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Patent protection of computer programs
Recently, the computer industry has been exploring anew the question of whether programs for operating an electronic digital computer are or should be patentable.
Copyright aspects of computer usage
This paper is concerned with the question of what constitutes infringement of a copyright on a book or other nondramatic literary work when the work is fed into a computer and is indexed, analyzed, partially reprinted, or otherwise utilized by the computer to produce eye-readable output. The question of copyrightability of programs and infringement of copyrights on programs is also discussed. The paper is directed primarily to a discussion of the present law. Some aspects of the proposed new copyright law are also included. General recommendations are made with respect to the proposed revisions of the copyright law.
Suppose a potentially very valuable experimental multi-computer system is being designed by you and your group. You feel you have made at least a system invention. In your Company scientists and engineers are responsible for initiating invention disclosures.
Joint inventorship of computers
The term joint inventorship asks but does not necessarily answer the question, “Who is the true inventor of a computer?” I will try to show how “wrong” inventors are joined, how such improper joinder can be avoided, and its dangers. While the law permits the addition or subtraction of improperly joined inventors, it does not permit the substitution of one set of inventors for another set of inventors. Thus, despite corrective weapons, there are some pitfalls which must be avoided.
Computer programs are patentable
It is not surprising that computer programs are not listed in the patent statutes as one of the categories of patentable invention. When these categories were defined many years ago, computers and computer programs were unknown. Therefore, if computer programs are to be patentable within the framework of existing patent law they must fall within one of the specifically defined categories of processes, machines, manufactures or compositions of matter.
A computer analysis method for thermal diffusion in biochemical systems
In the thermal detection of rapid biochemical reactions it is necessary to correct the temperature data for transient heat conduction losses in a cylindrical calorimeter. To handle the complexities arising from varying thermal-relaxation times of concentric insulating layers, a computer program was developed which gives the temperature distribution of the system as a function of radius and time. This distribution is corrected at each step by a subroutine which calculates the instantaneous chemical state of the reaction, as well as the heat produced by this reaction.
The program is based on a direct statement of Fourier's law of heat conduction and the chemical rate equation to provide a “bookkeeping law” to follow the reactants and the flow of heat packets, in such a way that the computer continually stores the heat distribution. A computer analysis method is here regarded as one in which the physical laws of a process are used explicitly in the program. Usually this results in bypassing much of the mathematical procedures conventionally used.
A multiuser computation facility for education and research
Present-day computing facilities are limited in their value for scientific research by inability to interact strongly with users. The full power of a research computing instrument should be available at many terminals that give each user the ability to generate, correct and operate any procedure he wishes, either simple or complex.
Implementation is described for a small-scale multiuser computer system that permits several users to work independently with the machine, and to obtain satisfactory response using typewriter communication.
A method for scheduling final examinations to yield a minimal number of student conflicts is described. The “minimization” is achieved by repetitively evaluating a nonlinear set of equations. Imbedded in the process is a random or Monte Carlo selection of assignments. As in such heuristic techniques, the solution may not be optimum and many solutions may be found which yield locally minimal results. Computer programs are described and empirical results given.
A simple automatic derivative evaluation program
A procedure for automatic evaluation of total/partial derivatives of arbitrary algebraic functions is presented. The technique permits computation of numerical values of derivatives without developing analytical expressions for the derivatives. The key to the method is the decomposition of the given function, by introduction of intermediate variables, into a series of elementary functional steps. A library of elementary function subroutines is provided for the automatic evaluation and differentiation of these new variables. The final step in this process produces the desired function's derivative.
The main feature of this approach is its simplicity. It can be used as a quick-reaction tool where the derivation of analytical derivatives is laborious and also as a debugging tool for programs which contain derivatives.
Investigation of a new analytical method for numerical derivative evaluation
A recently proposed analytical approach to numerical derivative evaluation is discussed. The technique is shown to be both accurate and easy to apply, though certain indicated modifications are required. Its use should greatly facilitate the writing and debugging of programs requiring derivatives of highly complex functions.
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