DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
Applicant’s submission of an Information Disclosure Statement on 1/21/2024 has been received and considered.
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 1-5, 8-15, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to abstract idea without significantly more.
2019 PEG Analysis
Step 1: Are the claims directed to a statutory category (e.g., a process, machine, etc.)
Claims 1-5 and 8-10 are directed to an apparatus. Claims 11-15 and 18-20 are directed to a process.
Step 2A (Prong 1): Does the claim recite an abstract idea, law of nature or natural phenomenon?
Yes, the claims recite an abstract idea. The following specific limitations in the claims under examination recite an abstract idea:
Generate instructions data (e.g., claims 1, 5, 10, 11, 15, and 20)
The above listed identified limitation falls within at least one of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in the 2019 PEG:
Mental Processes: concepts preformed in the human mind (including on observation, evaluation, judgement, opinion).
Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity: managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions or relationships of interaction between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions.
The claims are primarily directed to generating instructions for teaching a user how to perform an activity. This activity is a mental process because a human mind can manage the data since fitness instructors, teachers, and coaches routinely perform these processes. Additionally, the determination of the specific types of instructions generated is also following a set rules or instructions.
Step 2A (Prong 2): Does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application?
Overall, the following additional claim limitations appear to merely implement the abstract idea, add insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception, or generally link the judicial exception to a particular environment or field of use, as outlined below:
Receiving/transmitting data and displaying data (e.g., see at least claims 1, 11, 4, 14 insignificant extra-solution activity);
Creating a User Interface data structure (e.g., see claims 1 and 11, insignificant extra-solution activity);
Instructor Data is previous class data and current class data (e.g., see claims 2, 10, 12, and 20; insignificant extra-solution activity and field of use and technological environment);
Step 2B: Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception?
With regard to claims 1-5, 8-15, and 18-20 the claims as a whole do not amount to significantly more than the exception itself. The above listed additional claim limitations receiving/transmitting/displaying instruction data in a well-understood, routine, and conventional way. Further, the computer hardware of claims 1, 3, 8, 9, 11, 13, 18, and 19 (e.g., first and second input devices, processor, memory and an interactive GUI/display) are well-understood, routine, and conventional in the art.
In order to satisfy the Berkheimer factual determination of conventional elements in the art, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0032236 to Yu is cited for disclosing the conventional features of fitness systems that include graphical user interfaces (e.g., see at least paragraph 17 that discusses that GUIs are conventional in fitness analysis systems). U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0325145 to Pinkerton is cited for disclosing that processors and memory are conventional hardware in exercise related systems (e.g., see at least paragraph 40). U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0058321 to Eder is cited for discussing that input devices including a camera are conventional in fitness related systems (e.g., see at least paragraph 88). Therefore, claims 1-5, 8-15, and 18-20 are not patent eligible under 101.
With regard to claims 6, 7, 16 and 17, it is the Examiner’s position that claims 6, 7, 16, and 17 amount to significantly more than the underlying abstract idea. Therefore claims 6, 7, 16, and 17 are patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0203168 to Calderon (Figs. 1 and 6 shown below for convenience, but entire document is relevant)
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With regard to claim 1, Calderon discloses an apparatus for class administration (e.g., see at least paragraph 36 that discusses use in workout classes), the apparatus comprising:
a first input device (e.g., see at least paragraph 33 that discusses a video camera can record a fitness instructor; see also Fig. 4 of video of fitness instructor), the first input device configured to receive at least audio-visual data of an instructor (e.g., see at least paragraph 33 that discusses video; see at least paragraph 46 for audio or video affirmation…are sent as property of a user);
at least a processor (e.g., see at least Fig. 1, processor 109, neural network processor 108, and image processor 104; see more detailed discussion of system processors in paragraph 19);
a memory communicatively connected to the at least a processor (e.g., see at least Fig. 1, storage medium 106 connected to processor 109; see at least paragraph 19 that states “One or more processors (104, 108, 109) and a computer readable storage medium (106) may be coupled to the device”), wherein the memory contains instructions configuring the at least a processor to:
receive instructor data from the first input device (e.g., see at least paragraph 33 that discusses a video camera can record a fitness instructor);
generate instructions data (e.g., see at least paragraph 20 that discussion instruction data including, for example, “a simulated representation of a user (604) can demonstrate to a user, correct form”);
create a user interface data structure (e.g., see at least paragraph 28 that discusses data collection), wherein the user interface data structure comprises the instructor data and the instructions data (e.g., see at least paragraphs 20 and 33 as discussed above for instructor and instruction data); and
transmit the instructor data, the instructions data, and the user interface data structure (e.g., see at least paragraphs 19 and 20 for discussion of communicating data); and
a graphical user interface (GUI) communicatively connected to the at least a processor (e.g., see Fig. 1, display 102; see also paragraph 19 for discussion of the display), the GUI configured to:
receive the user interface data structure (e.g., see at least paragraph 19 that discuses receiving information from a cloud); and
display the instructions data and the instructor data as a function of the user interface data structure (e.g., see at least paragraph 20 that discusses overlaying instructions (604) onto a visual simulation (603) showing an animation of where a user’s legs should be placed);
[claim 2] the instructor data further comprising previous class data and current class data (e.g., see at least paragraph 41 for discussion of adjusting instructions based on performance during an exercise or past performance);
[claim 3] the apparatus further comprising a second input device, the second input device configured to receive second view data (e.g., see at least paragraph 39 that discusses the use of a a stream of camera images for a user’s pose estimation, wherein the user camera is a second input device);
[claim 4] the apparatus further comprising a second input device, the second input device configured to receive participant data (e.g., see at least paragraph 39 that discusses the use of a a stream of camera images for a user’s pose estimation, wherein the user camera is a second input device);
[claim 5] wherein generating the instructions data comprises generating the instructions data as a function of the instructor data (e.g., see at least paragraphs 30 and 31 that discuss comparing user movements to fitness instructor movements; see also paragraph 20 for generating instruction data);
[claim 6] wherein generating the instructions data as a function of the instructor data comprises: receiving instruction training data comprising a plurality of instructor data correlated to a plurality of the instructions data (e.g., see discussion above in claim 5 and paragraphs 20, 30, and 31 for correlation of instructor data and instruction data); training an instruction machine learning model as a function of the instruction training data (e.g., see at least paragraph 34 for discussion of a machine learning model for generating instructions); and generating the instructions data as a function of the instruction machine learning model (e.g., see at least paragraph 35 for discussion of recommending instructions; see also paragraph 39 for instructions in combination with machine learning).
[claim 7] wherein generating the plurality of instructor data as a function of the instructor data comprises: determining instructor pose data as a function of the instructor data (e.g., see at least paragraphs 30 and 31 that discuss comparing user movements to fitness instructor movements; see also paragraph 20 for generating instruction data); and generating the instructions data as a function of the instructor pose data (e.g., see at least paragraph 19 that discusses comparing instructor pose data with user pose data);
[claim 8] wherein the GUI further comprises an interaction feature, the interaction feature configured to allow a user to interact with the GUI (e.g., as shown in Fig. 6, the user can observe their actions and the associated instruction to modify/interact with their movements; see paragraph 11 that states “Fig. 6 shows an exemplary third person view of a user interacting with a virtual environment projected on a television with a computer vision device”);
[claim 9] wherein the previous class data is displayed on a first device display and the current class data is displayed on a second device display (e.g., Fig. 1 shows a display 102, a previous class data will be displayed on the device that is used for that class and if the user switches devices, the current class would be displayed on a second device); and
[claim 10] wherein the instructions data is generated as a function of a participant input (e.g., see at least paragraph 20 that provides an example of a user performing a squat and be corrected with feedback based on the user input).
Claims 11-20 are anticipated by Calderon as set above for claims 1-10, which are similar in claim scope.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, includes:
U.S. Patent No. 11,338,190 to Evancha discusses a user interface for a fitness system (e.g., see at least flow diagram in Fig. A).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0058321 to Eder discusses a system and method for personalized exercise protocols (e.g., see at least Fig. 4).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0406102 to Wolterman discusses the production of media content for a workout session (e.g., see at least Figs. 3 and 6).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0089574 to Henning discusses an exercise class system (e.g., see at least Fig. 1, Study Cycling Diagram).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES S MCCLELLAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7167. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday (8:30AM-5:00PM).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kang Hu can be reached at 571-270-1344. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/James S. McClellan/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715