Real-time event monitoring system for basketball-related activities

A real-time event monitoring system for a basketball-related activity involving a basketball goal, a plurality of players, and a basketball equipped with an RFID tag configured to transmit a radio frequency signal encoded with a ball ID for the basketball, the real-time event monitoring system comprising:

• a) a mobile computing device comprising a wireless communications interface, a microprocessor, a memory, an event monitoring program stored in the memory, and a set of data objects stored in the memory, the set of data objects arranged to store for each player in the plurality of players, a player ID, a player tracker ID, a ball ID and a player performance statistic;
• b) a plurality of player tracking devices configured to be worn by the plurality of players, respectively, each player tracking device including a player radio frequency transceiver for wireless communication with the mobile computing device, a player RFID reader configured to detect and decode the radio frequency signal transmitted by the RFID tag on the basketball whenever the basketball is in reading range of the player RFID reader, and a player data processing unit programmed to (i) determine that the player wearing the player tracking device has gained or lost possession of the basketball based on an output from the player RFID reader, and (ii) transmit a possession change event message to the mobile computing device via the player radio frequency transceiver indicating that the player has gained or lost possession of the basketball, the possession change event message including the player ID for the player, the ball ID and a possession change event type;
• and
• c) a goal tracking device, configured for attachment to the basketball goal, the goal tracking device comprising a goal radio frequency transceiver for wireless communication with the mobile computing device, a goal RFID reader configured to detect and decode the radio frequency signal transmitted by the RFID tag of the basketball whenever the basketball is in reading range of the goal RFID reader, and a goal data processing unit, programmed to transmit a shot event message to the mobile computing device via the goal radio frequency transceiver whenever the goal RFID reader succeeds in detecting and decoding the radio frequency signal transmitted by the RFID tag of the basketball, the shot event message including the goal ID and the ball ID;
• d) wherein, when the mobile computing device has not received a shot event message within a predetermined time period after receiving a possession change event message, the event monitoring program on the mobile computing device includes program instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, will cause the microprocessor (i) to determine which player in the plurality of players gained or lost possession of the basketball based on the possession change event message and one or more values stored in the set of data objects in the memory, and (ii) to record a change in the player performance statistic for the player who gained or lost possession of the basketball.