Pressure-Sensing Surface for Inferring Physical and Mental States

The patent replaces non-contact visual sensing with direct contact pressure sensing. The pressure-sensing surface provides mechanical contact data that is inherently more accurate for detecting physical states like gait, balance, and posture. This substitution resolves the contradiction by using a different sensing modality (pressure instead of vision) that maintains high measurement precision while still operating in uncontrolled environments.

The pressure-sensing surface acts as an intermediary between the user and the detection system. Instead of directly observing users through cameras, the system mediates detection through pressure contacts that occur naturally during movement. This intermediary approach provides more reliable and accurate data about physical capacities while maintaining adaptability to uncontrolled settings.

The system enables self-service assessment where users are automatically evaluated as they naturally interact with the pressure-sensing surface during daily activities. No manual intervention or scheduling of assessment sessions is required. The system continuously collects pressure data and automatically infers physical and mental capacities, eliminating the time loss associated with manual expert assessments while maintaining measurement precision through automated machine learning analysis.

The system provides continuous assessment as users move across the pressure-sensing surface, rather than requiring discrete, scheduled evaluation sessions. This continuous collection and analysis of pressure data allows for ongoing monitoring of physical and mental capacities without the time consumption of repeated manual assessments, while maintaining expert-level accuracy through sophisticated inference algorithms.