Appeal No. 2006-1607
Application 10/062,894
either physical quantities or abstract quantities; the claims do not require one or the other"). The
signal of claim 1 is not recited to have any specific physical form, i.e., it is not expressly or
impliedly an electrical or electromagnetic signal. Nevertheless, since the signal is "propagated"
and has a time period divided into a group of time slots, we interpret the signal to be a time
varying physical signal instead of just an abstract quantity, such as a data format.
The signal of claims 1-10 is considered to be nonstatutory subject matter because a
"signal" or a "propagated signal" does not fall within one of the four statutory categories of
subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
The categories of statutory subject matter are "process, machine, manufacture, or
composition of matter." 35 U.S.C. § 101. "[N]o patent is available for a discovery, however
useful, novel, and nonobvious, unless it falls within one of the express categories of patentable
subject matter of 35 U.S.C. § 101." Kewanee Oil Co. v. Bicron Corp., 416 U.S. 470, 483,
181 USPQ 673, 679 (1974).
A "process" is a series of acts and, since claims 1-10 do not recite acts, it is not a process.
Compare the method of propagating a signal in claims 11-20, which are not rejected.
The three product classes of machine, manufacture, and composition of matter have
traditionally required physical structure or substance. "The term machine includes every
mechanical device or combination of mechanical powers and devices to perform some function
and produce a certain effect or result." Corning v. Burden, 56 U.S. 252, 267 (1854); see also
Burr v. Duryee, 68 U.S. 531, 570 (1863) (a machine is a concrete thing, consisting of parts or of
certain devices and combinations of devices). Machines do not have to have moving parts. In
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