IPO Excluded fields (refused), Inventive step – The invention relates to a computer-controlled system for ordering food and/or drink in a restaurant in which a projector mounted above the dining table is used to project plate shaped images of the actual food which can be ordered onto the surface of the table where customers are able to select the food they wish to order by touching the appropriate images on the table. In particular, the projected images are intended to show how the food would like on a plate thereby aiding, for example, the visually impaired in ordering their food.
The Hearing Officer considered the four-step test in Aerotel/Macrossan in the light of the Symbian judgment, and found the contribution to relate to the presentation of information, a business method and a computer program as such, and having found no technical contribution refused the application under Section 18(3). The Hearing Office also applied the Windsurfing/Pozzoli test in respect of claim 1 and found the invention to lack an inventive step.
Citations:
[2012] UKIntelP o18712, GB1105406.1
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Statutes:
Intellectual Property
Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.460092