Patent Application
20240341412
The subject matter of the present invention relates generally to an automatic shoelace tying system for footwear.
The most common form of closure mechanism for a shoe is a lace that crisscrosses between the lateral and medial portions of the upper shoe, and that is pulled tight around the instep of the foot and tied into a knot by the wearer. Shoelaces need to be tied by hand, and often need to be retied due to natural loosening around the foot of the wearer. Young children, the elderly, those with handicaps, and obese individuals may find it difficult to bend over, pull shoelaces tight, and tie knots to secure shoes on their feet.
Footwear systems for automatically tying, tightening, or loosening a shoe on a foot have been previously described.
U.S. Published Patent App. No. 20230148710 discloses a lacing system for an article of footwear that includes a sole structure, an upper attached to the sole structure with a lateral side, a medial side, a tongue, and a housing disposed on the tongue. A lateral side flap extends from the sole structure along the lateral side of the upper toward the tongue having an upper end next to the tongue. A medial side flap extends from the sole structure along the medial side of the upper toward the tongue having an upper end being next to the tongue. A plurality of lateral lace retainers is disposed along the upper end of the lateral side flap, and a plurality of medial lace retainers is disposed along the upper end of the medial side flap. A lace extends from the housing through the plurality of lateral and medial lace retainers in a crisscrossing manner across the tongue.
U.S. Published Patent App. No. 20220279899 discloses a foot presence sensor system for an active article of footwear that can include a sensor housing configured to be disposed at or in an insole of the article, and a controller circuit, disposed within the sensor housing and configured to trigger one or more automated functions of the footwear based on a foot presence indication. The sensor system may include a capacitive sensor, and the sensor may be configured to sense changes in a foot proximity to the sensor in footwear. A baseline or reference condition for the capacitive sensor can be updated to accommodate different use conditions.
U.S. Published Patent App. No. 20200163416 discloses a shoelace adjusting device and a shoe including the same. The device and shoe include a motor configured to operate to adjust at least one part of the shoelace, a sensor including a motion sensor, and a processor configured to determine whether the shoe is being used in a running state, a walking state, or a sitting state based on sensing information from the motion sensor and to change a level for tightening the shoelace based on the respective states. The tightness of the shoelace may be automatically adjusted based on the state of the user wearing the shoes.
U.S. Published Patent App. No. 20170135444 discloses an automated footwear tightening system in which a central rotary closure knob is provided on the top of an article of footwear. The rotary closure knob is engaged with a tightening element embedded within the article of footwear. Further, the rotary closure knob is in communication with a motor, such that the motor can rotate the rotary closure knob to tighten the article of footwear upon a user's foot. A wireless transceiver is in electric communication with the motor and is configured to receive and send wireless signals from a user-controlled device and activate the motor. The system allows a user to remotely tighten a shoe upon a wearer's foot via the user-controlled device. The article of footwear may be provided with sensors to tighten the footwear upon receiving a wearer's foot.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,949,533 discloses self-fitting and automatically adjustable footwear wherein the upper shoe and/or shoe tongue have or are attached to a shape memory material. Upon stimulation, the shape memory material deforms and brings a shoe to self-assemble about a foot, and which further brings two clasp members close to one other and facilitates the clasping thereof to form a self-assembled and closed footwear. The clasp members may be integrated with straps, shoelaces, or the shape memory material. The footwear may include a battery, a motor, a control unit, and sensors which enable a motor-actuated fine tensioning of the footwear.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,241,539 discloses a system for tightening laces of an article of clothing comprising a controller, a first user input device operatively coupled to the controller, and a tightening device configured to engage the laces. The tightening device is operatively coupled to the controller. The controller places the tightening device in one of a plurality of configurations: an engaged configuration restraining a free movement of the laces and a disengaged configuration permitting the free movement of the laces. In response to receiving a first audio user input via a first user input device, the controller places the tightening device in the engaged configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,935,860 discloses a shoe having the following elements: a) a shoe sole; b) a shoe upper attached to the sole and having two opposite lateral sides and an opening between them for inserting a foot; c) at least one shoe strap, extending from one side of the shoe upper to the other, for tightening the shoe on a foot; d) an electric battery; e) at least one strap tightener, coupled to the battery and to one of the shoe straps, for tightening the respective shoe strap in response to a control signal; f) an electronic logic device, coupled to the battery and to each strap tightener, for producing a control signal for each strap tightener so as to shorten the length of the respective shoe strap to a desired value of tightness; and g) an electronic memory, coupled to said logic device, for storing the desired value of tightness for each respective shoe strap and providing a representation of the desired value to said logic device.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,769,844 is directed to an automatic lacing system for footwear in response to sensed information. The automatic lacing system provides a set of straps which are engaged with motors and which can be automatically opened and closed to switch between a loosened and a tightened position of the upper shoe by the movement of the motors.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,322 discloses a shoe having at least one elongated shape memory alloy element in the upper part of the shoe and an electric circuit which when energized produces a tightening of the upper shoe around the foot of a wearer. A battery contained in the shoe provides a power source to produce a current in the circuit that heats the shape memory alloy and causes the shape memory alloy to reduce its length, resulting in tightening of the upper shoes.
Despite the above self-adjusting footwear and devices in the art, there is still a need to provide an improved automatic shoelace tying system for footwear.
To address the foregoing problems, in whole or in part, and/or other problems that may have been observed by persons skilled in the art, the present disclosure provides compositions and methods as described by way of example as set forth below.
The present invention is directed to an automatic shoelace tying system configured to attach to a shoe where shoelaces are threaded. In one embodiment, the automatic shoelace tying system comprises:
In some aspects, the automatic shoelace tying system further comprises a wireless-communication subsystem and a separate wireless-communication remote-control subsystem.
In some aspects, the DC motor has a cable-tension sensor operative to turn off the motor when a predetermined tension value has been exceeded.
In some aspects, the DC motor has a cable-tension sensor operative to turn off the motor when a predetermined tension value has been exceeded.
In some aspects, each attachment fixture is a solid, three-dimensional, geometric structure comprising a plurality of attachment apertures along one face and extending through an opposite face.
In some aspects, each attachment fixture is a solid, three-dimensional, geometric structure comprising a plurality of the attachment apertures along one face and extending through an opposite face.
In some aspects, the separate wireless-communication remote-control and wireless-communication subsystem simulate pushing either one or the other momentary, push-button, electrical double-pole/single-throw switches.
In another embodiment, a method for automatically tying shoelaces is provided, comprising:
In another embodiment, another method for automatically tying shoelaces is provided, comprising:
Additional features of the invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
Having thus described the subject matter of the present invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
The subject matter of the present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the subject matter of the present invention are shown. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The subject matter of the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Indeed, many modifications and other embodiments of the subject matter of the present invention set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which the subject matter of the present invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the subject matter of the present invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
Most lace-up footwear (e.g. shoes, athletic shoes, work boots, and the like) make use of laces woven through eyelets in left and right lace guards to first insert a foot into each footwear item, then secure the footwear to the foot by tightening the laces.
The process typically involves starting with untied laces, then pulling the lace guards away from one another, inserting a foot, then tightening the laces in effect pulling the lace guards toward one another to establish a secure fit.
There are many reasons why a footwear user may be unable to reach the footwear and tighten the laces once the footwear is in place on a foot. The invention comprises apparatus for automatically loosening or tightening the lace guards with the push of button, either on the apparatus, or by using a wireless remote controller.
Advantages and benefits of the automatic shoelace tying system of the present invention include:
In one embodiment, the automatic shoelace tying system of the present invention comprises:
In some aspects, the automatic shoelace tying system further comprises a wireless-communication subsystem and a separate wireless-communication remote-control subsystem.
In some aspects, the DC motor has a cable-tension sensor operative to turn off the motor when a predetermined tension value has been exceeded.
In some aspects, the DC motor has a cable-tension sensor operative to turn off the motor when a predetermined tension value has been exceeded.
In some aspects, each attachment fixture is a solid, three-dimensional, geometric structure comprising a plurality of attachment apertures along one face and extending through an opposite face.
In some aspects, each attachment fixture is a solid, three-dimensional, geometric structure comprising a plurality of the attachment apertures along one face and extending through an opposite face.
In some aspects, the separate wireless-communication remote-control and wireless-communication subsystem simulate pushing either one or the other momentary, push-button, electrical double-pole/single-throw switches.
In another embodiment, a method for automatically tying shoelaces is provided, comprising:
In another embodiment, another method for automatically tying shoelaces is provided, comprising:
Turning now to
The internal components, ordinarily hidden from view inside the enclosure are shown in
Following long-standing patent law convention, the terms “a,” “an,” and “the” refer to “one or more” when used in this application, including the claims. Thus, for example, reference to “a subject” includes a plurality of subjects, unless the context clearly is to the contrary (e.g., a plurality of subjects), and so forth.
Throughout this specification and the claims, the terms “comprise,” “comprises,” and “comprising” are used in a non-exclusive sense, except where the context requires otherwise. Likewise, the term “include” and its grammatical variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation of items in a list is not to the exclusion of other like items that can be substituted or added to the listed items.
For the purposes of this specification and appended claims, unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing amounts, sizes, dimensions, proportions, shapes, formulations, parameters, percentages, quantities, characteristics, and other numerical values used in the specification and claims, are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about” even though the term “about” may not expressly appear with the value, amount or range. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the following specification and attached claims are not and need not be exact, but may be approximate and/or larger or smaller as desired, reflecting tolerances, conversion factors, rounding off, measurement error and the like, and other factors known to those of skill in the art depending on the desired properties sought to be obtained by the subject matter of the present invention. For example, the term “about,” when referring to a value can be meant to encompass variations of, in some embodiments ±100%, in some embodiments ±50%, in some embodiments ±20%, in some embodiments ±10%, in some embodiments ±5%, in some embodiments ±1%, in some embodiments ±0.5%, and in some embodiments ±0.1% from the specified amount, as such variations are appropriate to perform the disclosed methods or employ the disclosed compositions.
Further, the term “about” when used in connection with one or more numbers or numerical ranges, should be understood to refer to all such numbers, including all numbers in a range and modifies that range by extending the boundaries above and below the numerical values set forth. The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers, e.g., whole integers, including fractions thereof, subsumed within that range (for example, the recitation of 1 to 5 includes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, as well as fractions thereof, e.g., 1.5, 2.25, 3.75, 4.1, and the like) and any range within that range.
All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned in the specification are indicative of the level of those skilled in the art to which the presently disclosed subject matter pertains. All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent application, patent, and other reference was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. It will be understood that, although a number of patent applications, patents, and other references are referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents forms part of the common general knowledge in the art.
Although the foregoing subject matter has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that certain changes and modifications can be practiced within the scope of the appended claims.
The present invention is a U.S. Continuation-in-Part patent application that claims priority to U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 18/134,312, filed on Apr. 13, 2023, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 18134312 | Apr 2023 | US |
| Child | 18489763 | US |
