9.2.11 Appréciation de caractéristiques portant sur la présentation d'informations

In T 1650/23, the invention concerned controlling the display of content items provided by a website or an application. In the system according to the invention, the content of a content item to be displayed is reduced to an amount that enables a user "to understand the target content item within the display duration".

According to the board, the distinguishing features related in part to the way information was displayed (i.e. presented) to the user. Presentation of information is as such not patentable under Art. 52(2) and (3) EPC. According to the case law of the Boards of Appeal, presentation of information as such, as non-technical subject-matter, cannot contribute to inventive step. Where a claim refers to an aim to be achieved in a non-technical field, this aim may legitimately appear in the formulation of the problem as part of the framework of the technical problem that is to be solved, in particular as a constraint that has to be met (T 641/00).

The appellant had argued that the distinguishing features related to technical concepts directed at determining in advance how and which information to provide in accordance with the display duration. Hence, these features were directed at the internal processing of the claimed information processing system and not at the mere presentation of information. The distinguishing features achieved the technical effect of reducing processing loads, quickly changing the content amount of the target content item, and causing the target content item to be displayed, as was recited in the description. By storing in advance multiple content variants corresponding to possible display durations, the processing was improved.

The appellant had further argued that all the distinguishing features contributed to these technical effects, since they were involved in the steps leading to the improved processing. They could thus not be considered to be mere "constraints" included in the objective technical problem. The objective technical problem had to be formulated as how to improve the processing of displaying a target content item, possibly with the addition of "such that it enables the visitor to understand display content thereof" to take into account the board's assessment that the present invention contained a part that was based on non-technical considerations.

The board could not recognise any improved processing compared to the conventional prior-art system, since changing the displayed information involved additional processing. The only effect of this additional processing was in the mind of the user, who was presented with different information than in the conventional prior-art system.

The concept of the invention was that of displaying, for a display duration below a threshold, a version of the target content item with a reduced content amount that enabled the visitor to visually understand the target content item within the display duration. The versions to be displayed should be "mutually related in display content but mutually different in content amount". This concept of the invention was based on non-technical considerations about a reduction of the cognitive burden of the user. It was thus a non-technical concept that could be included in the formulation of the technical problem.

In view of this, the distinguishing features solved the technical problem of modifying the conventional prior-art system to display, for a display duration below a threshold, a version of the target content item with a reduced content amount that enabled the visitor to visually understand the target content item within the display duration. The board held, that the skilled person facing the above formulated technical problem would immediately recognise the need to estimate the display duration and change the version of the target content item to be displayed if the estimated display duration is below a threshold. The board found that this was obvious and the subject-matter not inventive within the meaning of Art. 56 EPC.

In T 1468/21 the differentiating features solved the technical problem of providing a fully autonomous locker. Feature [C] related to a particular way of creating or determining the opening code and of storing it in the locker. Features [E], [F], [G] and [H] related to the specific set-up of an autonomous locker and its relationship with the remote server / central control system in order to correctly distribute the valid opening code to the user and synchronise the autonomous locker with the central control system. Although the locker was autonomous with respect to other structural units like a telecommunication network or the central control system, the opening codes in the locker and the remote server needed to be updated and synchronised after the delivered goods had been collected from the autonomous locker (or delivered to the locker). The new opening codes had to be generated and synchronised in both the locker and the remote server.

The five differentiating features [C], [E], [F], [G] and [H] were at least partially linked to the objective technical problem of rendering the locker autonomous; however, according to the board these features solved three separate technical "sub-problems" related to the cited technical problem. The first sub-problem related to the question of how the opening codes are created or selected. The second sub-problem related to the question of how to provide the same opening codes in the locker and the remote server. The third sub-problem related to the question of how to synchronise both separate units.

With regard to the examining division's reasoning regarding the "broken technical chain fallacy", the board held that it was true that the locker and the "one or more terminals (4, 4')" were not technically linked to each other. The user's intervention was required to inform the remote server, via the "one or more terminals (4, 4')", that the locker door had been opened and/or closed; however, in the present case, contrary to cases T 1670/07 and T 1741/08, there was no "broken technical chain", since the user only enters a single piece of objective information on the "one or more terminals (4, 4')" without any subjective choice or specific mental activity on their part.

In contrast to this, case T 1670/07 concerned optimising a shopping itinerary in which the vendors visited are selected according to the customer's user profile. The deciding board found that "the possible final technical effect brought about by the action of a user cannot be used to establish an overall technical effect because it is conditional on the mental activities of the user". In the deciding board's view, the technical effect, if present at all, depended on the user's reaction to the itinerary. The deciding board further explained, with reference to T 1741/08, that a user's reaction to a piece of (non-technical) information was considered to be a "broken technical chain fallacy".

T 1741/08 concerned a graphical user interface (GUI) designed to assist the user in making choices on the GUI. The user's reaction is not a simple confirmation of a status quo by the user to the technical system, but instead the user responds subjectively to the information provided on the GUI. The board in the case in hand found that in contrast to these decisions, it becomes evident that a "user's reaction to information" is more than simple "feedback" in response to an actual situation. A "user's reaction to information" involves a subjective mental act performed by the user that is clearly distinct from simple feedback. Moreover, the user will recognise the simple feedback as an essential element for correctly using a technical system, as in the present case in which the user has no choice (apart from deciding whether or not to provide the expected input). For example, case T 1741/08 was in contrast to this, in which a user's reaction to information consisted of a selection from several given and offered possibilities. It could be argued that the entire process is stopped by a missing or incorrect user input (i.e. simple "feedback"); however, in the present case, this process interruption should not be interpreted as a possible "broken technical chain" since it is not the technical chain that is broken by subjective intervention of a user involving its reaction to information; the technical chain is merely broken by the claimed technical system being incorrectly used by the user.

Therefore, inputting a single piece of information, which represents feedback on a factual, objective situation from a user within a technical process and does not require any mental activity on the part of the user, i.e. no specific reaction by the user to information, does not immediately lead to a "broken technical chain fallacy". The board therefore concluded that the examining division's decision was incorrect and that the subject-matter defined in claim 1 was inventive.