US 8,977,389 B2 · Method, system and apparatus for dispensing products for a personal care service, instructing on providing a personal care treatment service, and selecting a personal care service

a) a frame;

b) a dispenser supported on said frame having at least one dispensing outlet, the dispenser being located at a first location;

c) a plurality of beauty product components, each of the said beauty product components being contained in a respective container bag and each container bag being supported on said frame;

d) said dispenser including a plurality of lines, each line having a passageway therethrough and communicatively linking one of said respective plurality of container bags with said at least one dispensing outlet;

e) said dispenser including a control mechanism;

f) said dispenser including a pumping mechanism;

g) said pumping mechanism alternating between compression and relaxation of a respective line of the said plurality of lines to regulate the delivery of said plurality of beauty product components from their respective container bags;

h) said control mechanism comprising a programmable logic controller and software configured with instructions to operate the pumping mechanism to deliver a desired dosage of at least a plurality of said beauty product components from their respective container bags;

i) said pumping mechanism when in compression with said line sealingly closes the passageway of said line;

j) wherein said pumping mechanism comprises a plurality of peristaltic pumps, wherein each said line is associated with at least one of said peristaltic pumps, each pump being disposed along its respectively associated line between and being located between its respectively associated container bag and said dispensing outlet;

k) wherein said control mechanism receives an instruction to produce a beauty product, wherein said control mechanism produces a beauty product by regulating the operation of said respective plurality of peristaltic pumps to deliver dosages of a plurality of beauty product components from their said respective container bags that contain the respective beauty product components;

l) wherein said beauty product components each have viscosities of from 1 to 50 cP;

m) a monitoring mechanism including an RFID tag carried on each of the said beauty product component container bags and an RFID reader disposed at a reading distance relative to said frame supported bags and being configured to communicate with a communication component;

n) at least one storage component for storing information;

o) a communication component configured to communicate information from said reader to said storage component corresponding to each of said RFID tags, wherein the information stored on said storage component is available to a hardware processor;

p) a hardware processor;

q) software configured with instructions to instruct the hardware processor to process said communicated information and, when said processed information corresponds to a condition identifying one or more of said beauty product components in a said container reaching a low level, said processor is instructed to generate an output;

wherein said output comprises at least one of an instruction to check the supply on hand and an instruction to ship one or more beauty component products corresponding to the said one or more beauty product components whose condition is identified as reaching a low level;

r) wherein dosage amounts of at least some of said plurality of beauty product components are delivered with said respectively associated pumps from said respective bags in which said components are contained to a receptacle, said dosage amounts when delivered to said receptacle forming a beauty product that is a hair dye;

s) a selection system for selecting a color to apply to the hair of a person, the selection system including software, a processor and at least one display on which is generated a plurality of hair colors from which to choose;

said selection system receiving an image of a person that includes at least the person's hair and face, said selection system providing on said display an image of the person's face and person's hair, wherein said person's image is transformed on said display based on a selected color to display that selected color on said hair image of said person independently of the image of the person's face, the system including a selection option that is displayed on said display for selecting a target color;

said selection system software including instructions to receive a first input that identifies the condition of a person's existing hair, to receive a second input of said target color by displaying a selection of color options from which to select the desired target color for the existing hair and receiving a selection of said target color from said selection of color options, to process the information received as the first input and the second input, said processing of said information including generating a formula for said beauty product that produces the target color when applied to the person's existing hair;

t) wherein said selection system is linked for communication with said control mechanism to communicate said generated formula to said control mechanism;

u) wherein said control mechanism operates said plurality of pumps to deliver from at least some of said respective plurality of container bags dosages of at least some of said respective beauty product components in accordance with said formula, wherein said dosages are delivered to said dispensing outlet to produce a beauty product formed from the at least some of the plurality of said beauty product components;

v) wherein said control mechanism includes a cleaning feature, wherein the time between a dispensing of a beauty product component from its respective container bag is recorded, and wherein when said recorded time between dispensings of said beauty product component exceeds a threshold time, the control mechanism operates the respectively associated pump for that beauty product component to deliver through said respectively associated line an amount of said respective beauty product component so that a fresh supply of component is present at the nozzle for subsequent dispensings of that respective beauty product component;

w) wherein said monitoring mechanism checks for the presence at said first location for one or more additional containers that contain the same beauty product component as the said container determined to have a low level of said beauty product component therein, wherein checking the presence at said first location comprises interrogating for the presence of one or more container bags containing the same beauty product component as the container bag determined to have a low level, based on a response from an RFID tag provided on said one or more component containers containing the same component as the container determined to have a low level;

x) wherein each said line has a first end and a second end;

y) wherein said dispensing outlet comprises a plurality of nozzles, wherein each nozzle is associated with a respective one of said lines;

z) wherein each said container bag is sealingly connected to said first end of a respective one of said lines, and wherein each said nozzle is sealingly connected to said second end of said respective one of said lines, and wherein said sealingly connected bag, line and nozzle form a component unit;

aa) wherein said component unit is installable on said device;

and

bb) wherein said line of said component unit is installable on a respective one of said plurality of peristaltic pumps of said pumping mechanism.

Method, system and apparatus for dispensing products for a personal care service, instructing on providing a personal care treatment service, and selecting a personal care service

Life of this patent

Method, system and apparatus for dispensing products for a personal care service, instructing on providing a personal care treatment service, and selecting a personal care service

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18