Oral care system with a tracking attachment and method of assembling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12324504-B2
Application number	US-202318530726-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2023
Priority date	Aug 3, 2018
Publication date	Jun 10, 2025
Grant date	Jun 10, 2025

Abstract

A tracking attachment for an oral care implement that includes a housing and a tracking unit configured to track position, orientation, or movement of the oral care implement. The housing may define a receiving cavity that is configured to receive a portion of the oral care implement. The housing may include a first housing portion having an inner surface that defines a first portion of the receiving cavity that is open at both of the first and second ends of the first housing portion and a second housing portion that mates with the first housing portion to detachably couple the second housing portion to the first housing portion. The second housing portion may have an inner surface that defines a second portion of the receiving cavity that is open at the second end of the second housing portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tracking attachment for an oral care implement, the tracking attachment comprising:
a housing formed of a rigid material, the housing having an outer surface and an inner surface that defines a receiving cavity having an open top end that is configured to receive a portion of an oral care implement;
a plurality of visual markers formed of a resilient material, each of the plurality of visual markers coupled to the housing and protruding from the outer surface of the housing and having a semi-spherical shape; and
wherein the plurality of visual markers are configured to facilitate tracking at least one of a position, orientation, or movement of the oral care implement within an oral cavity of a user.

2. The tracking attachment according to claim 1 wherein the housing comprises a first housing portion having a first connection element and a second housing portion having a second connection element that facilitate altering the first and second housing portions between: (1) a detached state wherein the first and second housing portions are separate from one another; and (2) an attached state wherein the first and second housing portions are coupled together to define the receiving cavity configured to hold the portion of the oral care implement; wherein the plurality of visual markers are coupled to the second housing portion, the first housing portion being free of any visual markers.

3. The tracking attachment according to claim 1 wherein the rigid material is hard plastic and the resilient material is silicone or thermoplastic elastomer.

4. The tracking attachment according to claim 1 wherein the housing comprises a first housing portion that defines a first portion of the receiving cavity, the first portion of the receiving cavity tapering from a first end of the first housing portion to a second end of the first housing portion, the open top end of the receiving cavity located at the second end of the first housing portion.

5. The tracking attachment according to claim 1 wherein the tracking attachment is free of electronic components.

6. A tracking attachment for an oral care implement, the tracking attachment comprising:
a housing formed of a rigid material, the housing having an outer surface, an inner surface that defines a receiving cavity having an open top end that is configured to receive a portion of an oral care implement, and a plurality of holes extending from the outer surface to the inner surface in a spaced apart manner;
a plurality of visual markers formed of a resilient material, each one of the plurality of visual markers coupled to the housing within each one of the plurality of holes and protruding from the outer surface of the housing; and
wherein the plurality of visual markers are configured to facilitate tracking at least one of a position, orientation, or movement of the oral care implement within an oral cavity of a user.

7. The tracking attachment according to claim 6 wherein each of the visual markers comprises an anchor portion, a protruding portion, and an intermediate portion extending between the anchor portion and the protruding portion, the anchor portion being located within the receiving cavity, the intermediate portion being located within one of the plurality of holes, and the protruding portion protruding from the outer surface of the housing portion.

8. The tracking attachment according to claim 7 wherein the protruding portion of each of the visual markers has a semi-spherical shape.

9. The tracking attachment according to claim 8 wherein for each of the plurality of visual markers, the anchor portion comprises a lower surface that forms a shoulder that extends radially from the intermediate portion and engages the inner surface of the housing.

10. The tracking attachment according to claim 9 wherein the anchor portion of each of the plurality of visual markers comprise a chamfered upper surface that extends from the shoulder.

11. The tracking attachment according to claim 6 wherein the housing portion extends from a first end to a second end along a longitudinal axis, wherein the plurality of visual markers comprises a first set of visual markers that are aligned along a first plane that is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis and a second set of visual markers that are aligned along a second plane that is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis and parallel to the first plane.

12. The tracking attachment according to claim 6 wherein the rigid material is hard plastic and the resilient material is silicone or thermoplastic elastomer.

13. A tracking attachment configured to be detachably coupled to an oral care implement, the tracking attachment comprising:
a first housing portion;
a second housing portion detachably coupled to the first housing portion, the second housing portion comprising an outer surface and formed of a rigid material;
a connection element that is configured to mate with a connection element on a handle of the oral care implement to couple the first housing portion to the handle; and
a plurality of visual markers each comprising a semispherical outer surface, the plurality of visual markers protruding from the outer surface of the second housing portion and formed of a resilient material.

14. The tracking attachment of claim 13 wherein the plurality of visual markers comprise an upper set of the visual markers arranged along a first ring in a spaced apart manner and a lower set of the visual markers arranged along a second ring in a spaced apart manner, the upper set of the visual markers being spaced a first circumferential distance along the first ring, the lower set of the visual markers being spaced a second circumferential distance along the second ring, the first circumferential distance being greater than the second circumferential distance.

15. The tracking attachment of claim 13 wherein the each of the plurality of visual markers have a color and the plurality of visual markers are arranged such that the color of each one of the plurality of visual markers is different than the color of each adjacent one of the plurality of visual markers.

16. The tracking attachment of claim 13 wherein the second housing portion comprises further comprises an inner surface and a plurality of holes extending from the outer surface to the inner surface in a spaced apart manner, each of the plurality of visual markers being coupled to the second housing portion within each one of the plurality of holes.

17. The tracking attachment according to claim 13 wherein the rigid material is hard plastic and the resilient material is silicone or thermoplastic elastomer.

Assignees

• Colgate Palmolive Co

Inventors

• Yang Wu
• Okai Takahide

Classifications

• A61C17/225

  Handles or details thereof · CPC title

• A46B15/0002

  Arrangements for enhancing monitoring or controlling the brushing process · CPC title

• A61C17/222

  Brush body details, e.g. the shape thereof or connection to handle · CPC title

• A46B2200/1066

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

• A46B15/0097

  Self supporting, e.g. brushes that stand upright or in other particular ways · CPC title