US 7,927,253 · Granted 2011-04-19
How Adidas Turned Your Running Shoes Into a Video Game
Imagine your sneakers could talk to your phone and turn your actual run into a video game where your real speed and heart rate control what happens on screen. That's what this patent covers—a system that combines fitness trackers with gaming to make training fun instead of boring.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a sports training system that combines wearable monitors (measuring things like speed, pace, distance, heart rate, or altitude) with a handheld device that receives that data and feeds it into an electronic game. What's protected here is the specific way real-world athletic performance data gets converted into game inputs—so your actual running speed might move your avatar faster, or your heart rate might affect your score or game actions.
Why it matters
This patent represents an early attempt to merge fitness tracking with gaming motivation. By making training competitive and interactive rather than solo and repetitive, companies can increase user engagement and loyalty. For Adidas, owning this technology helped position them in the growing wearables space where hardware, software, and gameplay intersect—a market that has since exploded with smartwatches and fitness apps.
Real-world use
When you run with a fitness app that shows an avatar moving faster as you pick up pace, or a game where your heart rate unlocks achievements, you're using the exact feedback loop this patent describes.
Original USPTO abstract
A sports electronic training system with electronic gaming features, and applications thereof, are disclosed. In an embodiment, the system comprises at least one monitor and a portable electronic processing device for receiving data from the at least one monitor and providing feedback to an individual based on the received data. The monitor can be a motion monitor that measures an individual's performance such as, for example, speed, pace and distance for a runner. Other monitors might include a heart rate monitor, a temperature monitor, an altimeter, et cetera. In an embodiment, an input is provided to an electronic game based on data obtained from the at least one monitor that effects, for example, an avatar, a digitally created character, an action within the game, or a game score of the electronic game.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 7,927,253
- Filing date
- 2009-04-01
- Grant date
- 2011-04-19
- Assignee
- Adidas International Marketing B.V.
- Inventor(s)
- VINCENT STEPHEN MICHAEL, DIBENEDETTO CHRISTIAN, OLESON MARK ARTHUR, GAUDIO PAUL
- CPC class
- G16H20/30
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