DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claims 1-20 have been examined.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 9/21/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With regards to Applicant’s argument that “The reference does not show wherein the rotating device comprises a first arm horizontally extending from the first leg, and a second arm horizontally extending from the second leg, the first arm and the second arm are parallel to one another, and the first arm is configured to rotate relatively relative to the second arm, a fixing mechanism positioned between said first arm and said second arm, configured to fix the rotating angle between the first arm and the second arm”, Examiner respectfully disagrees and points to Examiner’s figure below which details the first arm and second arm having a parallel relationship.
With regards to Applicant’s argument that “Xue discloses a foldable Smith training frame. The Smith machine has use position in which a barbell is mounted to the sleeve mechanisms at each of the vertical square tubes (22) of the subframe (2) and storage position in which the barbell is removed and the sub-frame is folded in with respect to the main frame (1). As such, Xue discloses that there is only one, use fixed position provided and needed for the Examiner alleged driving device/pulley groups. Xue does not disclose or suggest a second use fixed position different than the use fixed position in which the drive device is used for fitness movements. Because Xue discloses that the device is a Smith machine that uses the alleged driving devices together with the barbell, there is absolutely no motivation to modify Xue to include a fixing mechanism”, Examiner respectfully disagrees and notes that nowhere in the disclosure of Xue is it set forth that the devices only are used together with the barbell. Furthermore, Applicant is reminded that it has been held that “[I]n considering the disclosure of a reference, it is proper to take into account not only specific teachings of the reference but also the inferences which one skilled in the art would reasonably be expected to draw therefrom.” In re Preda, 401 F.2d 825, 826, 159 USPQ 342, 344 (CCPA 1968). Figure 2 of Xue (a portion of which is depicted below) clearly shows an end of the cable extending to a pulley which can be utilized in various exercises disclosed as common use in a Smith machine. Examiner points to the “Background” section of the translation, which states: “Smith shelf is an omnidirectional fitness equipment, the sliding track of the barbell is limited, the trainee can use large amount of weight, and it is not only limited to deep squat training, but also can do horizontal push (upper inclined, flat plate, lower inclined), pitching rowing boat, brachial double-head muscle bending, and so on”. At least the latter two exercises (e.g. rows and curls) could not be performed with the barbell, but would rather be executed through use of an attached handle to the free end of the cable (see below).
Therefore, Xue teaches that multiple exercises can be performed through use of the barbell along with handles attached to the ends of the cables. Lee teaches a similar foldable fitness machine having first (51) and second (20) arms rotatably connected to each other via a fixing mechanism comprising a semicircular disk (30) having a plurality of through holes (35) around 180 degrees of the disk and configured to be fixed with a fixing rod (612) such that the first arm pivoted and positioned relative to the upper and lower fixing members, so that the frame can be positioned at a plurality of different angles to create different angles of the handles for the user. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the including the rotation mechanism of Lee with the machine of Xue would increase the functionality of the device by facilitating rotation of the first legs into multiple positions of use and storage.
[AltContent: textbox (Handle attached here)][AltContent: textbox (Cable)]
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-8 and 10-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xue et al (CN 217448824 U) in view of Lee (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0305324)
1. Xue et al disclose a training machine, comprising:
a rack (Fig 1), comprising a first leg, a second leg (See Examiner's Figure), and a rotating device (104) configured to enable the first leg to move around the second leg (Fig 4); and
a driving device (See Examiner's Figure), disposed on the first leg and configured to drive a weight to move along the second leg,
wherein the rotating device comprises a first arm horizontally extending from the first leg, and a second arm horizontally extending from the second leg, the first arm and the second arm are parallel to one another (See Examiner's Figure) and the first arm is configured to rotate relative to the second arm (Fig 1; Abstract).
However, Xue et al do not disclose a fixing mechanism positioned between said first arm and said second arm, configured to fix the rotating angle between the first arm and the second arm.
Lee teaches a similar foldable fitness machine having first (51) and second (20) arms rotatably connected to each other via a fixing mechanism comprising a semicircular disk (30) having a plurality of through holes (35) around 180 degrees of the disk and configured to be fixed with a fixing rod (612) such that the first arm pivoted and positioned relative to the upper and lower fixing members, so that the frame can be positioned at a plurality of different angles to create different angles of the handles for the user. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the fixing mechanism of Xue et al to include the plurality of holes as taught by Lee to increase the number of functional positions of the arms to ultimately increase the functionality of the device.
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2-5. Xue et al disclose the training machine significantly as claimed, but do not disclose a fixing mechanism comprising a semicircular disk such that a rotating angle between two of the plurality of radial directions comprises 180 degrees, mounted on the second arm and comprising a plurality of through holes distributed along a plurality of radial directions on the fixing member; and a fixing rod, configured to be fixed with the first arm via the through holes into a storage fixed position and first and second use positions.
Lee teaches a similar foldable fitness machine having first (51) and second (20) arms rotatably connected to each other via a fixing mechanism comprising a semicircular disk (30) having a plurality of through holes (35) around 180 degrees of the disk and configured to be fixed with a fixing rod (612) such that the first arm pivoted and positioned relative to the upper and lower fixing members, so that the frame can be positioned at a plurality of different angles to create different angles of the handles for the user to execute different exercises as well as store the machine in a compact arrangment. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the fixing mechanism of Xue et al to include the plurality of holes as taught by Lee to increase the number of functional positions of the arms to ultimately increase the functionality of the device.
6-7. Xue et al disclose the training machine significantly as claimed including the second arm comprising a rotating end configured to rotatably connect with the first arm and a fixing end, but do not disclose wherein the fixing end is configured to be fixed with a mounting wall or a mounting pad, configured to mount the second arm with the mounting wall.
Lee teaches a similar foldable fitness machine having first (51) and second (20) arms rotatably connected to each other via a fixing mechanism which is configured to be fixed with a mounting wall (11) via a mounting pad (31) on the second arm (30) to rigidly fix the machine to a solid structure. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the machine of Xue et al to have a mounting pad as taught by Lee to allow the machine to be fixed to a solid structure, such as a wall to prevent tipping or other instability.
8. Xue et al disclose the training machine of claim 1, further comprising:
a leg pad (42), disposed on a bottom of the second leg.
10-11. Xue et al disclose the training machine significantly as claimed including a moving wheel (72), disposed on a bottom of the first leg (Fig 13), but do not disclose a spring, configured to connect the bottom of the first leg to the moving wheel. The examiner takes official notice that a providing a spring in concert with a swinging support having a wheel is well-understood, routine, conventional activity engaged in by those in the relevant art, in that the additional elements are widely prevalent or in common use in the art to provide consistent engagement with a ground surface for the swinging support. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the moving wheel to include a spring thereon to facilitate the swinging of the support by maintaining contact with the ground in both a static and dynamic phase of the support. Such a modification is merely a design consideration to one of ordinary skill in the art and would produce expected and predictable results.
Note: Since Applicant did not traverse the examiner’s assertion of official notice, the examiner’s common knowledge or well-known in the art statement will be taken to be admitted prior art.
12. Xue et al disclose the training machine of claim 1, further comprising:
a weight-supporting member, disposed on the rack and configured to support the weight (See Examiner's Figure).
13. Xue et al disclose the training machine of claim 12, wherein the second leg comprises:
a supporting base (13), connected to a bottom surface of the second arm; and
a lifting track (not shown), connected to a top surface of the second arm and configured to guide a movement of the weight-supporting member (Fig 1).
14. Xue et al disclose the training machine of claim 12, wherein the driving device comprises:
a handle (not shown), configured to be held by a user;
a pulley group, configured to connect the handle with the weight-supporting member via cables (See Examiner's Figure).
15. Xue et al disclose the training machine of claim 1, wherein the rack comprises two first legs, two second legs, and four rotating devices, and the two first legs are arranged parallel to the two second legs (Figs 1-2).
16. Xue et al disclose the training machine of claim 15, wherein each of the two first legs comprises a first top end and a first bottom end, and each of the two second legs comprises a second top end and a second bottom end (Figs 1-2), and
the first top end is connected with the second top end through one of the four rotating devices, and the first bottom end is connected with the second bottom end through another one of the four rotating devices (Figs 1-2).
17. Xue et al disclose the training machine of claim 16, wherein the another one of the four rotating devices comprises: a fixing mechanism, configured to fix the first bottom end with the second bottom end (Figs 1-2).
18. Xue et al disclose the training machine of claim 15, comprising two driving devices, respectively disposed on the two first legs, wherein, each of the two driving devices is configured to drive a weight independently (Figs 1-2).
19. Xue et al disclose the training machine of claim 15, further comprising:
a pull-up bar (5), comprising a first bar end fixed with one of the two first legs, and a second bar end detachably connected with another one of the two first legs.
20. A training system, comprising:
a rack (10), comprising a first leg, a second leg, and a rotating device configured to enable the first leg to move around the second leg (See Examiner's Figure);
a weight-supporting member, disposed on the rack and configured to support a weight; the weight (Figs 1-2); and
a driving device, disposed on the first leg and configured to drive the weight-supporting member to move along the second leg (See Examiner's Figure),
wherein the rotating device comprises a first arm horizontally extending from the first leg, and a second arm horizontally extending from the second leg, and the first arm is configured to rotate relatively to the second arm (See Examiner's Figure).
wherein the rotating device comprises a first arm horizontally extending from the first leg, and a second arm horizontally extending from the second leg, the first arm and the second arm are parallel to one another (See Examiner's Figure) and the first arm is configured to rotate relative to the second arm (Fig 1; Abstract).
However, Xue et al do not disclose a fixing mechanism positioned between said first arm and said second arm, configured to fix the rotating angle between the first arm and the second arm.
Lee teaches a similar foldable fitness machine having first (51) and second (20) arms rotatably connected to each other via a fixing mechanism comprising a semicircular disk (30) having a plurality of through holes (35) around 180 degrees of the disk and configured to be fixed with a fixing rod (612) such that the first arm pivoted and positioned relative to the upper and lower fixing members, so that the frame can be positioned at a plurality of different angles to create different angles of the handles for the user. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the fixing mechanism of Xue et al to include the plurality of holes as taught by Lee to increase the number of functional positions of the arms to ultimately increase the functionality of the device.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xue et al in view of Lee as applied to Claims 1-8 and 10-20, and further in view of Hoecht et al (US Patent 6,443,877).
Xue et al in view of Lee disclose the training machine significantly as claimed including a leg pad at the bottom of the second leg, but do not disclose wherein a spacing between the leg pad and the bottom of the second leg is adjustable.
Hoecht et al disclose a similar training machine having a second leg having a support foot (194) such that the foot is connected to a leg of the training machine in an adjustable manner via a leveling screw (192). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the leg support of Xue et al to include a leveling screw as taught by Hoecht et al to allow support of the machine on a surface having an uneven height to facilitate a leveling of the machine.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA T KENNEDY whose telephone number is (571)272-8297. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7a-4:30p MST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, LoAn Jimenez can be reached at (571) 272-4966. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSHUA T KENNEDY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3784 10/6/2025