System for choosing a footwear

Abstract

A system for choosing an article of footwear provides for capturing an image of a foot in order to obtain a reference sole or morphology, measuring a length of the foot for the application of equalization and calculation constant values, constructing a grid on the image including twelve squares, calculating full/empty ratios of the twelve squares of the grid and storing them in a user table, using the length of the foot and the user table in a lookup table of a database to find a size and a fit of an article of footwear that is most suitable for the foot of the user.

1 . System for choosing an article of footwear, comprising:
 image capture means suitably configured to capture an image of a sole of the foot of the user;   length measurement means suitably configured to measure a length of the foot of the user from a rear end of the heel to a front end of the hallux;   grid construction means suitably configured to construct a grid on the image of the foot captured by the image capture means; said grid has a rectangular shape and comprises twelve identical squares disposed in two lines and six columns; six squares are disposed above a longitudinal axis of the image of the sole of the foot and the other six squares are disposed under the longitudinal axis; the grid begins from the rear end of the heel of the image of the sole of the foot and has a total length equal to the length of the foot plus a constant value; each square has a side with a length equal to the total length of the grid divided by six;   full/empty ratio calculation means suitably configured to calculate a full/empty ratio of each square of the grid; said full/empty ratio is the ratio between an area of a full surface of the square occupied by the image of the sole of the foot and an area of an empty surface of the square not occupied by the image of the sole of the foot;   table creation means suitably configured to create a user table that contains twelve full/empty ratio values of the twelve squares of the grid;   a database that contains a lookup table comprising:
 a size vector comprising a plurality of footwear sizes; 
 a fit vector comprising a plurality of fits for each footwear size; and 
 a table matrix containing a plurality of reference tables that correspond to each size and to each fit; wherein each reference table of the table matrix has been created in an experimental way and comprises twelve full/empty ratios that correspond to a given footwear size and to a given footwear fit; 
   conversion means suitably configured to convert the length of the foot of the user measured by said length measurement means into a footwear size that corresponds to said length of the foot of the user,   wherein the conversion means and the table creation means communicate with said lookup table of the database in order to identify the size of the user in the size vector the lookup table and to identify the reference table in the table matrix in closest position with respect to the user table created by the table creation means,   said lookup table being configured in such a way to output said footwear size that corresponds to said length of the foot of the user, and a fit that corresponds to the size and to the reference table identified in the lookup table.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said database comprises a plurality of lookup tables wherein each lookup table refers to a fit model and foot morphology that can be associated with a footwear model and said system comprises model choice means suitably configured in such a way that the user can choose the footwear model; said model choice means being connected to the database in order to choose the lookup table according to the footwear model chosen by the user. 
     
     
         3 . Method for choosing an article of footwear, comprising the following steps:
 capture of an image of a sole of the foot of the user;   measurement of a length of the foot of the user from a rear end of the heel to a front end of the hallux;   construction of a grid on the image of the foot; said grid has a rectangular shape and comprises twelve identical squares disposed in two lines and six columns; six squares are disposed above a longitudinal axis of the image of the sole of the foot and the other six squares are disposed under the longitudinal axis; the grid begins from the rear end of the heel of the image of the sole of the foot and has a total length equal to the length of the foot plus a constant value; each square has a side with a length equal to the total length of the grid divided by six;   calculation of a full/empty ratio of each square of the grid; said full/empty ratio is the ratio between an area of a full surface of the square occupied by the image of the sole of the foot and an area of an empty surface (Sv) of the square not occupied by the image of the sole of the foot;   creation of a user table that contains twelve full/empty ratio values of the twelve squares of the grid;   creation of a database that contains a lookup table comprising:
 a size vector comprising a plurality of footwear sizes; 
 a fit vector comprising a plurality of fits for each footwear size; and 
 a table matrix containing a plurality of reference tables that correspond to each size and to each fit; wherein each reference table of the table matrix has been created in an experimental way and comprises twelve full/empty ratios that correspond to a given footwear size and to a given footwear fit; 
   conversion of the length of the foot of the user into a footwear size that corresponds to said length of the foot of the user,   use of said length of the foot of the user and of said user table in said lookup table to output said footwear size that corresponds to said length of the foot of the user and a fit that corresponds to the size and to the reference table identified in the lookup table.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said database comprises a plurality of lookup tables wherein each lookup table refers to a footwear model; a step of model choice being provided, wherein the user can choose the footwear model in such a way to choose the lookup table of the database according to the footwear model chosen by the user.