The toothbrush includes a handle portion which includes a power drive system (14) and further includes a brushhead assembly (20), which includes a brushhead arm having a brush element (21) at a distal end thereof A drive train assembly (12) is responsive to a drive signal from the power assembly for converting the action of the power assembly to a motion of the brushhead assembly. A magnet (30) is secured to the rear of the drive train, with a Hall effect sensor (32) mounted within the magnetic field produced by the magnet as the toothbrush moves in operation. Pressure on the brush element produces a phase shift of the Hall sensor output. A processor (15) determines the value of the phase shift of the Hall sensor signal as pressure is applied to the brush member and produces a signal indicative of the pressure applied by using stored information (71) which relates phase shift to pressure for the particular appliance.

Hairstyling tool of the comb or hairbrush type, comprising a handle and a body, an electric battery a force sensor, an electronic unit configured to capture and format signals provided by the sensors, a wireless communication means for transmitting data to a remote entity, by means of which information about the movements executed by the tool and the forces it undergoes can be transmitted to the remote entity, the remote entity being able to send information back to the user of the tool about the hair being styled.

An oral hygiene device (100) including at least one sensor (104) to improve a user's operation of the oral hygiene device is provided. In one exemplary embodiment, the oral hygiene device includes a longitudinal shaft (102), an attachment assembly (112), a handle portion (110), a suspension system (106), at least two sensors (104a, 104b), and at least one processor (132). The at least one processor is operable to receive an amount of force applied to the attachment assembly, which is detected by the at least two sensors. An angle that the attachment assembly is applied is also determined, the angle being based on the detected amount of force. In one embodiment, the angle and the amount of force are displayed within a user interface to the user to help the user improve their oral hygiene technique.

A system for classifying the usage of a handheld consumer device having a sensor and an analyzer. The sensor determines usage data at successive time instants and provides a temporally successive sequence of usage data during a usage session. The analyzer classifies the usage of the device with respect to at least one set usage classes and assembles a temporally successive sequence of input tuples of usage data relating to a predetermined time period of the usage session, each of the input tuples having at least one element representing the usage data at the respective time instant and for inputting the sequence of input tuples into at least one artificial neural network arranged to output at least one output tuple comprising a number of elements in accordance with the number of usage classes, each element of the output tuple representing a prediction value that the usage of the consumer device at the given time instant relates to a respective usage class.

An apparatus for classifying the motion of a movable treatment device having at least one inertial sensor, a motion pattern classification device configured to discriminate between two or more motion classes contained in a set of motion classes of the movable treatment device, and an interface for providing inertial sensor data from the inertial sensor to the motion pattern classification device. The inertial sensor data represents a movement of the movable treatment device, wherein the motion pattern classification device comprises at least one neural network configured to receive and classify the inertial sensor data with respect to the motion classes contained, each associated with at least one class member selected based on the motion of the movable treatment device.

A method and an apparatus for performing a localization of a movable treatment device having an inertial sensor and configured to treat a target surface. A motion pattern recognition device discriminates between two or more motion patterns contained in a set of motion patterns. An interface provides at least one inertial sensor data from the inertial sensor to the motion pattern recognition device. At least one inertial sensor data represents a movement of the movable treatment device. A neural network is configured to receive the at least one inertial sensor data and to map the at least one inertial sensor data to at least one motion pattern contained in the set of motion patterns associated with one or more different zones of the target surface so that the mapping of the at least one inertial sensor data with the at least one motion pattern indicates an estimation of the location of the device with respect to at least one zone of the target surface.

An apparatus for performing a localization of a movable treatment device having at least one inertial sensor and configured to treat the target surface. The apparatus has a motion pattern classification device configured to discriminate between two or more motion classes contained in a set of motion classes, and an interface for providing, from the inertial sensor to the motion pattern classification device, inertial sensor data representing a movement of the movable treatment device. The motion pattern classification device has a neural network configured to receive and classify inertial sensor data with respect to the motion classes associated with one or more different zones relating to the target surface so that the classification of inertial sensor data indicates an estimation of the location of the movable treatment device with respect to the one or more zones of the target surface.

Tooth brushing monitoring system is disclosed that includes a toothbrush with sensors and a base station. The sensors record data regarding the quality, quantity and location of brushing and the system can analyze the data to provide feedback on the quality of brushing. This feedback provides motivation for users to increase their brushing habits, leading to a decrease in plaque, tooth decay and gingivitis.

A toothbrush of the present invention includes: a main body including a head portion having a bristle raising surface on which bristles are provided in a standing manner; a light emission unit configured to emit light through a specific region of the bristle raising surface to a tooth surface; and a light reception unit configured to receive radiated light from the tooth surface resulting from the light through the specific region, the light emission unit and the light reception unit being provided in the main body. The toothbrush also includes a detection unit configured to collectively detect whether or not dental plaque or dental calculus is present on the tooth surface based on an output from the light reception unit. The toothbrush further includes a determination unit configured to determine that dental calculus is present on the tooth surface.

A personal hygiene device has a handle, a treatment head, and a motor carrier disposed in the handle. The motor is pivot-mounted against at least one spring element arranged between the handle and the motor carrier. The motor has a stator portion fixedly mounted at the motor carrier and an armature portion spring mounted at the motor carrier to allow a motion relative to the motor carrier. The armature portion is coupled with a drive shaft connected with the treatment head for transferring motion thereto, wherein an external treatment force acting on the brush head leads to pivoting of the motor carrier relative to the handle. The motor has a motor permanent magnet and a coil for providing an alternating electromagnetic field interacting therewith to excite an oscillating motion of the drive shaft. A Hall sensor is fixedly mounted to the handle or to the motor carrier; and a sensor permanent magnet is fixedly mounted to the other one of the handle and motor carrier, so that a pivoting motion of the motor carrier leads to a relative movement between the sensor permanent magnet and the Hall sensor.