Vehicle rear seat monitor
First Claim
1. In a vehicle including a front seat, a rear seat and an interior monitoring system for monitoring a passenger compartment of the vehicle, a rear seat area monitoring system comprising:
- at least one wave-receiving sensor arranged behind the front seat to receive waves from a space above the rear seat; and
a processor coupled to said at least one sensor for controlling another system in the vehicle based on the waves received by said at least one sensor from the space above the rear seat.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
Vehicular rear seat area monitoring system including at least one wave-receiving sensor arranged behind the front seat to receive waves from a space above the rear seat and a processor coupled to the sensor(s) for controlling another system in the vehicle based on the waves received by the sensor(s). The sensors may be of several different types. For example, an optical sensor can be provided which receives images including the space above the rear seat, a CCD array, a CMOS array and an optical camera including a lens can be used, and a radar sensor is also a possibility. If one of the sensors is a radar sensor, then the processor may be designed or trained to analyze motion of objects in the rear seat based on the waves received by the radar sensor and control the system based on any motion of the objects.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. In a vehicle including a front seat, a rear seat and an interior monitoring system for monitoring a passenger compartment of the vehicle, a rear seat area monitoring system comprising:
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at least one wave-receiving sensor arranged behind the front seat to receive waves from a space above the rear seat; and
a processor coupled to said at least one sensor for controlling another system in the vehicle based on the waves received by said at least one sensor from the space above the rear seat. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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13. A method for monitoring a space of a passenger compartment of a vehicle behind a front seat of the vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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arranging at least one wave-receiving sensor behind the front seat;
receiving waves from the space behind the front seat by means of the at least one sensor; and
controlling another system in the vehicle based on the waves received by the at least one sensor from the space behind the front seat.
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25. A method for controlling a vehicular system based on the presence of a rear-facing child seat in a rear seat of the vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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arranging at least one optical sensor in a location in the vehicle in which images of a space above the rear seat of the vehicle can be obtained;
obtaining images of the space above the rear seat from the at least one optical sensor;
analyzing the images to determine whether a rear-facing child seat is present; and
controlling the system based on the determination of whether a rear-facing child seat is present in the rear seat.
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Specification