Apple and Nike Detail Next-Gen Nike+ System with GPS, Wear Sensors

A new filing from Apple describes a future generation Nike+ system that would be capable of more accurately monitoring athletic performance in real-time, providing feedback on wear of athletic gear, and even conveying advertisements from establishments that an athlete passes during a workout. More specifically, the system aims to more precisely track a runners performance over a period of time by factoring in various physical characteristics of the runner, such as age, weight, and gender, which could then be used to evaluate the runner's performance against a reference performance typical of a person having similar physical characteristics. The Nike+ sensor would provide notification to a user that a particular garment has reached an expected useful lifetime based upon any number of factors, such as, an amount of time that the garment has been used, or the amount of wear detected by the sensor. One of the sensors employed by the running shoes could also include location-sensing devices (such as a GPS receiver) that provide velocity and location data to a processor unit that can be coupled to a database having information such as physical characteristic data such as weight, age, and gender, according to the filing. The database can then, in turn, provide an updated readout to a display unit of the user's ongoing athletic performance statistics. Such statistics can include elevation gain, speed, heading, elevation, calories burned, anticipated calories burned (based upon a pre-selected course), and others.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/09/11/apple_details_next_gen_nike_system_with_gps_wear_sensors.html