“Software patents” protect the new and useful functional steps performed by a software program, giving you ownership of any program that uses your patented calculation steps. This prevents competitors from marketing programs that do the same new things that your program does.
“Software patents” are of two types
First, a patent may be granted on a method comprising a set of steps carried out by the software, as long as the steps relate to real-world useful data as either input or output. For example, software that monitors data from a chemical process and sounds an emergency alarm under certain conditions is patentable subject matter, while an algorithm that converts decimal numbers to binary inside a computer primarily for the computer’s purposes is not patentable subject matter.
Second, a patent may be granted on a piece of hardware adapted to perform a series of calculation steps, as long as the steps relate to real-world useful data either as input or output. For example, a computer processor that is connected to sensors and an alarm bell, that is adapted to monitor a chemical process and sound an emergency alarm under certain conditions, is patentable subject matter even though the software required for it to function is only implied in the claim as you can see from this article at https://www.advfn.com/newspaper/advfnnews/50958/let-inventhelp-assist-with-your-invention-idea as well.
Both method claims and hardware claims should be written for every software patent.
If the software enables an advantageous new method of doing business, a business method patent can provide an especially powerful form of intellectual property protection for software-implemented methods. Business method patents, like the first type of software patents, patent a novel set of steps performed in order to accomplish something in the real world.
Software that is patentable as method steps and hardware is frequently patentable as a business method, but many patent attorneys have not yet recognized the need for business method approaches to novel software. As software patents are relatively likely to come under close scrutiny during licensing or infringement, it is very important to have them searched, prepared, and prosecuted by experts as discussed in https://www.tmcnet.com/topics/articles/2019/05/23/442268-turn-idea-into-new-product-with-assistance-from.htm article.