Z:gnu-www-ja-europes-unitary-patent--7b05cc-This meant that a patent appli/en

This meant that a patent application could present the required physical aspect just by mentioning the usual physical elements of the computer on which the program would run (processor, memory, display, etc.). It would not have to propose any advance in these physical elements, just cite them as part of the larger system also containing the software. Any computational idea could be patented this way. Such a patent would only cover software meant for running on a computer, but that was not much of a limitation, since it is not practical to run a large program by hand simulation.