An occupant discrimination system of a vehicle seat includes a load detecting portion disposed on a lower side of a seat and detecting a load acting on the seat; an occupant discrimination portion discriminating a state of an occupant among a no occupant state, adult seated state, and child seat fixed states based at least on a load detected from the load detecting portion and a load continuation duration.

A method for monitoring a passenger compartment of a vehicle. The passenger compartment has at least one RFID transponder. A readout signal for reading out the RFID transponder is emitted in the method. In response to the emitting, a response signal of the RFID transponder is measured in order to obtain a measured value. Using the measured value, a degree of obscuration that represents an obscuration of the RFID transponder is ascertained in order to monitor the passenger compartment.

System and method for obtaining and recording information about cargo includes a frame defining a cargo-receivable compartment, a position determining system at least partly on the frame and that allows for determination of position of the frame, an identification system on the frame that obtains information about cargo when present in the compartment, a memory component that receives and records information about position and movement of the frame, and the obtained information about cargo when present in the compartment in association with a unique identification of the frame, and a communications system on the frame to enable communication of information to and from the memory component.

A method is described for spatial modelling of an interior of a vehicle. The method includes transmitting a wireless signal, from each of multiple transmitters, each transmitter having a known location in the vehicle, receiving, by multiple receivers, multiple reflection signals having been reflected in the interior of the vehicle, each receiver having a known location in the vehicle. The method also includes, for the received reflection signals, determining a source data set by determining multipath propagation components, Doppler shifts, phase shifts and time differences of the received reflection signals, and determining a spatial model of at least a portion of the vehicle interior by applying a computer vision algorithm on the source data set. A system is also described for performing the method.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to determining and responding to an internal state of a self-driving vehicle. For instance, an image of an interior of the vehicle captured by a camera mounted in the vehicle is received. The image is processed in order to identify one or more visible markers at predetermined locations within the vehicle. The internal state of the vehicle is determined based on the identified one or more visible markers. A responsive action is identified action using the determined internal state, and the vehicle is controlled in order to perform the responsive action.

A mounted object detection device includes: a load sensor in which a plurality of sensor parts each configured to detect a load are disposed in a matrix shape; and a controller configured to detect a situation of a mounted object on the load sensor on the basis of an output from the load sensor. The controller: detects a load distribution on a detection region of the load sensor on the basis of an output from the load sensor; discerns which of a person or animal and a thing the mounted object is, on the basis of the load distribution; and when having discerned that the mounted object is a thing, discerns whether or not a person or an animal is mounted on the thing, on the basis of temporal change in the load distribution.

A pressure sensing system (24), seat cushion (20) incorporating the pressure sensing system, and method of sensing a weight group associated with an occupant of an automotive seat are described. The pressure sensing system includes a layer of an electrically conductive foam (28) and a flexible printed circuit (26) that includes a flexible substrate (26a) and N horizontal sensing wires (26b) and M vertical sensing wires (26c) securely placed on a top surface of the flexible substrate. The horizontal sensing wires intersect with the vertical sensing wires and form N?M intersections. The layer of an electrically conductive foam is placed on top of the N horizontal sensing wires and the M vertical sensing wires. When a pressure is applied to the layer of the electrically conductive foam, each intersection generates in real time an electric flux density value to reflect a degree of a compression caused by the pressure to a corresponding point of the electrically conductive foam.

A wire harness connected to a sensor is positioned on a back surface of a pad of a vehicle seat supported by a panel. The vehicle seat includes a panel; a pad supported by the panel; a skin material covering a front surface of the pad; and a sensor provided between the front surface of the pad and the skin material for acquiring information on a seat occupant, wherein the pad is provided with a through hole passed from the front surface of the pad to a back surface of the pad, and a recess formed in the back surface of the pad and connected to the through hole, the wire harness connected to the sensor extending in the through hole and the recess.

A system for detecting vibrations from a surface is provided. The system includes a coherent light source for projecting a multi-beam pattern onto the surface and an imaging device for mapping a speckle field generated by each spot formed on the surface by the multi-beam pattern to a unique region of an imaging sensor. The system further includes a processor for processing speckle field information received by the imaging sensor and deriving surface vibration information.

It is herein described a system such of that implemented in a vehicle (1) having front and rear doors (2) (3) provided with door opening sensors (S.sub.M; S.sub.D, S.sub.E) and one indicative sensor (ST) of locked door. A processing unit (4) calculates, by measuring the time the door remains open as well as by the sequence and/or frequency of openings and closings the doors (2, 3) of the vehicle (1), the possibility of a non-self-sufficient occupant have been forgotten inside the vehicle; and controls the actuation of an alarm (A1, A2, Al) in the event of said calculation indicates the possibility of an occupant non-self-sufficient have been forgotten inside the vehicle. The system identifies the possibility of an occupant has been introduced inside the vehicle when the opening time of the rear door is longer than time T1, and identifies the possibility of an occupant has been forgotten in the vehicle by means of the information processing sent by the door sensors.