TABLE OF CONTENTS If an invention seems to be new and not obvious, the first step in getting a patent is to prepare a specification which describes the invention and file it at the patent office, with official forms. The specification must describe the invention in sufficient detail for readers to be able to use the invention. The reader is assumed to have the level of skill which was discussed in Section 4.2.4, that is, to be knowledgeable about the technology but unimaginative in applying it.
Many specifications begin with a description of what is currently known in the technical field, often referring to existing patents, sometimes referring to books or journals. Then a brief reference may be made to a problem which has been encountered, followed by a summary of the invention which solves the problem. Patent specifications for engineering inventions almost invariably contain drawings, because these help to describe how the invention works. The written description of what is shown can be quite detailed, and parts of the drawing referred to are indicated by reference numerals.
If there are several variations of the invention it is only essential to describe one of them in detail, but preferable at least to outline the others.
Since patent specifications are usually written at an early stage in the development of an invention one can never be certain what will turn out to be an important feature, so putting in as much detail as possible...
