Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
This is a FINAL Rejection to Amendments and Arguments filed by Applicant on 03/12/2026. Claims 1, 8, 15, and 22 have been amended. Currently pending for review are Claims 1, 3, 4, 6-8, 10, 11, 13-15, 17, 18, and 20-22.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 6-8, 10, 11, 13-15, 17, 18, and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “publishing the video with the associated exercise machine control signals for use on a remote exercise machine associated with a user, wherein a movement of the trainer through the virtual environment displayed at the remote exercise machine is based at least in part on associating the checkpoints and the corresponding exercise machine control signals with the timestamps of the video, and wherein a movement of the user through the virtual environment displayed at the remote exercise machine is based at least in part on one or more measured parameters of the remote exercise machine.”. Applicant points to Paragraph [0192] for “FIG. 19 illustrates an example view of an example virtual environment 1900 with control signal checkpoints 1906. The virtual environment 1900 may be similar in many respects to the virtual environment 1800. A user may travel through the virtual environment 1900 according to one or more parameters of exercise equipment. The one or more parameters of the exercise equipment may be controlled by one or more actuators. For example, a treadmill may include an actuator which controls a speed of a belt of the treadmill and an actuator which controls an incline of the belt of the treadmill. A user may travel through the virtual environment 1900 with the one or more parameters of the exercise equipment corresponding with features of a path 1902 of the virtual environment 1900. For example, a user on a stationary bike including an actuator controlling a resistance of the stationary bike may travel through the virtual environment 1900 at a speed corresponding to a speed of the pedals of the stationary bike and with the resistance of the stationary bike corresponding to an incline of the path 1902 of the virtual environment 1900. The parameters of the exercise equipment may be updated at one or more control signal checkpoints 1906 on the path 1902 of the virtual environment 1900. In some embodiments the virtual environment 1900 updates the control signals only at the control signal checkpoints 1906.”. Which appears to indicate that the parameters of the exercise device is altered via checkpoints in when the user goes through the virtual environment, which is reflective of Fig. 19 & 23. Applicant points to Paragraph [0207]:” The parameters of the equipment may include position, orientation, velocity, acceleration, velocity of one or more members of the equipment, resistance, cadence, incline, and other parameters. For example, a position, orientation, incline, and speed of a treadmill may be measured. The parameters may be determined by the individual using the equipment, by another person, or by a computer. In some embodiments, the parameters may be measured using one or more sensors. In other embodiments, the parameters may be measured using a camera.”, which is reflective to Fig. 25. Applicant points to Paragraph [0208]:” The virtual environment may be controlled using the parameters of the equipment such that the equipment appears to be in the virtual environment. A perspective of the virtual environment may be such that the equipment appears to be located in the virtual environment. The virtual environment may be controlled using the parameters of the equipment such that the individual using the equipment appears to be in the virtual environment.”, which is reflective of Fig. 25. It would appear that the “the remote exercise machine and associating the checkpoints and the corresponding exercise machine control signals with the timestamps of the video” is referring to the method shown in Fig. 23 and “a movement of the user through the virtual environment displayed at the remote exercise machine is based at least in part on one or more measured parameters of the remote exercise machine “ is referencing the method of Fig. 25 and it would appear that Applicant is mixing methods/systems in the amendment since the method of Fig. 23 is referring to a trainer through the virtual environment and the remote exercise device of the user is adjustments based on the checkpoints/timestamps of the video of the trainer in the video through the virtual environment and the method of Fig. 25 is referring to the user through the virtual environment is modified by parameters of the user on an exercise device, the limitation is more narrow than originally disclosed and is considered new matter. Applicant may overcome the new matter rejection by clearly pointing out support for the limitation in the original disclosure, amending, or canceling the claims.
Claim 22 recites “rendering a virtual trainer different than the trainer in the virtual environments and publishing a second video of the virtual trainer in the virtual environment for use on the remote exercise machine, wherein a movement of the virtual trainer through the virtual environment in the second video displayed at the remote exercise machine is based at least in part on exercise machine controls at the remote exercise machine”. Applicant recites in Paragraph [0005]:” In one aspect of the disclosure, a method to generate a video workout program may include capturing a first video that includes a depiction of a trainer performing a workout; combining the depiction of the trainer in the first video with a second video that moves through an environment to form a combined video in which the trainer appears to move through the environment”. It would appear that the second video is of the same trainer in the first video and therefore there is a lack of a disclosure for “a virtual trainer different than the trainer” and further the combination of “a movement of the virtual trainer through the virtual environment in the second video displayed at the remote exercise machine is based at least in part on exercise machine controls at the remote exercise machine” with the “a movement of the trainer through the virtual environment displayed at the remote exercise machine is based at least in part on associating the checkpoints and the corresponding exercise machine control signals with the timestamps of the video”. Applicant may overcome the new matter by clearly pointing out support in the original disclosure, amending, or canceling the claims.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1, 3, 4, 6-8, 10, 11, 13-15, 17, 18, and 20-22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “publishing the video with the associated exercise machine control signals for use on a remote exercise machine associated with a user, wherein a movement of the trainer through the virtual environment displayed at the remote exercise machine is based at least in part on associating the checkpoints and the corresponding exercise machine control signals with the timestamps of the video, and wherein a movement of the user through the virtual environment displayed at the remote exercise machine is based at least in part on one or more measured parameters of the remote exercise machine.”. It is unclear if Applicant intends for “movement of the user through the virtual environment” or the trainer through the virtual environment since there is no previously disclosure in the claim of the user being displayed at the remote exercise machine but only that of “a movement of the trainer through the virtual environment displayed at the remote exercise machine”. It is also unclear how the user is being displayed at the remote exercise machine if the user is associated with the remote exercise machine and/or it is unclear what the metes and bounds of being “associated” is between the user and the remote exercise machine.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 03/12/2026 have been considered but are moot since the amendments filed on 03/12/2026 changes the scope of the claims. Such amendments however, are considered new matter and therefore a new ground of rejection has been disclosed above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/NYCA T NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3784
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