3.7.1 User interfaces 

User interfaces, in particular graphical user interfaces (GUIs), comprise features of presenting information and receiving input in response as part of human-computer interaction. Features defining user input are more likely to have a technical character than those solely concerning data output and display, because input requires compatibility with the predetermined protocol of a machine, whereas output may be largely dictated by a user's subjective preferences. Features concerning the graphic design of a menu (e.g. its look and feel) which are determined by aesthetic considerations, subjective user preferences or administrative rules do not contribute to the technical character of a menu-based user interface. Evaluating features related to output of data is covered in G‑II, 3.6.3. This section focuses on evaluating features relating to how a user can provide input.

Features which specify a mechanism enabling user input, such as entering text, making a selection or submitting a command, are normally considered to make a technical contribution. For example, providing in a GUI an alternative graphical shortcut that allows the user to directly set different processing conditions, such as initiating a printing process and setting the number of copies to be printed by dragging and reciprocated movement of a document icon onto a printer icon, makes a technical contribution. On the other hand, supporting user input by providing information that merely facilitates the user's mental decision-making process during this task (e.g. by helping the user to decide what to input) is not considered to make a technical contribution (T 1741/08).

Assisting a user in entering text in a computer system by providing a predictive input mechanism is a technical function. However, generating word variants to be displayed for the predictive input mechanism is, in itself, a non-technical problem. The linguistic model used to solve this non-technical problem does not, on its own, make a technical contribution. If technical considerations are involved in implementing the linguistic model on a computer, such as those relating to the internal functioning of a computer, then there may be a technical effect.

Where the actual achievement of effects such as simplifying the user's actions or providing more user-friendly input functions depends exclusively on subjective user abilities or preferences, the effects cannot form the basis of an objective technical problem to be solved. For example, a reduction in the number of interactions required to perform the same input is not credibly achieved if it materialises only for some usage patterns that occur depending on the user's level of expertise or subjective preferences.

Ways of providing input, such as gestures or keystrokes, that merely reflect subjective user preferences, conventions or game rules and cannot objectively be regarded as having any physical ergonomic advantage do not make a technical contribution. However, performance-oriented improvements to the detection of input, such as allowing faster or more accurate gesture recognition or reducing the device's processing load when performing recognition, do make a technical contribution.