IPC Publication

Note(s)

• In this section, the following term is used with the meaning indicated:
  • "variable" as a noun means a feature or property, e.g. a dimension, a physical condition such as temperature, a quality such as density or colour, which, in respect of a particular entity, e.g. an object, a quantity of a substance, a beam of light, and at a particular instant, is capable of being measured; the variable may change, so that its numerical expression may assume different values at different times, in different conditions or in individual cases, but may be constant in respect of a particular entity in certain conditions or for practical purposes, e.g. the length of a bar may be regarded as constant for many purposes.
• Attention is drawn to the definitions of terms or expressions used. Some appear in the notes of several of the classes in this section, see in particular the definition of "measuring" in class G01. Others appear in paragraph 187 of the Guide to the IPC, see in particular the definitions of "control" and "regulation".
• Classification in this section may present more difficulty than in other sections, because the distinction between different fields of use rests to a considerable extent on differences in the intention of the user rather than on any constructional differences or differences in the manner of use, and because the subjects dealt with are often in effect systems or combinations, which have features or parts in common, rather than "things", which are readily distinguishable as a whole. For example, information, e.g. a set of figures, may be displayed for the purpose of education or advertising covered by class G09, for enabling the result of a measurement to be known covered by class G01, for signalling the information to a distant point or for giving information which has been signalled from a distant point covered by class G08. The words used to describe the purpose depend on features that may be irrelevant to the form of the apparatus concerned, for example, such features as the desired effect on the person who sees the display, or whether the display is controlled from a remote point. Again, a device which responds to some change in a condition, e.g. in the pressure of a fluid, may be used, without modification of the device itself, to give information about the pressure covered by subclass G01L or about some other condition linked to the pressure covered by another subclass of class G01, e.g. G01K for temperature, to make a record of the pressure or of its occurrence covered by subclass G07C, to give an alarm covered by subclass G08B, or to control another apparatus covered by class G05.
  • The classification scheme is intended to enable things of a similar nature, as indicated above, to be classified together. It is therefore particularly necessary for the real nature of any technical subject to be decided before it can be properly classified.

Note(s) [7]

• This class covers, in addition to "true" measuring instruments, other indicating or recording devices of analogous construction, and also signalling or control devices insofar as they are concerned with measurement (as defined in Note 2 below) and are not specially adapted to the particular purpose of signalling or control.
• In this class, the following term is used with the meaning indicated:
  • "measuring" is used to cover considerably more than its primary or basic meaning. In this primary sense, it means finding a numerical expression of the value of a variable in relation to a unit or datum or to another variable of the same nature, e.g. expressing a length in terms of another length as in measuring a length with a scale; the value may be obtained directly (as just suggested) or by measuring some other variable of which the value can be related to the value of the required variable, as in measuring a change in temperature by measuring a resultant change in the length of a column of mercury. However, since the same device or instrument may, instead of giving an immediate indication, be used to produce a record or to initiate a signal to produce an indication or control effect, or may be used in combination with other devices or instruments to give a conjoint result from measurement of two or more variables of the same or different kinds, it is necessary to interpret "measuring" as including also any operation that would make it possible to obtain such a numerical expression by the additional use of some way of converting a value into figures. Thus the expression in figures may be actually made by a digital presentation or by reading a scale, or an indication of it may be given without the use of figures, e.g. by some perceptible feature (variable) of the entity (e.g. object, substance, beam of light) of which the variable being measured is a property or condition or by an analogue of such a feature (e.g. the corresponding position of a member without any scale, a corresponding voltage generated in some way). In many cases there is no such value indication but only an indication of difference or equality in relation to a standard or datum (of which the value may or may not be known in figures); the standard or datum may be the value of another variable of the same nature but of a different entity (e.g. a standard measure) or of the same entity at a different time.
    • In its simplest form, measurement may give merely an indication of presence or absence of a certain condition or quality, e.g. movement (in any direction or in a particular direction), or whether a variable exceeds a predetermined value.
• Attention is drawn to the Notes following the titles of class B81 and subclass B81B relating to "microstructural devices" and "microstructural systems" and the Notes following the title of subclass B82B relating to "nanostructures".
• Attention is drawn to the Notes following the title of section G, especially as regards the definition of the term "variable".
• In many measuring arrangements, a first variable to be measured is transformed into a second, or further, variables. The second, or further, variables may be (a) a condition related to the first variable and produced in a member, or (b) a displacement of a member. Further transformation may be needed.
  • When classifying such an arrangement, (i) the transformation step, or each transformation step, that is of interest is classified, or (ii) if interest lies only in the system as a whole, the first variable is classified in the appropriate place.
  • This is particularly important where two or more conversions take place, for instance where a first variable, for example pressure, is transformed into a second variable, for example an optical property of a sensing body, and that second variable is expressed by means of a third variable, for example an electric effect. In such a case, the following classification places should be considered: the place for the transformation of the first variable, that for sensing the condition caused by that variable, subclass G01D for expression of the measurement, and finally the place for the overall system, if any.
• The measurement of change in the value of a physical property is classified in the same subclass as the measurement of that physical property, e.g. measurement of expansion of length is classified in subclass G01B.

Note(s)

• In this subclass, the following term is used with the meaning indicated:
  • "thermometer" includes thermally-sensitive elements not provided for in other subclasses.
• Attention is drawn to the Notes following the title of class G01.