Patent Application
20250134202
The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting the position information of a moving object mounted on a moving object such as a human being. In particular, the present invention relates to a GPS module attachable to upper portion of the shoe.
Articles of footwear, such as shoes, boots, slippers, sandals, and the like, are generally composed of two main elements: an upper for securing the footwear to a foot of a user; a sole structure that provides underlying support for a foot. The upper may be made of a variety of materials, including textiles, foams, polymers, natural and synthetic leathers, etc., that may be stitched or adhesively bonded together to form an enclosure or harness for securely receiving the foot. For sandals and slippers, the upper may have an open toe or heel configuration, or may be generally limited to a series of straps that extend over the instep, and may surround the ankle in some designs. In contrast, the boot and shoe designs incorporate a complete upper having a closed toe or heel configuration and an ankle opening through the heel portion that provides access to the interior of the footwear to facilitate entry or removal of the foot into or out of the upper. A lace or strap may be used to secure the foot within the upper.
In recent years, kids, wandering elderly people, dementia patients, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “location detectors”) have gone missing due to going out of facilities or the like, resulting in an increasing number of cases meeting disastrous accidents.
Therefore, there is a movement to try to confine the detected person in the facility or the like, but there is a possibility that the symptoms such as dementia proceed and the problem of human rights violation may be caused.
As long as the detected person goes out, if the position information can be grasped with certainty, the problem as described above is eliminated. It is possible for the detected person to attach a Global Positioning System (hereinafter referred to as “GPS”) transmitter to the shoes when going out and detect the position information of the detected person by using a smart phone or the like.
GPS (Global Positioning System) refers to a satellite navigation system that calculates the user's current location by receiving signals from GPS satellites. It is mainly used in navigation devices such as airplanes, ships, and automobiles, and recently it is being used a lot in smartphones and tablet PCs.
To calculate the user's current location, GPS measures the exact time and distance from 3 or more satellites and calculates the current position accurately according to the triangular method of 3 different distances, obtains distance and time information from 3 satellites and corrects errors.
On the other hand, Pedestrian Navigation System (Pedestrian Navigation System) is a digital map that uses various location measurement technologies to provide various Location Based Services (LBS) including path finding to pedestrians.
The development and utilization of a pedestrian navigation system is required to prevent missing children and the disappearance of elderly people with dementia.
However, in the prior art, various technologies have been discussed which proposed the attachment of the GPS system to the soles, preferably mid soles of the shoes which is usually sandwiched between upper and lower soles.
The problem with the such technologies is that the soles are subject to constant pressure and the system provided in the soles is also impacted by the pressure according to body weight as well as the shocks generated by the lower sole while walking, running, jumping, etc. Due to this impact the tracking system provided in the sole is prone to wear and tear which may lead to malfunction of the system and it may also stop working totally.
Further, many aspects like body weight, type of activity etc. are required to be considered while designing the shoes with GPS in soles. The plantar pressure of each user may be measured, and the insole may be manufactured according to a custom fit for each user based on the measured plantar pressure information, which may be very expensive.
In case the GPS system stops working, it may not be reparable as the sole of the shoe has to be dismantled to gain access to the GPS system placed therein, which may impact the strength of the shoe sole when replaced. Further, the system cannot be used with other shoes, which do not have such sole configuration. Thus, every time you need GPS enabled shoes you would need to buy a new pair of shoes.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative solutions that are able to provide GPS system which may be used on the upper of the shoe and can be easily attached/detached according to the requirement and can be used with any pair of shoes regardless of the configuration of the sole.
The present invention has been devised to solve the above problems, and the object thereof is to provide a shoe having an attachable/detachable pouch that holds a GPS module and a positioning system.
The object of the present invention is not limited to the purpose mentioned above, and other objects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below.
To achieve the above object, according an embodiment of the invention, the present invention is a shoe comprising an upper, a sole, wherein a pouch containing a GPS module for transmitting a current location signal is provided on the upper of the shoe.
According to further aspects of the invention, a pouch containing a GPS module is attachable through a shoe's lace holes, tongue cover with a Velcro-sealable under-pouch that conceals a small GPS tracker for tracking kids, elderly folks, and any person with shoes that have laces.
According to another aspect of the invention, the pouch containing the GPS module is an attachable, non-sticky pad made of cloth, canvas, leather, synthetic leather, rexine or a combination of these that runs from the start of the first holes of the laces of a pair of shoes to the top of, or before the top of, the shoe's tongue.
The GPS module pouch comprises lace holes on its sides so that the shoelaces can secure it to the shoe's tongue and hold it in place. The GPS module pouch comprises at least one shoelace hole in equal quantity on each side. The number of holes may be equal to the number of the holes in the shoe on which the GPS module pouch is required to be attached.
According to another embodiment, the pouch containing the GPS module has the Velcro-sealable opening on the side that faces down which will be able to be opened and closed with Velcro. This pouch will hold a small, live tracking GPS system.
According to yet another embodiment, the pouch containing the GPS module has lace holes on its sides so that the shoelaces can hold it together to the shoe's tongue and secure it in place.
According to an exemplary embodiment, the pouch containing the GPS module extends to a portion of the shoe's tongue.
According to an exemplary embodiment, the pouch containing the GPS module extends the entire length of the shoe's tongue.
According a further aspect of the invention, the pouch containing the GPS module is formed so that the GPS module can be detached therefrom.
The location tracking system of the present invention includes an upper, a sole and a GPS module for transmitting a current location signal and is attachable to the upper of shoes using shoe holes and shoe laces.
The current location of the person is tracked using a shoe having a pouch containing the GPS module and a current location signal transmitted from the GPS module attached to the shoe, using a dedicated application installed for this purpose and a terminal displaying the current location of the GPS module on a screen through a dedicated application.
The terminal may display the current location of the GPS module on a map in the dedicated application.
The terminal provides a function for setting a safe zone for a specific area in the dedicated application, and can immediately display an alarm when the GPS module enters or leaves the safe zone.
According to the present invention, by proposing a shoe in which a pouch containing the GPS module is mounted on the tongue of the shoe using shoe holes and shoe laces, there is no fear that the child or the elderly will lose the GPS module, and more safely and accurately track the location of the child, the elderly, or a patient with dementia.
In addition, according to the present invention, the location can be easily tracked through a dedicated application installed in a mobile communication terminal such as a smart phone, and various accidents can be prevented for children, the elderly, or dementia patients.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description describe various embodiments and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the claimed subject matter. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the various embodiments, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate the various embodiments described herein, and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operations of the claimed subject matter.
The terms used in this specification will be briefly described, and the disclosed embodiments will be described in detail.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the pouch containing the GPS module described herein, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. Referring to the figures generally, embodiments of the GPS module provided herein include the pouch containing the GPS module coupled to shoes. Further, the GPS module determines the current position of the person. This information is sent to a terminal which may display the current location of the GPS module on a map in the dedicated application.
Embodiments of the pouch containing the GPS module are described herein specifically with respect to shoes. However, the pouch containing the GPS module may be used with other daily use items such as apparels, handbags, backpacks, and the like where it can be placed with suitable modifications.
Singular expressions in this specification include plural expressions unless the context clearly specifies that they are singular.
When it is said that a certain component is “included” in the entire specification, it means that other components may be further included, rather than excluding other components unless otherwise stated. Also, the term “module” used in the specification means a hardware component such as software, and “module” performs certain roles. However, “module” is not meant to be limited to software or hardware. A “module” may be configured to reside in an addressable storage medium and may be configured to reproduce on one or more processors. Thus, as an example, “module” refers to components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, processes, functions, properties, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays and variables.
In addition, in the description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same components regardless of reference numerals, and overlapping descriptions thereof will be omitted.
Referring to
According to an embodiment, the number of holes may be similar to number of hoes of shoe lace on which is required to be attached.
A Velcro-zipper 105 is provided on bottom of GPS module, with which it can be attached to the tongue cover of shoe. The Velcro zipper may be provided in entire are of the GPS module instead of side. Further, the Velcro zipper may be provided in any other fashion such a diagonal strips or any other fashion. The invention is described herein with reference to Velcro zipper, however, other similar arrangement like buttons, resealable zippers may be provided for similar purpose.
The pouch containing the GPS module comprises a GPS tracker 101 connected to a battery 102 and a microprocessor 103. Kids, elderly folks, and any person with shoes that have laces with the pouch containing the GPS module 100 attached can be easily tracked with a GPS tracker 101.
In the present invention, in a shoe 200, the pouch containing the GPS module 100 is attached through shoe laces using the holes 104, so that the GPS module 100 is detachable.
According to an aspect of the invention, the pouch containing the GPS module 100 is provided on the entire length of shoe tongue 204.
According to another aspect, the GPS module 100 is provided only on a portion of the shoe tongue 204.
The terminal tracks the current location of the GPS module 100 using the current location signal transmitted from the shoe 200 and the GPS module 100, and a dedicated application is installed for this purpose, and through the dedicated application The current location of the GPS module 100 is displayed on the screen.
The terminal may display the current location of the GPS module 100 on a map in a dedicated application.
According to an embodiment the terminal may be provided with a function to set a safe zone for a specific area in a dedicated application, and can immediately display an alarm when the GPS module 100 enters or leaves the safe zone.
The pouch containing the GPS module 100 of the present invention is attached to any shoe through shoe lace holes using holes 104 of the pouch containing the GPS module 100.
As an alternative embodiment, the pouch containing the GPS module can also be attached to any shoe on the shoe tongue using Velcro zipper or buttons or any similar mechanism.
The pouch containing the GPS module 100 can be easily detached and placed on new pair of shoes in case of shoe gets old or other pair of shoe is required to be used.
As the pouch containing the GPS module 100 is placed on the upper of the shoe, it is saved from wear and tear and easily attached detached with the mechanism described above.
Embodiments of the GPS module are described herein specifically with respect to shoes. However, the GPS module may be used with other daily use items such as apparels, handbags, backpacks, and the like where it can be placed with suitable modifications.
The present invention has been described above using several preferred examples, but these examples are illustrative and not limiting. Those skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs will understand that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention and the scope of rights set forth in the appended claims.
