Examination Papers A and B – Examination Board made mock papers available

With effect from 2017, a single Paper A and a single Paper B will be set each year. As for current Paper C and the Pre-Examination, Papers A and B will be set in technical fields that are accessible to everyone. The Examination Board has made  mock papers available for Paper A (examiner report) and Paper B (examiner report). The examiner reports are currently available in English only.

Paper B Electricity Mechanics 2016 - our claims

Here it is: our claims and a brief explanation.


Claim 1.  Warning system for a driveway crossing (3, 13), comprising:
  • a control unit (5),
  • a pavement sensor (7, 8, 17) connected to the control unit (5) and configured tom detect pedestrians on a pavement (2, 12) approaching the driveway crossing (3, `13),
  • a first display means (6, 16) connected to the control unit (5),

the control unit (5) being configured so that the first display means (6, 16) gives the warning signal to the driver of a vehicle in the driveway (1, 16) in response to the output of the pavement sensor (7, 8, 17),
characterised in that:
  • the system further comprises  a driveway sensor (4, 14) connected to the control unit (5) and configured to detect a vehicle in the driveway (1, 11) approaching the driveway crossing (3, 13); and
  • the control unit (5) being configured to activate the pavement sensor (7, 8, 17) in response to the output of the driveway sensor (4, 14)

Basis:  original claim 1, further limited based on:
  • Claim 2: the system further comprises  a driveway sensor (4, 14) and configured to detect a vehicle in the driveway (1, 11) approaching the driveway crossing (3, 13)
  • Claim 4: also depended on claim 2): [driveway sensor is] connected to the control unit (5); the control unit (5) being configured to activate the pavement sensor (7, 8, 17) in response to the output of the driveway sensor (4, 14).
    This is also clear from [012], wherein a warning pole is described comprising such a warning system (see [005]). In lines 24-28 the now introduced feature is described.

Not taking over the second display means of claim 2 is an allowable intermediate generalisation:
The description in [008] introduces the driveway sensor. In [009] it shows a first use of the driveway sensor, being to warn pedestrians that a vehicle is exiting from the driveway. For this function the second display means is required.
However, [009] 1st sentence indicates that the second display means is preferred; thus optional. In [011] and [012] it becomes clear what a second, unrelated, function of the driveway sensor is: to ensure that the pavement sensor is activated only when the driveway sensor detects a vehicle, saving electricity. For this function no display is required. Thus indeed the second display means is optional and not mandatory to be used for the driveway sensor [not structurally and functionally linked such that they can only be used in combination].

Claim 2. Warning system according to claim 1, comprising a second display means (9) configured to warn pedestrians on the pavement (2, 120) that a vehicle is exiting from the driveway (1,11).
Basis: remainder of original claim 2, dependency unchanged.

Claim 3.  Warning system according to any of the previous claims, wherein the first display means is an LCD screen and the control unit (5) is an integral component of the LCD screen (6).
Basis: original claim 3, properly introducing the LCD screen, overcoming clarity objection (Art.84) raised under item 3 of the communication.
Reason for not broadening to ‘first display means’ is that the control unit being an integral component is only shown for an LCD screen (see [008], line 15). In real life we expect this generalisation not to have been problematic, but not having any own knowledge of the field there may not be enough basis for a generalisation.

Original claim 4: incorporated into claim 1.

Claim 4. Warning system according to any of the previous claims, characterised by the first display means being a traffic light, the system being configured so that the red light of the traffic light indicates the detection of a pedestrian on the pavement.
Basis: [010]
Note: not taken over is a dependency only on the preamble of claim 1; this would result into two separate, non-unitary inventions. Claim 5 proposed by the client relates arguably not to searched subject-matter.
Also avoiding introducing a clarity issue in the client’s claim of whether the traffic light is additional or is in place of the first display means.
Also avoiding a clarity issue of whether the driveway is claimed.

Claim 5. Warning pole (20) comprising a warning system according to claim 1.
Basis: [005], [012]

Note: ‘preferably’ has been scrapped. Only referring back to claim 1, since the pole is not shown in combination with the features of claims 2-4.

Looking forward to your comments,
All blog threads allow anyone to add comments and already have a lot of valuable, interesting and sometimes surprising discussions between many candidates who posted their comments as well as tutors resulted from those.Any remarks, (different) opinions and questions as are welcome! Please post your contribution as comments to this blog, so everybody can paticipate in and benefit from the discussion/ explanation.
Please do not post your comments anonymously - it is allowed, but it makes responding more difficult and rather clumsy ("Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms Anonymous of 02-03-2016 14:56"), whereas using your real name or even a pseudonym (nick-name) is more personal, more interesting and makes a more attractive conversation

Jelle, Sander, Tanja

B-Electricity/Mechanics 2016: First impressions?


To all who sat the B-paper today:

What are your first impressions to this year's B-paper?
Any general or specific comments?
Surprising elements in the client's letter, client's claims proposal or EPO communication?

How many marks do you expect to have scored?
What is your expectation of the pass rate and the average score?
How did this year's paper compare to the 2014 and 2015 papers (assuming your practiced those)

The paper and our answers

Copies of the paper will be provided on this blog as soon as we have received copies of the papers, in all three languages here (English [available], French and German).

The core of our answers will be given as soon as possible in a separate blog post.

We look forward to your comments!
Comments are welcome in any official EPO language, not just English. So, comments in German and French are also very welcome!

Please do not post your comments anonymously - it is allowed, but it makes responding more difficult and rather clumsy ("Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms Anonymous of 05-05-2015 05:05"), whereas using your real name or a pseudonym is more personal, more interesting and makes a more attractive conversation. You do not need to log in or make an account - it is OK to just put your (nick) name at the end of your post.

Please post your comments as to first impressions and general remarks to this blog.
Please post responses to our answer (as soon as available) to the separate blog post with our answer.
Thanks!

Sander, Jelle, Nico