Oral hygiene systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10646029-B2
Application number	US-201816218044-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2018
Priority date	Dec 28, 2017
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

A method for promoting compliance with an oral hygiene regimen includes displaying, on a display device, a representation of at least a portion of a set of teeth of a user. The method also includes overlaying an indicium on the representation such that the indicium is associated with a first section of the representation. Responsive to a determination, via at least one of one or more processors, that a head of an oral hygiene device is positioned directly adjacent to a first section of the set of teeth that corresponds to the first section of the representation for at least a predetermined amount of time, the indicium is removed from the display device.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method for promoting compliance with an oral hygiene regimen, the method comprising:
displaying, on a display device, a representation of at least a portion of a set of teeth of a user;
overlaying an indicium on the representation such that the indicium is associated with a first section of the representation;
responsive to a determination, via at least one of one or more processors, that a head of an oral hygiene device is positioned directly adjacent to a first section of the set of teeth that corresponds to the first section of the representation for at least a predetermined amount of time, causing the indicium to be removed from the display device; and
displaying a selectable item on the display device, the selectable item being positioned at a first location within a coordinate system, the first location within the coordinate system being associated with a location in a volumetric space generally in front of the display device; and responsive to a determination, via at least one of the one or more processors, that the head of the oral hygiene device is positioned within a predetermined distance of the location in the volumetric space associated with the first location in the coordinate system for a predetermined amount of time, receiving a selection of the selectable item.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, responsive to the removing the indicium, transmitting a notification to a third party via a communication module.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising capturing an image of the user using a camera and displaying the image of the user on the display device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising capturing an image of the user using a camera and displaying the image of the user on the display device, and subsequent to receiving the selection of the selectable item, transmitting the image of the user to a third party via a communication module.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, capturing an image of the user using a camera and displaying the image of the user on the display device, and subsequent to receiving the selection of the selectable item, overlaying a graphic associated with the selectable item on the image of the user on the display device.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising transmitting the image of the user and the overlaid graphic to a third party via a communication module.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination further includes determining that movement of the head of the oral hygiene device corresponds to a predetermined brush stroke type, wherein the predetermined brush stroke type is a circular brush stroke, a back-and-forth brush stroke, an angled brush stroke, or any combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first teeth section representation corresponds to a complete set of maxillary teeth or a complete set of mandibular teeth.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first section of the representation corresponds to one of a plurality of sections of a complete set of maxillary teeth or one of a plurality of sections of a complete set of mandibular teeth, wherein the first section of the set of teeth has an inner surface, an outer surface, and an occlusal surface, wherein the determining further includes determining that the head of the oral hygiene device is directly adjacent to one of the inner surface, the outer surface, or the occlusal surface of the set of teeth.

10. An oral hygiene system, the system comprising:
an oral hygiene device including a handle and a head;
a sensor;
a display device;
one or more processors; and
a memory device storing instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors cause the oral hygiene system to,
display, on the display device, a representation of at least a portion of a set of teeth of a user;
overlay an indicium on the representation such that the indicium is associated with a first section of the representation;
responsive to a determination, via at least one of the one or more processors, that the head of the oral hygiene device is positioned directly adjacent to a first section of the set of teeth that corresponds to the first section of the representation for at least a predetermined amount of time, causing the indicium to be removed from the display;
wherein the instructions, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors cause the oral hygiene system to display a selectable item on the display device, the selectable item being positioned at a first location within a coordinate system, the first location within the coordinate system being associated with a location in a volumetric space generally in front of the display device; and responsive to a determination, via the sensor, that the head of the oral hygiene device is positioned within a predetermined distance of the location in the volumetric space associated with the first location in the coordinate system for a predetermined amount of time, receive a selection of the selectable item.

11. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a communication module that is configured to transmit a notification to a third party responsive to removal of the indicium from the display device.

12. The system of claim 10 , further comprising:
a camera configured to capture an image of a user, wherein the instructions, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors cause the display device to display the image of the user; and
a communication module that is configured to transmit the image of the user to a third party.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors cause the oral hygiene system to overlay a graphic associated with the selectable item on the image of the user on the display device responsive to receiving the selection of the selectable item.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a communication module that is configured to transmit the image of the user and the overlaid graphic to a third party.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the determination further includes determining that movement of the head of the oral hygiene device corresponds to a predetermined brush stroke type, wherein the predetermined brush stroke type is a circular brush stroke, a back-and-forth brush stroke, an angled brush stroke, or any combination thereof.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first section of the representation corresponds to a complete set of maxillary teeth or a complete set of mandibular teeth.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first section of the representation corresponds to one of a plurality of sections of a complete set of maxillary teeth or one of a plurality of sections of a complete set of mandibular teeth.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein the sensor is an optical sensor, a motion sensor, a gyrometer, a magnetometer, an accelerometer, a camera, or any combination thereof.

Assignees

• Colgate Palmolive Co

Inventors

• Serval Thomas
• Nicolas Yann

Classifications

• A46B2200/1066

  Toothbrush for cleaning the teeth or dentures (A61C17/16 takes precedence; bristles arrangements for toothbrushes A46B9/04) · CPC title

• A61C17/225

  Handles or details thereof · CPC title

• A46B9/04 Primary

  {Arranged like in or} for toothbrushes · CPC title

• A46B15/0008

  with means for controlling duration, e.g. time of brushing · CPC title

• G09B23/283

  for dentistry or oral hygiene (G09B23/286 takes precedence) · CPC title