Electric toothbrush system with pressure detection

A toothbrush system comprising an electric toothbrush device and an external processing device, wherein:

• the electric toothbrush device comprises:
• a vibration unit arranged to produce vibration of a toothbrush head;
• an orientation unit arranged to produce an orientation signal indicating an area of a mouth being brushed;
• a pressure determining unit arranged to produce a pressure signal indicating a pressure applied to the toothbrush head;
• a clock arranged to produce a timing signal;
• a battery arranged to supply power to the vibration unit;
• a current sensor arranged to sense a current drawn from the battery by the vibration unit;
• a processor arranged to receive the orientation signal, the pressure signal and the timing signal, and to link values of the orientation signal with values of the pressure signal based on the timing signal by applying a time stamp to each of the values of the orientation signal and the values of the pressure signal in order to provide feedback to a user regarding a brushing pressure applied to each of a plurality of different areas of the mouth,
• wherein the pressure determining unit is arranged to compare the sensed current to one or more current threshold values and to produce the pressure signal based on a result of the comparison,
• wherein the pressure determining unit is arranged to perform a calibration process to determine at least one of the one or more current threshold values and store the at least one of the one or more current threshold values in memory, and
• wherein the processor is arranged to associate a time stamp with successive values of the orientation signal and the pressure signal, and to store the successive values of the orientation signal and the pressure signal together with their time stamps in the memory;
• and
• a transmission module arranged to transmit the linked values of the pressure signal and the orientation signal to the external processing device;
• and
• the external processing device is arranged to receive the linked values of the pressure signal and the orientation signal from the electric toothbrush device and to display a pressure map indicating average pressure over a predetermined period of time for each of the plurality of different areas of the mouth.

A method of operating an electric toothbrushing device, the method comprising:

• producing vibration of a toothbrush head using a vibration unit;
• producing an orientation signal indicating of an area of a mouth being brushed;
• producing a pressure signal indicating a pressure applied to the toothbrush head;
• producing a timing signal;
• sensing a current drawn from a battery by the vibration unit;
• comparing the sensed current to one or more current threshold values to produce the pressure signal based on a result of the comparison, wherein at least one of the one or more current threshold values are determined by a calibration process and stored in memory;
• linking values of the orientation signal with values of the pressure signal based on the timing signal by applying a time stamp to each of the values of the orientation signal and the values of the pressure signal,
• wherein a time stamp is associated with successive values of the orientation signal and the pressure signal, and the successive values of the orientation signal and the pressure signal are stored together with their time stamps in the memory;
• and
• providing feedback to a user regarding a brushing pressure applied to each of a plurality of different areas of the mouth based on the linked values of the orientation and pressure signals.