Motorized shoe with gesture control
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorSteven H. Walker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An article of footwear includes a motorized tensioning system, sensors, and a gesture control system. Based on information received from one or more sensors the gesture control system may, detect a prompting gesture and enters an armed mode for receiving further instructions. In the armed mode the system may detect a variety of different control gestures that correspond to different tensioning commands.
Claims20
An article of footwear, comprising:
- an upper;
- a sole structure;
- a tensioning device including a reel member and a motor, the tensioning device disposed in at least one of the upper and the sole structure, wherein a portion of a tensioning member is joined to the reel member so that the tensioning member can be wound and unwound from the reel member;
- a contact sensor,
- an angular velocity sensor;
- and
- a control unit configured to:
- receive information from the contact sensor;
- enter an enabled mode when the information from the contact sensor corresponds to a prompting gesture;
- and
- control the tensioning device according to information received from the angular velocity sensor while in the enabled mode, the information corresponding to a control gesture.
The article of footwear of clam 3, wherein the prompting gesture is the one of the group of control gestures corresponding to the first control gesture.
A footwear system, comprising:
- a first article of footwear and a second article of footwear, each comprising:
- an upper;
- a sole structure;
- a tensioning device including a reel member and a motor, the tensioning device disposed in at least one of the upper and the sole structure, wherein a portion of the tensioning member is joined to the reel member so that a tensioning member can be wound and unwound from the reel member;
- a contact sensor and an angular velocity sensor;
- and
- a control unit configured to:
- receive information from the contact sensor;
- enter an enabled mode when the information from the contact sensor corresponds to a prompting gesture;
- and
- control the tensioning device associated with one of the first and second articles of footwear according to information received from the angular velocity sensor of an associated one of the first and second articles of footwear while in the enabled mode, the information corresponding to a control gesture.
The footwear system of clam 10, wherein the prompting gesture is the one of the group of control gestures corresponding to the first control gesture.
A method, comprising:
- receiving, with a control unit of an article of footwear, information from a contact sensor of the article of footwear;
- entering, with the control unit, an enabled mode when the information from the contact sensor corresponds to a prompting gesture;
- and
- controlling, with the control unit, a tensioning device according to information received from an angular velocity sensor while in the enabled mode, the information corresponding to a control gesture, wherein the tensioning device includes a reel member and a motor, the tensioning device disposed in at least one of an upper and a sole structure of the article of footwear, wherein a portion of a tensioning member is joined to the reel member so that the tensioning member can be wound and unwound from the reel member.
The method of clam 17, wherein the prompting gesture is the one of the group of control gestures corresponding to the first control gesture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.