Toothbrush system
AssigneePlaybrush Limited
InventorsTolulope Ogunsina, Wiktor Grajkowski, Paul Varga, Matthäus Ittner
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Abstract
A toothbrush device is disclosed comprising a motion sensor for sensing motion of the device to produce motion data and a signal analysis unit for analysing the motion data to produce brushing data. A light communication module is arranged to transmit the brushing data to an external device using a light source. This can allow the brushing data to be transmitted without the need to provide a radio frequency transmission module and/or using a light source which also provides visual feedback to the user. The external device may comprise a camera arranged to produce image data, and a processor arranged to process an image of the light source to obtain the brushing data.
Claims16
A toothbrush device comprising:
- a motion sensor arranged to sense motion of the toothbrush device to produce motion data;
- a signal analysis unit arranged to analyse the motion data to produce brushing data;
- a light source arranged to provide visual feedback of brushing activity to a user;
- and
- a light communication module arranged to transmit the brushing data to an external device using the light source,
- wherein the light source comprises a multi-color light emitting diode (LED) which allows different colors to be displayed depending on a state of brushing,
- wherein the toothbrush device is arranged to use the multi-color LED to provide the visual feedback to the user regarding the brushing activity during the brushing, and to use the multi-color LED to transmit the brushing data to the external device after the brushing,
- wherein the signal analysis unit is arranged to produce a summary of brushing activity during a brushing session, and
- wherein the light communication module is arranged to modulate chromaticity of the multi-color LED to transmit the summary of brushing activity to the external device after the brushing.
A system comprising:
- a toothbrush device, the toothbrush device comprising:
- a motion sensor arranged to sense motion of the toothbrush device to produce motion data;
- a signal analysis unit arranged to analyse the motion data to produce brushing data;
- a light source arranged to provide visual feedback of brushing activity to a user, wherein the light source comprises a multi-color light emitting diode (LED) which allows different colors to be displayed depending on a state of brushing;
- and
- a light communication module arranged to transmit the brushing data to an external device using the multi-color LED,
- wherein the toothbrush device is arranged to use the multi-color LED to provide the visual feedback to the user regarding the brushing activity during the brushing, and to use the multi-color LED to transmit the brushing data to the external device after the brushing,
- wherein the signal analysis unit is arranged to produce a summary of brushing activity during a brushing session, and
- wherein the light communication module is arranged to modulate chromaticity of the multi-color LED to transmit the summary of brushing activity to the external device after the brushing;
- and
- a mobile processing device, the mobile processing device comprising:
- a camera arranged to produce image data;
- and
- a processor arranged to process the image data, wherein the processor is arranged to process an image of the multi-color LED of the toothbrush device to obtain the brushing data.
A method of analysing brushing activity with a toothbrush device, the method comprising:
- sensing motion of the toothbrush device to produce motion data;
- analysing the motion data to produce brushing data;
- using a light source to provide visual feedback to a user regarding brushing activity during brushing, wherein the light source is a multi-color light emitting diode (LED) which displays different colors depending on a state of brushing;
- and
- modulating the multi-color LED with the brushing data, thereby to transmit the brushing data to an external device,
- wherein the same multi-color LED is used to provide the visual feedback to the user regarding the brushing activity during the brushing, and to transmit the brushing data to the external device after the brushing,
- wherein the method comprises producing a summary of brushing activity during a brushing session, and
- wherein chromaticity of the multi-color LED is modulated to transmit the summary of brushing activity to the external device after the brushing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.