There is another one, sort of forgot about it.
http://www.google.com/patents/US20080010783783 attempts to make a band that doesn’t care which way it gets put on.
But then one company has an exclusive band so it costs more (due to lower volume) than the cost of controlling the band direction.
So this idea is entertaining but not commercially successful.
582 makes a boot that has ribs to protect the ends of the band.
Much cheaper idea than 783.
Patents describe the current state of the art then go on to describe what is newly invented.
So the description of the current technology can prove useful.
783 describes the band application method for the current technology.