Oral hygiene systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11666139-B2
Application number	US-202117482743-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2021
Priority date	Dec 28, 2017
Publication date	Jun 6, 2023
Grant date	Jun 6, 2023

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 period of time and that the movement of the head of the oral hygiene device corresponds to a predetermined brush stroke during at least a portion of the period of time, causing the indicium to be removed from the first section of the representation; 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 an amount of time, receiving a selection of the selectable item.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicium is a graphic symbol representing an object.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicium obscures the representation of the set of teeth.

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, 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, and transmitting the image of the user and the overlaid graphic to a third party via a communication module.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicium is an image of a monster, an alien, a frowning face, a fictional character, a storm cloud, coins, money, points, stars, animals, collectibles, a circle, a square, a triangle, a checkmark, or a symbol.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined brush stroke type is selected from a plurality of predetermined brush stroke types.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of predetermined brush stroke type is one of a circular brush stroke, a back-and-forth brush stroke, an angled brush stroke, or any combination thereof.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. The method of claim 1 , 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.

12. 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 period of time, causing the indicium to be removed from the first section of the representation and to be associated with a second section of the representation;

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; 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; and 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.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising a communication module that is configured to transmit a notification to a third party responsive to removal of the indicium.

14. The system of claim 12 , 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.

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

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the indicium is one of a still image, a video image, or an animated image.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the indicium obscures the representation of the portion of the set of teeth.

Assignees

• Colgate Palmolive Co

Inventors

• Serval Thomas
• Nicolas Yann

Classifications

• A46B15/0004

  with a controlling means · CPC title

• A46B15/0006 Primary

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

• A61B5/486

  Biofeedback (using electroencephalography [EEG] A61B5/375) · CPC title

• A61B5/0088

  for oral or dental tissue · CPC title

• A46B2200/1066

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