Patent ID: 8063788

Claim:
A method of monitoring a living presence in a vehicle, the method comprising steps of: monitoring an engagement state of a driver's seat belt via a safety monitoring apparatus; monitoring a presence of an at least one of a child and a pet located within a rear seat area of a vehicle via the safety monitoring apparatus; identifying the presence of at least one of the child and the pet within the rear seat area of the vehicle; identifying when the driver's seat belt is in a disengaged state; providing a time delay between a step of placing the child in the rear seat area and when the driver's seat belt is buckled; accounting for the time delay prior to determining if the driver's seat belt and presence of at least one of a child and a pet dictate an alert condition; and providing an alert when the driver's seat belt is disengaged and when the at least one of the child and the pet is within the rear seat area of a vehicle.