Appeal No. 95-0792
Application No. 07/828,092
whether a claim encompasses statutory subject matter should
not
focus on which of the four categories of subject matter a
claim
is directed to . . . but rather on the essential
characteristics
of the subject matter, in particular, its practical utility."
State Street Bank 149 F.3d at 1375, 47 USPQ2d at 1602. With
respect to the Freeman-Walter-Abele test, the Federal Circuit
held the district court erred in applying it. According to
the court, after Diehr and Chakrabarty were decided by the4
Supreme Court, the test had "little, if any, applicability to
determining the presence of statutory subject matter." State
Street Bank 149 F.3d at 1374, 47 USPQ2d at 1601.
Appellant's independent claim 1 recites a
digital image processing method,
comprising the steps of:
(a) partitioning a multidimensional image
comprising a plurality of image elements into
overlapping multi-dimensional regions;
(b) applying a predetermined weighting function to
the image elements within each region for
distinguishing image elements ...; and
Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303, 206 USPQ 193 (1980).4
7
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