Techniques are disclosed for systems and methods to detect and/or classify a vehicle occupant, such as a passenger seated within the cockpit of a vehicle. An occupant classification system includes an occupant weight sensor, an occupant presence sensor, and a logic device configured to communicate with the occupant weight sensor and the occupant presence sensor. The logic device is configured to receive occupant weight sensor signals from the occupant weight sensor and occupant presence sensor signals from the occupant presence sensor, determine an estimated occupant weight and an occupant presence response based, at least in part, on the occupant weight sensor signals and the occupant presence sensor signals, and determine an occupant classification status corresponding to the passenger seat based, at least in part, on the estimated occupant weight and/or the occupant presence response.

A multiple detection system is applied to a vehicle and includes a contact-type detection module adapted to generate a contact-type detection datum, a contactless-type detection module adapted to generate a contactless-type detection datum, and an operation processor electrically connected with the contact-type detection module and the contactless-type detection module in a wire manner or in a wireless manner. The operation processor sets at least one of the contact-type detection datum and the contactless-type detection datum according to an environmental status of the vehicle to be a main detection result of the multiple detection system, and further sets the other detection datum to be an auxiliary detection result of the multiple detection system, for acquiring a passenger feature inside the vehicle.

An information processing apparatus (10) includes a computation unit (110), a selection unit (120), and a processing unit (130). The computation unit (110) analyzes a sensing result acquired by sensing a vehicle running on a road, and thereby computes the number of occupants in the vehicle and a certainty factor of the number of the occupants. As one example, the computation unit (110) computes reliability in the case of determining that a person exists related to each seat of the vehicle, and uses the reliability for each seat to compute a certainty factor related to each possible number as the number of the occupants in the vehicle. The selection unit (120) selects a sensing result with the computed certainty factor of the number of occupants which does not satisfy a predetermined criterion as an analysis result. The processing unit (130) allows the sensing result selected by the selection unit (120) to be in the state of being distinguishable from the other sensing results.

The invention relates to a system for seat occupancy detection, comprising a vehicle seat for a driver with an upper part and at least one suspension-damper system, wherein an acceleration sensor is arranged on the upper part and is designed to detect a characteristic of an acceleration of the upper part as a function of a time, an evaluation unit being provided which is designed to generate an evaluation of the characteristic of the acceleration and optionally to transmit a signal to a higher-level control unit, the evaluation unit also being designed to assign the evaluation to one of several states, wherein the states are selected from a group comprising an occupied state and an unoccupied state of the vehicle seat.

A system and method for calculating an accurate distance from an aerial device to an intended target using a laser probe. A control system can further include a sensor system and at least one camera for measuring additional operational parameters and viewing surrounding obstacles. Sensors may include an inclinometer and a weight sensor.

A monitoring system for determining whether the child or pet has been left unattended within the vehicle. The system may include a vehicle device having a monitoring platform, an alarm switch, and an alert device, which may emit an alarm if a first sensor detects the presence of the child or pet and a second sensor detects that the vehicle is in an off state. The system further may include a portable alert device that detects its location relative to the vehicle device, and emits an alarm if it is located outside a predetermined zone surrounding the monitoring platform. In another embodiment, the system may include a vehicle device having a sensor that detects whether the vehicle transitions from an on state to an off state and an alert device that emits an alarm if the sensor detects that the vehicle transitions to the off state.

An apparatus for assisting driving of a host vehicle includes: a plurality of pressure sensors mounted in a driver's seat of the host vehicle; and a controller electrically connected to the plurality of pressure sensors, and the controller is configured to: receive an output signal of the plurality of pressure sensors, determine whether a child is seated in the driver's seat based on the output signal, and control a wireless communication module of the host vehicle to transmit an alarm to a user device registered in the host vehicle based on determining that the child is seated and the child inputs an input for starting the host vehicle. Thereby, accidents caused by children driving the vehicle are prevented.

An occupant feature detection method and system, and a computer-readable medium, where the method includes: inflating a seat cushion airbag (10) with a gas of a first predetermined volume, and measuring a reference pressure formed by the gas of the first predetermined volume when no occupant is seated; measuring a first pressure formed by the gas of the first predetermined volume after an occupant is seated; and obtaining a first weight based on a difference between the reference pressure and the first pressure, and using the first weight as a reference weight of the occupant. The seat cushion airbag (10) disposed in the vehicle seat is used to calculate the weight of the occupant and determine a sitting position of the occupant based on the difference between the pressure in the seat cushion airbag (10) obtained when no occupant is seated and the pressure in the seat cushion airbag obtained when the occupant is seated. Therefore, a feature of the occupant may be identified without additionally providing a pressure sensor, so that a targeted protection strategy is set for each occupant.

An example method is disclosed, the method comprising: (i) detecting, via a first sensor of an alert system configured for use with a vehicle, a living being inside the vehicle; (ii) measuring, via a second sensor, an environmental feature inside the vehicle; (iii) based at least on the detection of the living being and the measured environmental feature, determining, an alert condition inside the vehicle; (iv) selecting a first computational action based at least on the determined alert condition; (v) transmitting an instruction that causes a component of the vehicle to perform the selected first computational action; (vi) selecting a second computational action based at least on the determined alert condition; and (vii) transmitting, via a network interface, to at least one computing device that is remote from the alert system, an instruction that causes at least one remote computing device to perform the selected second computational action.

A monitoring system for determining whether the child or pet has been left unattended within the vehicle. The system may include a vehicle device having a monitoring platform, an alarm switch, and an alert device, which may emit an alarm if a first sensor detects the presence of the child or pet and a second sensor detects that the vehicle is in an off state. The system further may include a portable alert device that detects its location relative to the vehicle device, and emits an alarm if it is located outside a predetermined zone surrounding the monitoring platform. In another embodiment, the system may include a vehicle device having a sensor that detects whether the vehicle transitions from an on state to an off state and an alert device that emits an alarm if the sensor detects that the vehicle transitions to the off state.