Variable support footwear using electrorheological or magnetorheological fluids

Abstract

A variable footwear support system includes at least one rheological body within a sole of an article of footwear, control electronics within the article of footwear, and at least one E/M field generator coupled to the control electronics and arranged operably proximate to at least one rheological body. The sole is formed of a resilient material and the rheological body contains a Theological fluid having a viscosity that is variable in the presence of an energy field. The control electronics is adapted to generate at least one control signal. The at least one E/M field generator is adapted to generate an energy field corresponding to a control signal generated by the control electronics upon the rheological body.

1 . A variable footwear support system, comprising: 
 at least one rheological body within a sole of an article of footwear, wherein the sole is formed of a resilient material and wherein the rheological body contains a rheological fluid having a viscosity that is variable in the presence of an energy field;    control electronics adapted to generate at least one control signal; and    at least one E/M field generator coupled to the control electronics and arranged operably proximate to at least one rheological body, wherein the at least one E/M field generator is adapted to generate an energy field corresponding to a control signal generated by the control electronics upon the rheological body.    
     
     
         2 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one rheological body is within at least one of a heel region, a forefoot region, a medial region, and a lateral region of the sole of the article of footwear.  
     
     
         3 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one rheological body comprises a bladder chamber defining a cavity adapted to contain the rheological fluid.  
     
     
         4 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one rheological body comprises: 
 a plurality of bladder chambers each defining a cavity adapted to contain the rheological fluid; and    at least one conduit coupled to at least two of the plurality of bladder chambers such that a cavity of one of the plurality of bladder chambers is in fluid communication with a cavity of at least one other of the plurality of bladder chambers, wherein    at least one E/M field generator is operably proximate to at least one conduit.    
     
     
         5 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one rheological body includes a foam matrix impregnated with the rheological fluid.  
     
     
         6 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , wherein the rheological fluid comprises electrorheological fluid and the E/M field generator comprises at least one electrode adapted to generate an electric field upon the electrorheological fluid contained within the rheological body.  
     
     
         7 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , wherein the rheological fluid comprises magnetorheological fluid and the E/M field generator comprises at least one electromagnet adapted to generate a magnetic field upon magnetorheological fluid contained within the rheological body.  
     
     
         8 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one sensor adapted to detect at least one of an intensity and a frequency of foot-falls of the wearer of the article of footwear and generate sensor data based upon the detecting, wherein 
 the control electronics is adapted to receive the generated sensor data and generate at least one control signal corresponding to the received sensor data.    
     
     
         9 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one sensor and the control electronics are within the same article of footwear.  
     
     
         10 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one sensor and the control electronics are within different articles of footwear.  
     
     
         11 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of a pressure sensor, an accelerometer, and a contact switch.  
     
     
         12 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 8 , wherein the control electronics is further adapted to store the received sensor data.  
     
     
         13 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 8 , wherein the control electronics is further adapted to output the received sensor data to a host computer.  
     
     
         14 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , further comprising a user interface coupled to the control electronics, wherein 
 the user interface is adapted to be engaged by a wearer of the article of footwear to receive user input; and    the control electronics is adapted to receive the user input and generate at least one control signal corresponding to the received user input.    
     
     
         15 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 14 , wherein the user interface is integrated within the article of footwear.  
     
     
         16 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 14 , further comprising a handheld computing device, wherein the user interface is integrated within the handheld computing device.  
     
     
         17 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 14 , wherein the handheld computing device is coupled to the control electronics via at least one of a wired connection and a wireless connection.  
     
     
         18 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , wherein the control electronics is adapted to generate at least one control signal corresponding to one or more of a plurality of different physical activities of a wearer of the article of footwear, the plurality of different physical activities including at least two of walking, jogging, running, hiking, climbing stairs, playing basketball, and playing tennis.  
     
     
         19 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one control signal is generated at least in part upon a detected physical characteristic of the gait of a wearer of the article of footwear.  
     
     
         20 . The variable footwear support system of  claim 19 , wherein the detected physical characteristic includes at least one of a rate, a magnitude of the gait of the wearer of the article of footwear.  
     
     
         21 . A variable footwear support method, comprising: 
 receiving sensor data from at least one sensor, the sensor data describing at least one of an intensity and a frequency of footfalls of a wearer of an article of footwear;    generating at least one control signal based on the received sensor data; and    energizing at least one E/M field generator based on the at least one generated control signal, wherein each energized E/M field generator generates an energy field upon at least one rheological body arranged within a sole of an article of footwear, wherein the sole is formed of a resilient material and wherein the at least one rheological body contains a rheological fluid having a viscosity that is variable in the presence of the generated energy field.    
     
     
         22 . The variable footwear support method of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one sensor and the at least one rheological body are within the same article of footwear.  
     
     
         23 . The variable footwear support method of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one sensor and the at least one rheological body are within different articles of footwear.  
     
     
         24 . A variable footwear support method, comprising: 
 receiving user input from a user interface;    generating at least one control signal based on the received user input; and    energizing at least one E/M field generator based on the at least one generated control signal, wherein each energized E/M field generator generates an energy field upon at least one rheological body arranged within a sole of an article of footwear, wherein the sole is formed of a resilient material and wherein the at least one rheological body contains a rheological fluid having a viscosity that is variable in the presence of the generated energy field.