Oral care system
AssigneeColgate-Palmolive Company
InventorsJohn Gatzemeyer, Daniel Roman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An oral care system with coaching features. The oral care system may include indicator units to indicate to a user when plaque is present on the oral surfaces and to indicate to a user when it is time to move to a different area of the oral cavity for cleaning. The oral care system may include a feature whereby a user can silence the indicator function so as not to be alerted of the detection of plaque or other oral maladies during a cleaning session. The oral care system may include a light ring which surrounds a button on the handle to inform a user about the amount of time elapsed during a cleaning session.
Claims16
An 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, the user-operated actuator comprising:
- a mode selection switch;
- and
- a power switch;
- an illumination ring on the gripping portion of the handle, the illumination ring surrounding the user operated actuator;
- and
- a control circuit configured to activate the illumination ring to emit light in a manner that is indicative of an amount of time that has passed during performance of an oral care session.
An oral care implement comprising:
- a head comprising an oral care tool;
- a handle comprising a handle housing having an interior cavity and an actuator aperture forming a passageway into the interior cavity;
- an illumination component located within the interior cavity of the handle housing, the illumination component comprising a plate body and an illumination ring protruding from the plate body and into the actuator aperture of the handle housing;
- a user-operated actuator comprising an actuator plate positioned within the actuator aperture of the handle housing, the actuator plate being surrounded by the illumination ring;
- and
- a control circuit configured to activate the illumination ring to emit light in a manner that is indicative of an amount of time that has passed during performance of an oral care session;
- wherein the user-operated actuator comprises a power button and a mode selection button located on the actuator plate, the illumination ring forming a continuous loop that surrounds the power button and the mode selection button.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.