Powered oral care implement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11425995-B2
Application number	US-201916720462-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2019
Priority date	Dec 19, 2019
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

An oral care implement including a handle and an oral care refill head. The handle has a gripping portion, an engagement component coupled to a distal end of the gripping portion, and a stem. The engagement component includes a plate portion and a first engagement feature. The stem extends through an opening in the engagement component and protrudes from the plate portion. The oral care refill head includes an oral care treatment portion and a sleeve portion. The sleeve portion has an inner surface that defines a sleeve cavity having a cavity axis and a second engagement feature. When the oral care refill head is detachably coupled to the handle, the first and second engagement features mate with one another to at least one of: (1) position the oral care refill head and the handle in an operational alignment; and (2) lock the oral care refill head to the handle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A powered oral care implement comprising:
a head comprising an oral care tool;
a handle comprising a gripping portion;
a user-operated actuator on the handle for controlling one or more functions of the oral care implement;
an illumination ring on the handle that surrounds the user operated actuator;
a control circuit comprising, in operable cooperation;
a power source;
an actuator unit in operable cooperation with the user-operated actuator;
a timer unit configured to track time during performance of the oral care session;
a time indicator unit comprising:
one or more light sources positioned to illuminate the illumination ring; and

the control circuit configured to activate the one or more light sources in a manner that informs the user, during the oral care session, of the time that has passed during performance of the oral care session.

2. The powered oral care implement according to claim 1 wherein the control circuit is further configured to activate the one or more light sources in a manner that sequentially illuminates segments of the illumination ring.

3. The powered oral care implement according to claim 2 wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
activate the one or more light sources in a manner that illuminates a first quadrant segment of the illumination ring upon a first time period expiring;
activate the one or more light sources in a manner that illuminates the first quadrant segment and a second quadrant segment of the illumination ring upon a second time period expiring;
activate the one or more light sources in a manner that illuminates the first quadrant segment, the second quadrant segment, and a third quadrant segment of the illumination ring upon a third time period expiring; and
activate the one or more light sources in a manner that illuminates the first quadrant segment, the second quadrant segment, the third quadrant segment, and a fourth quadrant segment of the illumination ring upon a fourth time period expiring.

4. The powered oral care implement according to claim 3 wherein the fourth time period corresponds to a recommended brushing time.

5. The powered oral care implement according to claim 1 wherein the gripping portion of the handle further comprises:
a handle housing having an actuator aperture; and
an illumination component comprising the illumination ring and a plate body, the illumination ring protruding from the plate body, the illumination component mounted to the handle housing so that the illumination ring extends into the actuator aperture, the illumination component formed of a light transmissive material.

6. The powered oral care implement according to claim 5 wherein the illumination component snap-fits to the handle housing.

7. The powered oral care implement according to claim 5 further comprising:
the handle housing comprising a status aperture spaced from the actuator aperture;
the illumination component further comprising a status protuberance protruding from the plate body and into the status aperture;
the control circuit further comprising a status light source aligned with the status protuberance, the control circuit configured to activate the status light source upon a status condition being satisfied.

8. The powered oral care implement according to claim 5 wherein the gripping portion of the handle further comprises:
a light divider component comprising a body having a plurality of arcuate apertures arranged in a ring, the light divider component mounted in a handle housing of the gripping portion so that the ring formed by the plurality of arcuate apertures is aligned with the illumination ring.

9. The powered oral care implement according to claim 8 wherein the light divider component is formed of an opaque material.

10. The powered oral care implement according to claim 8 wherein the light divider component is coupled to a circuit board on which the one or more light sources of the time indicator unit are mounted.

11. The powered oral care implement according to claim 10 wherein the light divider component snap-fits to the circuit board.

12. The powered oral care implement according to claim 8 wherein the one or more lights sources of the time indicator unit comprises a plurality of groupings of light sources, each of the plurality of groupings of light sources aligned with a corresponding one of the plurality of arcuate apertures.

13. The powered oral care implement according to claim 8 further comprising the user operated actuator comprising an actuator plate positioned within the actuator aperture.

14. A powered oral care implement comprising:
a head comprising an oral care tool;
a handle comprising a gripping portion;
a user-operated actuator on the handle for controlling one or more functions of the oral care implement;
an illumination ring on the gripping portion of the handle, the illumination ring having a continuous exposed ring surface that surrounds the user operated actuator;
a control circuit comprising, in operable cooperation, a power source, an actuator unit in operable cooperation with the user-operated actuator, and one or more light sources; and
a light divider component comprising a body having a plurality of arcuate apertures arranged in a ring and separated from one another by divider walls, the light divider component mounted in the handle housing of the gripping portion so that the ring formed by the plurality of arcuate apertures is aligned with the illumination ring.

15. The powered oral care implement according to claim 14 wherein the light divider component is formed of an opaque material.

16. The powered oral care implement according to claim 14 wherein the light divider component is coupled to a circuit board on which at least one electrical element of the actuator unit and the one or more light sources are mounted.

17. The powered oral care implement according to claim 16 wherein the light divider component snap-fits to the circuit board.

18. The powered oral care implement according to claim 14 wherein the one or more lights sources comprises a plurality of groupings of light sources, each of the plurality of groupings of light sources aligned with a corresponding one of the plurality of arcuate apertures so that segments of the light ring can be individually illuminated.

Assignees

• Colgate Palmolive Co

Inventors

• Curtis Kimberly
• Gatzemeyer John
• Van Pelt Rachel
• Hocaoglu Ebru
• Wolf Helen
• Roman Daniel

Classifications

• A61C17/3481

  Vibrating brush body, e.g. by using eccentric weights · CPC title

• A46B13/02

  power-driven {carriers} · CPC title

• A46B15/0022

  with an electrical means · CPC title

• A46B15/004

  with an acoustic signalling means, e.g. noise · CPC title

• A46B15/0006

  with a controlling brush technique device, e.g. stroke movement measuring device · CPC title