Patent ID: 7676062

Claim:
A vehicle including a compartment receivable of an object of interest and a system for tracking the object of interest in the compartment, comprising: a seat arranged in the vehicle and including a seat bottom portion on which the object of interest is situated and a seat back portion arranged behind the object of interest; an illumination source arranged to illuminate a front surface of said seat bottom portion and said seat back portion when there is no object on said seat bottom portion; at least one imaging device each arranged to receive an image of a portion of the compartment containing the object of interest, the portion of the compartment being defined in part by said seat back portion and said seat bottom portion such that when the object of interest is not situated on said seat bottom portion, said at least one imaging device receives an image including said front surface of said seat back portion and when the object of interest is situated on said seat bottom portion, said at least one imaging device receives an image including the object of interest; and a control unit coupled to said at least one imaging device and arranged to control said at least one imaging device to obtain a first set of images without the object of interest and a second image including the object of interest, said control unit being arranged to analyze the second image in consideration of the first set of images to derive information about the object of interest, whereby the derived information can be used to control a vehicular component.