ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,213,562, issued on Feb. 4, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).
"Lace routing pattern of a lacing system for an article of footwear" was invented by Tiffany A. Beers (Portland, Ore.) and Andrew A. Owings (Portland, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A lace routing pattern for a lacing system for an article of footwear is described. The lacing system is moved between opened and closed positions by applying tension to segments of a lace connected to a tensioning assembly of a tensioning system. Each of the lace segments are arranged to extend between opposite sides of a lacing area according to a different lace routing pattern. The...