Patent US 6,829,370

A detection method and system that detects reflection from a scene in at least a portion of an upper band of the near infrared spectrum (e.g., at least a portion within the range of 1.4 &mgr;m and above in the near infrared spectrum). The presence of a human body in the scene is then determined by comparing the reflection of at least one region of the scene (e.g., at least one region of the scene including a face region of the human body) to at least one other region of the scene (e.g., at least another region of the scene including one or more inanimate objects).