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NikePatent applicationWearablesInterest 8/10

Nike patents shoes that vibrate to guide you to hidden virtual items

Nike describes smart shoes with a built-in motor that can tighten the laces and provide navigation help. The shoes connect to a phone to get GPS data and send vibrations to the foot to guide the user toward a specific location, such as a virtual item.

Why it mattersThis combines automatic lacing with physical navigation cues, potentially making it easier to find digital rewards in augmented reality games without looking at a screen.

In the filing’s own words

Presented are intelligent electronic footwear and apparel with controller-automated features, methods for making/operating such footwear and apparel, and control systems for executing automated features of such footwear and apparel. A method for operating an intelligent electronic shoe (IES) includes receiving, e.g., via a controller through a wireless communications device from a GPS satellite service, location data of a user. The controller also receives, e.g., from a backend server-class computer or other remote computing node, location data for a target object or site, such as a virtual shoe hidden at a virtual spot. The controller retrieves or predicts path plan data including a derived route for traversing from the user's location to the target's location within a geographic area. The controller then transmits command signals to a navigation alert system mounted to the IES's shoe structure to output visual, audio, and/or tactile cues that guide the user along the derived route.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method of operating an intelligent electronic shoe (IES), the IES including shoe structure configured to receive a foot of a user, a fastening mechanism attached to the shoe structure and configured to secure the foot to the shoe structure, and an electric motor mounted to the shoe structure and configured to tighten the fastening mechanism, the method comprising: receiving, via a dedicated mobile application (mobile app) operating on a personal computing device of the user, a user request from to tighten the fastening mechanism; transmitting, via the mobile app through the personal computing device to a shoe controller of the IES responsive to receiving the user request, a wireless command signal to activate a tensioning mode for operating the electric motor to tighten the fastening mechanism; commanding, via the shoe controller responsive to receiving the wireless command signal, the electric motor to tighten the fastening mechanism; receiving, via the mobile app through the personal computing device, location data indicative of a current location of the user; determining, via the mobile app, path plan data including a derived route for traversing from the current location of the user to a target location of a target object or site; transmitting, via the mobile app through the personal computing device to the shoe controller, a set of wireless command signals to activate a navigation mode for operating the electric motor to output tactile cues perceptible by the user; and commanding, via the shoe controller responsive to receiving the set of wireless command signals, the electric motor to generate a series of tactile cues configured to guide the user along the derived route to the target location.

Facts

Company
Nike (NIKE, Inc.)
Official title
INTELLIGENT ELECTRONIC FOOTWEAR AND LOGIC FOR NAVIGATION ASSISTANCE BY AUTOMATED TACTILE, AUDIO, AND VISUAL FEEDBACK
Publication number
US20260287384A1
Application number
19696109
Filed
Jun 2, 2026
Published
Sep 24, 2026
Inventors
2
Claims
20

Classified under

G01C 21/3652 Physics & computingA43B 3/34 Human necessitiesA43B 3/36 Human necessitiesA43B 3/44 Human necessitiesA43B 3/48 Human necessitiesA43B 3/50 Human necessities
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.