U.S. patent application number 11/897505 was filed with the patent office on 2011-04-28 for security footwear.
Invention is credited to Alfred Dana, III.
Application Number | 20110094127 11/897505 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43897164 |
Filed Date | 2011-04-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110094127 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Dana, III; Alfred |
April 28, 2011 |
Security footwear
Abstract
An article of security footwear includes electronic devices that
protect the wearer and those about him by sounding an alarm,
emitting an electronic signal, or activating a light source in the
event the shoe contains an unauthorized or dangerous article. The
shoe is of use when passing through a security pass point. The
security shoe can also be provided with electronic communicating
and or electronic locator devices with their attendant accessories
i.e. power, activating devices, transmitter, antenna, etc. which
can be activated by the user or a remote third party.
Inventors: |
Dana, III; Alfred; (Fort
Lauderale, FL) |
Family ID: |
43897164 |
Appl. No.: |
11/897505 |
Filed: |
August 30, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11082511 |
Mar 17, 2005 |
7363731 |
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11897505 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
36/137 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A43B 7/06 20130101; A43B
1/0027 20130101; A43B 3/001 20130101; A43B 23/04 20130101; A43B
1/0072 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
36/137 |
International
Class: |
A43B 23/00 20060101
A43B023/00 |
Claims
1. An article of footwear adapted for purposes of security
comprising a substantially not transparent sole, a substantially
non transparent shoe upper, one or more light sources mounted to
said footwear that can be seen exteriorly of said footwear, an
antenna mounted to said footwear, to a power source mounted to said
foot wear, a microprocessor mounted to said footwear, whereby said
one or more light sources are activated by a security scanning
device when said security scanning device detects a metal
object.
2. An article of footwear adapted to be worn by a wearer for
purposes of security comprising: a substantially not transparent
sole, a substantially non transparent shoe upper, one or more light
sources mounted to said footwear that can be seen exteriorly of
said footwear, an antenna mounted to said footwear, a power source
mounted to said foot wear, a microprocessor mounted to said
footwear, whereby said one or more light sources are activated by a
remote radio frequency device to signal the wearer.
3. An article of footwear adapted to be worn by a wearer for
purposes of security comprising: a substantially not transparent
sole, a substantially non transparent shoe upper, an audible alarm
mounted to said footwear that can be heard exteriorly of said
footwear, an antenna mounted to said footwear, a power source
mounted to said foot wear, a microprocessor mounted to said
footwear, whereby said audible alarm is activated by a remote radio
frequency device.
4. An article of footwear adapted to be worn by a wearer for
purposes of security comprising: a substantially not transparent
sole, a substantially non transparent shoe upper, a location
identification means mounted to said footwear that can be received
by a remote microprocessor, an antenna mounted to said footwear, a
power source mounted to said foot wear, a microprocessor mounted to
said footwear, whereby said location identification means is
activated by a remote radio frequency device.
5. An article of footwear adapted to be worn by a wearer for
purposes of security comprising: a substantially not transparent
sole, a substantially non transparent shoe upper, a communication
means mounted to said footwear that can be received by a remote
microprocessor, an antenna mounted to said footwear, to a power
source mounted to said foot wear, a microprocessor mounted to said
footwear, whereby said communication means is activated by a remote
radio frequency device.
6. The security footwear of claim 5 including a microphone
electronically connected to said communication means, said
microphone being adapted to transmit a communication to a remote
location by radio frequency means.
Description
[0001] This application is a Continuation in Part of patent
application Ser. No. 11/082,511, filed on Mar. 17, 2005, entitled
Security Footwear.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This application pertains in general to the field of an
article of footwear and in particular an article of footwear
adapted for purposes of security to the wearer and those around the
wearer.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The events of Sep. 11, 2001 have made security an extremely
high priority in the United States and else were around the world.
Accordingly, there has been an increase in the level of security at
many airports, federal and ordinary commercial buildings and other
locales which are open to the public. Law enforcement agencies have
increased their awareness of possible terrorists attacks, and even
the public themselves are now more aware of possible danger
[0004] Most airports now require passengers to remove their shoes
before the passenger passes through a metal detector as some types
of footwear contain metal. And even if the metal detector does not
alarm, many types of footwear will require additional x-ray
screening such as boots, platform shoes, thick soled shoes,
including but not limited to athletic footwear, construction shoes,
and the like where dangerous devices can be hidden therein.
Accordingly, it is desire able to have footwear that is easily
removable, comfortable, and that will speed the process of
screening at airports and other locations that are accessible to
the public that may comprise possible terrorist's targets.
[0005] Further, it is known that terrorist groups will kidnap or
abduct influential or rich travelers or pedestrians for purposes of
ransom to further support their terrorist's activities, or to
attempt to coerce a country to discontinue certain activities, or
simply to kill the abductees. Accordingly, it is desirable to have
footwear that identifies and provides the location of such persons
whether traveling or not. Such footwear is also advantageous to
monitor the whereabouts of children who are unfortunately readily
available to child molesters.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention is directed to a substantially
transparent and or a substantially opaque article of footwear. This
article of footwear comprises a resilient sole including a gripping
surface and a shoe upper integrally dependent from the resilient
sole. The upper can include means for aeration of a foot of a user,
an insole disposed within the shoe upper, and closure means. The
closure means can include means for stabilizing an ankle and
in-step area of the foot of the user within the article of
footwear. Said shoe includes a heel portion formed of a flexible
material and a forward portion of integrally dependent from said
heel portion. Said forward portion of the upper can comprise a mesh
fabric for aeration of the foot of the user. One edge of said
stabilizing means can further comprise means for elastic engagement
of said ankle and in-step area of said foot. Preferably imbedded
within the sole of the shoe are electronics that can comprise a
power source, light source, an alarm, a radio frequency
identification microprocessor, a location microprocessor, radio
frequency oral communication means, an antennae, and switch means
to activate, pause, and deactivate the electronics. Alternatively,
all or part of said electronics can be packaged in one or more
containers that can be attached to the shoe.
[0007] It is an object of the invention to provide an article of
footwear that will allow travelers to pass through security
detectors at a quicker pace.
[0008] It is another object to provide a comfortable and easily
removable article of footwear that may also be used when traveling
or in every day use.
[0009] It is a further object to provide an article of footwear
than can be used as a normal shoe in every day use and provide
personal security and safety to the user by providing for
transmitting of the user's location, for singling the user and for
allowing oral communication between the user and another party.
[0010] The above and yet other objects and advantages of the
present invention will become apparent from the hereinafter set
forth Brief Description of the Drawings, Detailed Description of
the Invention, and Claims appended herewith.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of the article of footwear
of the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a perspective top view of the article of FIG.
1.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a perspective, exploded view of the article of
footwear of FIG. 1.
[0014] FIG. 4 is an illustrative view showing insertion of the foot
of a user into the article of footwear of FIG. 1.
[0015] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the components of the shoe.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0016] The instant invention relates to an article of footwear 10,
as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5. The article of footwear 10 includes a
resilient sole 20, a flexible shoe upper 30, an insole 40, and a
closure means 50; each of which can be substantially transparent or
substantially opaque. Said resilient sole 20 can include a gripping
surface 22 to provide traction of the article of footwear 10 when
worn by a user, as is shown in FIG. 4. Other configurations of the
gripping surface as are known in the art can alternatively be used.
The length and width of the sole 20 may vary to accommodate the
sizes of a human foot. Said shoe upper 30 is integrally dependent
from said sole 20. Such dependence may be accomplished by bonding
or integral molding of the elements. As shown in FIG. 1, said shoe
upper 30 includes a heel portion 60 that can be formed of more
rigid material than sole 20. Said shoe upper 30 also includes a
forward portion 62 which is integrally dependent from said heel
portion 60.
[0017] Said shoe upper 30 and sole 20 are preferably made of a
thermoplastic such as a polyvinyl. Said shoe upper 30 and sole 20
may also be made of other moldable polymers such as polyethylene
and polypropylene, or even leather appropriately bonded to the sole
20. It is noted that the article of footwear 10 can be formed of
one or more substantially transparent materials or one or more
substantially opaque materials such as an elastomeric polymer, but
can be made of alternative materials if they are substantially
transparent and resilient, or substantially opaque and resilient.
However, it may be preferable to manufacture some parts of the
article of footwear with non-transparent materials and some parts
with substantially transparent materials. For example, the security
teachings of the present invention can even be applied to ordinary
non-molded leather or plastic shoes. When the footwear 10 is
substantially transparent, the same enables security officers in
various locations, including airports to visually inspect the
entire shoe and foot of a user to see that no part of the article
of footwear 10 includes metal or moving parts, besides those
minimal components which are part of the article footwear, for
enhanced security purposes discussed below. A security officer is
able to accomplish this rapidly so that there will be little need
for a traveler to have to remove one's shoes to have them
especially scanned.
[0018] Said forward portion 62 of shoe upper 30 of said footwear 10
can, but not necessarily, define a mesh material or other
breathable material 64, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Said material
64, in this manner, can comprise means 32 for aeration and
expansion of the foot of the user. For example, the breathable or
mesh material 64 can be made of a substantially transparent or
opaque elastomeric polymer. The forward portion 62 of shoe upper 30
can be, but as noted, not limited to a mesh material and can be a
solid material with small ventilation holes integrally placed on
the shoe upper 30. The mesh material or an alternative ventilated
material 64 advantageously allows the foot to breathe within the
article of footwear 10. The appropriate selection of material 64
can also ensure adequate scanning of the foot of the user in the
event a terrorist were to construct the shoe of a radio opaque
material. Alternatively, the breathable material 64 can comprise a
solid breathable material or even a solid non-breathable material,
as opposed to a material with any type of holes.
[0019] To assist the user placing the article of footwear on one's
foot and preventing of slipping up or down the ankle of the user,
one edge of said aeration means 32 may comprise means for elastic
engagement 70 of the ankle and instep area of the foot. Said
engagement means may be integrally dependent from the shoe upper
30, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 or may comprise one or more
cross-over straps 50 for rapid attachment to a user's foot as
discussed below. Alternatively, said article of footwear may not
include said elastic engagement means and might be similar to a
loafer or even a shoe with shoe laces. Said elastic engagement
means 70 can comprise a substantially transparent material, which
may include an elastomeric polymer.
[0020] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the article of footwear 10
includes a generally resilient insole 40 which can be transparent
or opaque. In one embodiment of the present invention, the insole
40 may incorporate an arch system 42 to make the article of
footwear 10 more comfortable for the user, which may be seen in
FIG. 3. The arch system 42 being substantially less resilient than
the insole in general, but not made of metal. The article of
footwear includes said closure means 50. Said closure means may be
a transparent or opaque cross-over strap 50 along with a means 52
for stabilizing the ankle of the foot in the article of footwear
10. Said closure means may comprise one or more cross-over straps.
Preferably, said cross-over strap 50 is made of hook and loop means
such as Velcro.RTM. disposed on said cross-over strap 50 and its
attachment area to the shoe upper 54, which can be adjusted to fit
the size of the user's foot. Said stabilizing means may also
include snap closures disposed on the cross-over strap 50, or may
comprise any of a variety of closure methods, not limited to
Velcro.RTM. or snap closures. The cross-over strap 50 may also be
located across the instep of the foot or higher up on the ankle of
the user. The location of the cross-over strap can be adjusted in
accordance the users needs. For example, one user may prefer a low
boot style of shoe as opposed to a slipper, hence the higher
location of the cross-over strap 50. Some users may prefer a high
boot style, which would require two or three cross-over straps.
Other users may prefer or need more support across the in-step of
the foot, which would require that the cross-over strap be placed
across the in-step of the foot. Further, the user may prefer to
have a simple slip-on disposable type shoe that may have no
stabilizing means.
[0021] As seen in FIG. 5, further security of the article 10 may
include light sources 24 in or on one or both shoes, such as LED's
or any other appropriate lighting elements, embedded in the sole
20. The light sources 24 can be mounted in the resilient sole 20
such that the light emitted from the light sources 24 is visible
exteriorly. Alternatively, the light sources can be located on the
shoe upper such as the front, back, sides, or top. Such light
sources 24 can be any color and used for a variety of purposes
depending on the make-up or configuration of the electronics
imbedded in the sole 20. For example the light sources can be used
to assist security officers to detect travelers who have passed
through security, but have set off the scanning device, which in
turn, would activate the LED's thereby alerting the security
officers that further security inspection is required. For example,
the possible objectionable material within the shoe may be such
that it is not detected by the security pass through but is
detected by a more sophisticated or sensitive sensor at the
location of the security officer station which would send a signal
to the shoe electronics which in turn would activate the light
sources. Other uses could be to activate the light sources to alert
the user that he or she needs to return to a particular location,
phone a particular party, or to do a prearranged act. As regards
these uses, a radio frequency signal sent from a remote location
would be received by an antenna within the shoe or on the person
and thereby activate the shoe electronics which again would
activate the light sources. The user, upon observing the activated
light sources would then engage in a predetermined course of action
consistent with his security. In lieu of or in combination with the
visible light sources, infra red devices or digitally encoded pulse
devices can be used to alert the security officer or the user.
[0022] Still referring to FIG. 5, the article of footwear 10 may
also include an audible alarm 26 embedded in the resilient sole 20
of one or both shoes. Such an audible alarm 26 would be heard by
security officers who may have let travelers through security, but
have then set off the scanning device. Such audible alarm could
also be used to alert the user that he or she needs to return to a
particular location, phone a particular party, or to do a
prearranged act. The electronics for the audible alarm can be as
described above.
[0023] For further security purposes, the article of footwear 10
may include a radio frequency identification device 27 in one or
both shoes, or RFID, a generic term for technologies that use radio
waves to automatically identify people or objects. There are
several methods of identification, but the most common is to store
a serial number that identifies a person or object, and perhaps
other information, on a microchip 28 that is attached to an antenna
29 and a power source (the chip and antenna together are called an
RFID transponder or an RFID tag). The antenna 29 enables the chip
28 to transmit the identification material to a reader via
satellite or land based transmitters and ultimately to a reader
such as used with wireless cell phones, or land telephone lines, or
Wi-Fi, Blue Tooth, or other digital wireless network, or any
commonly known combination of the same. A reader having for
example, the capability to convert the radio waves reflected back
from the RFID tag into digitally transponded information that can
then be passed on to remote computers that can analyze it. The chip
28 and antenna 29 may be embedded in the sole 20 or other part of
the shoe to allow transmission of the identification information.
The imbedded electronics can further include GPS technology to
transmit the location of the user to a remote microprocessor
receiving the GPS radio signals. Indeed, the imbedded electronics
can further include cell phone apparatus and technology such that
the user can receive and transmit oral and or electronic
communications. On, off, and pause switching apparatus for each of
the imbedded electronic devices can be manually operated by the
user by push button switches that are located on a side of the sole
20 and covered by an appropriate protective layer of flexible
material. Or, the switches can be completely imbedded within the
sole 20 and remotely activated by a hand held transmitter as such
are known in the art. As noted above, the invention is not limited
to having the electronics imbedded within the shoe sole. For,
example, an alternative arrangement can have part of the
electronics in the sole and a part of the electronics attached to
the outer parts of the shoe. The invention further contemplates
that a package of electronics be encased in a container and
connected to an appropriate electric connector that is located on
the outside or inside of the shoe. In this manner, the package of
electronics can be primarily adapted to a particular use such as
but not limited to GPS location, oral or electronic communications,
or personnel identification.
[0024] The visible light sources, audible alarm and RFID chip, as
well as any other incorporated electronic components of the article
may be battery operated and recharged by piezoelectricity resulting
from the application of mechanical pressure on a dielectric
crystal. The components may also be recharged by photovoltaic
means, electro-mechanical generators using motion or vibrations, or
charged through an AC adapter. Alternatively, the batteries may
simply be replaced at the end of their useful life.
[0025] When in use, the user places the article of footwear on
one's foot at any time prior to passing through security at an
airport or other location with secured entrances. Because of the
gripping surface 22 on the sole 20 the article of footwear can be
worn outdoors as well as indoors. The user may prefer to place the
article of footwear 10 on one's feet just prior to entering an
airport or building. Of course, the opaque security footwear can be
used at times other than passing through a security gate such as in
every day use. In this manner, the security footwear can be used to
thwart abductions, or to alert a child to go home, or for any of
the above described security purposes.
[0026] The article of footwear may be manufactured and/or sold with
a companion, substantially transparent tote bag for the user to
place their civilian shoes in while wearing the inventive security
article of footwear. The companion substantially transparent tote
bag may be manufactured with a Ziploc.RTM., or a hook and-loop type
of closure, e.g. Velcro.RTM.. The companion substantially
transparent tote bag may also include a strap closure so that a
person cannot add or subtract anything from the totebag upon
reaching security, e.g. a non releasable plastic tie. Further, the
shoe 10 can be provided with tamper poof electronic devices such
that the initial codes and settings within the electronics can
never be changed by electronic means and would therefore always be
readable by an independent external system. And, any attempted
changes to the initial settings and codes and information would be
made known by the external system.
[0027] While the invention has been shown and describe in certain
preferred embodiments, it is to be appreciated that the invention
the invention is not to be limited thereby and may be otherwise
embodied otherwise than is herein specifically shown and described
and that within said embodiments, certain changes may be made in
the form without departing from the scope, the underlying ideas and
principles of this invention as set forth in the claims appended
herewith.
* * * * *