Patent ID: 6556903
Filing Date: 2003-04-29
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
A safety system for buses, and in particular school buses, comprising:a) a bus including a plurality of rows of seats for students riding on me bus, with at least one aisle running lengthwise of the bus, each row of seats comprising a plurality of seats with at least one seat of the plurality of seats on each side of the aisle, a safety seat belt with a buckle connection mounted at each seat for buckling in a student sifting on the seat, a forward seat for a driver, and a door through which students enter and leave the bus; b) a first sensor associated with each seat to sense and output a signal indicative of whether a student is occupying the associated seat; c) a second sensor associated with each seat belt to sense and output a signal indicative of whether a student occupying the associated seat is buckled in; d) a third sensor sensing directional movement through said door to sense and output signals indicative of entry and exit of students through said door; e) an alarm actuated responsive to a predetermined signal; f) a display located within the vision of a bus driver while normally operating the bus that displays to a driver a seat chart in the form of an array of visually perceived indicators arranged in a pattern correlated with the plurality of rows of seats in the bus and provides displaying indicia for visually identifying row and seat for each of the plurality of seats, each said indicator visually indicating one of three conditions for each said seat, a first condition being that said seat is unoccupied, a second condition being that the seat is occupied but the seat belt is not buckled, and the third condition being that the seat is occupied and the seat belt is buckled; g) an input, operable by a driver, for generating an input signal; h) a memory; i) a processor coupled to (I) the first, second and third sensors to receive the output signals therefrom, (ii) the alarm for providing to the alarm the predetermined signal to actuate the alarm, (iii) the memory for storing in memory collected and collated data concerning the output signals from the sensors, the status of sensors and the status of the display, and for retrieving from memory such data, (iv) the display to drive the visual indicators to indicate the status of each seat regarding occupation and seat belt and (v) the input to receive the input signal, said processor further including circuitry to determine an updated head count of students on the bus from the signals received from the third sensor, and to compare the updated head count of the students on the bus with the data relative to the output signals from the first sensors indicative of seat status, and responsive to a mismatch, to initiate the predetermined signal to activate the alarm.