Ex parte Yastrow

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Oct 29, 1998

08176297 (B.P.A.I. Oct. 29, 1998)

Application for patent filed January 3, 1994. According1
to appellant, this application is a continuation of
Application 07/756,396 filed September 6, 1991, now abandoned.
THIS OPINION WAS NOT WRITTEN FOR PUBLICATION
The opinion in support of the decision being entered
today (1) was not written for publication in a law
journal and (2) is not binding precedent of the
Board.
Paper No. 24
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
____________
BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
____________
Ex parte PHILIP G. YASTROW
____________
Appeal No. 95-4220
Application No. 08/176,2971
____________
ON BRIEF
____________
Before HAIRSTON, KRASS, and FLEMING, Administrative Patent
Judges.
KRASS, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
This is a decision on appeal from claims 5 through 7 and
12 through 25, all of the claims remaining in the application.
Appeal No. 95-4220
Application No. 08/176,297
2
The invention pertains to a method and apparatus for
estimating power in an integrated circuit.
Representative independent claim 5 is reproduced as
follows:
5. A computer implemented method for estimating power
dissipation characteristics of a circuit comprising a
plurality of nodes, the method used in a circuit design
process for designing an electronic circuit for operation at a
certain clock rate and having a first number of nodes and a
second number of gates, said method comprising the following
steps:
(a) analyzing predefined artwork data associated with
said circuit to determine data on the geometry of a first
node;
(b) generating capacitance data for said first node on
the basis of said geometry data;
(c) generating frequency data associated with said first
node;
(d) determining voltage data associated with said first
node;
(e) computing an estimate of power associated with said
first node on the basis of at least said capacitance,
frequency and voltage data;
(f) repeating the above steps for each remaining node;
(g) summing said estimates of power for each node to
determine an estimate of total power dissipation for the
circuit; and
Appeal No. 95-4220
Application No. 08/176,297
In re Freeman, 573 F.2d 1237, 197 USPQ 464 (CCPA 1978);2
In re Walter, 618 F.2d 758, 205 USPQ 397 (CCPA 1980); In re
Abele, 684 F.2d 902, 214 USPQ 682 (CCPA 1982).
3
(h) generating output data indicative of said estimate of
total power;
said output data being used in said circuit design
process to determine whether at least one of (1) the number of
gates of said circuit should be altered and (2) said clock
frequency should be altered.
No references are relied on by the examiner.
Claims 5 through 7 and 12 through 25 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to nonstatutory subject
matter.
Reference is made to the brief and answer for the
respective positions of appellant and the examiner.
OPINION
We reverse.
The examiner applies the Freeman-Walter-Abele test in2
holding the claimed subject matter to be directed to
nonstatutory subject matter. The most recent interpretation
by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is that the
Appeal No. 95-4220
Application No. 08/176,297
4
Freeman-Walter-Abele test has little, if any, applicability to
determining the presence of statutory subject matter. State
Street Bank & Trust Co., v. Signature Financial Group, Inc.,
149 F.3d 1368, 47 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1998).
The examiner’s application of the Freeman-Walter-Abele
test determined that the instant claims recite an algorithm.
However, as noted by the court in State Street Bank, 149 F.3d
1368, 1373, 47 USPQ2d 1596,1602 (Fed. Cir. 1998).
the mere fact that a claimed invention involves
inputting numbers, calculating numbers,
outputting numbers, and storing numbers, in and
of itself, would not render it nonstatutory
subject matter, unless... its operation does not
produce a “useful, concrete and tangible
result.”
The instant claimed invention clearly is directed to
producing a useful, concrete and tangible result, that result
being the generation of an output indicative of the estimate
of total power dissipation characteristics of a circuit. That
output, as recited in independent claims 5 and 12, is then
further used to design circuits.
Since the instant claimed subject matter clearly has
practical utility, a real world use that is more than a mere
Appeal No. 95-4220
Application No. 08/176,297
5
abstraction, we find no basis for a rejection of that claimed
subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to
nonstatutory subject matter.
The examiner’s decision is reversed.
Appeal No. 95-4220
Application No. 08/176,297
6
REVERSED
KENNETH W. HAIRSTON )
Administrative Patent Judge )
)
)
)
) BOARD OF PATENT
ERROL A. KRASS ) APPEALS
Administrative Patent Judge ) AND
) INTERFERENCES
)
)
)
MICHAEL R. FLEMING )
Administrative Patent Judge )
EAK/jlb
Appeal No. 95-4220
Application No. 08/176,297
7
Records Manager
Legal Department, 20 BO
Hewlett-Packard Company
P.O. Box 10301
Palo Alto, CA 94303-0890
JoAnne
Appeal No. 95-4220
Application No. 08/176,297
APJ KRASS
APJ HAIRSTON
APJ FLEMING
REVERSED
Prepared: October 22, 1998