
        • Gebühren für internationale Anmeldungen
        • Beschlüsse und Mitteilungen
        • Übersicht
      • Einheitspatentgebühren (UP)
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Beschlüsse und Mitteilungen
      • Gebührenzahlung und Rückerstattung
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Zahlungsarten
        • Erste Schritte
        • FAQs und sonstige Anleitungen
        • Technische Informationen für Sammelzahlungen
        • Beschlüsse und Mitteilungen
        • Versionshinweise
      • Warnung
    • Formblätter
      • Go back
      • Prüfungsantrag
      • Übersicht
    • Zugelassenen Vertreter suchen
  • Recht & Praxis
    • Go back
    • Übersicht
    • Rechtstexte
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Europäisches Patentübereinkommen
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Archiv
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Dokumentation zur EPÜ-Revision 2000
            • Go back
            • Übersicht
            • Diplomatische Konferenz für die Revision des EPÜ
            • "Travaux préparatoires" (Vorarbeiten)
            • Neufassung
            • Übergangsbestimmungen
            • Ausführungsordnung zum EPÜ 2000
            • Gebührenordnung
            • Ratifikationen und Beitritte
          • Travaux Préparatoires EPÜ 1973
      • Amtsblatt
      • Richtlinien
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • EPÜ Richtlinien
        • PCT-EPA Richtlinien
        • Richtlinien für das Einheitspatent
        • Überarbeitung der Richtlinien
        • Ergebnisse der Konsultation
        • Zusammenfassung der Nutzerbeiträge
        • Archiv
      • Erstreckungs-/Validierungssystem
      • Londoner Übereinkommen
      • Nationales Recht zum EPÜ
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Archiv
      • Einheitspatentsystem
        • Go back
        • Travaux préparatoires to UP and UPC
      • Nationale Maßnahmen zum Einheitspatent
    • Gerichtspraxis
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Symposium europäischer Patentrichter
    • Nutzerbefragungen
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Laufende Befragungen
      • Abgeschlossene Befragungen
    • Harmonisierung des materiellen Patentrechts
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • The Tegernsee process
      • Gruppe B+
    • Konvergenz der Verfahren
    • Optionen für zugelassene Vertreter
  • Neues & Veranstaltungen
    • Go back
    • Übersicht
    • News
    • Veranstaltungen
    • Europäischer Erfinderpreis
      • Go back
      • The meaning of tomorrow
      • Übersicht
      • Über den Preis
      • Kategorien und Preise
      • Lernen Sie die Erfinder kennen
      • Nominierungen
      • European Inventor Network
        • Go back
        • 2024 activities
        • 2025 activities
        • Rules and criteria
        • FAQ
      • Preisverleihung 2024
    • Young Inventors Prize
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Über den Preis
      • Nominierungen
      • Die Jury
      • Die Welt, neu gedacht
      • Preisverleihung 2025
    • Pressezentrum
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Patent Index und Statistiken
      • Pressezentrum durchsuchen
      • Hintergrundinformation
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Europäisches Patentamt
        • Fragen und Antworten zu Patenten im Zusammenhang mit dem Coronavirus
        • Fragen und Antworten zu Pflanzenpatenten
      • Copyright
      • Pressekontakt
      • Rückruf Formular
      • Presseinfos per Mail
    • Im Blickpunkt
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Wasserbezogene Technologien
      • CodeFest
        • Go back
        • CodeFest Spring 2025 on classifying patent data for sustainable development
        • Übersicht
        • CodeFest 2024 zu generativer KI
        • Codefest 2023 zu grünen Kunststoffen
      • Green tech in focus
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • About green tech
        • Renewable energies
        • Energy transition technologies
        • Building a greener future
      • Forschungseinrichtungen
      • Women inventors
      • Lifestyle
      • Raumfahrt und Satelliten
        • Go back
        • Weltraumtechnologie und Patente
        • Übersicht
      • Gesundheit
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Medizintechnik und Krebs
        • Personalised medicine
      • Werkstoffkunde
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Nanotechnologie
      • Mobile Kommunikation
      • Biotechnologie
        • Go back
        • Rot, weiß oder grün
        • Übersicht
        • Die Rolle des EPA
        • Was ist patentierbar?
        • Biotechnologische Erfindungen und ihre Erfinder
      • Patentklassifikation
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Nanotechnology
        • Climate change mitigation technologies
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • External partners
          • Updates on Y02 and Y04S
      • Digitale Technologien
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Über IKT
        • Hardware und Software
        • Künstliche Intelligenz
        • Vierte Industrielle Revolution
      • Additive Fertigung
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Die additive Fertigung
        • Innovation durch AM
      • Books by EPO experts
    • Podcast
  • Lernen
    • Go back
    • Übersicht
    • Schulungsaktivitäten und Lernpfade
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Schulungsaktivitäten: Arten und Formate
      • Lernpfade
    • EEP und EPVZ
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • EEP – Europäische Eignungsprüfung
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Compendium
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Aufgabe F
          • Aufgabe A
          • Aufgabe B
          • Aufgabe C
          • Aufgabe D
          • Vorprüfung
        • Erfolgreiche Bewerber
        • Archiv
      • EPVZ – Europäisches Patentverwaltungszertifikat
      • CSP – Programm zur Unterstützung von Bewerbern
    • Angebot für bestimmte Interessengebiete
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Patenterteilung
      • Technologietransfer und -verbreitung
      • Patentdurchsetzung und Streitregelung
    • Angebot für bestimmte Zielgruppen
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Geschäftswelt und IP
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Innovation case studies
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • SME case studies
          • Fallstudien zum Technologietransfer
          • Fallstudien zu wachstumsstarken Technologien
        • Inventor's handbook
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Introduction
          • Disclosure and confidentiality
          • Novelty and prior art
          • Competition and market potential
          • Assessing the risk ahead
          • Proving the invention
          • Protecting your idea
          • Building a team and seeking funding
          • Business planning
          • Finding and approaching companies
          • Dealing with companies
        • Best of search matters
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Tools and databases
          • EPO procedures and initiatives
          • Search strategies
          • Challenges and specific topics
        • Support for high-growth technology businesses
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Business decision-makers
          • IP professionals
          • Stakeholders of the Innovation Ecosystem
      • EEP und EPVZ Bewerber
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Denkaufgaben zu Aufgabe F
        • Tägliche Fragen zur Aufgabe D
        • Europäische Eignungsprüfung - Leitfaden zur Vorbereitung
        • EPVZ
      • Richter, Anwälte und Staatsanwälte
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Compulsory licensing in Europe
        • Die Zuständigkeit europäischer Gerichte bei Patentstreitigkeiten
      • Nationale Ämter und IP-Behörden
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Lernpfad für Patentprüfer der nationalen Ämter
        • Lernpfad für Formalsachbearbeiter und Paralegals
      • Patentanwaltskanzleien
      • Hochschulen, Forschungseinrichtungen und Technologietransferstellen
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Modularer IP-Ausbildungsrahmen (MIPEF)
        • Programm "Pan-European-Seal für junge Fachkräfte"
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Für Studierende
          • Für Hochschulen
            • Go back
            • Übersicht
            • IP-Schulungsressourcen
            • Hochschulmitgliedschaften
          • Unsere jungen Fachkräfte
          • Beruflicher Entwicklungsplan
        • Akademisches Forschungsprogramm (ARP)
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Abgeschlossene Forschungsprojekte
          • Laufende Forschungsprojekte
        • IP Teaching Kit
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Download modules
        • Handbuch für die Gestaltung von IP-Kursen
        • PATLIB Wissenstransfer nach Afrika
          • Go back
          • Die PATLIB-Initiative "Wissenstransfer nach Afrika" (KT2A)
          • KT2A-Kernaktivitäten
          • Erfolgsgeschichte einer KT2A-Partnerschaft: PATLIB Birmingham und Malawi University of Science and Technology
  • Über uns
    • Go back
    • Übersicht
    • Das EPA auf einen Blick
    • 50 Jahre EPÜ
      • Go back
      • Official celebrations
      • Übersicht
      • Member states’ video statements
        • Go back
        • Albania
        • Austria
        • Belgium
        • Bulgaria
        • Croatia
        • Cyprus
        • Czech Republic
        • Denmark
        • Estonia
        • Finland
        • France
        • Germany
        • Greece
        • Hungary
        • Iceland
        • Ireland
        • Italy
        • Latvia
        • Liechtenstein
        • Lithuania
        • Luxembourg
        • Malta
        • Monaco
        • Montenegro
        • Netherlands
        • North Macedonia
        • Norway
        • Poland
        • Portugal
        • Romania
        • San Marino
        • Serbia
        • Slovakia
        • Slovenia
        • Spain
        • Sweden
        • Switzerland
        • Türkiye
        • United Kingdom
      • 50 Leading Tech Voices
      • Athens Marathon
      • Kinderwettbewerb für kollektive Kunst
    • Rechtsgrundlagen und Mitgliedstaaten
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Rechtsgrundlagen
      • Mitgliedstaaten
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Mitgliedstaaten sortiert nach Beitrittsdatum
      • Erstreckungsstaaten
      • Validierungsstaaten
    • Verwaltungsrat und nachgeordnete Organe
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Kommuniqués
        • Go back
        • 2024
        • Übersicht
        • 2023
        • 2022
        • 2021
        • 2020
        • 2019
        • 2018
        • 2017
        • 2016
        • 2015
        • 2014
        • 2013
      • Kalender
      • Dokumente und Veröffentlichungen
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Dokumente des Engeren Ausschusses
      • Verwaltungsrat
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Zusammensetzung
        • Vertreter
        • Geschäftsordnung
        • Kollegium der Rechnungsprüfer
        • Sekretariat
        • Nachgeordnete Organe
    • Grundsätze
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Auftrag, Vision und Werte
      • Strategieplan 2028
        • Go back
        • Treiber 1: Personal
        • Treiber 2: Technologien
        • Treiber 3: Qualitativ hochwertige Produkte und Dienstleistungen
        • Treiber 4: Partnerschaften
        • Treiber 5: Finanzielle Nachhaltigkeit
      • Auf dem Weg zu einer neuen Normalität
      • Datenschutzerklärung
    • Führung und Management
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Über den Präsidenten
      • Managementberatungsausschuss
    • Nachhaltigkeit beim EPA
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Umwelt
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Inspirierende Erfindungen für die Umwelt
      • Soziales
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Inspirierende soziale Erfindungen
      • Governance und finanzielle Nachhaltigkeit
    • Beschaffung
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Beschaffungsprognose
      • Das EPA als Geschäftspartner
      • Beschaffungsverfahren
      • Veröffentlichungen des Dynamischen Beschaffungssystems
      • Nachhaltiger Beschaffungsstandard
      • Über eTendering
      • Rechnungsstellung
      • Beschaffungsportal
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Elektronische Signatur von Verträgen
      • Allgemeine Bedingungen
      • Archivierte Ausschreibungen
    • Dienste & Aktivitäten
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Unsere Dienste & Struktur
      • Qualität
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Grundlagen
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Europäisches Patentübereinkommen
          • Richtlinien für die Prüfung
          • Unsere Bediensteten
        • Qualität ermöglichen
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Stand der Technik
          • Klassifikationssystem
          • Tools
          • Qualitätssicherung
        • Produkte & Dienstleistungen
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Recherche
          • Prüfung
          • Einspruch
          • Fortlaufende Verbesserung
        • Qualität durch Netzwerke
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Nutzerengagement
          • Zusammenarbeit
          • Befragung zur Nutzerzufriedenheit
          • Stakeholder-Qualitätssicherungspanels
        • Charta für Patentqualität
        • Qualitätsaktionsplan
        • Qualitäts-Dashboard
        • Statistik
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Recherche
          • Prüfung
          • Einspruch
        • Integriertes Management beim EPA
      • Charta unserer Kundenbetreuung
      • Nutzerkonsultation
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Ständiger Beratender Ausschuss beim EPA
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Ziele
          • Der SACEPO und seine Arbeitsgruppen
          • Sitzungen
          • Bereich für Delegierte
        • Befragungen
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Methodik
          • Recherche
          • Sachprüfung, abschließende Aktionen und Veröffentlichung
          • Einspruch
          • Formalprüfung
          • Kundenbetreuung
          • Einreichung
          • Key Account Management (KAM)
          • EPA-Website
          • Archiv
      • Europäische und internationale Zusammenarbeit
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Zusammenarbeit mit den Mitgliedstaaten
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
        • Bilaterale Zusammenarbeit mit Nichtmitgliedstaaten
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Validierungssystem
          • Programm für verstärkte Partnerschaft
        • Internationale Organisationen, Trilaterale und IP5
        • Zusammenarbeit mit internationalen Organisationen außerhalb des IP-Systems
      • Europäische Patentakademie
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Partner
      • Chefökonom
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Wirtschaftliche Studien
      • Ombudsstelle
      • Meldung von Fehlverhalten
    • Beobachtungsstelle für Patente und Technologie
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Technologien
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Innovation gegen Krebs
        • Assistenzrobotik
        • Weltraumtechnologien
      • Akteure im Innovationsbereich
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Start-ups und KMU
          • Go back
          • Publikationen
          • Übersicht
        • Forschungshochschulen und öffentliche Forschungseinrichtungen
      • Politisches Umfeld und Finanzierung
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Programm zur Innovationsfinanzierung
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Unsere Studien zur Innovationsfinanzierung
          • EPA-Initiativen für Patentanmelder/innen
          • Programm zur Innovationsfinanzierung
        • Patente und Normen
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Publikationen
          • Patent standards explorer
      • Tools
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Deep Tech Finder
      • Über die Beobachtungsstelle
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Arbeitsplan
    • Transparency portal
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Allgemein
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Annual Review 2023
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Foreword
          • Executive summary
          • 50 years of the EPC
          • Strategic key performance indicators
          • Goal 1: Engaged and empowered
          • Goal 2: Digital transformation
          • Goal 3: Master quality
          • Goal 4: Partner for positive impact
          • Goal 5: Secure sustainability
        • Annual Review 2022
          • Go back
          • Übersicht
          • Foreword
          • Executive summary
          • Goal 1: Engaged and empowered
          • Goal 2: Digital transformation
          • Goal 3: Master quality
          • Goal 4: Partner for positive impact
          • Goal 5: Secure sustainability
      • Humankapital
      • Umweltkapital
      • Organisationskapital
      • Sozial- und Beziehungskapital
      • Wirtschaftskapital
      • Governance
    • Statistics and trends
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Statistics & Trends Centre
      • Patent Index 2024
        • Go back
        • Insight into computer technology and AI
        • Insight into clean energy technologies
        • Statistics and indicators
          • Go back
          • European patent applications
            • Go back
            • Key trend
            • Origin
            • Top 10 technical fields
              • Go back
              • Computer technology
              • Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy
              • Digital communication
              • Medical technology
              • Transport
              • Measurement
              • Biotechnology
              • Pharmaceuticals
              • Other special machines
              • Organic fine chemistry
            • All technical fields
          • Applicants
            • Go back
            • Top 50
            • Categories
            • Women inventors
          • Granted patents
            • Go back
            • Key trend
            • Origin
            • Designations
      • Data to download
      • EPO Data Hub
      • Clarification on data sources
    • Geschichte
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • 1970er-Jahre
      • 1980er-Jahre
      • 1990er-Jahre
      • 2000er-Jahre
      • 2010er-Jahre
      • 2020er Jahre
    • Kunstsammlung
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Die Sammlung
      • Let's talk about art
      • Künstler
      • Mediathek
      • What's on
      • Publikationen
      • Kontakt
      • Kulturraum A&T 5-10
        • Go back
        • Catalyst lab & Deep vision
          • Go back
          • Irene Sauter (DE)
          • AVPD (DK)
          • Jan Robert Leegte (NL)
          • Jānis Dzirnieks (LV) #1
          • Jānis Dzirnieks (LV) #2
          • Péter Szalay (HU)
          • Thomas Feuerstein (AT)
          • Tom Burr (US)
          • Wolfgang Tillmans (DE)
          • TerraPort
          • Unfinished Sculpture - Captives #1
          • Deep vision – immersive exhibition
          • Frühere Ausstellungen
        • The European Patent Journey
        • Sustaining life. Art in the climate emergency
        • Next generation statements
        • Open storage
        • Cosmic bar
      • "Lange Nacht"
  • Beschwerdekammern
    • Go back
    • Übersicht
    • Entscheidungen der Beschwerdekammern
      • Go back
      • Neue Entscheidungen
      • Übersicht
      • Ausgewählte Entscheidungen
    • Mitteilungen der Beschwerdekammern
    • Verfahren
    • Mündliche Verhandlungen
    • Über die Beschwerdekammern
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Präsident der Beschwerdekammern
      • Große Beschwerdekammer
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Pending referrals (Art. 112 EPC)
        • Decisions sorted by number (Art. 112 EPC)
        • Pending petitions for review (Art. 112a EPC)
        • Decisions on petitions for review (Art. 112a EPC)
      • Technische Beschwerdekammern
      • Juristische Beschwerdekammer
      • Beschwerdekammer in Disziplinarangelegenheiten
      • Präsidium
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
    • Verhaltenskodex
    • Geschäftsverteilungsplan
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Technical boards of appeal by IPC in 2025
      • Archiv
    • Jährliche Liste der Verfahren
    • Mitteilungen
    • Jahresberichte
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
    • Veröffentlichungen
      • Go back
      • Abstracts of decisions
    • Rechtsprechung der Beschwerdekammern
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Archiv
  • Service & Unterstützung
    • Go back
    • Übersicht
    • Aktualisierungen der Website
    • Verfügbarkeit der Online-Dienste
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
    • FAQ
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
    • Veröffentlichungen
    • Bestellung
      • Go back
      • Patentwissen – Produkte und Dienste
      • Übersicht
      • Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen
        • Go back
        • Übersicht
        • Patentinformationsprodukte
        • Massendatensätze
        • Open Patent Services (OPS)
        • Leitfaden zur fairen Nutzung
    • Verfahrensbezogene Mitteilungen
    • Nützliche Links
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Patentämter der Mitgliedstaaten
      • Weitere Patentämter
      • Verzeichnisse von Patentvertretern
      • Patentdatenbanken, Register und Patentblätter
      • Haftungsausschluss
    • Aboverwaltung
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Anmelden
      • Einstellungen verwalten
      • Abmelden
    • Veröffentlichungen
      • Go back
      • Übersicht
      • Möglichkeiten der Einreichung
      • Standorte
    • Offizielle Feiertage
    • Glossar
    • RSS-Feeds
Board of Appeals
Decisions

Recent decisions

Übersicht
  • 2025 decisions
  • 2024 decisions
  • 2023 decisions
  1. Startseite
  2. Node
  3. T 1742/12 (On-demand instantiation/RAYTHEON) 22-06-2016
Facebook X Linkedin Email

T 1742/12 (On-demand instantiation/RAYTHEON) 22-06-2016

Europäischer Rechtsprechungsidentifikator
ECLI:EP:BA:2016:T174212.20160622
Datum der Entscheidung:
22 June 2016
Aktenzeichen
T 1742/12
Antrag auf Überprüfung von
-
Anmeldenummer
05252240.6
IPC-Klasse
G06F 9/46
G06F 9/445
H04L 29/06
Verfahrenssprache
EN
Verteilung
DISTRIBUTED TO BOARD CHAIRMEN (C)

Download und weitere Informationen:

Entscheidung in EN 437.61 KB
Alle Dokumente zum Beschwerdeverfahren finden Sie im Europäisches Patentregister
Bibliografische Daten verfügbar in:
EN
Fassungen
Nicht veröffentlicht
Bezeichnung der Anmeldung

On-demand instantiation in a high-performance computing (HPC) system

Name des Anmelders
RAYTHEON COMPANY
Name des Einsprechenden
-
Kammer
3.5.06
Leitsatz
-
Relevante Rechtsnormen
European Patent Convention Art 56 1973
European Patent Convention Art 84 1973
European Patent Convention Art 112a(2)(d)
European Patent Convention R 106
European Patent Convention Art 111(1) 1973
European Patent Convention Art 112(1)(a) 1973
European Patent Convention Art 113 1973
Schlagwörter

Claims - clarity (yes)

Problem-solution approach - selection of "closest prior art"

Inventive step - main request and auxiliary requests 1 and 2 (no)

Remittal to department of first instance (yes)

Referral to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (no)

Orientierungssatz
See points 5-10.3
Angeführte Entscheidungen
R 0008/11
R 0017/14
J 0005/81
T 0254/86
T 0603/89
T 0606/89
T 0656/90
T 0710/97
T 0967/97
T 0824/05
T 0021/08
Anführungen in anderen Entscheidungen
T 0969/12
T 2418/12
T 2083/13
T 2425/13
T 0145/14
T 0870/14
T 1265/14
T 1692/14
T 2296/14
T 0259/15
T 0855/15
T 0064/16
T 0628/16
T 1076/16
T 1294/16
T 0777/17
T 0802/18
T 0933/18
T 1867/18
T 2077/18
T 2252/18
T 2300/18
T 2443/18
T 0073/19
T 0261/19
T 0490/19
T 1012/19
T 1119/19
T 1558/19
T 1750/19
T 2524/19
T 2654/19
T 2794/19
T 2802/19
T 0397/20
T 0946/20
T 0990/20
T 1287/21
T 1683/21
T 1733/21
T 1632/22
T 0449/23
T 0899/23
T 1422/23

Summary of Facts and Submissions

I. The appeal lies from the decision of the examining division, with reasons dispatched by letter of 24 Ja­nuary 2012, refusing European patent application No. 05 252 240.6 for lack of inventive step over document

D1: Cisco, excerpt from the "Cisco LocalDirector Con­fi­guration and Command Reference Guide", 78-11760-02, chapters 1 to 3, taken to have been published in 2001.

II. A notice of appeal was filed on 23 March 2012, the fee being paid on the same day. A statement of grounds of appeal was received on 24 May 2012. The appellant requested that the decision under appeal be set aside and that a patent be granted on the basis of claims 1-21 according to a main request or claims 1-19 according to an auxiliary request, both as filed with the grounds of appeal, in combination with the description and drawings on file.

III. In an annex to the summons to oral proceedings, the board informed the appellant of its preliminary opinion that the claimed invention lacked an inventive step over D1, Article 56 EPC 1973. The board also raised objections under Article 123(2) EPC and Article 84 EPC 1973, and introduced a new document D1a in order to establish the publication date of document D1.

D1a: Cisco, "Release Notes for Cisco LocalDirector

Version 4.2.1", April 6, 2001, Retrieved on 22 February 2016 from the Internet at URL http://docstore.mik.ua/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/iaabu/localdir/ldv42/ldrnv421.htm

IV. With its letter of response dated 18 May 2016, the appellant filed additional auxiliary requests 2 to 4 comprising, respectively, claims 1-17, claims 1-17 and claims 1-15.

V. Moreover, the appellant argued that the board had applied the problem-solution approach incorrectly because D1 was not "the closest prior art" as under­stood in the established jurisprudence of the boards of appeal. In this respect, the appellant cited from the 2013 edition of the "Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office", section I.D.3.1, and referred to decisions T 254/86, T 606/89, T 656/90, and T 273/92. Acknowledging that there are decisions that have come to a different conclusion, for instance T 21/08, and noting that the Guidelines for Examination G-VII-5.1 refer to that line of reasoning, the appellant requested "that questions of the following form be referred to the Enlarged Board of Appeal":

"1. Where there are multiple pieces of prior art which could be considered to be the closest prior art in the sense required by the problem-solution approach, is it ever legitimate to start from multiple different alleged closest prior art documents, or must a single piece of prior art be identified as the closest?

2. If it is ever legitimate to start with multiple different documents, what criteria should be used to select which are legitimate starting points; is it the case that the legitimate starting points must all be equally as close, or is it permissible to start with any document that would appear to be a suitable starting point for the skilled person?

3. If there exists a first piece of prior art which is demonstrably closer to the claimed invention than a second piece of is proposed to be used, is it legitimate to use that second piece of prior art even if that second piece of prior art would be considered to be a suitable starting point for the skilled person?"

The appellant further introduced a document that had been considered in a related case,

D6: "HP AlphaServer SC User Guide", Internet article, pages 1-38, XP002336777,

and went on to argue that "given the existence of D6, [...] D1 cannot be closest prior art" (page 5, paragraph 2, last sentence) and that, hence, the inventive step assessment had to start from D6.

VI. Claim 1 of the main request reads as follows:

"Logic for on-demand instantiation in a high-performance computing (HPC) system (100), the logic encoded in a computer-readable medium and when executed operable to:

receive a connection request from a client (120) specifying a first port number and a first host name, the first port number and the first host name advertised externally with respect to an HPC server (102) comprising a cluster (110) of nodes (115);

identify a service at the HPC server corresponding to the first port number and the first host name;

determine whether the identified service is available; and

if the identified service is available, instantiate a host providing the identified service at one or more nodes (115) in the cluster (110), where the host includes an application encompassing the identified service, and instantiating the host comprises using a boot image, a file system, and an operating system (OS) configuration file corresponding to the identified service to boot at least one of the nodes that comprise the host in response to the received connection request."

VII. Claim 1 of auxiliary request 1 is the same as claim 1 of the main request up to the insertion of an "accessing" step and a corresponding modification of the "determining" step. These steps are now specified in the following terms:

"... access a list of services at the HPC server (102) comprising a plurality of entries that each specify a service and one or more rules indicating whether the service is available; and

determine, according to the list of services, whether the identified service is available; ..."

VIII. Claim 1 of auxiliary request 2 reads as follows:

"Logic for on-demand instantiation in a high-performance computing (HPC) system (100), the logic encoded in a computer-readable medium and when executed operable to:

receive a connection request from a client (120) specifying a first port number and a first host name, the first port number and the first host name advertised externally with respect to an HPC server (102) comprising a cluster (110) of nodes (115);

identify a service at the HPC server corresponding to the first port number and the first host name by:

accessing a list of services at the HPC server (102) comprising a plurality of entries that each specify:

a service; and

a port number and a host name internal to the HPC server that correspond to a host that, when executed at one or more nodes in the cluster, provides the service; and

determine whether the identified service is available;

instantiate, according to the list of services at the HPC server, the host providing the identified service at one or more nodes in the cluster by:

accessing a boot image, a file system, and an operating system (OS) configuration file at the HPC server corresponding to the host providing the identified service at one or more nodes in the cluster; and

if the identified service is available, using the boot image, the file system and the OS configuration file to instantiate the host providing the identified service at one or more nodes in the cluster by booting one or more nodes in the cluster using the boot image."

IX. Claim 1 of auxiliary request 3 differs from claim 1 of auxiliary request 2 in that it denotes the HPC server as

"... comprising a cluster (110) of nodes (115) interconnected in a grid ...".

The other independent claims of auxiliary request 3 read as follows. In particular they share the cited new feature of claim 1.

"9. A method for on-demand instantiation in a high-performance computing (HPC) system (100), the method comprising:

receiving a connection request from a client (120) specifying a first port number and a first host name, the first port number and the first host name advertised externally with respect to an HPC server (102) comprising a cluster (110) of nodes (115) interconnected in a grid,

identifying a service at the HPC server (102) corresponding to the first port number and the first host name by:

accessing a list of services at the HPC server (102) comprising a plurality of entries that each specify:

a service; and

a port number and a host name advertised externally with respect to the HPC server that correspond to the service; and

identifying, according to the list of services at the HPC server, the service at the HPC server corresponding to the first port number and the first host name;

determining whether the identified service is available; and

if the identified service is available, instantiating a host providing the identified service at one or more nodes (115) in the cluster (110) by:

accessing a boot image, a file system, and an operating system (OS) configuration file at the HPC server corresponding to the host providing the identified service at one or more nodes in the cluster; and

using the boot image, the file system and the OS configuration file to instantiate the host providing the identified service at one or more nodes in the cluster by booting one or more nodes in the cluster using the boot image.

17. "A system for on-demand instantiation in a high-performance computing (HPC) system (100), the system for on-demand instantiation in an HPC system (100) comprising:

means for receiving a connection request from a client (120) specifying a first port number and a first host name, the first port number and the first host name advertised externally with respect to an HPC server (102) comprising a cluster (110) of nodes (115) interconnected in a grid,

means for identifying a service at the HPC server (102) corresponding to the first port number and the first host name by:

accessing a list of services at the HPC server (102) comprising a plurality of entries that each specify:

a service; and

a port number and a host name advertised externally with respect to the HPC server that correspond to the service; and

identifying, according to the list of services at the HPC server, the service at the HPC server corresponding to the first port number and the first host name;

means for determining whether the identified service is available; and

means for, if the identified service is available, instantiating a host providing the identified service at one or more nodes (115) in the cluster (110) by:

accessing a boot image, a file system, and an operating system (OS) configuration file at the HPC server corresponding to the host providing the identified service at one or more nodes in the cluster; and

using the boot image, the file system and the OS configuration file to instantiate the host providing the identified service at one or more nodes in the cluster by booting one or more nodes in the cluster using the boot image."

X. The wording of the claims of auxiliary request 4 is immaterial for the present decision.

XI. Oral proceedings were held as scheduled. During the oral proceedings, the appellant objected under Rule 106 EPC to the board's intention not to refer questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal - though diverging lines of arguments existed in the case law of the boards of appeal - as an infringement of its right to be heard. At the end of the oral proceedings, the chairman announced the decision of the board.

Reasons for the Decision

D1 is prior art

1. The examining division states in its decision (see Facts and submissions, 2) that D1 was published on 4 April 2001. However, D1 itself does not contain any indication of a publication date.

1.1 The appellant has not challenged this date as the publication date of D1.

1.2 Moreover, and for the avoidance of any doubt, the board notes that Document D1a suggests that version 4.2.1 of Cisco LocalDirector, the version mentioned in D1 (see page 3.37, last paragraph), was released around April 2001 and therefore well before the priority date of 14 No­vem­ber 2004 claimed for the present application.

1.3 The board therefore accepts that D1 is prior art for the present application.

The invention

2. The application generally relates to high per­formance computing (HPC) systems. A typical HPC system of inte­rest - as ­depicted in figure 1 and described on pages 6 to 13 of the description as originally filed - com­pri­ses an HPC server (102) which receives job requests from clients (120, 150) and dynamically allocates sui­table nodes (115; see also page 7, lines 11-13) for processing them (see page 6, lines 22-28). It is dis­closed that "node[s are] gene­rally optimized for nea­rest-neighbor communications and increased I/O band­width", but beyond this, the arrangement of nodes or their connections is disclosed as not being crucial for the invention (page 8, line 23, to page 9, line 4).

2.1 The claimed invention relates in particular to the "in­stan­tiation" of "hosts at nodes in response to connec­tion requests from clients" which is described on pages 91, last paragraph, to page 94, first paragraph (see in particular page 91, lines 27-30, and page 92, lines 13-14).

2.2 Each request must indicate a host name and port number, both of which having been "advertised" externally and are mapped to corresponding internal host names and port numbers (see page 92, lines 20-25).

2.3 It is also described that certain services should only be available according to certain "rules, conditions or both", e.g. only at certain times such as during business hours. A request which does not satisfy the rules or condi­tions will not be served (or not immediate­ly). When the conditions are satisfied, the service may be "instan­tia­ted" (page 92, line 25, to page 93, line 6 et seq.).

2.4 Responsible for instantiation is an "instantiation manager" that operates based on "instantiation data" (page 92, lines 13-14) which may "include[] one or more file systems for instan­tiating hosts at nodes to pro­vide services" (page 93, lines 8-10). It is dis­closed that the "instantiation manager [...] may boot an avai­lable node [...] using a boot image and one or more file systems for the service to initialize a host for the service at a node" (page 93, lines 16-18), and ori­ginal claim 8 (and present claim 1) further refers to an "operating system (OS) configuration file", all "corresponding to the identified service".

The prior art

3. D1 is a manual for a programmable Cisco device for the dis­tribution of IP services across multiple servers in a "server farm". The main objective of D1 is performance optimization by load balancing (see page vii, "Document Objectives"; page 1-1, "Overview", paragraph 2).

3.1 D1 proposes a generally hierarchical architecture, in which "real servers", defined as the "internal represen­ta­tion of [] physical server[s], are grouped into "vir­tual servers" vis-à-vis the clients (see page 1-3, "Local­­Director Terminology"). Virtual servers present a single IP address to the user and distribute requests amongst the real servers they re­present. The IP add­resses of the real servers need not be published.

3.2 There may be several application-specific or client-specific virtual servers (page 1-6 "Client-assigned Load Balancing"; page 1-7, "Server Failure Adjust­ments").

3.3 Each "real server" can be mapped to a single virtual server or to several of them (see pages 3-5 and 3-8). The LocalDirector con­tains a mapping of virtual IP addresses and port numbers to real IP addresses and port numbers (see e.g. the tables in figures 3-3 to 3-5 on pages 3-8, 3-10 and 3-12).

3.4 It is disclosed that there may be several "dae­mons" running on the same real server (see page 1-6, "Port-Bound Servers"). In fact, although the term "real server" is defined initially to refer to physical machines (see page 1-3), it is also used to mean a "service", several of which can run on the same physical machine (see page 3-36, step 1, 2nd paragraph; page 3-35, penultimate paragraph; see also page 3-10 and the cited reference to "daemons" on page 1-6).

4. For this decision the content of D6 is immaterial beyond the fact that this document relates to an HPC high performance computing system.

The problem-solution approach and the closest prior art

5. Article 52(1) EPC provides that European patents shall be granted for any inventions that involve inter alia an inventive step, and Article 56 EPC (1973) stipulates that an invention shall be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the state of the art, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art.

6. The problem-solution approach is a well-established and successful tool for the assessment of the inventive step requirement as defined in Article 56 EPC (1973).

6.1 The problem-solution approach requires, in its first step, that prior art is identified and that then, in further steps, it is determined whether it would be obvious for the skilled person to modify or adapt the teaching of the selected prior art so as to arrive at the claimed invention. The selected piece of prior art is typically referred to as the "closest prior art".

6.2 The "closest prior art" is often characterised as being the "most promising springboard to the invention" (see in particular T 254/86, OJ EPO 1989, 115, Reasons 15; and T 656/90, Reasons 1.1).

6.3 If a piece of prior art can be identified as the "closest" prior art or the "most promising springboard" and it can be shown that, starting from this prior art, the claimed invention is non-obvious, then the claimed invention can only be even less obvious starting from any other piece of prior art, and therefore a detailed inventive step assessment starting from the other prior art can be dispensed with.

6.4 In the jurisprudence of the boards of appeal, criteria have been developed as to how, in the first step, the "closest prior art" can be selected from the available prior art. In particular, the "closest prior art" is normally that concerned with a similar use which requires the minimum of structural and functional modifications (see T 606/89, reasons 2).

6.5 It has, however, been acknowledged that the choice of the closest prior art may not always be unambiguous and that, in such a case, the problem-solution approach may have to be repeated starting from other pieces of prior art (see T 710/97, Reasons 3.2.1). It has also been observed that a piece of prior art on the basis of which the claimed invention is considered non-obvious cannot be "closer" than a document on the basis of which the claimed invention appears obvious, because it is evident in this situation that the former does not represent the most promising springboard from which to arrive at the invention (see T 824/05, Reasons 6.2).

6.6 In T 967/97 (Catchword I) and T 21/08 (Reasons 1.2.3) it was found that if the skilled person had a choice of several workable routes, i.e. routes starting from different documents, which might lead to the invention, the rationale of the problem-solution approach required that the invention be assessed relative to all these possible routes, before an inventive step could be acknowledged. Conversely, if the invention was obvious to the skilled person in respect of at least one of these routes, then an inventive step was lacking. In T 967/97 (catchword II) it was further stated that, if inventive step was to be denied, the choice of starting point needed no specific justification.

Choosing the starting point for the present invention

7. The appellant's position can be summarised as follows:

a) The correct application of the problem-solution approach obliges the board to choose the "closest prior art" as opposed to merely "a suitable starting point" (see letter of 18 May 2016, page 3, paragraph 4, and page 4, paragraph 1).

b) The closest prior art must be suitable for the intended purpose of the claimed invention, which D1 was not, because it did not relate to high performance computing HPC.

c) D6 did relate to HPC and was therefore closer than D1, so that "given the existence of D6, [...] D1 cannot be closest prior art" (page 5, paragraphs 1 and 2).

8. As regards point (a), the board disagrees with the appellant, and rather endorses the cited findings of T 967/97 and T 21/08. The board notes that these decisions are not isolated ones as the appellant seems to suggest but have been followed in several further board decisions (see e.g. the Case Law of the Boards of Appeal, I.D.2).

9. As regards point (b), the board agrees with the appellant that the intended purpose of the claimed invention is relevant in the inventive step assessment and that it may be simpler and more convincing to start this assessment from prior art sharing the intended purpose with the claimed invention. It may also happen that a piece of prior art is so "remote" from the claimed invention, in terms of intended purpose or otherwise, that it can be argued that the skilled person could not conceivably have modified it so as to arrive at the claimed invention. Such prior art might be referred to as "unsuitable". However, in the board's judgment, this does not prohibit the consideration of an inventive step assessment starting from a piece of prior art with a different purpose. To the extent that the difference in the intended purpose of the claimed invention imposes on it, the problem-solution approach requires it be determined whether it would be obvious to the skilled person to modify the prior art so as to provide these limitations. And it may be found that it would not.

10. As regards point (c), the board points out that the appellant's argument amounts to saying that knowing more can make an invention less obvious to the skilled person.

10.1 During oral proceedings, the appellant agreed to this counter-intuitive consequence of his position but argued that it had to be accepted if the problem-solution approach required it.

10.2 The board firstly disagrees that the problem-solution approach has this consequence and finds itself in agreement with the jurisprudence of the boards of appeal (see the above discussion).

10.3 Secondly, however, the board considers that this consequence is fundamentally unacceptable. If an argument showing that the claimed invention was obvious over some prior art, this argument cannot be refuted merely by the introduction of another piece of prior art. In the board's view, this would be an absurd situation in conflict with Article 56 EPC, and therefore be untenable.

Claim construction and clarity, Article 84 EPC 1973

11. In defining its subject-matter, claim 1 of all requests uses the unusual term "logic". However, the preamble of claim 1 proceeds to specify that the claimed logic is "encoded in a computer-readable medium and when executed operable to" perform a number of steps. The board accepts the appellant's view that the skilled person would understand this as specifying some sort of computer program on a computer-readable medium, even if it leaves open whether the program is provided in "hardware, software, firmware or a combi­nation of" these (cf. corresponding suggestion in the description on page 9, lines 16-18).

12. The board agrees with the examining division that the fact that port number and host name are "advertised externally" does not have any technical consequence for the claimed "logic". The "advertisement" feature is satisfied by any means external to the claimed logic which makes port numbers and host numbers known or accessible to clients, and the claimed logic is "operable to" receive a connection request contai­ning port number and host name irrespective of where they have been obtained from.

13. All claims specify "instantiation" of a "host providing the ... [service] at one or more nodes in the cluster". While the "nodes" are the individual machines constituting the HPC cluster (see also page 7, lines 11-13, of the description), neither the term "host" nor the concept of its "instantiation" is specifically defined anywhere in the description.

13.1 The appellant argues that the "host is the entity which provides the service" and that it "comprises the nodes that together provide the service" (see letter of 18 May 2016, page 2, paragraph 1). The board agrees in principle but notes that this still leaves open the possibility that the host has no physical existence beyond the nodes it "comprises". In the board's view, this remains true even though the claims refer to a "host name". According to the claims, the only purpose of the host name, together with the port number, is to identify the requested service. For the client, therefore, the host name and the port number effectively represent the requested service, apart from the fact that the same service might be associated with several pairs of host name and port number.

13.2 In view of the foregoing the board considers that the skilled person would understand that the term "host" in the present claim is merely a convenient manner of referring to the part of the HPC server needed to provide a particular service. The concept of "instantiating a host" would be understood as comprising anything that is needed to start a service on the claimed HPC system, and includes the claimed feature of "using a boot image, a file system, and an operating system (OS) configuration file corresponding to the identified service to boot at least one of the nodes that comprise the host".

13.3 During oral proceedings, the appellant expressly confirmed this interpretation.

14. Finally, all claims refer to an HPC system comprising a cluster of nodes. In the board's view, the term HPC refers to any system in which a number of computers, jointly referred to as a "cluster of nodes", cooperate in parallel to provide a computational service that the individual computers could not provide on their own. In the board's view, no further limitations are implied by the term HPC alone. The claims of the third auxiliary request specify further that the nodes of the cluster are "interconnected in a grid". In the board's view, this implies at least that the individual nodes have direct communication links between each other (see also the description, page 8, line 23, to page 9, line 4).

15. On the basis of the broad interpretation above, the board accepts the recited terms as being clear.

Inventive step

Main request

16. The examining division assessed inventive step starting from D1.

16.1 The board considers this to be a suitable choice, as explained above even in the presence of document D6 (see points 7-10).

16.2 In the board's judgment, D1 discloses

i) connection requests from clients specifying port number and host name which are "advertised" ex­ter­nally (see the tables in figures 3-3 to 3-5 and point 8 above);

ii) identifying an (on-demand) service at the HPC server - since, as argued above, the "real ser­vers" of D1 are specifically disclosed to encom­pass services running on physical machines, the services running as appli­ca­tions on nodes of the "server farm system"; and

iii) the possibility that a service may fail (page 1-16, "Port-Bound Servers", bullet point 3).

16.3 D1 does not disclose

I) an HPC as construed above because it does not disclose the server farms to operate in parallel to provide a requested service, and

II) the "boot[ing of ...] the nodes" or the use of "a boot image, a file system, and an ope­ra­ting system (OS) configuration file corres­pon­­ding to the identified service" in the pro­cess.

16.4 The board considers that these differences solve two separate and independent problems: providing parallelism increases throughput and booting a node enables it to provide the requested service.

16.5 Re I) In the board's view, it would be obvious in the system of D1 to provide some parallelism between individual real servers, be it to provide certain services faster, be it to provide several services simultaneously. In the board's view, as few as two real servers operating in parallel are sufficient to turn the system of D1 into an HPC system as construed above.

16.6 Re II) It would further be obvious to the skilled person to provide the possibility of (re)starting a requested service that may not be available when requested. The board considers that no document is necessary to establish this point, and the appellant did not challenge this assumption. The specifically claimed parameters of the instantiation, the "boot image", "file system" and OS "configuration file" are regarded as ob­vi­ous potential requirements for starting or restarting the requested service.

16.7 Therefore, the board comes to the conclusion that independent method claim 1 lacks an inventive step over D1, Article 56 EPC 1973. By analogy, this conclusion applies to independent system claim 21 as well.

Auxiliary request 1

17. In the board's judgment, the specification of "rules indicating whether the ser­vice is available" is a non-technical issue. This is the case in particular in view of the only example given in the description, namely that there are business hours, outside of which a cer­tain service is not being offered (see description, page 92, line 28 to page 93, line 6).

17.1 That, given the rules, a request is only serviced when the rules are complied with is an obvious requirement and is straightforward to implement.

17.2 Therefore, the board concludes that the independent claims of the auxiliary request 1 also lack an inventive step over D1, Article 56 EPC 1973.

Auxiliary request 2

18. The additional language specifying the "list of services" mapping host name and port number to the available service is, in the board's view, an obvious detail of implementing a mapping such as that known from D1. The appellant has not provided any argument why these differences in particular could support the presence of an inventive step. The board therefore considers that the above argument carries over to show lack of inventive step of claim 1 of the auxiliary request 2 over D1, too, Article 56 EPC 1973.

Auxiliary request 3

19. In the board's view, the modification of the system of D1 to incorporate direct communication interconnections between the real servers would not be compatible with the hierarchical architecture of that system. In the board's view, therefore, it would not be obvious to the skilled person to modify D1 so as to arrange the real servers as a "cluster of nodes [...] interconnected into a grid".

19.1 In other words, the interconnection feature is sufficient to specify a type of HPC, even if still very broadly defined, which the skilled person would not, in the board's view, arrive at by modifying the system of D1.

19.2 While one might also say that D1 is no longer a "suitable" starting point for assessing inventive step, the legal consequence of this finding is that the subject matter of claims 1, 9 and 17 is inventive over D1, Article 56 EPC 1973.

Remittal to the examining division

20. The above conclusion that the claimed invention is non-obvious over D1 alone is insufficient to establish that the invention involves an inventive step over all the prior art to hand. Since inventive step has, up to now, only been considered starting from D1, the board exercises its discretion under Article 111(1) EPC 1973 and remits the case to the examining division for further prosecution, in particular for consideration of the other documents on file.

Referral of questions

21. According to Article 112(1)(a) EPC 1973, the board of appeal shall, in order to ensure uniform application of the law, or if a point of law of fundamental importance arises, refer any question to the Enlarged Board of Appeal if it considers that a decision is required for the above purposes. This means, inter alia, that questions should not be referred if the board itself is able to resolve the point in question beyond any doubt on the basis of the Convention (cf. Decision J 5/81, OJ EPO 1982, 155, Headnote; T 603/89, OJ EPO 1992, 230, Reasons 3.10).

22. In view of the reasoning set out above, the board considers that the questions proposed by the appellant must be answered as follows.

Re questions 1 and 3

An inventive step objection does not become invalid merely because it is based on a document which is not or was not established to be the "closest prior art". It is legitimate to start the inventive step assessment from multiple different documents.

Re question 2

It is permissible to start an inventive step objection with any document that appears to be a suitable starting point.

Objection under Rule 106 EPC

23. The board understands the objection under Rule 106 EPC to refer to Article 112a(2)(d) EPC which provides that a petition for review by the Enlarged Board of Appeal can be based on the ground that a fundamental violation under Article 113 EPC occurred.

23.1 In this regard, the board notes that the issue of whether an inventive step assessment could be based on D1 was discussed with the board during the oral proceedings. In the board's judgment, therefore, the appellant had ample opportunity, orally and in writing, to present its comments on the pertinent question of law, before the board came to its decision. The appellant does not seem to question this.

23.2 The appellant's objection relies on the assumption that the board is obliged to refer questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal when, on an important point of law, it intends to deviate from an established line of jurisprudence, or where two boards have given different opinions on the matter.

23.3 According to Article 112(1)(a) EPC 1973, the board of appeal shall refer questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal if it considers that a decision is required for the above purposes. It is therefore up to the board to decide whether a decision by the Enlarged Board of Appeal is required.

23.4 The board also notes that the Enlarged Board of Appeal has decided before that a board's decision not to refer questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal is not, in itself, a ground for a petition (see, e.g., R8/11, Headnote and Reasons 2.3, and R17/14, Reasons 27).

23.5 Therefore, the objection under Rule 106 EPC is dismissed.

Entscheidungsformel

Order

For these reasons it is decided that:

1. The objection under Rule 106 EPC is dismissed.

2. The request for referral of questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal is rejected.

3. The case is remitted to the examining division for continuation of the examination proceedings on the basis of the third auxiliary request.

Footer - Service & support
  • Unterstützung
    • Aktualisierungen der Website
    • Verfügbarkeit der Online-Dienste
    • FAQ
    • Veröffentlichungen
    • Verfahrensbezogene Mitteilungen
    • Kontakt
    • Aboverwaltung
    • Offizielle Feiertage
    • Glossar
Footer - More links
  • Jobs & Karriere
  • Pressezentrum
  • Single Access Portal
  • Beschaffung
  • Beschwerdekammern
Facebook
European Patent Office
EPO Jobs
Instagram
EuropeanPatentOffice
Linkedin
European Patent Office
EPO Jobs
EPO Procurement
X (formerly Twitter)
EPOorg
EPOjobs
Youtube
TheEPO
Footer
  • Impressum
  • Nutzungsbedingungen
  • Datenschutz
  • Barrierefreiheit