Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is a global enterprise that caters to a variety of customers and develops specialized industrial electronic tools that involve semiconductors, computers, televisions, home devices, air conditioners, and microwave ovens. The Company also offers Internet network webs and telecommunications instruments including mobile devices.
In India, the business of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. focuses on system, devices, and method to automatically launch an application on a mobile computing device based on a near-field communication data exchange, electronic device and method for automatic human segmentation in the image, and efficient access to frequently utilized actions on computing devices.
Samsung Electronics Co filed a patent application numbered 6312/DELNP/2011 that is titled as DIGITAL VIDEO BROADCASTING-CABLE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING RESERVED TONE. The patent has been filed in the field of Electronics. This Patent Application has been granted as Patent Number 353592. This invention relates to a method for receiving a signal, the method comprising when the signal is received in a frame that includes a plurality of combined bands divided along with a frequency domain, identifying, by a receiver, a position of reserved tones so that reserved tone patterns are repeated at every interval of predetermined combined bands and extracting, by the receiver, data from the signal in consideration of the identified position of the reserved tones.
During the patent examination, the Patent Examiner raised objections under Section 3(k) of the Patents Act, 1970. All the method claims refer to protocols and algorithms per se and hence not patentable. The subject matter of the claims seeks to protect a method in which only the computer algorithmic steps and computer programming instructions are involved, defined, and incorporated. The features mentioned in the claims are only functional features of the method. The operational and implementation features of the invention are not fully supported by the description. It is not clear from the description of how the functional features of the method are being implemented. The clarity of the features of the method is very vague from the description.
As a response, the Applicant submitted that the invention has a technical character and provides a technical solution to a technical problem and the steps of the invention are implemented through constructional features. Therefore, method claims do not fall under the category of the algorithm under Section 3(k) of the Patents Act.
Advocate Rahul Dev is a Patent Attorney & International Business Lawyer practicing Technology, Intellectual Property & Corporate Laws. He is reachable at rd (at) patentbusinesslawyer (dot) com & @rdpatentlawyer on Twitter.
Quoted in and contributed to 50+ national & international publications (Bloomberg, FirstPost, SwissInfo, Outlook Money, Yahoo News, Times of India, Economic Times, Business Standard, Quartz, Global Legal Post, International Bar Association, LawAsia, BioSpectrum Asia, Digital News Asia, e27, Leaders Speak, Entrepreneur India, VCCircle, AutoTech).
Regularly invited to speak at international & national platforms (conferences, TV channels, seminars, corporate trainings, government workshops) on technology, patents, business strategy, legal developments, leadership & management.
