Vehicle occupant detection apparatus for deriving information concerning condition of occupant of vehicle seat
First Claim
1. A vehicle occupant detection system comprising an auxiliary light projection apparatus for projecting auxiliary light which is within a predetermined range of wavelengths into a predetermined region of a vehicle interior, said predetermined region including a vehicle seat, a camera apparatus for photographing an image of said predetermined region, said image being expressed as digital data, with light that is within at least a part of the range of visible wavelengths being excluded when photographing said image, and an image processing apparatus for applying image processing to said data expressing said image, to derive information indicative of a condition of an occupant of said vehicle seat.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle occupant detection system for acquiring digital images of a region containing a vehicle seat and applying processing of the images to detect the occupant status of the seat, wherein the images are photographed by infra-red light using a camera and infra-red light projection apparatus each located above and ahead of the seat location, whereby the images are unaffected by sunlight, vehicle headlights, or street lights, etc., enabling accurate status detection results to be acquired.
50 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A vehicle occupant detection system comprising
an auxiliary light projection apparatus for projecting auxiliary light which is within a predetermined range of wavelengths into a predetermined region of a vehicle interior, said predetermined region including a vehicle seat, a camera apparatus for photographing an image of said predetermined region, said image being expressed as digital data, with light that is within at least a part of the range of visible wavelengths being excluded when photographing said image, and an image processing apparatus for applying image processing to said data expressing said image, to derive information indicative of a condition of an occupant of said vehicle seat.
Specification