Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve got a pair of shoes that are so old that your feet touch the ground, you’re going to need a new pair – this will no longer have to be a scenario where you have to make that judgement if Apple’s newest patent application is realized. In the application revealed this week, Apple has shown an outline for how they might place sensors in shoes that track the wear and tear on the soles of the footwear in a variety of ways. The end result will be a pair of shoes that informs the wearer if they get worn out while walking then warns every subsequent wearer (if there are any) that they are not fit to use.

This system in one case decides how much you’ve used the shoes based on the movement of a “body bar.” This bar works with a coupling mechanism attached to a detector that senses movement of the bar when they’re active. This way you’ve got a sensor that only activates when enough weight is placed in the shoes, then only when you’re pressing down on the soles (not while you’ve got your feet dangling). Another suggestion from the patent includes notes of how you’d be able to use this system for more than just knowledge of wear.

If you’d have sensors such as this showing the pressure along the sole of your shoe, you’d also have the ability to track your movements in an advanced way. If you’re seeing how well a person is walking, how much and with how much pressure they’re moving, you’ve got an advanced physical activity system in the making. These systems are being suggested to be paired with wireless connectivity (wi-fi or Bluetooth), LED displays, speakers, and more.

While we’ve never seen Apple create a shoe on their own in the past, we’ve seen collaborations between them and Nike more than once. This patent application is likely set for a bit of footwear that could potentially exist in the future, but there’s no real sign at the moment (other than the patent itself) that any such footwear is currently in the works. What do you think, readers – is it time for Apple to create their own brand of clothing and shoes?

[via CNET]

Apple patent shows shoe sensor for information on sole death is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We have seen a couple of Apple patents on our page earlier this morning, but here we are to balance the scale of things with word on an Apple patent instead. While the Google Project Glass has yet to hit the mainstream market at a price that will not tax most folks’ pockets too much, here we are with a patent that depicts a Project Glass-like device that carries bone conduction audio capability.

This particular gizmo has been described as a “wearable computing device with indirect bone-conduction speaker” in the patent application, where it seems to share a similar structural make-up as that of Project Glass. Touted to come with a minimum of one vibration transducer, there is every possibility that this head mounted display device will not make your ears tingle with stereo sound. Well, what do you make of it? There are other manufacturers out there who have bone conduction devices in the market as well, so it would be interesting to see how the future pans out.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Archos Design Bluetooth Keyboard For iPad, DNA Offers Cavernous Storage Option,

Nike’s running sensor, a detachable piece of tech that connected to a companion iOS app, is the closest that Apple’s associated itself to foot metrics so far, but folded inside the company’s patent applications for today is this left-field addition, a shoe wear-out sensor. We assume the idea is geared towards runners — presumably these brogue outlines we’re looking at above are just red herrings.

The application draws together two possible outcomes: one with an thin sensor layer built your footwear of choice and another which keeps the sensor in the heel. A “unitless activity number” is also mentioned, where the device (which could include accelerometers, flexibility sensors and more) could craft an “activity value” based on your movement — this would then also be used to gauge the shelf-life of your current footwear. When this pre-specified threshold is exceeded, it would then sound the alarm. According to one diagram, the process could connect with an external display, likely broadcasting its concern to your nearby iOS device. But if your running needs demand a sensor to tell you when your sneakers are cooked, there might be other things worth tracking.

Filed under: Misc, Apple

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Source: USPTO

It’s no floor cleaner, so it looks like iRobot‘s looking to expand its horizons, filing a patent application for a “robotic fabricator”. While not granted (yet), the USPTO filing outlines an all-in-one 3D printer that is capable of post-print milling and processing. Typical 3D printing results in an ‘overhang’ excess that needs to be clipped from the finished article, but iRobot’s loosely worded notion would process these automatically, as well as seams formed where parts are fused together. Multiple manipulators mean that the object can be contorted over “at least six axes”, while the toolhead would combine together a print and milling head, alongside an exotically-named robocasting extruder, which is used in building up the layers of material. The design aims to reduce the need for any non-automated manufacturing processes, hopefully meaning effortless turtleshell kart production and reduced printing blemishes — that is, if it makes it to reality.

Filed under: Robots, Science

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Via: Adafruit

Source: USPTO

Most smartphones, if not all of them, have the ability to auto-adjust the display’s brightness. This is a great way to save battery, not to mention using your phone at night will no longer blind you with its glare! However there are times and situations where auto-adjust might not be perfect and thanks to a new Apple patent, perhaps future iPhones or iOS updates might be introducing a new feature that will adjust your phone’s brightness depending on your screen content. According to the patent dubbed the “Portable media device with power-managed display”, it will be able to detect what’s being display on the screen, such as videos, images, websites, PDFs, etc.

For example if a PDF with a white/light background is displayed, then brightness of the device can afford to be lowered, versus a dark background where it might have to be brighter in order for it to be more legible. Videos on the other hand are a bit more complicated and according to the patent, the system will have to sample frames every so often in order to ensure a degree of consistency. It sounds like a pretty neat idea but unfortunately with patents, it’s hard to say if Apple is merely trying to protect an idea or if they actually have plans to implement it in their future products, but what do you guys think?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Patents Shoe Sensor To Detect When Shoes Begin To Degrade, Orangutans Now Use iPads ,