Patent attributes
A rear seat occupant monitoring system for a vehicle includes a video display screen disposed in the vehicle cabin so as to be viewable by a driver of the vehicle. A camera is disposed a dome light or an overhead console. The dome light or overhead console includes first and second illumination sources that, when operated, illuminate a rear seat area within the field of view of the camera. The first illumination source principally emits visible light when electrically powered, and the second illumination source principally emits non-visible light when electrically powered. The camera captures image data representative of the rear seat area when the rear seat area is illuminated by at least one of the first and second illumination sources. Image data captured by the camera is provided to the video display screen for displaying video images for viewing by the driver of the vehicle.
