The present invention relates to a vibrating toothbrush, and more particularly to a vibrating toothbrush enabled to perform toothbrushing for a running time, periodically output an alarm signal in a multisensory way to guide change of a region subject to toothbrushing, and supply driving power in the form of pulses according to a period, thereby reducing power consumption and rapid driving stress of a motor.

A device for providing an indication of brushing activity of a toothbrush is disclosed. The device comprises an accelerometer 18 configured to produce acceleration data from motion of the toothbrush 2, means 13 for filtering the acceleration data to produce gravitational components, and for filtering the acceleration data to produce linear acceleration components. The device further comprises means 15 for projecting the gravitational components and the linear acceleration components into an n-dimensional space, where and for performing a clustering process on the projections of gravitational components and linear acceleration components into n-dimensional space to produce clustering results. The clustering results comprise a plurality of clusters 52-54 each of which represents a brushing area. A brushing area can be determined based on an assignment of subsequent gravitational components and linear acceleration components of acceleration data to a particular cluster, and feedback provided to a user based on the determination of brushing area, thereby providing an indication of brushing activity.

A personal care appliance is provided that includes a brushhead for use in skincare; an appliance body having a motor assembly for oscillating the brushhead, wherein the brushhead or a portion of the motor assembly that is configured to oscillate includes a marking; and a brush encoder configured to detect the marking, and determine the oscillation of the brushhead.

The present invention relates to a vibrating toothbrush, and more particularly to a vibrating toothbrush enabled to perform toothbrushing for a running time, periodically output an alarm signal in a multisensory way to guide change of a region subject to toothbrushing, and supply driving power in the form of pulses according to a period, thereby reducing power consumption and rapid driving stress of a motor.

A system to promote optimum performance of a personal care appliance is provided including: a personal care appliance having an appliance status; and a client device, in communication with the appliance, including circuitry configured to compare the appliance status with the protocol for using the appliance, control display of an indicator based on the comparison.

A pressure feedback system continuously monitors the level of pressure or force on a brush head and is programmed to provide a feedback signal to a user based on the amount of pressure. The pressure level is monitored as a function of the change in the speed of the drive shaft. The system includes a housing, a motor, a drive shaft for attachment to a brush head, a feedback device, a sensor capable of detecting a change in the rotational speed of the drive shaft, and a microprocessor. The microprocessor is programmed activate the feedback device as a function of the measured change in rotational speed. The sensor may be a Hall effect sensor, or another sensor that is responsive to a magnetic field. A magnet may be positioned on the drive shaft, or another portion of the system that moves as a function of the drive shaft.

End effectors and systems including end effectors configured to provide audible and/or haptic indicia of fatigue failure of springs disposed in the end effectors are described.

An oral care device (10) assesses a health parameter of gingival tissue of a user by means of a force-generating module (52) to apply a momentary force to the gingival tissue by applying a burst of compressed air or a burst of liquid to the gingival tissue, a sensor (28) to obtain a plurality of optical signals from the gingival tissue over time after the momentary force has been applied, a controller (30) to quantify, based at least in part on an analysis of the plurality of optical signals, the health parameter (e.g. inflammation of the gingival tissue), wherein the health parameter is based at least in part on an amount of time the gingival tissue takes to recover to the application of force; and a feedback module (46) to provide information to the user regarding the quantified health parameter.

A device for providing an indication of brushing activity of a toothbrush comprises an accelerometer configured to produce acceleration data from motion of the toothbrush, and components for filtering the acceleration data to produce gravitational components and filtering the acceleration data to produce linear acceleration components. The device further comprises a component for projecting the gravitational components and the linear acceleration components into an n-dimensional space, where and for performing a clustering process on the projections of gravitational components and linear acceleration components into n-dimensional space to produce clustering results. The clustering results comprise a plurality of clusters each of which represents a brushing area. A brushing area can be determined based on an assignment of subsequent gravitational components and linear acceleration components of acceleration data to a particular cluster, and feedback provided to a user based on the determination of brushing area, thereby providing indication of brushing activity.

Disclosed is an electric toothbrush including a head and a handle having a shape couplable to the head and configured to supply a driving voltage to the head according to a user's control. The head includes a toothbrush head in which bristles and first and second electrodes spaced apart from each other are disposed, a head body extending from the toothbrush head, first and second connection lines disposed in the head body and connected from the toothbrush head to the first and second electrodes respectively, a head cover configured to close an end of the head body, and first and second connection pins respectively connected to the first and second connection lines and having portions externally exposed through the head cover.