System for Displaying Content on the Back Section of Footwear

Abstract

A system for displaying content on a rear section of footwear. Previously, system of providing illumination or color changes on footwear have been done with very low-resolution LEDs that only cover a very limited area of the footwear. This footwear uses a high resolution flexible display that wraps around a rear section near the heel area of the footwear and displays a variety of content.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for displaying content on footwear, comprising:
 a. footwear having a footwear surface;   b. a control unit (CU);   c. memory;   d. display;   e. an Input/Output (I/O) unit; and   f. a power unit;   Wherein the footwear comprises a front section located at a toes end of the footwear and a back section located at a heel end that is opposite the front section of the footwear;   Wherein the display flexibly wraps around at least a portion of the back section of the footwear surface;   Wherein the display has a resolution comprising a number of pixels; and   Wherein the number of pixels of the resolution is in the range of 50 to 2,000,000.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the display has a color depth in the range of 8-bits to 48-bits. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the display operates at a frequency in the range of 15 frames-per-second to 120 frames-per-second. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the memory is integrated within the CU. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the memory is removable from the footwear. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the I/O unit is integrated within the CU. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein both the memory and the I/O unit are integrated within the CU. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the footwear consists of at least one of the following: boots, chukka boots, combat boots, cowboy boots, go-go boots, hiking boots, kinky boots, motorcycle boots, platform boots, riding boots, derby boots, thigh-length boots, ugg boots, valenki, waders, wellington boots, winkle pickers, shoes, athletic shoes, sneakers, cross-trainers, brothel creepers, diabetic shoes, espadrilles, galoshes, high heels, pumps, slippers, stiletto heels, kicks, kitten heels, lace-up shoes, derby shoes, oxford shoes, high-tops, brogues, loafers, penny loafers, mary janes, moccasins, monks, mules, platform shoes, school shoes, skate shoes, tap shoes, sandals, mandals, flip flops, slide, chaco, indoor footwear, slippers, ballet shoes, climbing shoes, clogs, foot thong, football boots, safety footwear, ski boots, snowshoes, cleats, surgical shoe, pointe shoes, swimfins, and flippers. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the I/O unit may use at least one of the following protocols: IEEE 1394, Firewire, USB, USB, RS-232, Ethernet, Ultrawide Band (UWB), Zigbee, 60 GHz, Wi-fi, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, wired and wireless, Bluetooth, Radio Frequency (RF), Infrared (IR), cellular, IEEE 802.15.1, CDMA, TDMA and FDMA. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the power unit provides power using at least one of the following: one or more batteries, solar, kinetic, power-over-ethernet (POE) and power-over-wifi (POWF). 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the memory does not comprise any mechanically moving parts during operation. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the memory consists of one of the following: static-state-drives (SSD), flash memory, EEPROM, SRAM, DRAM and RAM. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the memory consists of one of the following: hard-drive, static-state-drives (SSD), flash memory, EEPROM, SRAM, DRAM and RAM. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the content consists of at least one of the following: text data, image data, color data, video data, sound data and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the content is designed using a software program. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the software program executes on at least one of the following: a desktop PC, laptop PC, netbook, notebook, tablet PC, PDA, mobile telephone, Internet server, Intranet server, mobile device and the CU of the system itself. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the display is a thin film display. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the thin film display consists of one of the following: Organic Light Emitting Diode/Device/Display (OLED), Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED), FOLED (Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode), PhOLED (Phosphorescent Organic Light Emitting Diode, PLED (Polymer Light Emitting Diode, PMOLED (Passive Matrix OLED), POLED (Polymer Organic Light Emitting Diode), RCOLED (Resonant Color Organic Light Emitting Diode), SmOLED (Small Molecule Organic Light Emitting Diode, SOLED (Stacked Organic Light Emitting Diode), TOLED (Transparent Organic Light Emitting Diode) and NOID (Neon Organic Iodine Diode). 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the display is attached to the footwear using an attachment means. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the display is integral to the footwear as a single unit.