Appeal No. 97-0777
Application 08/083,587
are limits to § 101 and every discovery is not embraced within
the statutory terms. Excluded from such patent protection are
laws of nature, physical phenomena and abstract ideas.
Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U.S. 175, 185 (1981). Certain types of
mathematical subject matter, standing alone, represent nothing
more than abstract ideas until reduced to some type of
practical application, i.e., a useful, concrete and tangible
result. State St. Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Fin. Group
Inc., 149 F.3d 1368, 1373, 47 USPQ2d 1596, 1600-01 (Fed. Cir.
1998); In re Alappat, 33 F.3d 1526, 1542-1543, 31 USPQ2d 1545,
1556-57 (Fed. Cir. 1994). The proper inquiry when dealing
with mathematical subject matter is to see whether the claimed
subject matter as a whole is a disembodied mathematical
concept, which in essence represents nothing more than a law
of nature, natural phenomenon or abstract idea. Id.
Claims 1 through 14 are directed to a method and system
for predicting air discharge temperature in a control system
which, in turn, controls a heating, ventilation and air
conditioning (HVAC) system of a vehicle which discharges a
parcel of air to a passenger cabin. These claims respectively
recite steps and means for sensing or determining various HVAC
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