Technology tool being patented in Europe

[Gregory Aharonian <srctran@world.std.com>]

A UK startup is seeking patent protection for a new technology tool they
are developing.  I hope they make lots of money doing so.
Greg Aharonian


Verum gains patent for software design methodology
By Colin Holland, EETimes UK, 26 May 2004
www.eetuk.com

LONDON - Verum Consultants, the European start-up focussed on reducing
errors in software, has been awarded patent protection in 170 countries
for its Analytical Software Design (ASD) process. 

Verum believes that the patent is groundbreaking as it is extremely rare
for a software methodology to be granted patent protection. Typically
patent agents regard software as an art form and intellectual property
protection is limited to copyright. 

Robert Howe, CEO at Verum, said, "The granting of patent protection to
Verum's Analytical Software Design (ASD) demonstrates that it is not
simply yet another voodoo methodology, but a credible mathematical
solution to many of the problems that face architects and designers 
charged with designing complex software systems." 

ASD brings engineering design discipline and mathematical rigor to the
development of software design in order to eliminate errors and reduce
rework. Verum developed the technique in conjunction with the Computing
Laboratory at the University of Oxford. 

Professor Bill Roscoe, director of Oxford University Computing Laboratory,
said, "I am excited because Verum can seemingly eliminate many of the
practical problems in the industrial application of formal methods. They do 
this by automatically translating their software specifications and designs
to the input of FDR, a tool I helped to develop." 

ASD enables the specification for a software programme to be written in
simple terms that are comprehensible to the layperson. The technique
generates a series of models that can be used to test the software's
accuracy against the original specification. 

Verum's patent (Number GB 0410047.5) covers the Analytical Software
Design Technology (ASD) process, whereby informal specifications are
converted to CSP models. It also covers the mathematical bridge between 
Sequence Based Specification (SBS) and Box Structured Development Method
(BSDM) elements of ASD and CSP, and the modifications that Verum has
made to SBS and BSDM to make this bridge possible.