Patent ID: 7127834

Claim:
A shoe sole suitable for an athletic shoe, comprising: a bottom sole; a midsole which is softer than the bottom sole; an inner surface of the midsole including at least one portion that is convexly rounded, as viewed in frontal plane cross-section of the shoe sole, when the shoe sole is in an upright, unloaded condition, the convexity is determined relative to a section of the midsole located directly adjacent to the convexly rounded portion of the inner surface; an outer surface of the shoe sole having an uppermost portion which extends at least above a height of a lowest point of the inner surface of the midsole, as viewed in said frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is in an upright, unloaded condition; the outer surface of the shoe sole includes at least one concavely rounded portion, as viewed in said frontal plane cross-section, when the shoe sole is in an upright, unloaded condition, and the concavity of the concavely rounded portion of the sole outer surface is determined relative to an inner section of the shoe sole located directly adjacent to the concavely rounded portion of the sole outer surface; a lateral sidemost section located outside a straight vertical line extending through the shoe sole at a lateral sidemost extent of the inner surface of the midsole, as viewed in said frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition; a medial sidemost section located outside a straight vertical line extending through the shoe sole at a medial sidemost extent of the inner surface of the midsole, as viewed in said frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition; an area of the shoe sole defined by said concavely rounded portion of said outer surface and said convexly rounded portion of said inner surface having a uniform thickness (S); at least a part of said concavely rounded portion of said outer surface of the shoe sole defining said uniform thickness area extends into at least one of said sidemost sections; at least part of said concavely rounded portion of the sole outer surface of the shoe sole defining said uniform thickness area, a portion of said bottom sole and a portion of the midsole are all located at least in the same sidemost section of the shoe sole, as viewed in said frontal plane cross-section when the shoe sole is upright and in an unloaded condition; and wherein the concavely rounded portion of the outer surface of the shoe sole includes a part formed by the midsole.