Patent ID: 7849544

Claim:
A mattress device comprising, inside at least one outer casing: at least one inflatable top layer made up of a plurality of adjacent elements that are secured together and that are individually inflatable with a fluid via a pneumatic inflation and pressure regulation device; at least one bottom layer supporting said top layer and provided with a recess; and a penetration and/or pressure sensor received in the recess and connected to said pneumatic inflation and pressure regulation device, said sensor making it possible to determine the penetration and/or the pressure applied locally by the body of an individual bearing against the inflatable top layer and to regulate the inflation pressures of said elements of said top layer correspondingly; wherein, in a substantially central support zone designed to support the sacrum zone of the individual's body, said top layer is made up of a plurality of inflatable elements that are individualized in unitary manner, and that are each of a width smaller than their height for better preservation of the skin tissue, the width of said individualized inflatable elements of said central support zone being smaller than a width of each of the inflatable elements of opposite end zones situated adjacent to opposite ends of said central support zone; wherein said sensor, said recess, and said central support zone are of substantially equivalent length along a long dimension of the mattress device.