Adjustable spacing comb, adjustment drive and hair cutting appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10377048-B2
Application number	US-201515511464-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2015
Priority date	Sep 18, 2014
Publication date	Aug 13, 2019
Grant date	Aug 13, 2019

Abstract

An adjustment drive is provided for an adjustable spacing comb for a hair cutting appliance. The adjustment drive includes an actuator, a sensor element and a control unit. The actuator actuates a movable comb portion of the adjustable spacing comb with respect to a blade set of the hair cutting appliance. The sensor element detects multi-faceted user inputs applied to the sensor element by a user and to output a user input signal that is derived from the multi-faceted user inputs. The actuator is operated on the basis of the user input signal. The control unit is coupled to the actuator and to the sensor element, and converts the user input signal into an actuator operating signal. The multi-faceted user inputs include detected user input speed of an input stroke by the user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for operating an adjustable spacing comb for a hair cutting appliance, the method comprising:
providing an adjustment drive comprising an actuator for actuating a movable comb portion of the adjustable spacing comb;
providing a proximity sensitive or touch sensitive sensor element;
detecting multi-faceted user inputs applied to the sensor element, the detected multi-faceted user inputs including user input speed of an input stroke by the user;
outputting a user input signal that is derived from the detected multi-faceted user inputs;
providing a control unit coupled to the actuator and to the sensor element for selecting an adjustment mode of a plurality of adjustment modes with different length adjustment increments, respectively, in response to the detected user input speed of the input stroke and converting the user input signal into an actuator operating signal corresponding to the selected adjustment mode;
setting an adjustment length value of the adjustable spacing comb based on the actuator operating signal; and
operating the actuator using the actuator operating signal.

2. An adjustment drive for an adjustable spacing comb for a hair cutting appliance, the adjustment drive comprising:
an actuator configured for actuating a movable comb portion of the adjustable spacing comb with respect to a blade set of the hair cutting appliance;
a sensor element configured to detect multi-faceted user inputs applied to the sensor element by a user, the multi-faceted user inputs comprising detected user input speed of an input stroke by the user, and to output a user input signal that is derived from the detected multi-faceted user inputs, wherein the actuator is operated on the basis of the user input signal; and
a control unit coupled to the actuator and to the sensor element, the control unit configured to select an adjustment mode from a plurality of adjustment modes in response to the detected user input speed of the input stroke to set corresponding length adjustment increments for moving the movable comb portion, and to convert the user input signal into an actuator operating signal in accordance with the selected adjustment mode.

3. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the control unit is further configured to set an adjustment direction based on a detected user input direction.

4. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the actuator is operated on the basis of a set length adjustment increment.

5. The adjustment drive as claimed in in claim 2 , wherein the control unit is further configured to convert a slow user input motion into a fine adjustment mode with a small length adjustment increment, and wherein the control unit is further configured to convert a fast user input motion into a rough adjustment mode with a large length adjustment increment.

6. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the sensor element comprises a touch sensitive sensor element configured to detect touch gestures.

7. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the sensor element comprises a touch sensitive surface including at least one tactile sensor.

8. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the sensor element is a capacitive sensing element or a conductance sensing element.

9. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising a feedback unit that is operably coupled to the control unit, wherein the control unit is further configured to provide user guidance indicating that user inputs are enabled at the sensor element, and to provide user feedback in response to the detected multi-faceted user inputs to the user.

10. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the feedback unit further comprises at least one of an optical feedback element, an acoustic feedback element and a tactile feedback element.

11. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the feedback unit comprises an array of optical feedback elements selectively operable to indicate a direction of potential user inputs.

12. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the user input signal is indicative of at least one additional signal component selected from the group consisting of input direction, input drag length, and input path length.

13. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sensor element comprises a proximity sensitive sensor element configured to detect gestures in a proximity of the sensor element.

14. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the in the detected user input speed is detected by detecting peak velocities or average velocities of the user input stroke.

15. The adjustment drive as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the in the detected user input speed is detected based on a time interval actually required for accomplishing at least a portion of the user input stroke.

16. A hair cutting appliance, comprising:
a housing portion;
a cutting unit including a blade set;
an adjustable spacing comb comprising a movable comb portion configured to be moved with respect to the housing portion; and
an adjustment drive comprising:
an actuator configured for actuating the movable comb portion with respect to the blade set;
a sensor element configured to detect at least a user input speed of an input stroke applied to the sensor element by a user and to output a user input signal that is derived, at least in part, the detected user input speed; and
a control unit coupled to the actuator and to the sensor element, the control unit configured to select one of a plurality of adjustment modes with different length adjustment increments, respectively, for moving the movable comb portion in response to the detected user input speed of the input stroke and to convert the user input signal into an actuator operating signal for controlling the actuating of the moveable comb portion according to the selected adjustment mode.

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Darwinkel Geert-Jan
• Braaksma Alle
• Zandsteeg Cornelis Johannes

Classifications

• B26B19/00

  Clippers or shavers operating with a plurality of cutting edges, e.g. hair clippers, dry shavers · CPC title

• B26B19/388

  Sensors; Control · CPC title

• B26B19/3813

  Attachments · CPC title

• B26B19/3886

  Actuating members, e.g. switches or control knobs · CPC title

• B26B19/20 Primary

  with provision for shearing hair of preselected or variable length · CPC title