ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,256,639, issued on March 18, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).
"Athletic activity monitoring device with energy capture" was invented by Summer Schneider (Portland, Ore.), Vikram Malhotra (Portland, Ore.), Marcus Ward (Salem, Ore.) and Jerry Wiant (Eugene, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Aspects relate to an energy harvesting device adapted for use by an athlete while exercising. The device may utilize a mass of phase-change material to store heat energy, the stored heat energy subsequently converted into electrical energy by one or more thermoelectric generator modules. The energy harvesting device may be integrated into...