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Software Patent
of the year 2006

July – Patent 2

EP0811961 – Method for conditioning routing information, to be transmitted to the driver of a vehicle

EU-Patent on software (algorithm)
Proprietor: Siemens AG (Germany)
Application to European Patent Office on 28/1/1997 by VDO Adolf Schindling AG (Germany)
Granted on 8/5/2002
Date of priority: 5/6/1996 (valid no more than until 5/6/2016)
Patent attorney: Klein, Thomas, Dipl.-Ing. (FH)
Appeal filed by DaimlerChrysler AG (Germany) on 4/2/2003 durch DaimlerChrysler AG (Deutschland) on grounds of lacking novelty and lacking inventive steps according to article 100(a) EPC
Appeal rejected on 14/5/2004
Patent specification provided by FFII/Gauss
Patent specification provided by EPO/espacenet
Access to records provided by EPO/epoline

Advice on the reading of patent specifications:

The decisive element are the claims, as they specify which actions are forbidden within the framework of the patent.
Violating one single claim is sufficient to be considered a patent violation. Generally, claim number 1 is the decisive main claim which covers all other claims relating to special cases.
The description is intended to help the reader interpret the claim. At the same time, it is supposed to document and disclose the details of the invention. This disclosure is the original purpose of the entire patent system.
In practice, a patent specification contains no detailed information on how the patented procedure could be implemented (even if the patent owner allowed the implementation). In particular, a software patent contains no program code (reference implementation), but merely describes the idea of a software.

Patented idea: Ahead of a number of consecutive road junctions a navigation system produces anticipatory notices like for example "turn right third street" instead of signalling the turn not before approaching the third road junction.

Main claim: When the distance to the road junction is shortening to a specified minimum distance: verify if there are further junctions in the same direction and take them – if necessary – into account in the notices that are produced.

Further claims:

Using the accuracy of the routing system as minimum distance
Pooling the junctions ahead only if they are located closer to each other than the specified minimum distance
Visual notice by means of an arrow and extra lines
Voice message

Description: The patent specification documents the insight that occasionally the distances between road junctions occurring one after the other are closer than the accuracy of the routing system and that the resulting navigation problem can be solved by pooling several junctions with one notice.

Everyday parallel: In a car the co-driver reads the street names and compares them to a street map (routing system). As soon as the car approaches several consecutive road junctions (minimum distance) the co-driver (voice message) says to the driver: "Turn right at the third road junction."

Example for patent infringements: Every car navigation system

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