T 2172/13 - Displaying suggestions inventive

Invention

• The invention relates to a computer system for communicating HD data to a game console. The Board accepts inventive step based on the features of evaluating bandwidth, and in case of insufficient bandwidth, informing the user of bandwidth issues, displaying data throughput, and displaying suggestions for improving network throughput. The Board identifies as objective technical problem: how to improve reliability of high-definition transmissions within the system.
• The Board does not expressly identify a technical effect, or how the features provide such effect, and does not discuss the "broken technical chain fallacy",i.e. a chain of effects from providing information to its use in a technical process is broken by the intervention of a user (T1670/07). 

T 2172/13 -  link


Summary of Facts and Submissions

V. The independent claims according to the appellant's main request read as follows: 

1. "A computer system for communicating high definition transmissions to a game console (120) comprising:
a remote computer-readable medium (206);
a tuner (202) to receive high definition content transmissions; and a game console (120) communicatively coupled, by a network, to the tuner (202), the game console (120) being configured to retrieve and execute program code (208) from the remote computer-readable medium (206), the program code (208) enabling the game console (120) to receive high definition content (402) streamed from the tuner (202) in real-time; and the program code (208) enabling the game console (120) to play high definition content received by the tuner (202),

wherein the program code (208), when executed, comprises:
performing a test to evaluate (504) the available bandwidth of the network coupling the game console (120) to the tuner (202) and, in response to the network bandwidth being insufficient to support the real-time streaming of high definition content:
informing (510) a user of possibility of network performance issues;
starting (512) continuous network throughput monitoring;
measuring (514) network throughput;
displaying (516) current network throughput at a network performance monitor user interface (600, 700);
displaying (518) one or more suggestions for improving network throughput; 

and looping back (520) to the starting (512) continuous network monitoring until the user terminates the loop or a timeout occurs or an adequate bandwidth is achieved".

Reasons for the Decision

7. Inventive step, claim 1

7.1 The Board considers D1 to be the most relevant of the available prior art. Following on from the discussion of novelty, the identified differences of the system including a medium carrying [are] program code that, when executed on the game console of the system, evaluates bandwidth, and in the case of insufficiency thereof, inter alia informs the user of bandwidth issues, displays throughput, displays suggestions for improving network throughput. In the Board's opinion, the problem associated with this difference is to modify the computer system of D1 to improve reliability of high-definition transmissions within the system.

7.2 Nothing in D1 itself suggests the claimed solution, nor does the Board consider it would belong to the skilled person's general knowledge. Whether or not it might be obvious to modify the system of D1 to continuously monitor available bandwidth, the disclosure of D1 focuses on making the best use of shared bandwidth by allocating different amounts to different tasks, rather than extending the total available bandwidth (see paragraph bridging pages 28 and 29).

In this respect the Board does not consider it would be obvious for the skilled person to solve the above problem by modifying D1 to inform the user of a bandwidth issue, nor by introducing the technical features, involving technical display means, of displaying actual network throughput and suggestions for improving network throughput. This is because the thrust of D1, with its optimised allocation of shared bandwidth, is to mitigate any effects of a bandwidth issue, so that the user need never be aware of the issue, let alone be presented with suggestions for network throughput improvement on a display (cf. impugned decision page 8, third from last paragraph).

At best the objective problem might prompt the skilled person to further optimise the existing scheme of bandwidth allocation to make even better use of available network throughput, but not to arrive at program code informing the user of network throughput and empowering them to extend it as claimed.

7.3 As also explained above (see point 6.2), neither D2 nor D3 give any hint to the program code features. Therefore, the combination of the teachings of D1 and either of these documents (whether that combination is obvious or not) would not result in the program code features claimed.