CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Application No. KR 10-2021-0151729 filed in Korea on Nov. 5, 2021, and Application No. 10-2022-0033603 filed in Korea on Mar. 17, 2022. The entire contents of each application is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention is a technology related to scalp analysis and care, and more particularly to a method and device for AI-based hair loss prediction and personalized scalp care.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Hair loss is a disease with a high prevalence, occurring at a rate of 1 in 4 adults. Hair loss is not a disease that threatens a person's life or restricts the behavior of the human body, but it is a disease that significantly lowers an individual's social function due to a psychological problem induced thereby. Individual stress due to hair loss is quite large, negative factors such as lack of confidence due to hair loss and interpersonal phobia are considerable, and the loss of social opportunity cost is also considerable. Hair loss is recognized as a very serious problem by the standards of modern people who value appearance, and the hair loss-related market has been growing steadily since the 1990s.

In general, hair loss can be divided into male pattern hair loss and female pattern hair loss, which are progressive diseases that gradually progress due to genetic predisposition, and can be divided into alopecia areata and telogen hair loss that suddenly progresses due to specific factors. Male pattern hair loss and female pattern hair loss due to genetic predisposition are processes in which thick hair gradually becomes thinner and eventually becomes invisible hair. This type of hair loss appears to progress over a long period of time.

On the other hand, alopecia areata is a disease in which immune cells attack one's own hair follicles due to an abnormality in the autoimmune system so that hair suddenly falls out. In addition, telogen hair loss is a disease in which hair loss occurs suddenly due to abnormalities in the endocrine system, drug side effects, chronic nutritional imbalance, severe external stimuli, and the like. Such alopecia areata and telogen hair loss are occurring in a relatively short time compared to hair loss caused by genetic predisposition.

As such, hair loss can be caused by various factors, so it is important to provide customized diagnosis and treatment for each hair loss patient. In particular, in the case of alopecia areata or telogen hair loss, not hair loss due to a genetic predisposition, diagnosis and treatment through accurate diagnosis of the time of hair loss and area of hair loss are essentially required.

However, it is difficult to provide an accurate diagnosis and treatment of hair loss to a patient because a doctor visually diagnoses a hair loss area based on a patient's scalp image and calculates the hair loss area.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Technical Problem to be Solved

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is one object of the present invention to provide a method and device for analyzing the condition of the scalp or hair based on AI and a method and device for hair loss prediction and personalized scalp care based on the analysis.

Technical Solution

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a scalp management service provision server for providing a hair loss prevention service and scalp care service for a user, including: a DB management unit interlocked with the scalp management service provision server and configured to obtain a scalp image of the user from a scalp care device including a camera; a scalp condition diagnosis unit configured to determine a scalp condition of the user based on the obtained scalp image; a hair condition diagnosis unit configured to determine a hair condition of the user based on the obtained scalp image; a hair loss diagnosis unit configured to provide a current hair loss progress degree of the user and a hair loss prediction simulation of the user based on the scalp condition and the hair condition; a scalp care solution provision unit configured to provide information about a scalp analysis result and hair analysis result of the user through a user terminal of the user; and a remote care device control unit configured to remotely control the scalp care device with a control value determined according to the scalp analysis result and hair analysis result of the user.

In accordance with various embodiments, the scalp care device may include a photographing part provided on one side of the scalp care device in a longitudinal direction and provided with a camera capable of photographing scalp of the user; a care part provided in another area opposite to the side of the scalp care device in a longitudinal direction and configured to take care of the scalp; and a grip part provided between the photographing part and the care part for gripping by the user, wherein the care part includes a needle holder including a plurality of needles; and an ampoule container, and the grip part includes a photographing button for obtaining a scalp image of the user through the photographing part, wherein a distal end portion of the grip part protrudes with respect to a central portion of the grip part.

In accordance with various embodiments, the hair loss diagnosis unit may determine a hair loss improvement result predicted when the user performs recommended guidance provided through the scalp care solution provision unit, and determine a worsened hair loss result of the user predicted when the recommendation guidance is not performed, wherein the recommended guidance provides information about life guidance and scalp care products.

In accordance with various embodiments, the hair loss diagnosis unit may determine first users having the same hair loss type as the user, determine hair loss progress rates of the user and first users based on scalp images obtained from the user and the first users every specific interval, determine second users based on the determined hair loss progress rates, and predict a worsened hair loss result and hair loss improvement result at a future time point of the user based on big data for the second users.

In accordance with various embodiments, the scalp care solution provision unit may chronologically list the user's scalp state images, provide the listed scalp condition images to the user terminal, and calculate composite scores for a scalp condition corresponding to the scalp condition images, wherein individual scores are calculated for each individual item for each of a scalp keratin state, scalp pore state, hair thickness, hair number, and hair density of the user, the summed scores of the calculated individual scores are determined as the composite scores, and the determined composite scores are provided to the user terminal.

In accordance with various embodiments, the hair condition diagnosis unit may pre-process the obtained scalp image through contrast stretching and calculate the density of hair through the number of hairs included in an image frame constituting the pre-processed scalp image, wherein the outlines of hairs are detected through edge detection within the image frame, and the number of hairs is calculated by excluding hairs touching two outer lines among outer lines constituting the image frame among the hairs whose outlines are detected and by counting hairs touching one outer line of the outer lines constituting the image frame among the hairs whose outlines are detected.

In accordance with various embodiments, the scalp management service provision server further includes a hair loss progression similarity calculation unit, wherein the hair loss progression similarity calculation unit calculates a hair loss progression similarity between the first users and the user based on the hair loss progression rate. Here, a hair increase/decrease amount and a hair change degree may be calculated for each of the user and the first users based on the hair conditions collected for the user and the first users, and the similarity of hair loss progress between the first users and the user may be calculated based on the calculated hair increase/decrease amount and hair change degree. The hair loss diagnosis unit may determine, among the first users, users whose calculated hair loss progression similarity is equal to or greater than a reference threshold value as the second users.

In accordance with various embodiments, the hair increase/decrease amount and the hair change degree are calculated based on scalp images obtained for each specific period, and calculated according to the following equations:

Ch=Hs·HoHs·Ho
Hx=(x1,x2, . . . ,xn),Ho=(y1,y2, . . . ,yn)

Ha=∑i=1n(xi)2,Ho=∑i=1n(yi)2

wherein Hadenotes a reference hair increase/decrease amount of the user, Hodenotes the hair increase/decrease amount of each of the first users, and Chdenotes an increase/decrease correlation degree between the reference hair increase/decrease amount of the user and the hair increase/decrease amount of each of the first users,

DIS=∑i=1n(pi-qi)2
Ra=(p1,x2, . . . ,pn),Ro=(q1,q2, . . . ,qn)

where Radenotes a reference hair change degree of the user, and Rodenotes a hair change degree of each of the first users, and

the hair loss progression similarly is calculated through the following equation:

Ph=Chk+DISσDIS-DISμ1-k

where Phdenotes the hair loss progression similarity, k is a weighting coefficient for determining a weight between an increase/decrease correlation degree (Ch) and the Euclidean distance (DIS) and is an integer between 0 and 1, DISμ is an average value of calculated Euclidean distances for the first users, and DISσ is a standard deviation of the calculated Euclidean distances for the first users.

In accordance with various embodiments, the scalp care solution provision unit calculates a composite score change through the following equation,

S=∑i=1i=n((ia-ib)×wi)

where S denotes a change in the composite scores, n denotes the number of individual items for calculating a composite score on a scalp condition, iadenotes a score of a i-th item for calculating a composite score for a scalp condition corresponding to the first image, in denotes a score of a i-th item for calculating a composite score for a scalp condition corresponding to the second image, and widenotes a weight for a i-th item.

Effect of Invention

In accordance with various embodiments of the present specification, the present invention can serve as a next-generation scalp health care consultant capable of being systematically preventing hair loss and preforming continuous hair health management by diagnosing a scalp condition using a mobile app and checking a hair loss progression simulation.

In addition, according to various embodiments, a user can easily accurately identify the progress of his/her hair loss at home and perform appropriate management.

In addition, according to various embodiments, a user can perform the most appropriate management for a current state by automatically setting the length of a needle and the amount of an ampoule which are suitable for each scalp location through an AI algorithm according to a diagnosis result.

In addition, according to various embodiments, a next-generation scalp health care service that can systematically prevent hair loss and continuously manage hair health can be provided.

Further, various effects directly or indirectly identified through the present specification can be provided.

