"schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers" are excluded from patentability by the European Patent Convention Article 52, paragraph 2.
"schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business," and programs for computers;
This how the patent lawyers interpret this clause. Companies I worked for pays £xxxx to their employees for patents. I've sat in some of the commitees which decides a patent is worth pursuing. My experience is the inventive step almost always involves some tweaking in existing algorithms.