System for monitoring a physiological parameter of players engaged in a sporting activity

A system for actively monitoring impact-related acceleration of a body part of a plurality of players engaged in a team sporting activity, the system comprising:

• a plurality of protective sports equipment, wherein a piece of protective sports equipment that receives impacts is worn by an individual player to protect a body part of the individual player during the team sporting activity;
• a plurality of reporting units wherein a single reporting unit resides within a piece of said protective equipment worn by the individual player during the team sporting activity, each reporting unit having an arrangement of sensors that measure a direction and a magnitude of acceleration of the individual player's body part resulting from an impact applied to the protective sports equipment of the individual player and generate body part acceleration input data, each reporting unit further having a control unit operably connected to the sensors for converting the body part acceleration input data to signals and for wireless transmission of the converted signals, the control unit including an encoder that encodes the converted signals with a unique player identifier prior to wireless transmission;
• and
• an electronic device that receives said encoded signals transmitted from each reporting unit, wherein the electronic device (i) decodes the encoded signals, (ii) calculates a body part acceleration result, and a direction and a location of the impact resulting in the body part acceleration, and (iii) multiplexes the body part acceleration result according to the unique player identifier, and wherein the electronic device provides an alert when said body part acceleration result surpasses a predetermined value.

A system for monitoring impact-related acceleration of a body part of players engaged in a contact sport, each individual player wearing a piece of protective sports equipment adjacent the body part that receives and attenuates impacts while said player is engaged in the contact sport, the system comprising:

• at least one reporting unit, wherein the reporting unit is positioned within a piece of protective sports equipment worn against a body part of an individual player while engaged in the contact sport, the reporting unit having:
• a plurality of sensing devices arranged to measure a direction and a magnitude of acceleration of the player's body part resulting from an impact applied to the protective sports equipment and to generate body part acceleration input data, and
• a control unit configured to convert the body part acceleration input data to signals prior to transmission by a telemetry element in the control unit;
• a controller that receives said signals transmitted from the control unit, wherein the controller calculates a body part acceleration result, a direction of the impact and a location of the impact resulting in the body part acceleration;
• and
• a signaling device that provides an alert when said calculated body part acceleration result exceeds a predetermined value.