Patent ID: 7403845

Claim:
A child seat monitoring system for a child seat, the child seat having a first region and an opposite second region, the child seat having first and second patterns disposed on the first and second regions, respectively, both indicating whether the child seat is a forward-facing child seat or a rearward-facing child seat relative to a vehicle seat, and a third pattern disposed on the first region where a child occupant would ordinarily be seated when the child seat is a forward-facing child seat; the system comprising: a first detection apparatus configured to detect either the first pattern on the first region of the child seat or the second pattern on the second region of the child seat, said first detection apparatus being further configured to detect the third pattern when the first pattern is detected and a child occupant is not disposed in the child seat,; and a controller operably communicating with the first detection apparatus, the controller configured to generate a first signal when the child seat is a forward-facing child seat and the third pattern is detected, a second signal when the child seat is rearward-facing and a third signal when the child seat is forward-facing and the third pattern is not detected.