The invention is concerned with a computer-based system and method for assisting an emergency dispatcher in responding to emergency calls. A diagnostic tool used by the dispatcher collects symptom information systematically over the telephone, particularly to identify a pandemic illness. A message with symptom information is then sent to the responder, allowing them to treat the patient appropriately and take any necessary precautions to reduce the spread of the illness. The invention may also receive geographical location information and analyse it to identify patterns and relationships within the data received to track the spread of a pandemic illness.
The hearing officer followed the steps set out in Aerotel in order to determine whether the invention was excluded from patentability. He concluded that the contribution made by the invention lay not in reducing the spread of a pandemic illness but in an improved way of obtaining and analysing medical information from a caller, by using a diagnostic tool to structure diagnostic questions in relation to existing medical understanding of symptoms and pandemic illnesses. This ensured that a dispatcher can obtain the required information and store it consistently for passing to the responder.
He concluded that the collating and ordering of medical data in a way which is different from prior art systems, and then sending (in a conventional technical way) a message containing that data, did not offer a technical effect on a process outside the computer. He considered that the first ATandT/CVON signpost did not point to patentability and distinguished this case on its facts from PKTWO. The contribution was also held to be a business method, since it was concerned with administrating, codifying, organising and then outputting the diagnostic information. An argument that section 4A indicated that the invention did not fall within excluded matter was also rejected.
Citations:
[2015] UKIntelP o04215
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Intellectual Property
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.543126
