Patent Publication Number: US-2016223356-A1

Title: Light-emitting pedometer sneaker

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a shoe and, more particularly, to a light-emitting pedometer sneaker. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     As paying more attention to health, modern people tend to exercise or do workout during their leisure time. Walking or jogging could be some of the most economic and effective exercises. However, excessive amount of exercise oftentimes overloads or even injures the body. Not only can&#39;t attainment of exercise and workout goal be fulfilled, but also the likelihood of body injury increases. Hence, appropriate amount of exercise and rest is necessary. Carrying a pedometer to calculate the amount of exercise during walking or jogging could be one of the options that people from all walks of life will choose. 
     A pedometer installed in a conventional pedometer sneaker can be adopted to calculate the number of steps that users have walked or jogged and a current amount of exercise according to the number of steps and to further plan for a desired amount of exercise with users&#39; physical conditions taken into account. However, to observe the number of steps that users have walked or jogged, users have to bend over their bodies to watch the number of steps displayed on the pedometer. Additionally, when wearing the pair of conventional pedometer sneakers to walk or jog in the night time, because of poor visibility, users have to beware of obstacle in the path of walking or jogging and also stay alert at vehicles in the neighborhood. Supposing that a conspicuous light-emitting or reflective device is not equipped, unexpected accident may happen when people doing walking or jogging is ignored by drivers of the vehicles around. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An objective of the present invention is to provide a light-emitting pedometer sneaker capable of recording a number of steps that a user has walked or jogged, and emitting light with different colors to remind the user of the number of steps and to warn off vehicles in the neighborhood for avoidance of traffic accident. 
     To achieve the foregoing objective, the light-emitting pedometer sneaker includes a body, at least one multicolor light-emitting unit, a pedometer module and a power supply module. 
     The body has a sole and a vamp. The vamp is mounted around a top edge of the sole. 
     The at least one multicolor light-emitting unit is mounted on the vamp of the body. 
     The pedometer module is mounted on the sole of the body and is electrically connected to the multicolor light-emitting unit to record a number of steps and to control a light-emitting rule of light emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit according to the recorded number of steps. 
     The power supply module is mounted inside the sole and is electrically connected to the multicolor light-emitting unit and the pedometer module to supply an operating power to the multicolor light-emitting unit and the pedometer module. 
     Given the pedometer module, the color of light emitted from the at least one multicolor light-emitting unit can be controlled to remind a user of the number of steps that a user has walked or jogged according to the color of the emitted light. Accordingly, the user can have a personal exercise plan according to a current amount of exercise. Additionally, the light-emitting pedometer sneaker emits light in the dark and thus warns off vehicles in the neighborhood for avoidance of traffic accident. 
     Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a first embodiment of a light-emitting pedometer sneaker in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of a second embodiment of a light-emitting pedometer sneaker in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of a third embodiment of a light-emitting pedometer sneaker in accordance with the present invention in collaboration with a mobile device; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view of the light-emitting pedometer sneaker in  FIG. 3  collaborated with a health management system; 
         FIG. 5  is a functional block diagram of the light-emitting pedometer sneaker in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is another functional block diagram of the light-emitting pedometer sneaker in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a functional block diagram of the light-emitting pedometer sneaker in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a functional block diagram of the light-emitting pedometer sneaker in  FIG. 3 ; and 
         FIG. 9  is a functional block diagram of the light-emitting pedometer sneaker collaborated with the health management system in  FIG. 4 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 5 , a first embodiment of a light-emitting pedometer sneaker in accordance with the present invention includes a body  10 , at least one multicolor light-emitting unit  20 , a pedometer module  30  and a power supply module  40 . 
     The body  10  has a vamp  11  and a sole  12 . The vamp  11  is mounted around a top edge of the sole  12 . The at least one multicolor light-emitting unit  20  is mounted on the vamp  11  of the body  10 . In the present embodiment, the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  is a light-emitting diode (LED) device or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device. 
     The pedometer module  30  is mounted on the sole  12  of the body  10  and is electrically connected to the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  to record a number of steps that a wearer of the light-emitting pedometer sneaker have walked or jogged and controls a color of light emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  according to the recorded number of steps. The pedometer module  30  has a vibration-sensing unit  31  and a microprocessor  32 . An output terminal of the vibration-sensing unit  31  is electrically connected to the microprocessor  32 . An output terminal of the microprocessor  32  is electrically connected to the multicolor light-emitting unit  20 . The vibration-sensing unit  31  transmits an electronic signal to the microprocessor  32  according to vibration of each step sensed when the wearer is walking. The microprocessor  32  calculates the number of steps according the received electronic signals and further outputs a control signal according to the calculated number of steps to control a light-emitting rule and a blinking rule of light emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20 . In the present embodiment, the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  is arranged in the form of a pattern or texts and includes at least one LED and a light-guiding element. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 6 , the vibration-sensing unit  31  of the pedometer module  30  in  FIG. 5  can be replaced by a pressure-sensing unit  33 . When the pedometer module  30  is equipped with the pressure-sensing unit  30 , an output terminal of the pressure-sensing unit  30  is electrically connected to the microprocessor  32  and transmits an electronic signal to the microprocessor  32  according to a pressure variation generated by a foot of the wearer upon walking or jogging each step. The microprocessor  32  calculates the number of steps that the wearer has walked or jogged according to the electronic signal. The microprocessor  32  further outputs a control signal according to the calculated number of steps to control a light-emitting rule and a blinking rule of light emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20 . For example, blue light is emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  when the calculated number of steps is less than 30,000 steps, green light is emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  when the calculated number of steps is more than 30,000 steps and less than 40,000 steps, yellow light is emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  when the calculated number of steps is more than 40,000 steps and less than 50,000 steps, and red light is emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  when the calculated number of steps is more than 50,000 steps. 
     The pedometer module  30  further has a display unit  34  electrically connected to the microprocessor  32  to display the number of steps calculated by the microprocessor  32 . 
     The power supply module  40  is mounted inside the sole  12  and is electrically connected to the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  and the pedometer module  30  to supply operating power of the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  and the pedometer module  30 . For example, the power supply module  40  may be a regular dry cell, which is replaced when the dry cell is empty, or a rechargeable battery, which is electrically connected to and charged by an external power source when the rechargeable battery runs out. Additionally, the power supply module  40  is a solar cell, which is charged when the sunlight is sufficient. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 2 and 7 , a second embodiment of a light-emitting pedometer sneaker in accordance with the present invention differs from the first embodiment in an additional set of configuration buttons  50 . The set of configuration buttons  50  are electrically connected to the microprocessor  32  and serves for users to configure a target step number stored in the microprocessor  32  of the pedometer module  30 . When the calculated number of steps is getting close to the target step number, the microprocessor  32  adjusts the color of light emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  according to a degree of closeness to the target step number to inform the user of a state that the number of steps the user has walked or jogged approaches the target step number and to remind the user to plan an amount of exercise and not to exercise excessively. When the number of steps that the user has walked or jogged reaches the target step number, the microprocessor  32  of the pedometer  30  then sets the target step number back to zero for the user to reconfigure a new target step number and also sets the current number of steps back to zero for calculation of the number of steps in following exercise. For example, suppose that the user configures the target step number as 50,000 steps. The microprocessor  32  outputs a control signal to control the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  to emit blue light, green light, yellow light or red light when the number of steps calculated by the microprocessor  32  is less than 30,000 steps, when the calculated number of steps is more than 30,000 steps and less than 40,000 steps, when the calculated number of steps is more than 40,000 steps and less than 50,000 steps, or when the calculated number of steps is more than 50,000 steps. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 3 and 8 , a third embodiment of a light-emitting pedometer sneaker in accordance with the present invention differs from the first embodiment in an additional signal receiving unit  35  for receiving a configuration signal and transmitting the configuration signal to the microprocessor  32 . After receiving the configuration signal, the microprocessor  32  sets the target step number according to the configuration signal. Users can enter the target step number through the mobile device  60 . The configuration signal is wirelessly transmitted from a mobile device  60  to the signal receiving unit  35  of the pedometer module  30 . In the present embodiment, the mobile device  60  is a smart phone. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 4 and 9 , the light-emitting pedometer sneaker in  FIGS. 3 and 8  is operated in collaboration with a health management system  70 . The health management system  70  is worn on a user to sense fatigue indices of the user required for determining a physical condition of the user&#39;s body and generating a control signal. The health management system  70  includes a physiological parameter sensing module  71 , a processing unit  72  and a signal communication unit  73 . For example, the health management system  70  senses the fatigue indices, including but not limited to blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydroenase (LDH) and the like, to determine if the current physical condition of the user is good for more amount of exercise. 
     The processing unit  72  generates the control signal according to the foregoing fatigue indices and transmits the control signal to the signal receiving unit  35  of the pedometer module  30 . The signal receiving unit  35  of the pedometer module  30  receives the control signal and transmits the control signal to the microprocessor  32 . After receiving the control signal, the microprocessor  32  controls the color of light emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  according to the control signal as an indication of the physical condition of the user. For example, the microprocessor  32  control the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  to emit green light, yellow light, and red light when the fatigue indices represent a regular physical condition, when the fatigue indices represent a critical physical condition, or when the fatigue indices represent a dangerous physical condition. The indication of red light emitted from the multicolor light-emitting unit  20  intends to inform the user that a danger jeopardizing body health of the user may arise from more amount of exercise. 
     Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.