T 0232/14 (Method and apparatus for identifying, authenticating, tracking and tracing manufactured items/INEXTO SA) vom 06.10.2020

Inventive step - determining ranges of unit identifiers (no
Inventive step - not technical and obvious)
Inventive step - technical effect of saving storage (no
Inventive step - bonus effect)
Appeal decision - remittal to the department of first instance (no)

The Board judges that using ranges of unit identifiers to label a number of (consecutive) unit identifiers of manufactured items is, at the level of generality at which it is claimed, on the business side of the line between technical and non-technical subject-matter (see e.g. T 144/11 - Security rating System / SATO MICHIHIRO, points 2.1, and 3.6 to 3.9).(See point 2.5 of the reasons)
The ranges of unit identifiers do have a meaning for the business person. They correspond to batches of units produced on a production line. (See point 2.6 of the reasons)
Even if the "determining of ranges of unit identifiers" achieved a technical effect, such as reducing data storage and data bandwidth requirements, it is a matter of routine design for the skilled person, a software programmer or a database expert, based on common general knowledge to store the first and the last element of a list of items, instead of the whole list. (See point 2.9 of the reasons)