Ex Parte Koelle et al - Page 13

                Appeal 2007-1341                                                                                 
                Application 09/894,065                                                                           
                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 medium" of claim 21 to include a time varying                                 
                electromagnetic radiation signal instead of just an abstract quantity, such as                   
                a data format.                                                                                   
                       The "computer readable medium" of claim 21 is considered to be                            
                nonstatutory subject matter because a "carrier wave" 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 claim 21 does not recite                       
                acts, it is not a process.  Compare the method for grouping based on                             
                attributes in claims 1, 3-8, and 28, which are not rejected under                                
                35 U.S.C. § 101.                                                                                 
                       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                      

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