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No, they are different.

Read the automatic windshield wiper patents described in Flash of Genius. They provide circuit diagrams and explanations of why the wipers move faster when there's a lot of rain.



And you think it shouldn't have been patentable if it instead used a microcontroller to control the wipers even though the system is doing the same thing?


I should have noted that "patentable" as you're raising it is a 101 issue. It IS important, but not part of this article:

============== There are four main sections of the U.S. statute governing patentability, and you only ever read about the first and third:

101: Patentable subject matter (what you can patent)

102: Anticipation (someone else invented or described it)

103: Obviousness (two or more references, taken together, describe it)

112: Specification (here’s the statute)

Most of what you read is about 101: is software a “thing” or is it a “mathematical formula” and thus not patentable?


"patentable" ? maybe, and you'd have to disclose the source code.




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