Cartridges for use in an apparatus for modifying keratinous surfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9949547-B2
Application number	US-201514858367-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2015
Priority date	Jun 11, 2015
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A cartridge assembly for modifying a surface. The cartridge assembly has a body and a base, the body defines a reservoir having a standpipe. The reservoir contains a treatment composition pressure element. Between the treatment composition pressure element and the standpipe is the head space, and within the head space there is a treatment composition dispersing device. The cartridge assembly can be used in a device for analyzing and treating tonal imperfections on human skin. The device, or apparatus has an applicator comprising a head and one or more nozzles, preferably the nozzles are arranged in an array and are associated with the cartridge assembly for dispensing a treatment composition therefrom.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cartridge assembly for modifying a surface, comprising: a body and a base, the body defining a reservoir that comprises a standpipe, the reservoir contains a treatment composition pressure element, between the treatment composition pressure element and the standpipe is a head space, and within the head space there is a treatment composition dispersing device, wherein the treatment composition dispersing device is moveable from a first position to a second position.

2. The cartridge assembly of claim 1 , wherein the pressure element is a sponge like material, a flexible membrane a bladder and mixtures thereof.

3. The cartridge assembly of claim 1 , wherein the dispersing device is one or more substantially spherical balls.

4. The cartridge assembly of claim 1 , wherein the volumetric ratio of the reservoir to the head space is from about 10:1 to about 2:1.

5. The cartridge assembly of claim 4 , wherein there is one or more dispersing devices within the head space.

6. The cartridge assembly of claim 1 , wherein the treatment composition pressure element defines a base head space at the opposite end of the cartridge assembly.

7. The cartridge assembly of claim 1 , wherein the body further comprises a treatment composition.

8. An apparatus for treating human skin comprising:
a. a cartridge assembly according to claim 1 , further comprising an array of nozzles;
b. wherein the reservoir comprises a skin treatment composition;
c. a sensor;
d. a CPU;
wherein the sensor takes the image of at least 10 μm 2 of skin; the CPU analyzes the image to calculate a localized L value of individual pixels or group of pixels; the CPU then compares the local L value to a background L value calculating a ΔL to identify one or more skin deviations, and wherein the sensor is in communication with the CPU, and wherein the CPU is adjacent the sensor or is remotely located.

9. An apparatus for treating human skin comprising:
a. a cartridge assembly according to claim 1 , further comprising an array of nozzles;
b. wherein the reservoir comprises a skin treatment composition;
c. a sensor;
d. an internal CPU and a remote CPU;
wherein the sensor takes the image of at least 10 μm 2 of skin; one of the CPU's analyzes the image to calculate a localized L value of individual pixels or group of pixels; then one of the CPU's compares the local L value to a background L value calculating a ΔL to identify one or more skin deviations, and wherein the sensor is in wireless communication with one or both of the CPUs, or the internal CPU is in wireless communication with the remote CPU.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the apparatus further comprises a handle that contains the sensor, the applicator, and the reservoir; and one or more CPUs are located in the apparatus handle, a cellular phone, a tablet computing device, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a heads-up display capable of projecting an image, in a visual display unit.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein at least one CPU is located in a visual display unit that is either a part of the apparatus handle, or remotely located from the apparatus.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the sensor is a camera capable of taking continuous images at a rate of at least 4 frames per second.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the cartridge assembly is used in association with a thermal inkjet or piezoelectric printer, wherein the treatment composition pressure element comprises a foam core, solid wax, bladder core, a membrane and combinations of these.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the applicator further comprises one or more of an illumination source, a memory unit, an energy source, and an applicator tip.

15. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the background L is preselected by a user of the device, calculated from one or more images taken of the skin during a treatment cycle, or calculated for each image taken from pixels within each image taken.

16. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the cartridge assembly comprises a thermal inkjet printer cartridge.

17. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the treatment composition comprises particles and have a particle settling rate of less than 0.03 mm per day at 25° C. and 1 atm pressure, and an elastic modulus between about 0.1 Pa to about 1000 Pa at 25° C. and 1000 Hz.

18. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the treatment composition comprises particles which have a refractive index of between about 1.1 and about 5.0.

19. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein there is a predetermined ΔL value which is plus or minus 0.5% of the background L.

20. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the treatment composition has a contrast ratio when treating the skin of at least 0.1 and the treatment composition has a lightness value of at least 0.5% greater than the background L.

21. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein each image is either taken in a grey scale or converted to a grey scale.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the grey scale has a range of about 0-255 units.

23. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein there is a predetermined ΔL value which is greater than 1.

24. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the treatment composition is applied to the skin deviation after the skin deviation is identified.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the treatment composition is applied to the skin deviation in a discontinuous deposition pattern of discrete droplets between about 1 μm to about 100 μm in size.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein less than 85% of the skin deviation is covered by the treatment composition.

27. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the skin deviation is treated with the skin treatment composition one or more times after the skin deviation is identified until the difference between the background L and the local L of the skin deviation is less than 0.5% of the background L.

28. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 , wherein the treatment composition is applied to the skin deviation after the skin deviation is identified via a linear array of nozzles and the local L is calculated along the length of, and in a firing range of, the array of nozzles.

Assignees

• Procter & Gamble

Inventors

• Rabe Thomas Eliott
• Sherman Faiz Feisal

Classifications

• A61B5/0077

  Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens · CPC title

• A61K8/29

  Titanium; Compounds thereof · CPC title

• A61B5/0075

  by spectroscopy, i.e. measuring spectra, e.g. Raman spectroscopy, infrared absorption spectroscopy (A61B5/0071 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A45D44/005

  for selecting or displaying personal cosmetic colours or hairstyle · CPC title

• G06T7/0012

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title