Motorized shoe with gesture control

#The present embodiments generally relate to footwear having a sensor system and, more particularly, to a shoe having a force and/or pressure sensor assembly operably connected to a communication port located in the shoe.

#Shoes having sensor systems incorporated therein are known. Sensor systems collect performance data wherein the data can be accessed for later use such as for analysis purposes. In certain systems, the sensor systems are complex or data can only be accessed or used with certain operating systems. Thus, uses for the collected data can be unnecessarily limited. Accordingly, while certain shoes having sensor systems provide a number of advantageous features, they nevertheless have certain limitations. The present invention seeks to overcome certain of these limitations and other drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide new features not heretofore available.

#In one aspect, a method for controlling a tensioning device used for adjusting tension in a first article of footwear based on movements of the first article of footwear and a corresponding second article of footwear includes receiving a first set of information from a first sensor in the first article of footwear. The method also includes detecting a prompting gesture based on the first set of information and entering an armed mode. While in the armed mode, the system receives a second set of information from at least one sensor in the first article of footwear and detects a control gesture based on the second set of information. The method also includes retrieving a tensioning command corresponding with the control gesture and controlling the tensioning device according to tensioning command.

#The embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the embodiments. Moreover, in the figures, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views.

#FIG. 1 is a side view of a shoe;

#FIG. 2 is an opposed side view of the shoe of FIG. 1;

#While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there are shown in the drawings, and will herein be described in detail, preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspects of the invention to the embodiments illustrated and described.

#Footwear, such as a shoe, is shown as an example in FIGS. 1-2 and generally designated with the reference numeral 100. The footwear 100 can take many different forms, including, for example, various types of athletic footwear. In one exemplary embodiment, the shoe 100 generally includes a force and/or pressure sensor system 12 operably connected to a universal communication port 14. As described in greater detail below, the sensor system 12 collects performance data relating to a wearer of the shoe 100. Through connection to the universal communication port 14, multiple different users can access the performance data for a variety of different uses as described in greater detail below.

#An article of footwear 100 is depicted in FIGS. 1-2 as including an upper 120 and a sole structure 130. For purposes of reference in the following description, footwear 100 may be divided into three general regions: a forefoot region 111, a midfoot region 112, and a heel region 113, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Regions 111-113 are not intended to demarcate precise areas of footwear 100. Rather, regions 111-113 are intended to represent general areas of footwear 100 that provide a frame of reference during the following discussion. Although regions 111-113 apply generally to footwear 100, references to regions 111-113 also may apply specifically to upper 120, sole structure 130, or individual components included within and/or formed as part of either upper 120 or sole structure 130.