This application is the U.S. National Phase application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2014/073767, filed on Nov. 5, 2014, which claims the benefit of International Application No. 13191726.2 filed on Nov. 6, 2013. These applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system for treating a part of a body to be treated. In particular, the present invention relates to a system for cutting hair on a part of a body to be treated. The present invention also relates to a method for treating a part of a body to be treated.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Devices for treating a part of a body, for example by cutting hair on a part of a body to be treated, include powered hand-held devices that are placed against a part of a user's body and moved over areas where hair is to be cut, for example a trimmer. Such devices include mechanical hair cutting devices. The user selects a cutting length by adjusting or selecting a guide, such as a comb, which extends over a cutting blade and then selects which areas of hair to cut and which areas should not be cut by positioning and moving the device appropriately.

When cutting a user's own hair, or someone else's hair, significant skill is required to create a particular hairstyle or to provide a presentable result. Although it is possible to use a trimmer to cut hair, such a device generally provides for cutting hair to a consistent length across the head. Such devices are difficult to accurately position on a user's head, for example. The accuracy of the treatment provided by the device depends on the user's skill and steady hand. Moreover, the device and the user's hand and arm may impede the user's view thereby making it difficult to position and move the device accurately. Systems are known which use a unit which is mountable to a user's head to provide positional guidance to a cutting device, however such systems are generally cumbersome and uncomfortable to a user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a system and a method for treating a part of a body to be treated which substantially alleviates or overcomes the problems mentioned above.

According to the present invention, there is provided a system for treating a part of a body to be treated comprising a hand-held treating device having a treating unit, an imaging module configured to generate information indicative of the position of the treating device relative to the part of the body to be treated based on an image of a part of the body and the treating device, and a guide face configured to space the treating device from the part of the body to be treated, wherein a controller is configured to change a distance between the treating unit and the guide face in dependence on the information generated by the imaging module.

Therefore, the system is operable to determine the position of the treating device relative to the part of the body to be treated based on an image of a part of the body and the treating device. This minimises the number of components that are required. With such an arrangement it is possible to change the distance between the treating unit and the guide face to aid performance of the treating device when the treating device is used on a part of a body to be treated, for example by cutting hair. This enables the distance between the treating unit and the part of the body to be treated to be changed using an imaging module without the need to mount any components or indicators on the user.

With this arrangement, it is possible to adjust the distance between the treating unit and the part of the body to be treated, and so vary the treatment applied to the part of the body. For example, with an arrangement for cutting hair the cutting distance is changeable to allow different lengths of hair to be cut. The controller is able to dynamically adjust the distance between the treating unit and the part of the body to be treated based on the information generated by the imaging module. Therefore, the distance is able to automatically change to provide different treating characteristics provided by the treating unit dependent on the distance.

The system for treating a part of a body to be treated may be a system for cutting hair on a part of a body to be treated, the treating device may be a cutting device, and the treating unit may be a cutting unit.

With such an arrangement, it is possible to provide a system for cutting hair which provides for different hairstyles to be produced by changing the distance between the treating unit and the guide face in dependence on the information generated by the imaging module during use of the system. Therefore, it is possible to automatically and dynamically adjust the distance as the position of the treating device relative to the part of the body to be treated, for example a user's head, changes.

The treating device may comprise a main body. The guide face may be on the main body and the treating unit may be movable relative to the main body to adjust the distance between the guide face and the treating unit.

With this arrangement it is possible to adjust the distance between the treating unit and the part of the body to be treated, when the treating device is disposed against the part of the body to be treated, without adjusting the distance between the main body of the treating device and the part of the body to be treated. Therefore, it is possible to minimise any perceived movement of the cutting device relative to the part of the body due to an adjustment between the guide face and the treating unit. Furthermore, mechanical failure due to a user attempting to resist a movement of a component of the treating device may be minimised.

The treating unit may be on the main body and the guide face may be movable relative to the main body to adjust the distance between the guide face and the treating unit.

Therefore, it is possible to simplify the arrangement of the cutting unit and the main body by minimising movement of the cutting unit towards and away from the main body. This may aid manufacture of the device.

The treating unit may further comprise an actuator, wherein the controller may be configured to adjust the actuator in dependence on the information generated by the imaging module to change the distance between the treating unit and the guide unit.

The image of a part of the body and the treating device may be an image of the part of the body to be treated and the treating device.

Therefore, the accuracy of the system may be maximised due to the image being an image of the part to be treated. Furthermore, the arrangement of the system is simplified because the imaging module is able to provide direct information about the part of the body to be treated.

The image of a part of the body and the treating device may be an image of a user's head and the treating device, wherein the imaging module may be configured to detect a gaze direction of the user's head based on the image of the user's head and the treating device.

The imaging module may be configured to detect the gaze direction of the user's head based on detection of one or more objects in the image of the user's head and the treating device and, optionally, based on detection of the user's nose and/or ears in the image of the user's head and the treating device.

With this arrangement the imaging module is capable of accurately providing information indicative of the position of the treating device relative to the user's head by detecting one or more easily identifiable objects, such as features of the head. Furthermore, by detecting the user's nose and/or ears in the image of the user's head it is possible to easily identify the gaze direction and/or determine the location of other parts of the user's head due to the user's nose and/or ears being in a fixed location relative to other parts of the user's head. It will also be recognised that the user's nose and/or ears are easily determinable by an imaging module due to the objects protruding from the remainder of the head. Although the user's nose and/or ears are easily determinable by an imaging module, it will also be recognised that the position of other features may be determined, for example a user's eyes and/or mouth due to their contrast with the remainder of the user's face.

The imaging module may comprise a range camera.

Therefore the imaging module is able to be configured to generate information indicative of the position of the treating device in a straightforward manner.

The system may further comprise an inertial measurement unit configured to generate information indicative of the position of the treating device.

Therefore, it is possible to maximise the accuracy of information indicative of the position of the treating device which is provided as part of the system. Furthermore, the inertial navigation module may allow information indicative of the position of the treating device to be provided to the controller in the event that the imaging module is unable to provide such information. This also provides a level of redundancy against failure of the imaging module.

The controller may be configured to change the distance between the treating unit and the guide face of the treating device in dependence on the information generated by the imaging module and the inertial measurement unit.

With such an arrangement it is possible to maximise the accuracy of the determined position of the treating device relative to the part of the body to be treated.

The controller may be configured to change the distance between the treating unit and the guide face of the treating device in dependence on the information generated by the imaging module and the inertial measurement unit when the treating device is out of an optical sensing zone of the imaging module.

Therefore, it is possible to help maintain and/or maximise the accuracy of the information generated by the imaging module when the treating device is out of an optical sensing zone of the imaging module.

The controller may be configured to calibrate the inertial measurement unit based on information generated by the imaging module.

With such an arrangement it is possible to maximise the accuracy of the information indicative of the position of the treating device during operation of the system. In particular, such an arrangement helps to counter against the readings of the inertial navigation system drifting over time and so accumulating a positioning error.

The imaging module may be configured to generate information indicative of the orientation of the treating device relative to the part of the body to be treated based on the image of the part of the body and the treating device.

In this case, the imaging module is also able to determine information indicative of the orientation of the treating device. This may help to maximise the accuracy of the treating. Furthermore, by the imaging module determining information indicative of the orientation of the treating device will enable an distance between the treating unit and the guide face of the treating device to be changed in dependence on the information of the orientation of the treating device generated by the imaging module.

By generating information indicative of the orientation of the treating device relative to the part of the body to be treated it is also possible to determine the angle at which the treating unit is disposed against the part of the body to be treated.

The controller may be configured to determine the distance between the treating unit and the guide face at a relative position based on a predefined distance between the treating unit and the guide face for that relative position.

The distance between the treating unit and the guide face may be a first operating characteristic that the controller is configured to change, the controller may be configured to change a second operating characteristic of the treating device in dependence on the information generated by the imaging module.

Therefore, it is possible for one or more further operating characteristics of the treating device to be changed to help the system provide an enchanced treatment for the part of the body to be treated.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a treating device configured to be used in a system as described above.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of treating a part of a body using a treating device comprising generating information indicative of the position of the treating device relative to the part of the body to be treated based on an image of a part of the body and the treating device using an imaging module, changing the distance between a treating unit and a guide face of the treating device in dependence on the information generated by the imaging module.

With such a method it is possible to determine the position of the treating device based on an image of a part of the body and the treating device only. This minimises the number of steps that are required to change the distance between the treating unit and the guide face of the treating device based on objects, such as features, of a part of a body. With such an arrangement it is possible to change the distance between the treating unit and the guide face when the treating device is used on a part of a body to be treated, for example by cutting hair.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

