Method and apparatus for in-vehicle presence detection and driver alerting

A system for alerting a responsible party that an occupant has been inadvertently left in a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the system comprising:

• a plurality of vibration sensors disposed in the passenger compartment, each of the vibration sensors disposed adjacent a defined seating position and detecting movement of an occupant of the defined seating position and outputting signals related to the sensed movement;
• a plurality of microphones disposed within the passenger compartment and detecting sounds made by any one or more of the occupants of the seating positions and outputting signals related to the sensed sounds;
• a plurality of door sensors monitoring an open/closed status of a plurality of doors of the vehicle and outputting signals related to the open/closed status;
• at least one powertrain sensor monitoring a condition of a vehicle powertrain and outputting signals related to the powertrain status;
• a processor using the signals output from the vibration sensors and the microphones to determine an occupancy status of the passenger compartment, the occupancy status including a total number of occupants and which of the seating positions is occupied, and the processor further using the signals from the door sensors and the powertrain sensors to determine that the vehicle is in a parked condition;
• and
• an alerting device providing an alert to the responsible party when the processor has determined that the occupant is present in the passenger compartment and that the vehicle is in the parked condition.

A method for detecting the presence of an occupant in a passenger compartment of a vehicle and alerting a responsible party of the presence of the occupant, the method comprising:

• monitoring an open/closed status of a door of the vehicle;
• monitoring a status of a powertrain component;
• processing signals related to the door open/closed status and to the powertrain status to determine that;
• sensing motion of the occupant in the passenger compartment using a vibration sensor associated with a seating position in which the occupant is seated;
• sensing sounds in the passenger compartment;
• generating signals related to the sensed motions and sounds;
• processing the signals to determine whether the sensed motions and sounds indicate that the occupant is present in the passenger compartment;
• and
• alerting the responsible party if the processed signals indicate that the vehicle is in a parked condition and that the occupant is present in the passenger compartment.