Patent ID: 8131513

Claim:
A method of computer-assisted assessment of vehicle seat bottom design, the method comprising: in response to user identification of a vehicle seat bottom, automatically importing a data file representing an internal structure component infrastructure for the vehicle seat bottom from a computer memory for use with a computer assisted drawing (CAD) application operating on a computer to generate a visual output, the internal structure component infrastructure visually representing internal structural components of the seat bottom; in response to user identification of a body profile, automatically importing a pan shape data object representing the body profile from the computer memory for input to the CAD application, the pan shape data object visually representing a pressure distribution of a seat occupant matching the identified profile as at least a two-dimension object having an upper and a lower side; overlaying the pan shape data object relative to the internal structure component infrastructure so that the visual output shows both of the pan shape object and the structural components; and automatically identifying portions of the internal structural components within the visual output that penetrate through both of the upper and lower sides of the pan shape object as areas where the seat occupant experiences undesirable pressures.