ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,369,691, issued on July 29, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).

"Article of footwear with tubular structures" was invented by Stefan E. Guest (Portland, Ore.), Matthew J. Holmes (Portland, Ore.) and Yoav Sterman (Portland, Ore.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An article of footwear has a tubular structure that may conform to various anatomical features of a foot. The tubular structure has a tunnel, and a tensile strand runs through the tunnel. Applying tension along the tensile strand may cause the tubular structure to conform more closely to one or more anatomical features. The geometry, or path, of the tubular structure on the ...