Footwear with multilevel activity meter

• US 5,945,911 A
• Filed: 03/13/1998
• Issued: 08/31/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Converse Incorporated (Nike, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Converse Incorporated (Nike, Inc.)
• Inventors: Medora, Noshirwan K., Healy, John A., Brown, Stuart B.
• Primary Examiner(s): SWANN III, GLEN R
• Application Number:
  US09/042,220
• Time in Patent Office: 536 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 340/323 R, 340/693.5, 362/103, 362/276, 36/137, 377/24.2, 482/8
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/36 with light sources

Abstract

A shoe has an activity level meter that displays, in a highly noticeable fashion, such as by lighting bright LEDs, the highest level of activity reached by a wearer of the shoe. In one embodiment, the display is a three-element LED display in which zero to three LEDs flash briefly, but brightly each time the weight of the wearer is fully pressed against the inner sole of the shoe during a period of activity. A period of time after the activity ends, the LEDs light again for a longer period of time to indicate the highest level of activity reached during the activity period.

Claims

1. A shoe comprising:

a footwear assembly including at least a sole and at least an upper secured to the sole;

an electrical transducer in the footwear assembly responsive to activity of a person wearing the shoe to produce occurrences of an activity signal;

a processor in the footwear assembly responsive to a frequency of occurrences of the activity signal from the electrical transducer to generate a coded indicator signal indicative of a measure of activity of the person wearing the shoe; and

an indicator responsive to the coded indicator signal and operatively connected to the footwear assembly in a location to provide a perceptible indication of the measure of the activity of the person for a first period of time after the activity of the person has ended, the indicator also being responsive to the coded indicator signal to provide a perceptible indication of the measure of the activity of the person for a second period of time after an occurrence of the activity signal.

2. The shoe of claim 1 wherein the second period of time is shorter than the first period of time.

3. The shoe of claim 2, wherein the indicator is responsive to the coded indicator signal to provide a perceptible indication of a highest level of activity reached by the person during a period of activity, prior to the ending of the period of activity.

4. The shoe of claim 1 wherein the indicator is responsive to the coded indicator signal to provide a perceptible indication of a highest level of activity reached by the person during a period of activity, prior to the ending of the period of activity.

5. The shoe of claim 4 wherein the indicator is a visual display providing a visual indication of the measure of the activity.

6. The shoe of claim 5 wherein the visual display comprises a plurality of separately energizable elements that activate at different threshold levels of the measure of activity.

7. The shoe of claim 6 wherein the indicator comprises a plurality of electroluminescent panels.

8. The shoe of claim 7 wherein the indicator comprises a plurality of light-emitting elements.

9. The shoe of claim 8 wherein the light-emitting elements are solid-state light-emitting diodes.

10. The shoe of claim 6 wherein the electrical transducer comprises a normally open switch having open and closed positions.

11. The shoe of claim 4 wherein the processor comprises an integrator responsive to the signal from the electrical transducer.

12. The shoe of claim 4 wherein the processor comprises a first timing gate having a control input and control output, the control input being electrically connected to the transducer and the control output being electrically connected to the visual indicator, the timing gate being configured to reset after each occurrence of an activity signal and to provide a path for current to flow through the indicator after a selected period from a time at which the timing gate was last reset.

13. The shoe of claim 12 wherein the coded activity signal is a voltage, the indicator is a visual indicator, and the integrator is configured to provide a voltage that decreases while the timing gate is providing a path for current to flow through the indicator, to ensure that the visual indicator is extinguished after a period of time.

14. The shoe of claim 13 wherein the path provided by the timing gate for current to flow through the indicator is a first path, and further comprising a second, alternate path coupled to the indicator and configured to provide a path for current to flow through the indicator for a selected time upon occurrence of an activity signal.

15. The shoe of claim 14 wherein both the first path and the second path are configured to be nonconductive for an interval between an end of the predetermined time upon occurrence of an activity signal and a beginning of the selected time from a time at which the timing gate was last reset.

16. The shoe of claim 15 wherein the electrical transducer and processor are embedded in a heel portion of the shoe.

17. A shoe configured to be worn by a wearer in a manner so that the shoe repeatedly strikes a surface, such as a running or walking surface, as the wearer walks, runs, or jumps while wearing the shoe, each occurrence of the shoe striking the surface while the wearer is wearing the shoe constituting a footstrike, and the walking, running, or jumping of the wearer constituting an activity of the wearer,

the shoe comprising:

a footwear assembly including at least a sole and at least an upper secured to the sole, the upper being adapted to cover at least part of a foot of a wearer wearing the shoe; and

a circuit secured to the footwear assembly, the circuit including an electrical transducer, a processor electrically coupled to the transducer, and an indicator electrically coupled to the processor, the electrical transducer and processor being adapted to generate a footstrike signal representative of a frequency of the footstrikes, the indicator being responsive to the footstrike signal to provide a perceptible indication of a level of intensity of the activity of the wearer, the circuit having a quiescent supply current of not more than 2 microamperes at 25°

C.

18. The shoe of claim 17, wherein the circuit has a quiescent supply current of less than 0.1 microamperes at 25°

C.

19. The shoe of claim 17, wherein the circuit comprises a visual indicator configured to provide a visual indication of a level of intensity of the activity of the wearer.

20. The shoe of claim 19, wherein the visual indicator comprises a lighted indicator configured to briefly flash in response to a footstrike signal of at least a predetermined frequency, and further configured to provide a longer, lighted indication of a level of activity reached by the wearer after an interval from a cessation of the activity in the footstrike signal;

and the circuit further comprises a gate to ensure that the longer, lighted indication is extinguished after a period of time.

21. An activity meter suitable for inclusion in an article of clothing such as footwear, comprising:

(a) a switch configured for repeatedly closing in response to a person'"'"'s activity, the closures occurring at a rate indicative of a level of an activity to be measured;

(b) a charge accumulating circuit coupled to the switch and configured to accumulate charge in response to closures of the switch;

(c) a discharging circuit coupled to the charge accumulating circuit for discharge thereof and having an output configured to produce, in cooperation with the charge accumulating circuit, a voltage output indicative of the rate of closures of the switch in response to a constant rate of closures of the switch;

(d) an indicating device having a first terminal and a second terminal;

(e) at least one inverter having an input responsive to the output of the discharging circuit and an output coupled to a first terminal of the indicating device; and

(f) a time-delay circuit having an input coupled to the switch and an output coupled to a second terminal of the indicating device and configured to reset with each closing of the switch,

the inverter and the time-delay circuit being configured to activate the indicating device when a voltage at the output of the discharging circuit exceeds a predetermined value after a time determined by the time-delay circuit has expired with a switch closing, until the charge accumulating circuit has discharged through the discharging circuit.

22. The circuit of claim 21, wherein the inverter has hysteresis.

23. The circuit of claim 22, wherein the discharging circuit comprises a voltage divider network with a plurality of output taps, and further comprising a plurality of indicators each with first terminals and second terminals, and a plurality of inverters each having hysteresis and an input connected to a different output taps of the voltage divider network and an output connected to the first terminal of a different one of the plurality of indicators, and the time-delay circuit is coupled to the second terminal of each of the plurality of indicators, so that the activation of a different number of indicators occurs, depending upon a maximum level of activity reached.

24. The circuit of claim 23, and further comprising a pulse-generating circuit responsive to the switch closures and having an output coupled to the second terminal of each of the indicators, the pulse-generating circuit configured to briefly allow activation of a number of the indicators, depending upon a level of activity reached, with each switch closure and for a period of time less than that required for reactivation of the indicators by the time-delay circuit.

25. A shoe comprising:

a footwear assembly including at least a sole and at least an upper secured to the sole;

a circuit in the footwear assembly comprising an electrical transducer, a processor, and an indicator, wherein the electrical transducer is responsive to activity of a person wearing the shoe to produce occurrences of an activity signal, the processor is responsive to a frequency of occurrence of the activity signal indicative of a measure of activity of the person wearing the shoe; and

the indicator is responsive to the coded indicator signal and operatively connected to the footwear assembly in a location to provide a perceptible indication of the measure of the activity of the person for a first period of time after the activity of the person has ended; and

wherein the circuit has a quiescent supply current of not more than 2 microamperes at 25°

C.

26. The shoe of claim 25, wherein the circuit has a quiescent supply current of not more than 0.1 microamperes at 25°

C.