Question about underlines, arrows and lead lines in patent drawing ?
m...@home.com
From Patent It Yourself :
"Arrowheads should not be used on lead lines,
but if a numeral refers to an entire assembly or
group of connected elements, its lead line can
have an arrowhead, or it can be underlined to
distinguish it from the lead lines of numerals
that refer to a single part."
Suppose my reference numeral 101 refers to
a group of connected elements which include
elements 102 and 103, and element 102 also
includes connected elements 104 and 105,
can I underline the reference numeral 101 and
put an arrowhead on the lead line for reference
numeral 102 ?
Example
101 = living room
102 = entertainment center
103 = couch
104 = TV
105 = DVD player
The living room contains an entertainment
center and a couch, and the entertainment
center contains a TV and a DVD player.
Should I underline the reference numeral 101,
use an arrow for reference numeral 102 and
use normal lead lines for 103, 104 and 105 ?
Thanks in advance for your help.
David Kiewit
> Suppose my reference numeral 101 refers to
> a group of connected elements which include
> elements 102 and 103, and element 102 also
> includes connected elements 104 and 105,
> can I underline the reference numeral 101 and
> put an arrowhead on the lead line for reference
> numeral 102 ?
First, ask yourself what you're going to claim. Then restrict your
arrowheading to assemblies and connected elements that pretty much have to
be in the claim with their connectivity described.
If you want to use a term in the claims, you need to show it in the drawing
if its something that can be illustrated (there are exceptions to this rule,
knowing them won't help you much. Not knowing them won't hurt you at all.)
On the other hand, if you're drawing stuff you're not going to claim, and it
doesn't play an important supporting role, you can probably simplify the
drawing by leaving it out.
Let's look at your example:
>
> Example
> 101 = living room
> 102 = entertainment center
> 103 = couch
> 104 = TV
> 105 = DVD player
Let's suppose the invention involved software for restricing what sorts of
information on the DVD could play on the TV. In that case, the living room,
entertainment center, and couch are probably not needed. You don't need to
jsut get rid of the arrowhead; you can get rid of the item. If you want to
keep them, they get labeled with regular lead lines because no combination
of them has any bearing on the claims (Unless you've got something really
inventive going on, such as having software that only works in the presence
of a couch)
However, in this example you might want to recite some term like 'replay
hardware 90 ' (for example DVD+PC might be another example of replay
hardware), and were using the TV and DVD as an example of replay hardware.
Here, 104 & 105 have regular lead lines with no arrow and 90 gets a lead
line with an arrow.
m...@home.com
So what should I do if my claims include the living room
as well as the entertainment center, TV and DVD player ?
For example, suppose I want to patent a way to arrange
things inside a house so that the TV can be watched from
the couch in the living room as well as from the kitchen 106
and both the TV and DVD player can be operated using
a remote from both locations.
I may want to put the term "entertainment center" in an
independent claim to cover both the TV and the DVD
player and put "TV" and "DVD player" in dependent
claims. One of the claims may include a TV that can
be swiveled to face either the couch or the kitchen.
If I really can't include all the parts in a single drawing
I can have one drawing showing the living room, the
kitchen (with arrowheads), and the entertainment center
(with no arrowhead), and another drawing showing the
entertainment center (with an arrowhead), the TV, and
DVD player (with no arrowheads) but then I won't be
able to show the TV swiveled to face the kitchen :-(
m...@home.com
>If I really can't include all the parts in a single drawing
>I can have one drawing showing the living room, the
>kitchen (with arrowheads), and the entertainment center
>(with no arrowhead), and another drawing showing the
>entertainment center (with an arrowhead), the TV, and
>DVD player (with no arrowheads) but then I won't be
>able to show the TV swiveled to face the kitchen :-(
(unless I leave out the reference numeral for the
entertainment center)
Is it against the rules to use an arrow to show something
(such as an entertainment center) in one drawing and use
a lead line with no arrowhead to show the same thing in
another drawing ?
David Kiewit
<m...@home.com> wrote in message
news:4q76649mh09e7g5io...@4ax.com...
>
> So what should I do if my claims include the living room
> as well as the entertainment center, TV and DVD player ?
>
UNLESS there's some interaction between the various elements (e.g., TV + DVD
is defined as a 'display resource') then there's no reason for arrowheading
anything. A living room with a TV in it is still a living room.
> For example, suppose I want to patent a way to arrange
> things inside a house so that the TV can be watched from
> the couch in the living room as well as from the kitchen 106
> and both the TV and DVD player can be operated using
> a remote from both locations.
>
I'd leave the arrowheads off all of those named components and use an
arrowhead pointing towards the kitchen and living room with a reference
numeral for 'viewing area'.
> I may want to put the term "entertainment center" in an
> independent claim to cover both the TV and the DVD
> player and put "TV" and "DVD player" in dependent
> claims. One of the claims may include a TV that can
> be swiveled to face either the couch or the kitchen.
>
Let's be consistent. In the first part of your example the entertainment
center was a piece of furniture (no arrowhead) that held the entertaniment
electronics (possible arrowead).
> If I really can't include all the parts in a single drawing
> I can have one drawing showing the living room, the
> kitchen (with arrowheads), and the entertainment center
> (with no arrowhead), and another drawing showing the
> entertainment center (with an arrowhead), the TV, and
> DVD player (with no arrowheads) but then I won't be
> able to show the TV swiveled to face the kitchen :-(
>
You need to show what you want to claim. Start with the claims. Then do the
drawings. Then write up the description.
If there are assemblies shown in the drawing that are not important, you
don't need to label them as assemblies. You may not have to refer to them at
all., in wihich case there is neither an arrrowhead nor a lead line.