DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 12/8/2025 for US Patent Application No. 18/086764 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 1-18 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
The 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections presented in the office action dated 9/8/2025 are withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 12/8/2025, with respect to the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections in view of Riley have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of claims 1-18 have been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 13-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more (MPEP Chapter 2106.04(a)).
Claim 13 recites a method for a fuel cell system. Specifically, claim 13 recites “performing a wake operation for the fuel cell system at a time defined by a schedule such that the time is based on obtained weather forecast data for a location of the fuel cell system when a confidence associated with the weather forecast data exceeds a value and is based on a default setting when the confidence does not exceed the value”.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the step of “performing a wake operation for the fuel cell system at a time defined by a schedule such that the time is based on obtained weather forecast data for a location of the fuel cell system” appears to be a generic step involving either a mental process or a computer-based execution of an abstract idea (MPEP Chapter 2106.05(f). The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the step of performing a wake operation at a specific time defined by a schedule is well-known, routine and conventional. Additionally, the steps of obtaining weather forecast data based on a location of the fuel cell system and determining a confidence associated with the weather forecast data appear to be a data collection and data processing steps that are also considered to be well-known, routine and conventional and do not include addition elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Claims 14-18 are dependent from claim 13 and do not recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application nor recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception are concurrently rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 for the reasons stated above.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 1-12 are in condition for allowance because the prior art of record Riley does not teach or suggest Applicant’s claimed vehicle in claims 1-7 or Applicant’s claimed fuel cell system in claims 8-12 wherein the claimed vehicle and claimed fuel cell system comprise processors that are programmed to perform the claimed wake operations.
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/STEWART A FRASER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1724