WO2015092125A1

WO2015092125A1 - Toothbrush monitoring device, apparatus and method

Info

Publication number: WO2015092125A1
Application number: PCT/FI2014/050969
Authority: WO
Inventors: Juha-Pekka Puurunen; Teijo Viljanen
Original assignee: Brushgate Oy
Priority date: 2013-12-16
Filing date: 2014-12-09
Publication date: 2015-06-25

Abstract

The invention relates to a toothbrush monitoring device (1) comprising a detector for producing use data based on use of a toothbrush (2) associated with the monitoring device (1), a controller for comparing the use data produced during the brushing occasion with target data in order to determine whether or not the performed teeth brushing is acceptable, and an indicator (4) for indicating for a user whether or not the teeth brushing is acceptable. The toothbrush monitoring device (1) comprises a memory,stores into the memory a brushing result for the brushing occasion based on said comparison, and is configured to enter a transmission mode in which a plurality of brushing results from a plurality of brushing occasions are retrieved from the memory and indicated with the indicator (4).

Description

TOOTHBRUSH MONITORING DEVICE, APPARATUS AND

METHOD

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to a solution for handling information generated by a toothbrush monitoring device capable of monitoring use of a toothbrush associated with the monitoring device. Such a monitoring device may assist a user to determine whether or not the user uses the toothbrush correctly for brushing teeth.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

[0002] Previously there are known different solutions assisting a user to determine whether or not the user has brushed his or her teeth thoroughly enough. The simplest solutions utilize a timer alone to determine whether or not the user has utilized the toothbrush for a time period which is sufficiently long enough. However, more sophisticated solutions exists, such as monitoring devices capable of measuring the force that the user uses for pressing the toothbrush against the teeth. The most sophisticated monitoring devices are capable of identifying the teeth regions that are being brushed and to determine whether or not the user holds the toothbrush in a correct position during brushing of the teeth regions in question.

[0003] A common problem with the known solutions is the reporting capability. Various indicators have been used in order to inform the user about the brushing result. However, in order to introduce more sophisticated reporting capabilities, such as the possibility of transmitting the brushing results to an external apparatus which may be accessed by a dentist, by an insurance company or by a parent of a child, for instance, the monitoring device needs to have a transmitter and sufficient energy for transmitting the results to the external apparatus.

[0004] Due to practical reasons, the space available for a toothbrush monitoring device is very limited. Therefore it is difficult to provide the toothbrush monitoring device with the necessary transmitter and sufficiently large energy source for allowing transmission to an external device. Additionally, the costs for such additional devices are critical and need to be minimized. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] An object of the present invention is to solve the above mentioned drawback and to provide a simple, cost efficient and reliable solution for handling brushing results. This and other objects are achieved with the toothbrush monitoring device of claim 1 , the apparatus of claim 10 and the method of claim 15.

[0006] A solution where the brushing results are stored in a memory of the monitoring device, and where a plurality of brushing results are retrieved from the memory and indicated with the indicator during a transmission mode makes it possible to simply and efficiently transmit brushing results from the monitoring device. In such a solution the same indicator which is used for indicating for a user whether or not the teeth brushing is acceptable, can be utilized also for transmitting brushing results to an external device. This makes it possible to minimize the amount of additional components needed for the transmission of the results.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0007] In the following the present invention will be described in closer detail by way of example and with reference to the attached drawings, in which

[0008] Figures 1 and 2 illustrate a toothbrush monitoring device,

[0009] Figure 3 illustrates a system including a toothbrush monitoring device and an apparatus for handling brushing results, and

[0010] Figure 4 illustrates a second embodiment of an indicator.

DESCRIPTION OF AT LEAST ONE EMBODIMENT

[0011] Figures 1 and 2 illustrate a toothbrush monitoring device 1 . The toothbrush monitoring device 1 may be utilized in the system of Figure 3 for handling brushing results.

[0012] In Figure 1 it is by way of example assumed that the toothbrush monitoring device 1 is utilized in connection with a conventional manual toothbrush 2, though in other embodiments it is possible to utilize the toothbrush monitoring device in connection with an electrical toothbrush. The toothbrush monitoring device 1 may be an integral part of the toothbrush 2 or alternatively a separate module detachably attached to the toothbrush.

[0013] In its simplest form the toothbrush monitoring device comprises detector 5 which detects when the user indicates via the user interface 3, such as a switch, when tooth brushing starts and for a second time when tooth brushing ends. The detector 5 utilizes a timer 16 for measuring the duration of the tooth brushing. The detector 5 produces based on this use data indicating the duration of the tooth brushing. The controller 6 compares the use data with target data indicating what the target duration for tooth brushing is, and produces a brushing result based on this comparison. In that case the indicator 4 indicates for the user whether or not the time used for brushing has been long enough and the toothbrush monitoring device stores this information into the memory 7 as a brushing result. Naturally other information, such as a time stamp making it possible to later on determine when the brushing occasion occurred, may be included in the brushing result that is stored in the memory 7.

[0014] The target data may include more than one target for each brushing occasion. The target data may, for instance, include a first target of 60 seconds as a minimum duration for teeth brushing and a second target of 300 seconds as a maximum duration of teeth brushing. In that case only if the use data indicates that the duration of a brushing occasion is between 60 and 300 seconds the brushing result will indicate that brushing is accepted, and otherwise the brushing result will indicate that brushing is not accepted. This makes it possible to detect both under brushing and over brushing.

[0015] In the illustrated example it is, however, by way of example assumed that the monitoring device 1 includes a detector 5 with a three axis acceleration sensor producing use data, in this case signals depending on the position of the toothbrush 2 during use of the toothbrush 2. A controller 6 receives the signals and identifies the teeth regions that are being brushed based on the received signals. A memory 7 contains target data which is utilized by the controller when determining whether or not the performed teeth brushing is acceptable. The controller 6 may retrieve from the memory the target data for the identified teeth region that is being brushed, and based on a comparison determine if the toothbrush has made a sufficient number of brushing cycles in the teeth region in question, and if so, determine that the brushing of the teeth region in question has been accepted.

[0016] In practice the teeth may be divided into four regions. Each teeth region may additionally have three different teeth surfaces, an inner surface, an outer surface and a chewing surface. The toothbrush monitoring device may require that each teeth surface of a single teeth region has been sufficiently brushed before brushing of this teeth region is accepted. [0017] Once brushing has ended, the controller 6 determines based on the brushing results for each teeth region whether or not the performed teeth brushing is acceptable. The result is indicated for the user with the indicator 4 and additionally the brushing result is stored in the memory 7. Naturally also in this case other information, such as a time stamp obtained from the timer 10 and making it possible to later on determine when the brushing occasion occurred, may be included in the brushing result that is stored in the memory 7.

[0018] Figure 2 illustrates one example of how to implement an indicator 4. In the illustrated example the indicator 4 indicates the brushing result optically for the user, though also other alternatives such as sound signals may exist. In the illustrated example the indicator may consist of a display, such as an LCD display or of light emitting diodes, for instance, which illustrates the brushing result separately for each one of totally four teeth regions: upper left 10, lower left 1 1 , upper right 12 and lower right 13. One alternative is that a teeth region sufficiently brushed is indicated with a green color and a teeth region which has not been sufficiently brushed is indicated by a red color. Therefore, as long as at least one of the teeth regions is shown in red the user realizes that the teeth brushing has not been accepted.

[0019] Naturally it is possible to utilize an indicator providing more or less specific information about the teeth regions. Instead of the four teeth regions only, the indicator may be able to separately provide a brushing result for three teeth surfaces in each teeth region, for instance. In that case a LCD display or light emitting diodes with a capability of illustrating the brushing result separately for twelve different parts of the teeth may be utilized.

[0020] The monitoring device 1 may enter a transmission mode in which brushing results stored in the memory 7 are retrieved from the memory 7 and indicated with the indicator 4 as a sequence. Depending on the implementation all brushing results stored in the memory may be indicated in one sequence or alternatively, only specific brushing results may be indicated in the sequence. In the latter case a predetermined number of brushing results may be indicated or alternatively only such brushing results that have not previously been indicated during a transmission mode. The transmission mode may be entered automatically at predetermined occasions, or alternatively, when the the user presses a predetermined key or switch in the user interface 3, for instance. Once in the transmission mode, the monitoring device 1 indicates a plurality of brushing results from different brushing occasions with the indicator 4 in a sequence.

[0021] In the transmission mode, it is not important that a user of the toothbrush is capable of understanding the results that the indicator indicates. Therefore, the brushing results are not necessarily indicated in the same way as when the indicator is used to give feedback to the user after tooth brushing. Instead in the transmission mode the indicator may indicate the results with the indicator in a different way as compared to how it indicates the result of a single brushing for the user once the brushing has ended. In the transmission mode the results may be indicated with the indicator as a plurality of data bursts, which have such a short duration that the user is not capable of understanding them or even noticing them. The brushing results may be encoded in any suitable way in order to optimize the transmission of the brushing results with the indicator to an external device recording the brushing results.

[0022] An apparatus which includes a recording device 14 is used for recording the brushing results indicated by the indicator 4. A processing unit 8 processes and encodes the recorded brushing results and extracts information about whether or not each single brushing result indicates that the brushing at a corresponding brushing occasion has been accepted or not. The processing unit produces a report indicating the results of the processing for a user.

[0023] One alternative is that the recording device 14 is a mobile phone and that the processing unit 8 is a server receiving the recorded brushing results from the mobile phone via a mobile communication network 15. If the indicator 4 is an optical indicator, the recording device 14 may record the brushing results as a video clip taken by a video camera of the mobile phone. This video clip may then be sent from the mobile phone in an email, for instance, to the processing unit 8, where the result is processed and stored. After such storing any interested and authorized person may be allowed to access the report produced by the processing unit 8 via a computer 9 over the Internet, for instance. Such a person may be a dentist, an officer of an insurance company or a parent of a child to whose teeth brushing the report relates.

[0024] Alternatively the mobile phone may have a specific client installed such that a live video stream is transmitted to the processing unit 8 via an online connection while the monitoring device 1 is in the transmission mode. In that case it is not necessary to store any video clip in the memory of the mobile phone.

[0025] Still a third alternative is that the mobile phone works both as the recording device and as the processing device. In that case the client installed in the mobile phone is capable of directly producing a report indicating the results of the processing for a user. The user of the mobile phone may then forward the results via a suitable channel to a person interested in the report or to a server storing the report in a database, for instance.

[0026] The produced report includes at least information about whether or not the teeth brushings covered by the report have been acceptable or not. Additionally, the controller 6 of the monitoring device 1 may add a time stamp indicating the time of the brushing at each brushing occasion prior to restoring the brushing result in the memory. In that case the time stamps are sent with the brushing results via the indicator 4 to the processing unit such that the time of the brushings occasions are also indicated in the report. One alternative is that in the transmission mode, the indicator indicates first a unique serial number assigned to the toothbrush, to the toothbrush head or to the monitoring device to which the brushing results relate, then the indicator indicates the brushing results with a time stamp for each brushing result, and finally a checksum which can be used to determine that no errors occur while the brushing results are forwarded with the indicator from the monitoring device to a processing unit.

[0027] In this connection a time stamp may be produced by the timer 16 of the monitoring device in connection with a brushing occasion. The timer may be an ordinary clock directly producing a time stamp that indicates the time when brushing occurred, possibly including a date, such that this time stamp may be included into the brushing result prior to storing it into the memory. Alternatively the timer 16 may be a more simple device incapable of producing the exact time that brushing occurred, but instead it only works as a counter continuously increasing its count at predetermined intervals. In that case the time stamp may consist of the count of this counter, when tooth brushing started, ended or of two counts indicating both at starting and at ending. In such an embodiment preferably a time stamp produced by the timer 16 is transmitted in the transmission mode to the recording device with the brushing results, and the recording device having a timer indicating the correct time and date registers when the time stamp is received. The correct date and time corresponding to the count of the timer at that moment becomes therefore known. Once the recording device (or processing device) has received two such time stamps from the toothbrush monitoring device and registered the correct time and date corresponding to them, it is possible to determine the correct time of day and the date for each time stamp included in the brushing results.

[0028] The report may additionally include more detailed information, such as information about the positions in which the user holds the toothbrush during brushing or separately for each teeth surface of each teeth region information about how many brush strokes the monitoring device has detected for each teach surface during the different brushing occasions.

[0029] It is possible that the monitoring device 1 is capable of detecting and including in the brushing result such information, which may be stored in the memory 7 and sent to the processing unit 8 during the transmission mode, that is not of interest for the user of the toothbrush. Therefore the indicator 4 does not necessarily indicate for the user after brushing all the information it has stored in the memory, but instead some of the information may be sent via the indicator only during in the transmission mode for use by the processing unit.

[0030] If a video camera is used by the recording device 14 for recording the brushing results while the monitoring device 1 is in the transmission mode, then the brushing results may be indicated by the indicator 4 in a sequence optimized for recording with a video camera. In praxis, video cameras record videos with about 23 - 30 frames per second. This means that the indicator 4 may in the transmission mode display the brushing results as a sequence of indications where the duration of one indication is substantially smaller than one second.

[0031] The way the indicator indicates the brushing results in the transmission mode depends of the type of the used indicator and the amount of data included in each single brushing result. If the amount of data included in one brushing result is small, such as if only information about the brushing result for each one of the four teeth regions is included, then the entire information for one brushing occasion can be displayed at once with the indicator 4 of Figure 2 by illuminating the sectors 10 - 13 of the indicator 4 in red or green, depending on the brushing result for the teeth regions in question. After a time period substantially smaller than a second, the indicator can change to display the brushing result of the following brushing occasion in the sequence. [0032] However, in case the amount of data included for one brushing result is bigger than what can be displayed with the used indicator 4 at once, the monitoring device 1 may control the indicator 4 to indicate one single brushing result as a sequence of several indications, where each indication indicates a part of the brushing result of the single brushing occasion. Again each single indication may be indicated for a time period substantially smaller than a second.

[0033] If the recording device utilizes a video camera for recording the brushing results transmitted by the monitoring device in the transmission mode and colors are used to in the transmission mode, then the indicator is preferably implemented by light emitting diodes, because different colors indicated by light emitting diodes can be efficiently and accurately recorded on a video with a video camera. If on the other hand, the indicator consists of a LCD display, the result of a brushing occasion may also in this case be outputted to a user by using colors. However, a video camera may have difficulties in accurately recording on a video different colors outputted on a LCD display. Therefore in connection with a LCD display the brushing results are preferably indicated without using colors in the transmission mode. One alternative if a combination of a video camera and a LCD display is used, is to indicate the brushing results with the indicator by using QR codes (Quick Response codes). A QR code is a specific type of a barcode where black and white areas in a quadrate are used for coding data. A QR code is machine readable and modern mobile telephones typically have a capability of reading such QR codes from advertisements, for instance, in order to direct the user of the mobile telephone to a specific web page, for instance. So instead of using colors and a LCD indicator during the transmission mode, a sufficient number of QR codes to transmit the data amount of the brushing results may be outputted on the LCD display in black and white.

[0034] Figure 4 illustrates a second embodiment of an indicator. In this embodiment the indicator 4' may consist of a LED (Light Emitting Diode) circle divided into four segments or quadrants Q1 , Q2, Q3, Q4, one for each quadrant of the teeth.

[0035] Each quadrant may include at least one red and one green LED. After brushing has ended, the brushing result is indicated by the indicator 4' with the green LED (brushing accepted) or with the red LED (brushing not accepted) separately for each quadrant. In the example illustrated in Figure 4, in quadrant Q1 the red R LED is illuminated to indicate that for this first quadrant brushing is not acceptable, in the second Q2 and third Q3 quadrants the green G LED is illuminated to indicate that for these quadrants brushing is accepted, and in quadrant Q4 no LED is illuminated to indicate that brushing of this quadrant has not yet started.

[0036] One alternative to include the following information in the brushing result and to store the brushing result into the memory 7 after a brushing session by using the following format:

- Time stamp: 16 bit (optional),

- Quadrant Q1 : number of strokes for Outer side On, number of strokes on Top side Tn, number strokes for Inner side In, total brushing time time t1 (seconds), in total 24 bits for quadrant Q1 ,

- Quadrant Q2: number of strokes for Outer side On, number of strokes on Top side Tn, number strokes for Inner side In, total brushing time time t2(seconds), in total 24 bits for quadrant Q2,

- Quadrant Q3: number of strokes for Outer side On, number of strokes on Top side Tn, number strokes for Inner side In, total brushing time time t3(seconds), in total 24 bits for quadrant Q3, and

- Quadrant Q4: number of strokes for Outer side On, number of strokes on Top side Tn, number strokes for Inner side In, total brushing time time t4(seconds), in total 24 bits for quadrant Q4.

[0037] A format as illustrated above leads to storage of 14 bytes of data as the brushing result for one tooth brushing session.

[0038] Subsequently when the data of the stored brushing results are forwarded with the indicator 4', the data included in the brushing results may be forwarded by the indicator in frames consisting of: start byte, brush identifier, time stamp n, 1 . Q, 2. Q, 3.Q 4.Q , quadrant time time stamp n-1 , , 1 .

Q, 2. Q, 3.Q 4.Q time stamp n-20, 1 . Q, 2. Q, 3.Q 4.Q, CRC byte.

[0039] Each byte in frame may be shown with 8 leds 4 red and 4 green. A predefined start byte may be the first byte indicated with the indicator in the transmission mode. One alternative is to utilize a start byte where the left LEDs (Q1 and Q4) are red and the right LEDs (Q2 and Q3) are green. Such a start byte makes it possible for the recording device (and subsequently for the processing unit) to identify the brush alignment during the transmission mode.

[0040] The brush identifier (serial number) may consist of four bytes, which gives about 17 Million different identifiers. The time stamp may consist of 2 bytes, which makes it possible to record max 16000 hours. The results for the different quadrants may be indicated by 14 bytes, for instance. [0041] The indicator may in the transmission mode illuminate separately for each quadrant only the red LED, only the green LED, neither LED or both LEDs. If a mobile phone video camera is used to record such indications made during forwarding of brushing results, one indication can be substantially shorter than a second. Commercially available mobile phones have video cameras with a frame time of 1/25s = 40 ms, which means that the LED on and off times have to be 2x the frame time, in other words 80 ms, which is substantially shorter than a second.

[0042] In the above examples it has been assumed that the indicator is of such a type that the brushing result can be indicated optically for the user after a brushing occasion. However, an alternative is to utilize an indicator indicating the brushing result for the user with sound signals and transmitting brushing results in the transmission mode with sound signals. In that case the indicator may be implemented as a speaker that in combination with suitable electronics can also be used as a microphone. In that case two- way communication may be implemented between the monitoring device and the recording device (such as a mobile telephone having a speaker and a microphone). This makes it possible to control specific functions of the monitoring device in the transmission mode with the aid of the recording device, for instance.

[0043] It is to be understood that the above description and the accompanying figures are only intended to illustrate the present invention. It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that the invention can be varied and modified without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1 . A toothbrush monitoring device (1 ) comprising:

a detector (5) for producing use data based on use of a toothbrush (2) associated with the monitoring device (1 ) in connection with a brushing occasion where the toothbrush (2) is used for brushing teeth,

a controller (6) for comparing the use data produced during the brushing occasion with target data in order to determine whether or not the performed teeth brushing is acceptable, and

an indicator (4, 4') for indicating for a user whether or not the teeth brushing is acceptable, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that

the toothbrush monitoring device (1 ) comprises a memory (7) and the toothbrush monitoring device (1 ) stores into the memory (7) a brushing result for the brushing occasion based on said comparison, and

the toothbrush monitoring device (1 ) is configured to enter a transmission mode in which a plurality of brushing results from a plurality of brushing occasions are retrieved from the memory (7) and indicated with the indicator (4, 4').

2. The toothbrush monitoring device according to claim 1 , wherein the indicator (4) indicates optically for the user whether or not the brushing result for the brushing occasion is acceptable.

3. The toothbrush monitoring device according to one of claims 1 to 2, wherein in the transmission mode the indicator (4, 4') indicates the entire brushing result for one single brushing occasion at once, or alternatively as a sequence of several indications, where each indication indicates a part of the brushing result of the single brushing occasion.

4. The toothbrush monitoring device according to claim 1 or 3, wherein in the transmission mode the indicator (4, 4') indicates the brushing results stored in the memory as a sequence optimized for recording with a video camera.

5. The toothbrush monitoring device according to one of claims 1 to

4, wherein in the transmission mode the indicator (4, 4') indicates the brushing results stored in the memory (7) as a sequence of indications where the duration of one indication is substantially smaller than one second, preferably around 100 ms.

6. The toothbrush monitoring device according to one of claims 1 to

5, wherein the monitoring device (1 ) has a user interface (3) and the monitoring device (1 ) is responsive to the user interface for entering the transmission mode.

7. The toothbrush monitoring device according to one of claims 1 to

6, wherein the controller includes in the brushing result a time stamp indicating the time of the brushing occasion before storing the brushing result into the memory (7), and the indicator (4, 4') indicates in the transmission mode the brushing results with the included time stamps.

8. The toothbrush monitoring device according to one of claims 1 to

7, wherein the detector (5) includes an acceleration sensor producing signals depending on the position of the toothbrush (2) during use of the toothbrush

(2), and the controller (1 ) includes in the brushing result information about the positions of the toothbrush during use of the toothbrush before storing the brushing result into the memory (7), and the indicator (4, 4') indicates in the transmission mode the brushing results with the information about said positions of the toothbrush.

9. The toothbrush monitoring device according to one of claims 1 to

8, wherein the detector (5) includes an acceleration sensor producing signals during use of the toothbrush (2), the controller (6) identifies teeth regions associated with the produced signals and compares the use data produced during brushing of the identified teeth regions with target data for the identified teeth regions in order to determine whether or not brushing of the identified teeth regions is acceptable, the controller (6) includes in the brushing result information whether or not brushing of the the identified teeth regions are acceptable before storing the brushing result into the memory (7), and the indicator (4, 4') indicates in the transmission mode the brushing results with the information whether or not brushing of the identified teeth regions are acceptable.

10. An apparatus, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the apparatus comprises:

a recording device (14) for recoding brushing results indicated by an indicator (4, 4') of a toothbrush monitoring device (1 ) in a transmission mode where the toothbrush monitoring device (1 ) indicates a plurality of brushing results from a plurality of brushing occasions, and

a processing unit (8) for processing the recorded brushing results to extract information about whether or not each single brushing result indicates that the brushing at a brushing occasion in question has been accepted or not, and for producing a report indicating the results of the processing for a user.

1 1 . The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the brushing results and the produced report includes infornnation about the time for each brushing occasion.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10 or 1 1 , wherein the the brushing results and the produced report includes information about the positions of the toothbrush (2) during the brushing occasion.

13. The apparatus according to one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the the brushing results and the produced report includes information identifying whether or not brushing of different teeth regions has been accepted or not.

14. The apparatus according to one of claims 10 to 13, wherein the recording device (14) includes a video camera for recording the brushing results indicated by the indicator (4, 4').

15. A method for handling brushing results stored in a toothbrush monitoring device (1 ), c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the method comprises:

indicating with an indicator (4, 4') of the toothbrush monitoring (1 ) device a plurality of brushing results as a sequence,

recording with a recording device (14) the plurality of brushing results indicated by the indicator (4, 4'),

processing the recorded brushing results to extract information about whether or not each single brushing result indicates that brushing at a brushing occasion in question has been accepted or not, and

producing a report indicating the results of the processing for a user.