Patent ID: 6141432
Filing Date: 2000-10-31
Classification: B60J,B60N,B60Q,B60R,B60W,E05F,E05Y,G01F,G01S,G06K,G08G,G10K

Abstract:
A method for monitoring an interior of a motor vehicle having an interior passenger compartment containing at least one occupying item, comprising the steps of:arranging at least one receiver to receive electromagnetic radiation from said at least one occupying item in the passenger compartment;processing said received electromagnetic radiation and generating an electronic signal characteristic of said at least one occupying item in the passenger compartment based thereon;measuring the distance between said at least one occupying item and another object in or defining the passenger compartment;categorizing said electronic signal by processing said electronic signal based on said received electromagnetic radiation from said at least one occupying item to provide an identification of said at least one occupying item based thereon, said categorizing step comprising the step of applying a pattern recognition algorithm generated from data of possible occupying items of the vehicle and patterns of received electromagnetic radiation from the possible occupying items; andaffecting another system in said vehicle in response to the identification of said at least one occupying item and the distance left between said at least one occupying item and the another object in or defining the passenger compartment.