On July 3, 2024, the U.S. Patent Office issued U.S. Pat. No. 12,419,426 to NIKE, Inc. The patent concerns a “sport chair” that would connect with a receiver attached to a video game player’s body in order to monitor biometrics during play. Nike’s potential foray into video gaming represented by this patent combines the company’s expertise in sporting goods with the type of data collection that some game players might find immersive.
One of the patented system’s goals is described in the Specification itself: “[To] receive an indication of a physiological parameter of the user from a biometric sensor provided with the article of apparel … and output the physiological parameter to a display.” Essentially, this just means the apparatus could track a user’s heart rate and utilize the data in a video game. Such a system demonstrates ongoing interest from major retail brands like Nike in experimenting with video games and tech demos to boost the profile of their products.
Illustrative Claim:
1. A video game system comprising: an input controller;
a display;
a biometric sensor configured to sense at least one of a heart rate or a respiration rate of a user;
a processor configured to: receive input from the input controller;
receive physiological data from the biometric sensor;
control the display to present a game environment;
alter at least one aspect of the game based on the physiological data, wherein: an increase in the sensed heart rate or the sensed respiration rate is operative to cause at least one of: a decrease in focus of the display;
a decrease in an amount of peripheral vision displayed via the display;
or an increase in an amount of jitter in the controller.
