Patent ID: 8175689

Claim:
A method comprising: varying an air pressure in a chamber positioned adjacent to a skin, the chamber having an opening that exposes the skin to changes in the air pressure in the chamber; making a plurality of measurements of surface profiles of the skin over a period of time as the surface profile of the skin varies in response to changes in the air pressure, including capturing images of the surface profiles of the skin from a viewing direction at an angle relative to a direction of rise or fall movements of the skin surface such that the rise and fall movements of the skin surface are visible in the images; analyzing the images to measure the rise and fall movements of the skin surface; identifying a highest point of the skin surface in each of the images; determining how the highest point of the skin changes over time in response to the changes in the air pressure in the chamber based on the identified highest points in the images; and outputting information about how the highest point of the skin changes over time in response to the changes in the air pressure in the chamber or a value derived from the information.