This comprehensive analysis explores vehicle interior monitoring trends, key players like Bosch, Toyota, and emerging radar technologies in automotive. The global landscape reveals significant patent activity across multiple regions, with innovative solutions for occupant detection, safety monitoring, and biological parameter tracking transforming modern vehicle interiors.

Vehicle Interior Monitoring – Main Competitors

Audi (Porsche)

• 15 patent families are assigned to "Audi" (Porsche).
• 2 patent families assigned to Audi, discloses the Doppler radar to monitor the gestures/postures of the occupant inside the vehicle.
• 14 out of 15 patent families claims priority from DE.

Continental

• 12 patent families assigned to Continental disclosing interior monitoring of vehicle by radar.
• 11 out of 12 patents claims priority from DE.
• 8 out of 12 depicts about the position or seating of the occupants inside the car using Radar.

KOITO MFG

• One patent family assigned to KOITO MFG (HELLA comes under KOITO MFG Link).
• The patent KR20180104235A discloses a method for a driver state monitoring. Based upon this, the carelessness level of driver is calculated. The driver state is calculated by using a radar to measure the heart rate of the driver.

Valeo

• Total 8 patent families assigned to Valeo disclosing interior monitoring of vehicle by radar.
• 5 out of 8 patents claims priority from FR.
• 3 patent families out of 8 are monitoring the gesture/ posture of the occupant inside the vehicle by using radar sensor, for e.g. US10464478B2.

VAYYAR IMAGINING

• One patent family is assigned to "VAYYAR IMAGINING".
• WO2019162898A1 claims priority from US, discloses a MIMO radar to identify one or more target objects in the vehicle and breath rate or heart rate related to them.

Vehicle Interior Monitoring - Geographical Coverage

Vehicle Interior Monitoring - Research Origin

Vehicle Interior Monitoring – Application Area

Application Categories by Patent Count:

• Occupancy/ Occupant/ Object Detection Confirmation: 508
• Occupant/Seat Position Detection: 194
• Vehicle Parts Monitoring: 65
• Intrusion Detection/Occupant Authentication: 61
• Object Classification: 40
• Unsafe/Abnormal interior environment: 34
• Post-Accident Monitoring: 6

Key Findings:

Object Classification

• 40 patent families categorized in object classification includes patent families related to Adult, Child and Animal identification using Radar.
• Out of 40 patent families, 8 patent families uses monitoring of breathing rate/heart rate using Radar for occupant classification purpose.
• ROBERT BOSCH owns the maximum patent families (6 patent families).

Unsafe/Abnormal Interior Environment

• Category includes patent families disclosing Abnormal Temperature/Gas or Abnormal driver conditions detection using Radar.
• 17 patent families discloses the Abnormal Driver Conditions.
• Patent families related to Unsafe/Abnormal interior environment also discloses monitoring of driver drunk state or Alcoholic state using Radar.

Intrusion Detection

• TOYOTA is the major assignee in the category of intrusion detection holding 12 patent families all claiming priority from JP country.
• Out of 61 patent families related to Intrusion detection, 26 patent families uses Ultrasonic Radar and 14 patent families uses Doppler Radar for intrusion Detection.

Post-Accident Monitoring

• Out of 6 patent families on Post-Accident Monitoring, 3 patent families discloses the driver/passenger monitoring using Radar.

Priority Country Distribution:

• US: 148
• DE: 121
• CN: 84
• JP: 60
• KR: 51
• Others: 44

Occupant/Seat Position Detection

• ROBERT BOSCH is the top assignee with 19 patent families (one patent family in collaboration with MORTON Int.)
• TOYOTA and STATE FARM are the second major assignees and each holds 10 patent families.

Vehicle Interior Monitoring – Occupant Monitoring

Top Companies by Patent Count:

• ROBERT BOSCH: 14
• PORSCHE: 10
• GENERAL MOTORS: 6
• TOYOTA: 7
• HYUNDAI MOTOR: 6

Occupant Type Distribution:

• Driver: 160
• Passenger: 125
• Child: 49
• Adult: 15
• Animal: 11

Key Patent Examples:

• Patent families categorized in driver monitoring discloses monitoring of eye, gesture, hand movement of the driver using Radar.
• Korean application KR20180112295A by DAYOU HOLDING, filed in 2017 states the detection of driver and passengers related parameters such as heart rate, sitting position and health status by using a Doppler radar.
• University FLORIDA RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC has a patent application US2018263502A1 which discloses a method for estimation of heart rate and respiration rate parameters using Radar for a human or other animal.
• Patent CN110576819A owned by UNIV XICHANG discloses a method for preventing and monitoring danger of children left in a vehicle using Radar.
• Patent KR101964135B1 owned by DIGITAL EDGE states a method to detect movement and change in respiration rate of the passenger by using FMCW radar.
• CN110450784A assigned to SHENZHEN PUJIELI TECHNOLOGY discloses a method to extract the biological information of driver by using FMCW radar.

Driver Detection Leaders:

• ROBERT BOSCH and PORSCHE were among the top companies with 14 (1 is in collaboration) and 10 patent families respectively in the category of driver detection using Radar.
• Most of the patent families (i.e., 46) disclose driver detection using Radar are taking priority from US.

Passenger Detection:

• TOYOTA is the top assignee with 10 patent families (1 is in collaboration) discloses passenger detection using Radar.

Robert Bosch, Toyota and Hyundai Motors, each has one patent in collaboration under Driver Detection category.

Vehicle Interior Monitoring – Parameter

Biological Parameter Distribution:

• Biological: 246
• Gesture/Posture: 80
• Attention: 18

Specific Biological Parameters:

• Heart Rate: 94
• Breath Rate: 80
• Eye/Retina/Stare/Gaze: 40
• Other Biological Parameters: 183

Here other biological parameters includes anxiety, drowsiness, head position, facial expression, fatigue, size, weight, skeleton etc.

Key Findings:

• ROBERT BOSCH and NOVELIC each have 4 patent families which discloses detection of heart rate of occupant by using radar in vehicle.
• Out of 246 patent families categorized in biological parameter, 77 patent families are taking priority from US.
• Most of the patent families discloses monitoring of heart rate of occupant inside the vehicle using Radar.
• Child, Adult and Passenger classification is done based on Heart Rate.

Explore Part 1: Vehicle Interior Monitoring by Radar: Overview