Skip to main content Skip to footer
HomeHome
 
  • Homepage
  • Searching for patents

    Patent knowledge

    Access our patent databases and search tools.

    Go to overview 

    • Overview
    • Technical information
      • Overview
      • Espacenet - patent search
      • European Publication Server
      • Searching Asian documents: patent search and monitoring services
      • EP full-text search
      • Bibliographic coverage in Espacenet and OPS
      • Full-text coverage in Espacenet and OPS
    • Legal information
      • Overview
      • European Patent Register
      • European Patent Bulletin
      • European Case Law Identifier sitemap
      • Searching Asian documents
      • Third-party observations
    • Business information
      • Overview
      • PATSTAT
      • IPscore
      • Patent insight reports
    • Data
      • Overview
      • Linked open EP data
      • Bulk data sets
      • Web services
      • Coverage, codes and statistics
    • Helpful resources
      • Overview
      • First time here?
      • Asian patent information
      • Patent information centres
      • Patent Translate
      • Patent Knowledge News
      • Business and statistics
      • Unitary Patent information in patent knowledge

    UP search

    Learn about the Unitary Patent in patent knowledge products and services

  • Applying for a patent

    Applying for a patent

    Practical information on filing and grant procedures.

    Go to overview 

    • Overview
    • European route
      • Overview
      • European Patent Guide
      • Oppositions
      • Oral proceedings
      • Appeals
      • Unitary Patent & Unified Patent Court
      • National validation
      • Request for extension/validation
    • International route (PCT)
      • Overview
      • Euro-PCT Guide – PCT procedure at the EPO
      • EPO decisions and notices
      • PCT provisions and resources
      • Extension/validation request
      • Reinforced partnership programme
      • Accelerating your PCT application
      • Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
      • Training and events
    • National route
    • MyEPO services
      • Overview
      • Understand our services
      • Get access
      • File with us
      • Interact on your files
      • Online Filing & fee payment outages
    • Find a professional representative
    • Forms
      • Overview
      • Request for examination
    • Fees
      • Overview
      • European fees (EPC)
      • International fees (PCT)
      • Unitary Patent fees (UP)
      • Fee payment and refunds
      • Warning

    UP

    Unitary Patent

  • Law & practice

    Law & practice

    European patent law, the Official Journal and other legal texts.

    Go to overview 

    • Overview
    • Legal texts
      • Overview
      • European Patent Convention
      • Official Journal
      • Guidelines
      • Extension / validation system
      • London Agreement
      • National law relating to the EPC
      • Unitary patent system
      • National law relating to the UP
    • Court practices
      • Overview
      • European Patent Judges' Symposium
    • User consultations
      • Overview
      • Ongoing consultations
      • Completed consultations
    • Substantive patent law harmonisation
      • Overview
      • The Tegernsee process
      • Group B+
    • Convergence of practice
    • Options for professional representatives

    legal text

    Legal texts

  • News & events

    News & events

    Our latest news, podcasts and events, including the European Inventor Award.

    Go to overview 

     

    • Overview
    • News
    • Events
    • European Inventor Award
      • Overview
      • About the award
      • Categories and prizes
      • Meet the finalists
      • Nominations
      • Watch the 2022 ceremony
    • Press centre
      • Overview
      • Patent Index and statistics
      • Search in press centre
      • Background information
      • Copyright
      • Press contacts
      • Call back form
      • Email alert service
    • Innovation and patenting in focus
      • Overview
      • Firefighting technologies
      • Green tech in focus
      • CodeFest on Green Plastics
      • Clean energy technologies
      • IP and youth
      • Research institutes
      • Women inventors
      • Fighting coronavirus
      • Lifestyle
      • Space and satellites
      • The future of medicine
      • Materials science
      • Mobile communications
      • Biotechnology
      • Patent classification
      • Digital technologies
      • The future of manufacturing
      • Books by EPO experts
    • "Talk innovation" podcast

    Podcast

    Listen to our podcast

  • Learning

    Learning

    The e-Academy – the point of access to your learning

    Go to overview 

    • Overview
    • European Patent Academy
      • Overview
      • Learning activities
      • Learning paths
    • Professional hub
      • Overview
      • EQE - European qualifying examination
      • EPAC - European patent administration certification
    • Learning resources by area of interest
      • Overview
      • Patent granting
      • Technology transfer and dissemination
      • Patent enforcement and litigation
    • Learning resources by area by profile
      • Overview
      • Business and IP managers
      • EQE candidates
      • Judges, lawyers and prosecutors
      • National offices and IP authorities
      • Patent attorneys and paralegals
      • Universities, research centres and technology transfer centres (TTOs)

    European Patent Academy

    Boost your IP knowledge with (e-)training from the European Patent Academy

  • About us

    About us

    Find out more about our work, values, history and vision

    Go to overview 

    • Overview
    • The EPO at a glance
    • 50 years of the EPC
      • Overview
      • Official celebrations
      • Member states’ video statements
      • 50 Leading Tech Voices
      • Athens Marathon
      • Kids’ collaborative art competition
    • Legal foundations and member states
      • Overview
      • Legal foundations
      • Member states of the European Patent Organisation
      • Extension states
      • Validation states
    • Governance
      • Overview
      • Communiqués
      • Calendar
      • Documents and publications
      • Administrative Council
    • Principles & strategy
      • Overview
      • Our mission, vision, values and corporate policy
      • Public consultation on the EPO's Strategic Plan 2028
      • Towards a New Normal
    • Leadership & management
      • Overview
      • President António Campinos
      • Management Advisory Committee
    • Social responsibility
      • Overview
      • Environment and sustainability
      • Art collection
    • Services & activities
      • Overview
      • Our services & structure
      • Quality
      • Consulting our users
      • European and international co-operation
      • European Patent Academy
      • Chief Economist
      • Ombuds Office
      • Reporting wrongdoing
    • Observatory on Patents and Technology
      • Overview
      • About the Observatory
      • Our activities
      • Our topics
      • Our partners and networks
      • Digital library
      • Data desk
    • Procurement
      • Overview
      • Procurement forecast
      • Doing business with the EPO
      • Procurement procedures
      • About eTendering and electronic signatures
      • Procurement portal
      • Invoicing
      • General conditions
      • Archived tenders
    • Transparency portal
      • Overview
      • General
      • Human
      • Environmental
      • Organisational
      • Social and relational
      • Economic
      • Governance
    • Statistics and trends
      • Overview
      • Statistics & Trends Centre
      • EPO Data Hub
      • Clarification on data sources
    • History
      • Overview
      • 1970s
      • 1980s
      • 1990s
      • 2000s
      • 2010s
      • 2020s

    about us

    Patent Index 2022

 
en de fr
  • Language selection
  • English
  • Deutsch
  • Français
Main navigation
  • Homepage
  • New to patents
    • Go back
    • Overview
    • What's your big idea?
    • Are you ready?
    • What to expect
    • How to apply for a patent
    • Your business and patents
    • Is it patentable?
    • Are you first?
    • Why do we have patents?
    • Patent quiz
    • Unitary patent video
  • Searching for patents
    • Go back
    • Overview
    • Technical information
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Espacenet - patent search
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • National patent office databases
        • Global Patent Index (GPI)
        • Release notes
      • European Publication Server
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Cross-reference index for Euro-PCT applications
        • EP authority file
        • Help
      • Searching Asian documents
      • EP full-text search
      • Bibliographic coverage in Espacenet and OPS
      • Full-text coverage in Espacenet
    • Legal information
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • European Patent Register
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Release notes archive
        • Register documentation
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Deep link data coverage
          • Federated Register
          • Register events
      • European Patent Bulletin
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Download Bulletin
        • EP Bulletin search
        • Help
      • European Case Law Identifier sitemap
      • Searching Asian documents
      • Third-party observations
    • Business information
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • PATSTAT
      • IPscore
        • Go back
        • Release notes
      • Patent insight reports
    • Data
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Linked open EP data
      • Bulk data sets
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Manuals
        • Sequence listings
        • National full-text data
        • European Patent Register data
        • EPO worldwide bibliographic data (DOCDB)
        • EP full-text data
        • EPO worldwide legal event data (INPADOC)
        • EP bibliographic data (EBD)
          • Go back
          • EBD files (weekly download) - free of charge
            • Go back
            • Secure EBD ST.36 files (weekly download) - for national patent offices only
        • Boards of Appeal decisions
        • EP full-text data for text analytics
      • Web services
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Open Patent Services (OPS)
        • European Publication Server web service
      • Coverage, codes and statistics
        • Go back
        • Weekly updates
        • Updated regularly
    • Helpful resources
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • First time here? Patent information explained.
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Basic definitions
        • Patent classification
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
        • Patent families
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • DOCDB simple patent family
          • INPADOC extended patent family
        • Legal event data
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • INPADOC classification scheme
      • Asian patent information
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • China (CN)
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Facts and figures
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
          • Useful terms
          • Searching in databases
        • Chinese Taipei (TW)
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
          • Useful terms
          • Searching in databases
        • India (IN)
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Facts and figures
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
        • Japan (JP)
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Facts and figures
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
          • Useful terms
          • Searching in databases
        • Korea (KR)
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Facts and figures
          • Grant procedure
          • Numbering system
          • Useful terms
          • Searching in databases
        • Russian Federation (RU)
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Facts and figures
          • Numbering system
          • Searching in databases
        • Useful links
      • Patent information centres (PATLIB)
      • Patent Translate
      • Patent Knowledge News
      • Business and statistics
      • Unitary Patent information in patent knowledge
  • Applying for a patent
    • Go back
    • Overview
    • European route
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • European Patent Guide
      • Oppositions
      • Oral proceedings
        • Go back
        • Oral proceedings calendar
          • Go back
          • Calendar
          • Public access to appeal proceedings
          • Public access to opposition proceedings
          • Technical guidelines
      • Appeals
      • Unitary Patent & Unified Patent Court
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Unitary Patent
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Legal framework
          • Unitary Patent Guide
          • Main features
          • Applying for a Unitary Patent
          • Cost of a Unitary Patent
          • Translation and compensation
          • Start date
        • Unified Patent Court
      • National validation
      • Extension/validation request
    • International route
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Euro-PCT Guide
      • Entry into the European phase
      • Decisions and notices
      • PCT provisions and resources
      • Extension/validation request
      • Reinforced partnership programme
      • Accelerating your PCT application
      • Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
        • Go back
        • Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme outline
      • Training and events
    • National route
    • MyEPO services
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Understand our services
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Online Filing 2.0 pilot
        • MyEPO Portfolio - pilot phase
        • Online Filing 2.0 pilot continuation
        • Exchange data with us using an API
      • Get access
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Installation and activation
      • File with us
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • What if our online filing services are down?
        • Release notes
      • Interact on your files
      • Online Filing & fee payment outages
    • Fees
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • European fees (EPC)
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Decisions and notices
      • International fees (PCT)
        • Go back
        • Reduction in fees
        • Fees for international applications
        • Decisions and notices
        • Overview
      • Unitary Patent fees (UP)
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Decisions and notices
      • Fee payment and refunds
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Payment methods
        • Getting started
        • FAQs and other documentation
        • Technical information for batch payments
        • Decisions and notices
        • Release notes
      • Warning
    • Forms
      • Go back
      • Request for examination
    • Find a professional representative
  • Law & practice
    • Go back
    • Overview
    • Legal texts
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • European Patent Convention
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Archive
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Documentation on the EPC revision 2000
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Diplomatic Conference for the revision of the EPC
            • Travaux préparatoires
            • New text
            • Transitional provisions
            • Implementing regulations to the EPC 2000
            • Rules relating to Fees
            • Ratifications and accessions
          • Travaux Préparatoires EPC 1973
      • Official Journal
      • Guidelines
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • EPC Guidelines
        • PCT-EPO Guidelines
        • Guidelines revision cycle
        • Consultation results
        • Summary of user responses
        • Archive
      • Extension / validation system
      • London Agreement
      • National law relating to the EPC
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Archive
      • Unitary Patent system
      • National measures relating to the Unitary Patent 
    • Court practices
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • European Patent Judges' Symposium
    • User consultations
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Ongoing consultations
      • Completed consultations
    • Substantive patent law harmonisation
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • The Tegernsee process
      • Group B+
    • Convergence of practice
    • Options for professional representatives
  • News & events
    • Go back
    • Overview
    • News
    • Events
    • European Inventor Award
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • About the award
      • Categories and prizes
      • Meet the finalists
      • Nominations
      • Watch the 2023 ceremony
      • European Inventor Network
        • Go back
        • Activities granted in 2023
    • Press centre
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Patent Index and statistics
      • Search in press centre
      • Background information
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • European Patent Office
        • Q&A on patents related to coronavirus
        • Q&A on plant patents
      • Copyright
      • Press contacts
      • Call back form
      • Email alert service
    • In focus
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Firefighting technologies
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Detection and prevention of fires
        • Fire extinguishing
        • Protective equipment
        • Post-fire restoration
      • Green tech in focus
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • About green tech
        • Renewable energies
        • Energy transition technologies
        • Building a greener future
      • CodeFest on Green Plastics
      • Clean energy technologies
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Renewable energy
        • Carbon-intensive industries
        • Energy storage and other enabling technologies
      • IP and youth
      • Research institutes
      • Women inventors
      • Fighting coronavirus
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Vaccines and therapeutics
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Vaccines
          • Overview of candidate therapies for COVID-19
          • Candidate antiviral and symptomatic therapeutics
          • Nucleic acids and antibodies to fight coronavirus
        • Diagnostics and analytics
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Protein and nucleic acid assays
          • Analytical protocols
        • Informatics
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Bioinformatics
          • Healthcare informatics
        • Technologies for the new normal
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Devices, materials and equipment
          • Procedures, actions and activities
          • Digital technologies
        • Inventors against coronavirus
      • Lifestyle
      • Space and satellites
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Patents and space technologies
      • Healthcare
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Medical technologies and cancer
        • Personalised medicine
      • Materials science
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Nanotechnology
      • Mobile communications
      • Biotechnology
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Red, white or green
        • The role of the EPO
        • What is patentable?
        • Biotech inventors
      • Classification
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Nanotechnology
        • Climate change mitigation technologies
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • External partners
          • Updates on Y02 and Y04S
      • Digital technologies
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • About ICT
        • Hardware and software
        • Patents and standards
        • Artificial intelligence
        • Fourth Industrial Revolution
      • Additive manufacturing
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • About AM
        • AM innovation
      • Books by EPO experts
    • Podcast
  • Learning
    • Go back
    • Overview
    • European Patent Academy
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Learning activities
      • Learning Paths
    • Professional hub
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • EPAC - European patent administration certification
      • EQE - European Qualifying Examination
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Archive
        • Candidates successful in the European qualifying examination
        • Compendium
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Pre-examination
          • Paper A
          • Paper B
          • Paper C
          • Paper D
    • Learning resources by area of interest
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Patent granting
      • Technology transfer and dissemination
      • Patent enforcement and litigation
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Patent enforcement in Europe
        • Patent litigation in Europe
    • Learning resources by profile
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Business and IP managers
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Innovation case studies
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • SME case studies
          • Technology transfer case studies
          • High-growth technology case studies
        • Inventors' handbook
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Introduction
          • Disclosure and confidentiality
          • Novelty and prior art
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Is the idea ‘obvious’?
            • Prior art searching
            • Professional patent searching
            • Simple Espacenet searching
            • What is prior art?
            • Why is novelty important?
          • Competition and market potential
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Research guidelines
          • Assessing the risk ahead
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Exploitation routes
            • Significant commercial potential
            • Significant novelty
            • What about you?
            • What if your idea is not novel but does have commercial potential?
          • Proving the invention
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Help with design or redesign
            • Prototype strategy
          • Protecting your idea
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Forms of IPR
            • Patenting strategy
            • The patenting process
          • Building a team and seeking funding
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Building a team
            • Sources of funding
            • Sources of help for invention
          • Business planning
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Constructing a business plan
            • Keep it short!
          • Finding and approaching companies
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • First contact
            • Meetings
          • Dealing with companies
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Advance or guaranteed payment
            • Companies and your prototype
            • Full agreement – and beyond
            • Negotiating a licensing agreement
            • Reaching agreement
            • Royalties
        • Best of search matters
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Tools and databases
          • EPO procedures and initiatives
          • Search strategies
          • Challenges and specific topics
        • Support for high-growth technology businesses
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • For IP professionals
          • For business decision-makers
          • For stakeholders of the innovation ecosystem
      • EQE Candidates
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Coffee-break questions
        • Daily D questions
        • European qualifying examination - Guide for preparation
      • Judges, lawyers and prosecutors
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Compulsory licensing in Europe
        • The jurisdiction of European courts in patent disputes
      • National offices and IP authorities
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Learning material for examiners of national officers
        • Learning material for formalities officers and paralegals
      • Patent attorneys and paralegals
      • Universities, research centres and TTOs
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Modular IP Education Framework (MIPEF)
        • Pan-European Seal Young Professionals Programme
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • For students
          • For universities
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • IP education resources
            • University memberships
          • Our young professionals
          • Professional development plan
        • Academic Research Programme
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Completed research projects
          • Current research projects
        • IP Teaching Kit
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Download modules
        • Intellectual property course design manual
  • About us
    • Go back
    • Overview
    • The EPO at a glance
    • 50 years of the EPC
      • Go back
      • Official celebrations
      • Overview
      • Member states’ video statements
        • Go back
        • Albania
        • Austria
        • Belgium
        • Bulgaria
        • Croatia
        • Cyprus
        • Czech Republic
        • Denmark
        • Estonia
        • Finland
        • France
        • Germany
        • Greece
        • Hungary
        • Iceland
        • Ireland
        • Italy
        • Latvia
        • Liechtenstein
        • Lithuania
        • Luxembourg
        • Malta
        • Monaco
        • Montenegro
        • Netherlands
        • North Macedonia
        • Norway
        • Poland
        • Portugal
        • Romania
        • San Marino
        • Serbia
        • Slovakia
        • Slovenia
        • Spain
        • Sweden
        • Switzerland
        • Türkiye
        • United Kingdom
      • 50 Leading Tech Voices
      • Athens Marathon
      • Kids’ collaborative art competition
    • Legal foundations and member states
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Legal foundations
      • Member states
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Member states by date of accession
      • Extension states
      • Validation states
    • Governance
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Communiqués
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • 2022
        • 2021
        • 2020
        • 2019
        • 2018
        • 2017
        • 2016
        • 2015
        • 2014
        • 2013
      • Calendar
      • Documents and publications
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Select Committee documents
      • Administrative Council
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Composition
        • Representatives
        • Rules of Procedure
        • Board of Auditors
        • Secretariat
        • Council bodies
    • Principles & strategy
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Mission, vision, values & corporate policy
      • Strategic Plan 2028
      • Towards a New Normal
      • Data protection & privacy notice
    • Leadership & management
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • About the President
      • Management Advisory Committee
    • Procurement
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Procurement forecast
      • Doing business with the EPO
      • Procurement procedures
      • About eTendering
      • Procurement portal
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • e-Signing contracts
      • Invoicing
      • General conditions
      • Archived tenders
    • Services & activities
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Our services & structure
      • Quality
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Foundations
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • European Patent Convention
          • Guidelines for examination
          • Our staff
        • Enabling quality
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Prior art
          • Classification
          • Tools
          • Processes
        • Products & services
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Search
          • Examination
          • Opposition
          • Continuous improvement
        • Quality through networking
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • User engagement
          • Co-operation
          • User satisfaction survey
          • Stakeholder Quality Assurance Panels
        • Patent Quality Charter
        • Statistics
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Search
          • Examination
          • Opposition
      • Consulting our users
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Standing Advisory Committee before the EPO (SACEPO)
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Objectives
          • SACEPO and its working parties
          • Meetings
          • Single Access Portal – SACEPO Area
        • Surveys
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Search services
          • Examination services, final actions and publication
          • Opposition services
          • Patent filings
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Detailed methodology
            • Archive
          • Online Services
          • Patent information
            • Go back
            • Overview
            • Innovation process survey
          • Customer services
          • Filing services
          • Website
          • Survey on electronic invoicing
          • Companies innovating in clean and sustainable technologies
      • Our user service charter
      • European and international co-operation
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Co-operation with member states
          • Go back
          • Overview
        • Bilateral co-operation with non-member states
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Validation system
          • Reinforced Partnership programme
        • Multilateral international co-operation with IP offices and organisations
        • Co-operation with international organisations outside the IP system
      • European Patent Academy
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Partners
      • Chief Economist
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Economic studies
      • Ombuds Office
      • Reporting wrongdoing
    • Statistics and trends
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Statistics & Trends Centre
      • EPO Data Hub
      • Clarification on data sources
    • Social responsibility
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Environment
      • Art collection
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • The collection
        • Let's talk about art
        • Artists
        • Media library
        • What's on
        • Publications
        • Contact
        • Culture Space A&T 5-10
          • Go back
          • Catalyst lab & Deep vision
            • Go back
            • aqua_forensic
            • LIMINAL
            • MaterialLab
            • Perfect Sleep
            • Proof of Work
            • TerraPort
            • Unfinished Sculpture - Captives #1
            • Deep vision – immersive exhibition
          • The European Patent Journey
          • Sustaining life. Art in the climate emergency
          • Next generation statements
          • Open storage
          • Cosmic bar
        • Lange Nacht 2023
    • History
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • 1970s
      • 1980s
      • 1990s
      • 2000s
      • 2010s
      • 2020s
    • Transparency portal
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • General
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Annual Review 2022
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Foreword
          • Executive summary
          • Goal 1: Engaged and empowered
          • Goal 2: Digital transformation
          • Goal 3: Master quality
          • Goal 4: Partner for positive impact
          • Goal 5: Secure sustainability
      • Human
      • Environmental
      • Organisational
      • Social and relational
      • Economic
      • Governance
    • Observatory on Patents and Technology
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • About the Observatory
      • Our activities
      • Our topics
      • Our partners and networks
      • Digital library
      • Data desk
  • Boards of Appeal
    • Go back
    • Overview
    • Decisions of the Boards of Appeal
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Recent decisions
      • Selected decisions
    • Procedure
    • Annual reports
      • Go back
      • Overview
    • Organisation
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • President of the Boards of Appeal
      • Enlarged Board of Appeal
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Pending referrals (Art. 112 EPC)
        • Decisions sorted by number (Art. 112 EPC)
        • Pending petitions for review (Art. 112a EPC)
        • Decisions on petitions for review (Art. 112a EPC)
      • Technical Boards of Appeal
      • Legal Board of Appeal
      • Disciplinary Board of Appeal
      • Presidium
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Composition of the Presidium
          • Go back
          • Overview
          • Archive
    • Code of Conduct
    • Business distribution scheme
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Technical boards of appeal by IPC in 2023
      • Archive
    • Annual list of cases
    • Communications
    • Publications
    • Case Law of the Boards of Appeal
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Archive
    • Case Law from the Contracting States to the EPC
    • Oral proceedings
  • Service & support
    • Go back
    • Overview
    • Website updates
    • Availability of online services
      • Go back
      • Overview
    • FAQ
      • Go back
      • Overview
    • Publications
    • Ordering
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Terms and conditions
        • Go back
        • Overview
        • Patent information products
        • Bulk data sets
        • Open Patent Services (OPS)
        • Fair use charter
    • Procedural communications
    • Useful links
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Patent offices of member states
      • Other patent offices
      • Legal resources
      • Directories of patent attorneys
      • Patent databases, registers and gazettes
      • Disclaimer
    • Contact us
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Filing options
      • Locations
      • Specific contact
    • Subscription centre
      • Go back
      • Overview
      • Subscribe
      • Change preferences
      • Unsubscribe
    • Official holidays
    • Forums
    • Glossary
    • RSS feeds
Board of Appeals
Decisions

Recent decisions

Overview
  • 2023 decisions
  • 2022 decisions
  • 2021 decisions
https://www.epo.org/en/node/t200714eu1
  1. Home
  2. T 0714/20 (Pedestrian detection/HITACHI) 01-12-2022
Facebook X Linkedin Email

T 0714/20 (Pedestrian detection/HITACHI) 01-12-2022

European Case Law Identifier
ECLI:EP:BA:2022:T071420.20221201
Date of decision
01 December 2022
Case number
T 0714/20
Petition for review of
-
Application number
14757497.4
IPC class
G06K 9/00
G06T 7/00
B60R 1/00
G08G 1/16
H04N 5/235
H04N 7/18
Language of proceedings
EN
Distribution
NO DISTRIBUTION (D)

Download and more information:

Decision in EN 354.85 KB
Documentation of the appeal procedure can be found in the European Patent Register
Bibliographic information is available in:
EN
Versions
Unpublished
Application title

OBJECT SENSING DEVICE

Applicant name
Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
Opponent name
-
Board
3.5.06
Headnote
-
Relevant legal provisions
European Patent Convention Art 54
European Patent Convention R 116(2)
Rules of procedure of the Boards of Appeal 2020 Art
Rules of procedure of the Boards of Appeal 2020 Art
Keywords

Novelty - auxiliary request (no)

Amendment to case - exercise of discretion

Amendment to case - Article 12(4) and 12(6) RPBA 2020

Catchword
The principles expressed in Article 12(6) RPBA 2020 for the admittance of non-maintained or non-admitted requests may be considered in the exercise of discretion to admit amendments based on such requests under Article 12(4) RPBA 2020.
Cited decisions
T 1134/11
Citing decisions
T 1161/20
T 1171/20
T 0641/20

I. The appeal is against the decision of the Examining Division to refuse the application. There were three requests underlying this decision.

II. The main request was refused for lack of clarity and inventive step. The first auxiliary request was not admitted under Rule 116(2) EPC and Rule 137(3) EPC.

The second auxiliary request was refused for lack of inventive steps in view of

D1: EP 2346014 A1, 20 July 2011.

III. With the grounds of appeal, the Appellant requested that the decision of the Examining Division be set aside and that a patent be granted on the basis of a main request or one of two auxiliary requests, all filed with the grounds of appeal. These requests correspond respectively to a (main) request filed in advance of the oral proceedings before the Examining Division, but later replaced by the main request underlying the decision, to this latter main request, and to the first auxiliary request underlying the decision, all further amended in the same way to remedy the clarity objection noted in the decision in respect of the then main request.

IV. In its preliminary opinion accompanying a summons to oral proceedings, the Board indicated that it tended not to admit the main and second auxiliary request (Article 12(4) and (6) RPBA 2020), that the first auxiliary request lacked novelty in view of D1 (Article 54 EPC), and that the amendment carried out for clarity purposes appeared to extend beyond the content of the application as originally filed (Article 123(2) EPC).

V. In its reply to the summons, with letter of 2 Novem­ber 2022, the Appellant brought arguments for the admittance of the main and second auxiliary requests, and also argued that the amendment carried out for clarity purposes was compliant with Article 123(2) EPC. In favour of novelty or inventive step the Appellant merely made reference to its arguments in the statement of grounds of appeal. Also during the oral proceedings before the Board, the Appellant referred to its written submissions for matters of substance and limited its oral submissions to the issues of admittance under the RPBA 2020.

VI. Claim 1 of the main request defines:

An object sensing device (100) installable in a host vehicle, comprising:

- an image capture unit (101; 102) configured to capture surroundings of the host vehicle; and

- a processing device (111) configured to sequentially execute a periodic sensing process of an object to be sensed selected from a group comprising a pedestrian, a vehicle, a sign, and a lane from an image captured (1002; 1003) by the image capture unit (101; 102) one at a time and each with a specific first period, wherein the first period may be different for different elements of the group,

wherein the processing device (111) comprises:- a scene analysis unit (103) configured to analyze a travel scene of the host vehicle;- an existence probability calculation unit (105) configured to calculate an existence probability of the pedestrian based on static objects detected in the travel scene analyzed by the scene analysis unit (103);- a process priority change unit (106) configured to change a sensing process priority of the objects to be sensed based on the existence probability calculated by the existence probability calculation unit (105), such that a pedestrian sensing process is executed with priority over other objects from the group by executing the pedestrian sensing process repeatedly within the previously defined first period, thereby shortening a period to what is defined as a second period, if the existence probability of the pedestrian is higher than a predetermined value; and- an object-to-be-sensed sensing unit (110) configured to sequentially sense each of the objects to be sensed of the group based on the sensing process priority changed by the process priority change unit (106). VII. Claim 1 of the first auxiliary request differs from that of the main request by adding at the end of the feature "a process priority change unit" the following: wherein if the existence probability of the pedestrian is higher than the predetermined value, a command for executing speed control by suppressing acceleration of the host vehicle is generated and output to a vehicle speed control device VIII. Claim 1 of the first auxiliary request differs from that of the main request by adding at the end of the claim: and wherein the processing device (111) comprises:- an external information acquisition unit (104) configured to acquire map information; and

the existence probability calculation unit (105) configured to calculate an existence probability of the pedestrian based on the map information acquired by the external information acquisition unit (104) and the travel scene analyzed by the scene analysis unit (103), wherein the existence probability calculation unit (105) is configured to calculate the existence probability of the pedestrian from the map information and the travel scene using pre-stored learned data in which travel scene types, place attributes, and existence probability values are associated.

Admittance - Article 12 RPBA 2020

1. As stated above, the main request, first auxiliary request and second auxiliary request correspond respectively to a main request filed in advance of the oral proceedings before the Examining Division, but later replaced, to the main request underlying the decision, and to the first auxiliary request underlying the decision, all further amended to remedy a clarity objection noted in the decision.

2. The amendment used wording employed by the Examining Division itself when construing the claim (see the decision, point 22 of the reasons). It may therefore appear suitable to solve the clarity issue raised. When carried out on requests underlying the decision, it can therefore be considered as an appropriate response to the grounds for refusal and is not an obstacle to admittance under Article 12(4) RPBA 2020. This is the case for the first auxiliary request, which is there­fore admitted.

3. The main request is based on a request not maintained at first instance. Article 12(6) RPBA 2020 states, inter alia, that "[t]he Board shall not admit re­quests ... which were no longer maintained, in the pro­ceedings leading to the decision under appeal". Since the non-maintained request was amended, Article 12(6) RPBA 2020 does not apply as such. However, the Board considers that the principle expressed in the cited passage may be considered in the exercise of discretion to admit amendments under Article 12(4) RPBA.

3.1 In the case at hand, the amendment which has been carried out as a response to the mentioned clarity objection, in an attempt to define the periodicity of the pedestrian detection, is unrelated to the amendment carried out at first instance when the previous main request was replaced with the one underlying the appealed decision, which defined the use of the output of the pedestrian detection.

3.2 So this request is effectively a return to a request that had not been maintained, plus one unrelated amendment.

4. The Appellant has provided no reasons for filing of this request in the grounds of appeal.

4.1 In the reply to the Board's preliminary opinion it explained that in none of its submissions there are "statements which could be interpreted as abandonment with substantive effect". It also stated that the Exa­mi­ning Division had suggested in a brief telephone communication that "in order to arrive [at] a conver­ging version of claims, Appellant may consider retur­ning to the previously pending Main Request", though this statement is not found in the minutes. During the oral proceedings before the Board, the Appellant added that it did not return to the previous main request at that moment because it believed to have good chances of success with the requests on file.

4.2 Furthermore, "the sole purpose of filing an amended Main Request was to solve issues as a direct response to the appealed decision", i.e. to solve the clarity issue mentioned above.

5. The Board does not find these arguments convincing.

5.1 The Examining Division may have been willing to give its consent to the re-filing of a previous request, but it was the Appellant's own choice not to file this request. As a consequence, this request was not part of the decision under appeal and its admittance is therefore within the Board's discretion.

5.2 In this context, the issue at stake is how the Appellant's choice not to maintain a request at first instance may affect how the Board exercises its discre­tion to admit on appeal an amended request based on it under the RPBA 2020.

5.3 As already stated, the Board disagrees with the alle­gation that the new main request was merely filed to solve the clarity issue, for the reasons given above (point 3.1).

6. Thus the Board does not see any case circumstances that would justify the admittance of this request (Article 12(4) RPBA 2020, in view of Article 12(6) RPBA 2020).

7. The second auxiliary request is based on the first auxiliary request underlying the decision, which was not admitted by the Examining Division pursuant to Rule 116(2) EPC and Rule 137(3) EPC.

7.1 Although, again, Article 12(6) RPBA 2020 does not apply as such, the Board is of the opinion that the principle expressed in it that "[t]he Board shall not admit requests ... which were not admitted in the proceedings leading to the decision under appeal, unless the decision not to admit them suffered from an error in the use of discretion" may be considered in the exercise of discretion to admit amendments under Article 12(4) RPBA 2020.

7.2 In the case at hand, this request differs from the one not admitted by the Examining Division in a way (amendment for clarity) which is unrelated to the reasons given for non-admittance (late filing and divergence, see below).

8. The Board is further of the opinion that the discre­ti­o­nary decision of the Examining Division not to admit the first auxiliary request underlying the decision was taken in a reasonable manner.

8.1 The Examining Division correctly established that the request was late filed within the meaning of Rule 116(2) EPC, first sentence, namely one week before the date scheduled for oral proceedings, and that it had discretion not to give its consent to, i.e, not to ad­mit the request, Rule 116(2) EPC, second sentence. As a reason for not admitting, the Examining Division argued that the request went "into a different direction" than the main request then on file.

8.2 The Appellant did not challenge that the Examining Division could exercise its discretion to admit a request, inter alia, on whether it was converging w.r.t. higher-ranking requests, in this regard referring to T 1134/11 (page 18, first paragraph): "whether the claims of auxiliary requests converge is to be understood in the sense that the subject-matter of the lower ranking requests is further defined [...] with the intention to counter objections with regard to the preceding requests". The Board agrees that, when oral proceedings are imminent, it is legitimate for the Examining Division to expect the claims of subsequent requests to converge in that sense, so that a focused discussion can be had during the oral proceedings and a decision can be arrived at in a reasonable time. The less a new set of claims "further defines" the subject matter of a previous one but changes the focus of the discussion, i.e. the more clearly a new set of claims "diverges" from an earlier one, the more will admittance of the new claims be detrimental to procedural economy. The Board also considers that this argument may bear the more weight, the later the new set of claims are filed.

8.3 In the present case, the oral proceedings were closely imminent and the (then) first auxiliary request was not convergent with the main request. Both requests repre­sented two clearly different lines of amendments trying to overcome an inventive step objection. In the main request the Appellant tried to distinguish the subject-matter of claim 1 from the prior art by a feature de­fi­ning an action in response to the detection of a pedes­trian (speed control), whereas in the first auxiliary request the Appellant tried to achieve this by a fea­ture defining how the (prior) existence probability of a pedestrian was determined.

9. The Appellant argued in its grounds of appeal, and then later in its reply to the summons, that the request did not go in a different direction. In each of the requests, the feature block referring to the process priority unit was "further limited to distinguish the present invention further against the closest prior art or the cited prior art in general" (grounds of appeal 5.4.1). In the reply to the summons (I.2) it further said that "the core of the invention in each request remains the same, namely speed control corresponding to a detection of a pedestrian" and that the newly added features "refer back to features which were already included in claim 1" and were part of the same first embodiment.

10. The Board does not agree. Contrary to the Appellant's assertion, this auxiliary request does not define speed control, unlike the main request underlying the deci­sion, but defines a pre-learning step for pedestrian exis­tence probability which is not present in the said main request. These aspects are technically unrelated, one referring to the consequences of the pedestrian de­tection, and the other to the timing of the pedes­trian detection.

11. Hence the Board does not see an error in the way the Examining Division exercised its discretion not to admit the (then) first auxiliary request. It also does not see other circumstances that would justify the admittance in appeal of a new request based on it. So the second auxiliary request is not admitted (Ar­ticle 12(4) RPBA 2020, in view of Article 12(6) RPBA 2020).

RPBA 2020: general remarks

12. The Appellant stated in its reply to the summons (I.5) "that the preliminary opinion of the Board is very much dependent on the new RPBA", but that the RPBA 2020 "lead to an increased focus on purely formal issues", and "that such increased formalism is not in line with maintaining the possibility for applicants to have a second independent instance for reconsideration and re-examination of first instance decisions on all matters, namely e.g., with regard to novelty and inventive step and on formal aspects like the admission of requests. For securing a fair procedure and in order to be in-line with the standards developed by the European Courts, the requirements for not admitting new requests, facts, and evidences should be set to the lowest possible level". It also referred the Board to "R 8/13 of March 20, 2015, wherein the Enlarged Board of Appeal stated that it was established case law of the Enlarged Board (R 2/14of 17 February 2015: and of the Boards of appeal) that the EPC, which had been signed by contracting parties to the ECHR (e.g., Euro­pean Convention on Human Rights), must be applied in a way which supports the fundamental principles of Art. 6(1) ECHR (G 1/05, OJ 2007, 362, point 22 of the Rea­sons; G 2/08 of 15 June 2009, point 3.3 of the Rea­sons)". Submissions to that effect have been also made orally during the oral proceedings before the Board.

13. These entirely generic observations do not identify any concrete deficiency of the RPBA 2020 in general, or, more importantly, indicate where the Board in this par­ticular case may have failed to review a matter decided by the Examining Division, though it should have reviewed it "to be in-line with the standards developed by the European Courts". Nor do they establish that the RPBA 2020, or the way this Board has applied them, is against the fundamental principles of Art. 6(1) ECHR. Thus the Board sees no need to go further into these issues.

First auxiliary request: patentability

14. The Examining Division considered claim 1 of this request to lack inventive step in view of D1. This document teaches a method for object detection in a vehicle environment, using the same type of cyclic detection. It also teaches, as the current application does, to modify the detection cycles depending on the driving situation (figures 13 to 15, also 38), and this according to pre-defined task tables (figures 4 to 8).

15. The Appellant argued (see 5.2.1.2 as referred to in 5.3.1.2) that claim 1 differed from D1 in that the pedestrian detection was executed with priority over other detections, and this only when the pedestrian existence probability was higher than a certain value. The Appellant stated in particular (grounds of appeal, page 9, bottom half): "Even though[] D1 teaches shortening a period similar to the present invention, in said shortened period the priority order remains the same at all time. In summary - contrary to the present invention - according to D1, the priority order of the applications is never changed, because D1 is forced to use previously defined task tables."

16. The Board is of the opinion that, on the basis of paragraphs 56 to 59, the application uses the word "priority" to provide that certain tasks are prioritised over others only in the sense that they are executed more frequently by pre-planning, and not in a sense where this priority plays a role for a scheduler to solve a real-time conflict between tasks for accessing resources; at least there are no details in this regard in the application.

16.1 Hence the Board does not agree that this feature es­tablishes a difference over D1, because the task tables of D1 fulfil the exact same pre-planning function, and the change of the task tables according to the road situation expresses the condition related to the pedestrian existence probability, as the Appellant has acknowledged - paragraph bridging pages 7 and 8 in the grounds of appeal.

17. The Appellant also argued (5.3.1.2) that D1, although disclosing automatic brake control, did not disclose the claimed brake control, i.e. "if the existence pro­bability of the pedestrian is higher than the prede­ter­mined value, a command for executing speed control by suppressing acceleration of the host vehicle is gene­rated and output to a vehicle speed control device." In particular, D1 disclosed a more complex brake control, calculating time to collision and lateral position of the pedestrian before taking a decision.

18. The Board remarks that the claimed brake control, if con­strued literally, would most likely bring the vehicle to a standstill in urban situations. It cannot therefore be reasonably considered that the car should decelerate whenever a pedestrian is detected anywhere, e.g. on a sidewalk. Hence it must be taken that the claim expresses only partly the conditions for actua­ting the brakes or decoupling acceleration. Under this interpretation, i.e. allowing for verification of fur­ther conditions, D1 does disclose the claimed feature.

19. The Board concludes therefore that, under a technically meaningful claim construction, claim 1 lacks novelty in view of D1 (Article 54 EPC).

Order

For these reasons it is decided that:

The appeal is dismissed.

Footer - Service & support
  • Service & support
    • FAQ
    • Publications
    • Procedural communications
    • Contact us
    • Subscription centre
    • Official holidays
    • Forums
    • Glossary
Footer - More links
  • Jobs & careers
  • Press centre
  • Single Access Portal
  • Procurement
  • Boards of Appeal
SoMe facebook 0
European Patent Office
EPO Jobs
SoMe instagram
EuropeanPatentOffice
SoMe linkedIn
European Patent Office
EPO Jobs
EPO Procurement
SoMe twitter
EPOorg
EPOjobs
SoMe youtube
TheEPO
Footer
  • Legal notice
  • Terms of use
  • Data protection and privacy
  • Accessibility