Patent ID: 6856876

Claim:
A method for generating a pattern recognition algorithm for determining the position of an object in a vehicle, comprising the steps of: conducting a plurality of data generation steps, each of said data generating steps comprising the steps of placing an object in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, directing waves into at least a portion of the passenger compartment in which the object is situated, receiving reflected waves from the object at a receiver, forming a data set of a signal representative of the reflected waves from the object, the distance from the object to the receiver and the temperature of the passenger compartment between the object and the receiver, changing the temperature of the air between the object and the receiver, and performing the wave-directing step, wave-receiving step and data set forming step for the object at different temperatures between the object and the receiver to thereby form a plurality of data sets; and generating a pattern recognition algorithm from the data sets such that upon operational input of a signal representative of reflected waves from the object, the algorithm provides an approximation of the distance from the object to the receiver.