一，权利要求的解释——欧洲专利法The protocol on the interpretation of Art.69
The protocol on the interpretation of Art.69,
Article 1
Article 69 should not be interpreted as meaning that the extent of the protection
conferred by a European patent is to be understood as that defined by the strict, literal
meaning of the wording used in the claims, the description and drawings being
employed only for the purpose of resolving an ambiguity found in the claims. Nor
should it be taken to mean that the claims serve only as a guideline and that the actual
protection conferred may extend to what, from a consideration of the description and
drawings by a person skilled in the art, the patent proprietor has contemplated. On the
contrary, it is to be interpreted as defining a position between these extremes which
combines a fair protection for the patent proprietor with a reasonable degree of legal
certainty for third parties.

二，专利权利要求保护的范围——对于欧洲专利法第69条的理解：
个人对上述法律规定是这样理解的，专利的保护范围的确定可以有两种极端的方式：方式一，是严格按照说明书或附图（descripiton and drawings）中具体实施例来确定该专利的保护范围，这样的保护范围最小；方式二，是严格按照权利要求书(claims)的字词的字面意思来确定保护范围，而说明书仅仅对claim中的字词意思模糊的部分起到解释（understand）的作用，这样确定的保护范围是最大的。
欧洲专利法是在上述两种极端之间找到一个折中。举例来说，假设有这样一份专利文件，说明书中提供了三种具体的实施方式，按照方式一，那这个专利的保护范围（the extent of the protection）是3；而按照方式二，可能包含所有实施方式为（包括已知的、未知的）100种具体实施方式，那么这个专利的保护范围为100。根据The protocol on the interpretation of Art.69，简单来说，该专利的保护范围是既不是3，也不是100，而是3~100之间的某个数值。

那么，该专利的保护范围具体是多少呢？
Article 2 For the purpose of determining the extent of protection conferred by a European
patent, due account shall be taken of any element which is equivalent to an element
specified in the claims.
这里什么是等同（equivalent to）是关键