Patent ID: 8272276

Claim:
A pressure mapping system comprising: a plurality of electrode columns, a plurality of electrode rows, a solid elastomer dielectric separating the electrode columns and electrode rows, wherein said solid elastomer dielectric comprises at least one planar sheet having two major surfaces, wherein at least one major surface comprises a pattern of projections, each projection being spaced from adjacent projections so as to be deformable under compression from an applied force, the projections providing more resistance to compression as the applied force is increased, a two-dimensional matrix of sensor cells, wherein each sensor cell is defined by the intersection of an electrode column, an electrode row and at least one projection, and an electronics module coupled to the matrix of sensor cells, the electronics module determining a pressure at each sensor cell based on the compression of the sensor cell, the determined pressures defining a two-dimensional pressure distribution based on the compressions of the two-dimensional matrix of sensor cells.