ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,734,428, issued on Sept. 15, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).
"Article of apparel with dynamic padding system" was invented by Tiffany A. Beers (Beaverton, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An article of apparel includes a padding system that dynamically changes configuration in response to an impending impact. The padding system may change from a state that has a high flexibility and offers low protection from impact to a state that has a low flexibility and offers increase protection from impact. The system may use a filament to constrict a plurality of padding elements together in order to increase the overall stiffness...