Two typical IP-documents home-care related search-reports from EPO (left) and FPO (right). In order to establish the state of the art, an extensive search concerning home-care related patented software and equipment has been performed. The search has employed the European Patent Office (EPO) IP-Docs search-engine esp@cenet, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other ones, e.g. Free-Patents-Online, FPO http //www.