The present invention relates to a personal care device, in particular hair removal device such as an electric shaver, comprising an elongated handle for manually moving the personal care device in short and/or long strokes along a body surface, a working head attached to said handle for effecting a personal care treatment to said body surface, and a determination unit including at least one sensor for determining stroke length to differentiate between short and long strokes, wherein said determination unit is configured to determine velocity of the working head and/or the handle, to determine beginning and end points of strokes when the determined velocity gets zero and/or changes signs, and to determine stroke length from the distance between pairs of beginning and end points next to each other.

The present invention relates to a hair removal device, such as an electric shaver or epilator, comprising a hair cutting unit, a motor for driving the hair cutting unit, a measurement unit for measuring motor current and/or induced voltage and a cutting activity determinator for determining cutting activity from the half cycles of the signal of said measurement unit, wherein a wear determination unit is provided for determining wear of the hair cutting unit from the cutting activity signal of said cutting activity determinator.

A computer-implemented method of determining a location of a personal care device with respect to a skin surface of a subject, the personal care device being configured to perform a personal care treatment to the skin when in contact with the skin surface. The method includes receiving data representative of a measured degree of curvature of the skin surface within a first region of the skin surface of the subject, with which the personal care device is in contact; determining, by comparing the measured degree of curvature with curvature information for a plurality of regions of the skin surface of the subject contained in a database, an indication of a location of the first region of the skin surface on the subject; and performing, based on the determined indication of the location of the first region, an action in respect of the personal care device. A processing apparatus, a system, a personal care device, and a computer program product are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to the field of battery powered electrical appliances or personal hygiene, in particular to a hair removal device such as an electric shaver or epilator as well as an electric toothbrush. A control device for a battery powered electrical appliance for personal hygiene is described, wherein the control device is adapted to cause the battery powered electrical appliance to perform automated contact fritting of a battery contact by controlling the battery powered electrical appliance such that a current pulse exceeding a wetting threshold is applied across the battery contact during a standby period.

A method of resetting a digital counter for a personal care appliance by sending an electrical output signal from an optical sensor to a control circuit. The electrical output signal is compared to a predetermined value with the control circuit or a change in the electrical output signal from the optical sensor is detected over time. A signal is sent to a consumer user interface by the control circuit based on the electrical output signal and the predetermined value or based on the change in the electrical output signal from the optical sensor. The digital counter is reset based on an input signal from the consumer user interface.

There is provided an apparatus (100) for determining a location of a personal care device on a user. The apparatus (100) comprises a processor (102) configured to detect a location of one or more parts of the body of a user, detect motions of at least one of the parts of the body of the user induced by the personal care device when the personal care device is in use and determine the location of the personal care device on the user based on the detected motions of the at least one part of the body of the user in relation to the detected location of the at least one part of the body of the user. The processor (102) is configured to acquire images of the user from an imaging sensor (108) directed at the user, and detect the location of the one or more parts of the body of a user and the motions of the at least one part of the body of the user induced by the personal care device from the acquired images of the user.

A system and method for operating a personal grooming/household appliance, including: providing a personal grooming/household appliance including at least one physical sensor taken from a group consisting of: an orientation sensor, an acceleration sensor, an inertial sensor, a global positioning sensor, a pressure sensor, and a load sensor, audio sensor, humidity sensor, and a temperature sensor; providing a camera associated with the personal grooming/household appliance; classifying data received from the physical sensor and from the camera using at least one trained machine learning classifier to generate an augmented classification; and providing user feedback information based upon the augmented classification or modifying operation of the grooming/household appliance based upon the augmented classification.

A consumer appliance with a body. A cartridge removably mounted to the body. The cartridge having a surface with a first colored region and a second colored region. A control circuit positioned within the body. A first emitter that projects a first light at the first colored region and a second light at the second colored region. A first light sensor mounted the body that sends a first signal to the control circuit based on a color of light reflected from the first colored region. A second light sensor mounted to the body that sends a second signal to the control circuit based on a color of the light reflected from the second colored region.

A consumer appliance with a body. A cartridge removably mounted to the body. The cartridge having a surface with a first colored region and a second colored region. A control circuit positioned within the body. A first emitter positioned on the body that projects a light at the first colored region. A second emitter positioned on the body that projects light at the second colored region. A first light sensor positioned on the body that sends a first signal to the control circuit based on a color of light reflected from the first colored region.

A method and apparatus for measuring the cutting force on a single fiber. The method includes the steps of: providing a blade having an edge; providing a fiber mount for holding the single fiber; providing at least one sensor connected to the fiber mount; providing a fiber sleeve to contain a fiber within the fiber mount to simulate the location of the hair within the hair follicle; moving the blade toward the fiber and cutting the fiber; and measuring the cutting force on the fiber with the at least one sensor.