This decision concerns a European patent application relating to electronic price label and electronic price label systemHere are the practical takeaways from the decision of T 1637/20 (Displaying inventory instructions on electronic price labels/MariElla) dated May 7, 2024, of Technical Board of Appeal 3.5.01.

Key takeaways

The inventory task itself, i.e. manually counting products on a shelf, lacks a technical aspect. Thus, a visual prompt to execute such a task cannot be deemed technical either, unlike assisting a person in performing a technical task.

The invention

The invention concerns electronic price labels that indicate to store personnel which products require inventory. An electronic price label system transmits an instruction (“inventory indication command”) to an electronic price label which, for example, inverts the display colors or activates an LED. In this way store personnel are informed that the products associated with the price label require inventorying. Once the inventory check is completed, the electronic price label receives an instruction (“inventory indication stop command”) to revert to its normal colors or switch off the LED, signalling that the products have been inventoried.

Figure 1 of EP3327649

Here is how the invention was defined by claim 1 of the main request:

  • Claim 1 (main request)

Is it patentable?

The examining division found that claim 1 of the main request was not inventive over D1 (WO 2015/136146 A1). In their view, the distinguishing features related to a non-technical inventory management scheme, which did not contribute to inventive step, and well-known implementation options such as electronic price labels with LEDs – it was inter alia referred to D2 (EP 0 837 439 A2).

The Board of Appeal arrived at the same conclusion:

6. D1 discloses an electronic price label system comprising electronic price labels and a base station, for providing and displaying product related information, e.g. a price, promotion or discount (see page 7, lines 6 to 10, page 12, lines 10 to 14 and Figure 3).

The Board agrees with the appellant that D1 does not disclose the use of the electronic price label system for displaying inventory information or its connection to an inventory management system with a product database. Furthermore, D1 does not disclose the manner in which the inventory information is displayed, i.e. by “turn[ing] indication light source on and/or us[ing] inverted colours on the display”.

7. The Board, however, judges that these distinguishing features are essentially non-technical requirements which, in line with the Comvik approach (see T 641/00 – Two identities/COMVIK), are given to the technically skilled person to implement.

Typically, inventory management is the responsibility of a store manager. For example, the manager instructs staff to conduct routine inventory checks, such as counting the daily inventory of milk cartons and updating the inventory database accordingly. These instructions might be communicated verbally or in writing, such as through a note affixed to the shelf containing the products.

The store manager is familiar with conventional electronic price labels and their use for providing and displaying product-related information, such as pricing, promotions or discounts (see D1, page 7, lines 6 to 10). The use of electronic labels as opposed to paper labels offers the advantage, also known to the manager, that manual work and errors are reduced.

Therefore, the Board judges that the store manager would come up with the idea of using this well-known advantage also in the area of inventory management, in particular to indicate to store personnel the need for stocktaking for certain products.

8. In light of the foregoing, the Board concludes that the desire to use electronic price labels for informing store personnel about inventory tasks can be included in the problem formulation. In other words, the store manager would ask the technical expert in electronic (shelf) labels to supplement the price information with an indication that the products associated with the electronic price label must be inventoried.

9. Faced with this task, given the electronic price label system of D1, the skilled person would have arrived at the claimed solution without involving an inventive step.

He would use the central computer for transmitting data/control instructions, specifically inventory indications, to be displayed on electronic price labels (see D1, page 12, lines 10 to 14 and Figure 3). Notably, the claim does not specify the trigger for sending these instructions – this could be done manually by the store manager. Additionally, the skilled person would recognise the necessity for the central computer to be connected to the system required to provide the necessary inventory data, for example an inventory management system with a product database.

Moreover, the Board judges that the way in which inventory instructions are visually displayed, whether through inverting display colors or activating LEDs, depends on subjective preferences, such as what store staff or managers find visually appealing. Implementing such visual displays would have been obvious to the skilled person – see also D1, page 7, lines 20 to 23 or D2, column 3, lines 35 to 49.

10. The inventory task itself, i.e. manually counting products on a shelf, lacks a technical aspect. Thus, a visual prompt to execute such a task cannot be deemed technical either, unlike assisting a person in performing a technical task. In particular, the Board cannot see how this would facilitate conducting inventory checks with reliability from a technical standpoint, as the determination to conduct the checks and the accuracy of the counting rests entirely with the store personnel. Moreover, executing the inventory task while the store remains open is unrelated to the manner in which the inventory instructions are communicated to store personnel.

Finally, the Board concluded that claim 1 of the main request lacks an inventive step. The auxiliary request could not overcome this objection. Hence, the European patent application was finally rejected.

More information

You can read the whole decision here: T 1637/20 (Displaying inventory instructions on electronic price labels/MariElla) dated May 7, 2024, of Technical Board of Appeal 3.5.01.

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