Patent ID: 7081836

Claim:
A method of covertly detecting and reporting a distress condition in a control cabin of a vehicle, the cabin having designated areas expected to be occupied by respective operators under normal operating conditions of the vehicle, wherein the cabin includes cabin-installed, mechanically activated panic buttons each positioned within or near to a respective one of the designated areas for access by the respective operator, comprising: (a) attaching to each operator a transponder tag configured to wirelessly transmit a response signal, unique to the operator to which it is attached, responsive to an interrogator signal; (b) wirelessly transmitting interrogator signals into the designated areas; (c) attempting to detect response signals, if any, from the transponder tags; (d) only if all of the response signals are concurrently not detected, then wirelessly transmitting a first distress signal from the vehicle, (e) determining if any of the panic buttons are activated; and (f) if at least one of the panic buttons is activated and at least one of the response signals is detected, then transmitting a second distress signal from the vehicle.