Appeal 2006-2107
Application 09/969,833
data … by a machine through a series of mathematical calculations into a
final share price, constitutes a practical application of a mathematical
algorithm, formula, or calculation, because it produces ‘a useful, concrete
and tangible result.’” State Street at 1373, 47 USPQ2d at 1601. Likewise,
AT&T also ties this test to applications of mathematical algorithms:
“Because the claimed process applies the Boolean principle to produce a
useful, concrete, and tangible result without pre-empting other uses of the
mathematical principle, on its face the claimed process comfortably falls
within the scope of § 101.” AT&T, 172 F.3d at 1358, 50 USPQ2d at 1452;
see also id. at 1361, 50 USPQ2d at 1453 (concluding that “the focus is
understood to be not on whether there is a mathematical algorithm at work,
but on whether the algorithm-containing invention, as a whole, produces a
tangible, useful result.”).
Accordingly, our understanding of the precedents at present is: Any
computer program claimed as a machine implementing the program
(Alappat, State Street) or as a method of a machine implementing the
program (AT&T), is patentable if it transforms data and achieves a useful,
concrete and tangible result (State Street, AT&T). Exceptions occur when
the invention in actuality pre-empts an abstract idea, as in a mathematical
algorithm (Benson, 409 U.S. at 71-72, 175 USPQ at 676-677).
We see the question before us to be, whether Appellant’s claimed
“one or more values of a one-way chain”, is a useful, tangible, and concrete
result? As discussed supra, the Federal Circuit regards the transformation of
intangible subject matter to be such a useful, tangible, and concrete result, so
long as data or signals represent some real world activity. However, we do
not find data or signals in Appellant’s method claims which represent a real
world activity such as found in Arrhythmia, Alappat, or State Street.
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