789, 792-93 (CCPA 1982) (process claim involving undefined "complex system" and
indeterminate "factors" drawn from unspecified "testing" not patent-eligible). In contrast,
we held one of Abele's dependent claims to be drawn to patent-eligible subject matter
where it specified that "said data is X-ray attenuation data produced in a two
dimensional field by a computed tomography scanner." Abele, 684 F.2d at 908-09.
This data clearly represented physical and tangible objects, namely the structure of
bones, organs, and other body tissues. Thus, the transformation of that raw data into a
particular visual depiction of a physical object on a display was sufficient to render that
more narrowly-claimed process patent-eligible.
We further note for clarity that the electronic transformation of the data itself into
a visual depiction in Abele was sufficient; the claim was not required to involve any
transformation of the underlying physical object that the data represented. We believe
this is faithful to the concern the Supreme Court articulated as the basis for the
machine-or-transformation test, namely the prevention of pre-emption of fundamental
principles. So long as the claimed process is limited to a practical application of a
fundamental principle to transform specific data, and the claim is limited to a visual
depiction that represents specific physical objects or substances, there is no danger that
the scope of the claim would wholly pre-empt all uses of the principle.
This court and our predecessor court have frequently stated that adding a data-
gathering step to an algorithm is insufficient to convert that algorithm into a patent-
eligible process. E.g., Grams, 888 F.2d at 840 (step of "deriv[ing] data for the algorithm
will not render the claim statutory"); Meyer, 688 F.2d at 794 (“[data-gathering] step[s]
cannot make an otherwise nonstatutory claim statutory”). For example, in Grams we
2007-1130 26