Impact monitoring system for players engaged in a sporting activity

• US 10,702,152 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2017
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Riddell Incorporated (BRG Sports, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Riddell Incorporated (BRG Sports, Inc.)
• Inventors: Crisco, III, Joseph J., Greenwald, Richard M., Chu, Jeffrey J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fernandes, Patrick
• Application Number:
  US15/483,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20170209092A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,184 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/046 Means for detecting hazards or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/125 with a padded structure, e.g. foam
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0004 characterised by the type of physiological signal transmitted
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1121 Determining geometric values, e.g. centre of rotation or angular range of movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4076 Diagnosing or monitoring particular conditions of the nervous system A61B5/4821, A61B5/4824 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6814 Head
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7246 using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2208/12 specially adapted for children
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/60 muscle strain, i.e. measured on the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2243/007 American football
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/06 Indicating or scoring devices for games or players , or for other sports activities
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/10 for the head A63B71/081 takes precedence ; in the form of caps or hats A42B1/08; helmets A42B3/00

Abstract

The invention relates to a protective sports equipment system with real-time impact monitoring of a player engaged in a contact sporting activity. The system includes a protective equipment assembly and an interface liner disposed within a padding assembly of the protective equipment assembly. The interface liner has a sensing and control unit with an array of sensors to detect impact data, a processor to determine an impact result, and a transmitter to transmit the impact result. The system also includes a remote unit that receives and displays the transmitted impact result.

Claims

1. A protective sports equipment system with real-time impact monitoring, the protective sports equipment worn by a player to protect a body part of the player while the player is engaged in a contact sporting activity, the protective sports equipment system comprising:

a protective equipment assembly including a protective outer layer and a padding assembly that resides inward of the protective outer layer;

an interface liner removably positioned within the padding assembly of the protective equipment assembly, the interface liner configured to reside against the player'"'"'s body part while the protective equipment assembly is worn, the interface liner including a sensing and control unit having a plurality of sensors arrayed within the interface liner that detect impact data resulting from an impact to the protective equipment assembly, the interface liner further including a processor that compares the impact data against at least one pre-loaded impact profile to determine an impact result, and a transmitter to transmit said impact result; and

,

a remote unit operably connected to the sensing and control unit, the remote unit having a receiver and configured to receive and display said impact result transmitted from the sensing and control unit.

2. The protective sports equipment system of claim 1, wherein the sensing and control unit includes at least one filter that provides signal conditioning for the impact data.

3. The protective sports equipment system of claim 1, wherein the processor further determines a direction of the impact to the protective equipment assembly.

4. The protective sports equipment system of claim 1, wherein the interface liner has a flexible multi-layer construction with at least one padding element within an outer liner housing.

5. The protective sports equipment system of claim 1, the system further comprises a graphical user interface operably connected to the remote unit for immediately displaying at least a magnitude of the impact to the protective equipment assembly.

6. The protective sports equipment system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors are arrayed within the interface liner about the periphery of the player'"'"'s body part while the protective equipment is worn.

7. The protective sports equipment system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of sensors are configured to sense linear acceleration and rotational acceleration of the player'"'"'s body part resulting from the impact to the protective equipment assembly.

8. The protective sports equipment system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of sensors are accelerometers configured to sense linear acceleration and rotational acceleration of the player'"'"'s body part resulting from the impact to the protective equipment assembly.

9. The protective sports equipment system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of sensors are tri-axial accelerometers.

10. A protective sports helmet system with real-time impact monitoring, the protective sports helmet system comprising:

a first helmet worn by a first player, the first helmet having an external shell and an internal padding assembly,

the first helmet also having an interface liner removably positioned within a padding assembly and being configured to reside against the player'"'"'s head while the first helmet is worn, wherein the interface liner includes a sensing and control unit having a plurality of sensors arrayed within the interface liner that detect impact data resulting from an impact to the first helmet, the interface liner further including a processor that compares the impact data against at least one pre-loaded impact profile to determine an impact result, and a transmitter to transmit said impact result; and

,

a remote unit operably connected to the sensing and control unit, the remote unit having a receiver and configured to receive and display said impact result transmitted from the sensing and control unit.

11. The protective sports helmet system of claim 10, wherein the sensing and control unit includes at least one filter that provides signal conditioning for the impact data.

12. The protective sports helmet system of claim 10, wherein the processor further determines a direction of the impact to the first helmet.

13. The protective sports helmet system of claim 10, wherein the interface liner has a flexible multi-layer construction with at least one padding element within an outer liner housing.

14. The protective sports helmet system of claim 10, the protective sports helmet system further comprises a graphical user interface operably connected to the remote unit for immediately displaying at least a magnitude of the impact to the protective equipment assembly.

15. The protective sports helmet system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of sensors are arrayed within the interface liner about a periphery of the player'"'"'s head while the first helmet is worn.

16. The protective sports helmet system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of sensors are configured to sense linear acceleration and rotational acceleration of the player'"'"'s head resulting from the impact to the first helmet worn by the player.

17. The protective sports helmet system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of sensors are accelerometers configured to sense linear acceleration and rotational acceleration of the player'"'"'s head resulting from the impact to the first helmet.

18. The protective sports helmet system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of sensors are tri-axial accelerometers.

19. The protective sports helmet system of claim 10, further comprising a second helmet worn by a second player, the second helmet having an external shell and an internal padding assembly,

the second helmet also having an interface liner removably positioned within the padding assembly and being configured to reside against the second player'"'"'s head while the second helmet is worn, wherein the interface liner includes a sensing and control unit having a plurality of sensors arrayed within the interface liner that detect impact data resulting from an impact to the second helmet, the interface liner further including a processor that compares the impact data against pre-loaded impact profiles to determine an impact result, and a transmitter to transmit said impact result to the remote unit.