Granted U.S. PatentUS 12,528,021 B2

Patent Position Mapping

10Patent Position Mapping

Independent Claim 13 — Detailed Software / Computer-Readable-Medium Mapping

Publicly Disclosed iRacing Software Functionality Assessed Against Issued Claim 13. Claim 13 is a separate independent claim and is assessed independently according to its own issued wording. Observable software functionality and internal instruction-level implementation are distinguished throughout; no infringement conclusion is drawn.

Granted U.S. Patent —US 12,528,021 B2

View Issued Claim 13

Opening claim position

Claim 13 — Non-Transitory Computer-Readable Medium

View Issued Claim 13

Claim 13 is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more computer instructions for facilitating one or more users in virtually participating in a real-world racing event.

The instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause those processors to perform the specified functions. The issued claim expressly requires instructions that cause processors to:

  • receive a data feed from a real-world racing event;
  • process that feed;
  • generate a multi-dimensional virtual environment;
  • substantially replicate the physical racing environment;
  • create virtualized representations of each participant;
  • move those representations according to the corresponding physical participant's movement;
  • include one or more user avatars;
  • communicate with user computer hardware;
  • present the virtual environment from the user's avatar viewpoint;
  • display participant representations and their movement;
  • enable visualization of the racing event as time passes;
  • receive and act on user instructions;
  • allow the user's avatar to navigate the race path; and
  • enable the user to participate and compete against the event participants.

Claim 13 is a separate independent claim and is assessed independently according to its own issued wording. It is not treated as Claim 1 in software form. The controlling text is the issued claim set of US 12,528,021 B2. Where the exact claim text is quoted, the issued wording “computer instructions” is preserved; “software” is used only as explanatory shorthand outside the claim quotation.

Why Claim 13 is different

Three Independent Claims, Three Protective Forms

Claim 1 — Method

Performance of the computer-implemented process.

Question: is the method being performed?

Claim 7 — System

Hardware and processor arrangement configured to perform the required functions.

Question: does the required hardware / processor system exist?

Claim 13 — Software / Medium

Stored computer instructions which, when executed, cause processors to perform the required functions.

Question: are stored instructions present which cause processors to perform the claimed functions?

The underlying technical architecture is closely related across the three independent claims, but the evidentiary question for Claim 13 is different: what publicly available evidence establishes the existence and functionality of stored software instructions?

Claim 13 — exact software architecture

Stored Instructions to Event-Derived Virtual Participation

Non-transitory computer-readable medium

Stored computer instructions

One or more processors execute the instructions

Receive real-world racing event data

Process event data

Generate multi-dimensional virtual environment

Represent physical environment

Create virtualized event participants

Move participants according to corresponding physical movement

Create / operate user avatar

Communicate with user hardware

Display event environment

User input / navigation

User participates and competes

This is the principal Claim 13 architecture. Each stage is a function the stored instructions must cause processors to perform, not merely a capability observable in a product.

Software-evidence discipline

Observable Functionality Is Not the Same as Stored Instruction Evidence

Public-facing software functionality may support an inference that computer instructions exist to perform that functionality. However, publicly observable behaviour does not necessarily disclose the exact internal instruction set, code structure, storage medium, processor allocation or data-flow implementation.

Observable software function

What the product publicly does.

Internal instruction-level implementation

What software instructions actually cause processors to do.

Every Claim 13 limitation below distinguishes these two levels. Where the latter is not publicly documented, no speculation is offered and the finding is recorded as Not Established From Public Disclosures. No statement is made that iRacing code performs any function; findings are framed as publicly observable functionality or first-party documentation.

Claim 13 — limitation structure

Analytical Groups 13A–13R

Limitation 13A

Non-Transitory Computer-Readable Medium

Publicly Established — general software storage

Issued claim language — verbatim

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions

Reproduced verbatim from the granted claim, without correction, paraphrase or reordering. Controlling text: issued claims of US 12,528,021 B2

Software architecture — analytical restatement

The claim is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more computer instructions.

Software requirement

  • Software instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium.
  • A non-transitory medium may generally include persistent or tangible computer storage used to store executable instructions.
  • No definitive claim construction beyond the issued wording is offered here; construction requires review by qualified U.S. patent counsel.

Observable software function

iRacing is distributed and operated as computer software. Public documentation establishes installation and execution of iRacing software on user computers, including installed client software, simulation files, vehicle and track content, executable programs, configuration files and stored data.

Internal instruction-level implementation

The medium and storage layout of the shipped instruction set are not publicly documented beyond installation-level description.

Evidence, source and date

  1. iRacing publishes installation documentation describing download and installation of the simulation software and its content onto the user's computer.

    iRacing SupportiRacing Support — Installing iRacingAccessed for this review August 2026

  2. iRacing publishes system requirements for the user PC on which the software is installed and executed.

    iRacing SupportiRacing Support — System RequirementsAccessed for this review August 2026

Entity / product attribution

  • iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations, LLC (core iRacing service)
  • User (local hardware and storage owner)

Software gap

This does not establish that the stored instructions contain the complete functionality required by Claim 13.

Technical / legal noteThe medium limitation is assessed at a general level only; the legally material question is what the stored instructions cause processors to do.

Final section position

Claim 13 — Current Public-Evidence Position

Strong public evidence exists for iRacing's software-controlled virtual environment, physical track reconstruction, user control, processor execution, hardware integration, display and competitive racing functionality.

Public evidence does not presently establish stored instructions implementing the central physical-event-feed-to-event-participant movement architecture required by Claim 13.

Complete Claim 13 correspondence is not presently established.

Commercial takeaway

The Strategic Software Opportunity

iRacing already operates a mature software platform containing many of the downstream components contemplated by the granted patent.

The principal unresolved technical bridge is whether, now or in future products, iRacing software receives a corresponding physical race-event feed and converts physical participant movement into virtual participant behaviour against which the remote user competes.

That is the strategic question the granted patent places before iRacing.

Next

Dependent Software Claims 14–18

Claim 14

User performance data

Claim 15

2D / 3D environment

Claim 16

Modifiable environmental / physical conditions

Claim 17

User-modifiable virtual equipment

Claim 18

Racing surface

These claims will be analysed as Claim 13 plus their respective additional limitations.