ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,369,680, issued on July 29, was assigned to Shimano Inc. (Osaka, Japan).
"Shoe sole" was invented by Kadunori Iuchi (Osaka, Japan), Junichi Kikuta (Osaka, Japan) and Toshiaki Aoki (Osaka, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A shoe sole includes a first sole layer including a first region having a first rigidity, and a plurality of second regions having a second rigidity that is more flexible than the first rigidity. The plurality of the second regions extends in a longitudinal direction of the shoe sole. The plurality of the second regions is spaced from a toe edge of the first sole layer, and is spaced from a heel edge of the first sol...