Notice I am not a patent attorney, and you should ultimately seek legal guidance. Additional information is based on information in the united states.
General information.
Most likely you will submit a utility patent. This must be novel, nonobvious, and useful.
The US is now first to file, no longer first to invent.
Software patents are difficult to obtain.
A prior art search is done before you submit for a patent.
You have one year to file if you have made your invention for sale, or publicly disclosed it without an NDA.
You can file for a nonprovisional which gives you one more year to file your provisional filing.
I am not aware of your situation, so I would suggest watching the IP video provided by the US patent office, look at the following link, and contact a patent attorney for a 1 hour consultation.
http://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/general-informa...
General information.
Most likely you will submit a utility patent. This must be novel, nonobvious, and useful.
The US is now first to file, no longer first to invent.
Software patents are difficult to obtain.
A prior art search is done before you submit for a patent.
You have one year to file if you have made your invention for sale, or publicly disclosed it without an NDA.
You can file for a nonprovisional which gives you one more year to file your provisional filing.
I am not aware of your situation, so I would suggest watching the IP video provided by the US patent office, look at the following link, and contact a patent attorney for a 1 hour consultation.
http://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/general-informa...