ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,501,971, issued on Dec. 23, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).
"Sensing device for footwear" was invented by Steven H. Walker (Camas, Wash.) and Phillip Meneau (Portland, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A foot presence sensor system for an active article of footwear 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, configured to trigger one or more automated functions of the footwear based on a foot presence indication. In an example, the sensor system includes a capacitive sensor configured to sense changes in a capacitanc...