Appeal 2007-1341
Application 09/894,065
computer readable media include recordable-type
media, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a
RAM, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and transmission-
type media, such as digital and analog
communications links, wired or wireless
communications links using transmission forms,
such as, for example, radio frequency and light
wave transmissions. The computer readable media
may take the form of coded formats that are
decoded for actual use in a particular data
processing system.
The description of the present invention has
been presented for purposes of illustration and
description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or
limited to the invention in the form disclosed.
Many modifications and variations will be
apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
(Specification 20:18 to 21:4 (emphasis added).)
Thus, the "computer readable medium" of claim 21 includes electromagnetic
radiation, i.e., signals. This in turn includes "carrier waves" or "propagated
signals" which are not statutory subject matter. Claims that are broad
enough to include nonstatutory subject matter (intangible signals) as well as
statutory subject matter (tangible manufactures) are considered to be
unpatentable because applicant may always amend to limit the claims to
what is statutory. See Ex parte Lundgren, 76 USPQ2d 1385, 1417-24 (BPAI
2005) (Barrett, concurring-in-part and dissenting-in-part). A case involving
the issue of whether intangible signals are patentable 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 (numbers) or a measurable
physical quantity (e.g., the fluctuations of an electrical quantity, such as
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