It's one thing to patent a specific arrangement of a spring, board, and wire to build a mouse trap it's another to patent ALL arrangements of a springs, boards, and or wire to build any device that can possibly trap a mouse. The first is an invention the second is the abstract idea of a mouse trap.
The problem is software patents have long used the second approach. Rather than patenting a process they attempt to patent the result. And this is where the fundamental difference between software and physical reality shows up. If your building something then 'optimal' solutions are great, but if your building software anything that works is probably good enough.
The problem is software patents have long used the second approach. Rather than patenting a process they attempt to patent the result. And this is where the fundamental difference between software and physical reality shows up. If your building something then 'optimal' solutions are great, but if your building software anything that works is probably good enough.