US 7,200,517 · Granted 2007-04-03
Nike's Shoe-Mounted Motion Sensor That Started the Fitness Tracker Era
Nike invented a small motion sensor that clips under your shoelace and tracks every step you take while running or walking. It can switch between two modes: one where it moves freely with your foot, and another where it locks in place for storage or transport.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a motion-sensing device mounted under a shoelace with a housing that can snap into two different states relative to its mount. What's protected here is the specific mechanism where a tongue-and-groove design lets the sensor housing either move freely with the shoe (first state) or lock rigidly in place (second state), while keeping the motion sensor safely contained inside the housing throughout both positions.
Why it matters
This patent represents an early approach to wearable fitness tracking in athletic shoes—a category that would eventually explode into a multi-billion-dollar market. By embedding motion sensors directly into footwear where they naturally belong, Nike pioneered the idea that your shoe itself could be a data-collection device, laying groundwork for later fitness trackers, smartwatches, and health-monitoring wearables that track your movement continuously.
Real-world use
When a runner laces up their shoes, a tiny motion detector sits hidden under the laces, silently counting steps and measuring stride patterns throughout their workout, then syncs the data to their phone.
Original USPTO abstract
In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a mount, a housing, and a sensor. The mount is adapted to be disposed at least partially underneath a shoelace of a shoe. The housing is configured and arranged to be placed in at least first and second states in relation to the mount, wherein in the first state the housing is movable with respect to the mount and in the second state the housing is immovable with respect to the mount. There is a tongue on one of the mount and the housing and a groove on the other of the mount and the housing, the tongue being adapted to engage the groove when the housing is in the second state in relation to the mount and to disengage the groove then the housing is in the first state with respect to the mount. The sensor, which senses motion of the shoe, is disposed within the housing such that the sensor remains disposed within the housing when the housing is placed in the first state in relation to the mount and the housing is moved with respect to the mount.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 7,200,517
- Filing date
- 2005-04-04
- Grant date
- 2007-04-03
- Assignee
- Nike, Inc.
- Inventor(s)
- DARLEY JESSE, GAUDET PAUL J., OHLENBUSCH NORBERT, BLACKADAR THOMAS
- CPC class
- G01C22/006
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