US 4,578,769 · Granted 1986-03-25
Nike's 1986 Running Computer: The Shoe Sensor That Started the Fitness Tech Race
Imagine a tiny pressure sensor inside your running shoe that detects every time your foot hits the ground. This patent describes how that sensor wirelessly transmits each footstep to a wristband computer, which calculates your speed, distance, time, and calories burned — essentially turning your shoe into a fitness tracker before fitness trackers were cool.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a complete system: a pressure sensor or switch embedded in a shoe that detects foot contact with the ground, a wireless transmitter that sends that contact signal from the shoe to a receiver, and a microprocessor that analyzes the timing and pattern of those signals to calculate running speed. What's protected here is the specific combination of wireless foot-contact measurement, the transmitter-receiver link, and the algorithm that derives speed solely from how long and how often the foot touches the surface.
Why it matters
This patent represents one of the earliest attempts to digitize running performance in real time using wearable sensors and wireless communication. Filed in 1983 and granted in 1986, it anticipated the modern fitness-tracking industry by decades. While it may not have spawned a commercial product under Nike's direct branding, it established foundational claims around shoe-embedded sensors and wireless biometric transmission — territory that would become central to running watches, smartwatches, and connected athletic gear that generate billions in revenue today.
Real-world use
Modern running watches and apps that display your real-time pace and distance rely on similar principles: detecting your cadence (how often your foot strikes) and converting that into speed, though today's devices often use accelerometers and GPS rather than ground-contact switches.
Original USPTO abstract
A device for measuring the speed of a person while running along a surface is disclosed. A pressure switch or transducer located in a shoe senses when a foot of the runner is in contact with the surface and produces a foot contact signal having a duration proportional to the time the foot is in contact with the surface. A radio frequency transmitter is coupled to the pressure switch or transducer and transmits the foot contact signal. A radio frequency transmitter receives the foot contact signal transmitted by the frequency transmitter and a microprocessor coupled to the radio frequency receiver calculates, solely from the foot contact signal, an output speed signal representing the speed of the runner. A liquid crystal display coupled to the output of the microprocessor displays the speed of the runner in accordance with the output speed signal.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 4,578,769
- Filing date
- 1983-02-09
- Grant date
- 1986-03-25
- Assignee
- Nike, Inc.
- Inventor(s)
- FREDERICK; EDWARD C.
- CPC class
- G01S17/58
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