Ex Parte Casazza - Page 9



            Appeal No. 2006-2228                                                                   
            Application No. 10/231,678                                                             

                  practical application by producing a "useful, concrete, and tangible             
                  result." This citation to State Street Bank confuses the issue of                
                  patentability under 35 U.S.C. § 101 with respect to the pending                  
                  independent claims. (emphasis added)                                             


            B. DISCUSSION                                                                          
                  Appellant has admitted that in claims 35, 37, and 38, the “computer-             
            readable signal bearing media” includes “intangible embodiments (wireless              
            transmissions).”  On its face, this in turn includes “carrier waves” or                
            “propagated signals” which are not statutory subject matter.  A case involving         
            this issue is presently on appeal to the Federal Circuit: In re Nuijten, No. 06-       
            1301.                                                                                  
                  A man-made signal represents coded information.  A signal can be an              
            abstract quantity describing the information or a measurable physical quantity         
            (e.g., the fluctuations of an electrical quantity, such as voltage) containing         
            information.  See In re Walter, 618 F.2d 758, 770, 205 USPQ 397, 409 (CCPA             
            1980) ("The 'signals' processed by the inventions of claims 10-12 may represent        
            either physical quantities or abstract quantities; the claims do not require one or    
            the other").  Here we interpret the “computer-readable signal bearing media” of        


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