FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to electric shavers having electronic imaging functions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Razors are known as a bladed tool primarily used in the shaving off of unwanted body hair. Electric shavers are known as an alternative to razors for removal of hair and/or slicing hair down to the level of the skin. Such shavers are commonly used by men to remove their facial hair (such as beard, mustache and whiskers) and by women to remove their leg, underarm and other hair. Electric shavers, also known as ‘electric razors’ or ‘electric dry shavers’, commonly include of a set of oscillating or rotating blades, which are held behind a perforated metal foil that prevents the blades from coming into contact with the skin. In some designs a rotary type of shaver is used, wherein the blades are circular having a circular motion, while other shavers use oscillating blades. Blade movement is powered by a small DC motor, commonly powered by rechargeable batteries. Some electric shavers are plugged directly into an AC outlet to be powered therefrom.

FIG. 1shows an example of an electric shaver10using a straight cutting mechanism. Front view12of the shaver10shows a foil15covering the blades, an on/off switch16and an enclosure17. View11is a side view and view19is a rear view of the shaver10. View13is a top view of the foil15which is usually in contact with the skin and the hair. View14is a bottom view showing a connector18for connecting to a power source, such as AC power 115VAC/60 Hz (as in North America) or 220VAC/50 Hz common in Europe. The shaver10parts are supported in an enclosure17, which may be an integrally molded body frame. The casing enclosing the frame and supported parts can be molded of plastic or can be a sheet metal body, or any other suitable synthetic resin material. The enclosure17, which is commonly hand-held, is shown as a rectangular, ‘box-like’ enclosure having four walls, which is commonly used with straight cutting systems. Cylindrical cases are also known and commonly used with rotary-type electric shavers.

FIG. 2illustrates schematically a simplified general block diagram of an electric shaver powered by a battery or cell. The battery24powers a DC electric motor26, which is mechanically coupled via mechanical coupling27for driving power to rotate or oscillate blades included in a cutter mechanism28, thus cutting the hair via a foil such as foil15shown inFIG. 1. The coupling27may be a shaft or a transmission gear. An on/off switch25(corresponding to the switch16inFIG. 1) allows the user to start and stop the operation of the electrical shaver. In many designs the battery24used is a rechargeable battery such as a nickel-cadmium battery. In such a case, a battery charger23employed for charging the battery while not in use. The battery charger or power supply23is commonly fed by domestic AC power through AC plug21and cord22, and commonly includes a step-down transformer. The charging associated components, such as the charger23, the AC plug21, and the cable22, are housed in a separate enclosure, and connected via a connector (such as jack socket or receptacle18inFIG. 1) to the electric shaver assembly, housing the electric cell or cells24, the motor26and the cutting mechanism28). In the case of only AC-powered shavers (without battery), the battery24is not used and the power supply23directly feeds the motor26.

Good visibility of the skin surface involved with the shaving is essential for quick, convenient, easy and effective shaving. In many cases, such as in a facial shaving, direct eye-contact during shaving cannot be made, and a mirror needs to be used. However, a mirror may not be available in all locations. Further, in the case of a foggy or dark environment, the image in the mirror cannot be seen well. Further, the hand holding the shaver and the shaver unit itself may hide and interfere with the required image of the shaving area.

An electric shaver containing a microcomputer and display means is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,735 to Okada entitled: “Electric Shaver”. In addition, an electric shaver including a display and light receiving means is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,988 to Momose entitled: “Electric Shaver”.

In consideration of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a method and system that is simple, cost-effective, faithful, reliable, has a minimum part count, minimum hardware, or uses existing and available components allowing convenient or better visualization of the skin during shaving, and in particular the shaving area. Such visualization may aid a person in determining how to adjust their shaving to produce the best shave. The shaving area refers to the skin surface area that is of interest to user for shaving, either required to be shaved, under shaving or after being shaved.

Furthermore, it would be highly advantageous to have a method and system providing a close, better and easier shaving experience by allowing a better viewing of the skin that is about to be shaved or was already shaved, preferably without the need of a mirror, under a dark environment, or under a condition where sufficient light is not provided. This will allow the user of the electric shaver to have real-time feedback on the shaving activity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the present invention, a method and apparatus for using digital imaging or digital photography of the shaving area is described. Digital camera functionality is added to an portably hand-held housing of an electric shaver, allowing the shaving area image (either as still image or as video) to be captured, stored, manipulated and displayed on a display unit. The image capturing hardware is integrated with the electric shaver, and the image captured is reconstructed faithfully and displayed on a display unit for the user to view. The shaving improvement can benefit human hair removal such as facial or leg hair removal.

The image capturing hardware integrated with the electric shaver contains a photographic lens (through a lens opening) focusing the required image onto an image sensor. The image is converted into a digital format by an image sensor AFE (Analog Front End) and an image processor. The display unit uses a display interface to convert the digital image to a signal suitable to be displayed on the screen of the display.

In another aspect of the present invention, the display unit is integrated with the electric shaver. The display can be of a flip type, wherein the screen can be extended for user view only when required, and folded otherwise.

In another aspect of the present invention, the display unit is a separate device housed within a separate enclosure. The digital data representing the captured image is transmitted over a communication medium to the display unit. The display unit receives the digital data from the communication medium and displays it. In this scenario, the electric shaver includes a transmitter (or a transceiver) for transmitting the digital data to the communication medium, and the display unit includes a receiver (or a transceiver) for receiving the digital data from the communication medium. In one aspect according to the invention, the video signal is carried in an analog form over the communication medium, respectively using an analog transmitter and an analog receiver.

The communication between the electric shaver assembly and the display unit can be non-conductive over-the-air wireless, using radio, audio or light based communication, and use various WLAN, WPAN and other technologies. The wireless communication may use a spread-spectrum signal such as multi-carrier (e.g. OFDM, DMT and CDMA), or a single carrier (narrow-band) signal. Each of the wireless signals or the wireless communication links above may be WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WAN, BWA, LMDS, MMDS, WiMAX, HIPERMAN, IEEE 802.16, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.15, IEEE 802.11 (such as a, b and g), UWB, ZigBee and cellular such as GSM, GPRS, 2.5G, 3G, UMTS, DCS, PCS and CDMA. Similarly, each of the frequency bands above may be part of the ISM frequency bands.

Further, such communication can use a conductive medium such as cables or wires, or any other metallic medium. Standard PAN or LAN cabling and protocols may be used, such as Ethernet 10/100/1000BaseT. In one embodiment, powerline communication is used wherein the AC power wiring is used as the communication medium.

In another aspect of the present invention, a lossy or non-lossy compression of the image information is used for reducing the memory size and reducing the data rate required for the transmission over the communication medium. In this configuration, video compression functionality is added to the shaver, and a video de-compressor is added to the display unit for reconstructing the original signal.

In another aspect of the present invention, one or more light sources are added for better illumination of the photographed area or the shaving area.

In another aspect of the present invention, multiple image capturing mechanisms are used, each containing a lens and image sensor, allowing for capturing of larger shaving area. In one embodiment, each such image capturing can be mounted on a different wall or side of the electric shaver. In one embodiment, the lens is mounted in the cutter side of the shaver, which is in direct contact with the skin surface during shaving.

In another aspect of the present invention, digital image processing is used to analyze the captured image and notify the user (on the display or otherwise) of the results of such analysis. Individual hairs as well as hairy areas can be identified and marked.

In another aspect of the present invention, zooming and still image capturing features are provided, as well as other features commonly associated with still digital cameras and video cameras such as camcorders. Other controls such as brightness may also be provided.

In another aspect of the present invention, various controls are provided to the user by means of buttons and switches located as part of the electric shaver, or as part of the display unit or in both. Various visual indicators can also be employed.

In another aspect of the present invention, the camera added hardware in the shaver is powered from the same power source as the shaver itself, such as a battery (either primary or rechargeable) or from a domestic AC power. Similarly, the display unit may be powered locally from a battery or from the AC power. Further, the cable connecting between the electric shaver and the display unit (for example serving as the communication medium) can also be used to concurrently carry power either from the shaver to power the display unit or from the display unit to power the electric shaver unit.

In another aspect of the present invention, a single cable is used to connect the display unit with the electric shaver. The cable simultaneously carries both the communication signal for displaying the captured image on the display, and a power signal. The power signal can be fed from the display unit to power the electric shaver and its camera module, or alternately fed from the shaver to power the display unit. Carrying both the power and data signals over the same cable can make use of distinct separated wire sets, each set dedicated to one type of a signal. Alternatively, the same wires can carry both signals each over a different frequency band (FDM) or using phantom technique.

In another aspect of the present invention, the captured image is transmitted from the electric shaver using a standard analog or digital video interface, thus allowing the displaying of the video on standard and common video equipment.

One aspect of the present invention involves an electrically operated hair removing device for removing hair from a skin area, containing a casing, the casing further including a camera module for imaging at least part of the skin area, the camera module containing an optical lens for focusing received light mechanically oriented to guide the image of at least part of the skin area, a photosensitive image sensor array disposed approximately at an image focal point plane of the optical lens for capturing the image and producing electronic image information representing the image, and an analog to digital (A/D) converter coupled to the image sensor for generating digital data representation of the image. The image sensor may be based on Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD) or Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS). The device may further contain an electric motor and a cutter driven by the motor, and may be power fed from a battery that is rechargeable or a primary type.

Further, the device may be operative to transmit the image digital data representation over a communication medium, and in such case may contain a port for coupling a signal to the communication medium, an image processor coupled to the analog to digital converter and for generating a digital data video signal carrying a digital data video according to a digital video format, and a transmitter coupled between the port and the image processor for transmitting the digital data video signal to the communication medium. The digital video format may be based on one out of: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), RAW format, AVI, DV, MOV, WMV, MP4, DCF (Design Rule for Camera Format), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T H.263, ITU-T H.264, ITU-T CCIR 601, ASF, Exif (Exchangeable Image File Format) and DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) standards. Further, the device may be operative to compress the digital data video, and in such a case may further contain a video compressor coupled between the analog to digital (A/D) converter and the transmitter for compressing the digital data video before transmission to the communication medium. The compression may be based on intraframe or interframe compression, and can further be lossy or non-lossy compression. The communication over the communication medium may be half-duplex or full-duplex, and the device may further contain a receiver coupled to the port for receiving information from the communication medium.

In the case of using compression, the compression is based on a standard compression algorithm that is one or more out of JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) and MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T H.263, ITU-T H.264 and ITU-T CCIR 601. For example, the compression can be based on ADV212 JPEG 2000 Video Codec, available from Analog Devices, Inc., from Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

In one aspect of the invention the device casing further contains a battery, and the camera module is power fed from the battery. In an alternative solution, the device is operative to be powered from AC power, thus further contains an AC power plug for connecting to an AC power outlet for AC power feeding therefrom, and a power supply connected to the AC power plug to be power fed by the AC power, and the camera module is connected to be powered from the power supply. The power supply may include a step-down transformer and an AC/DC converter for DC powering the camera module.

In one aspect of the invention, the device further contains a display for displaying the captured image, the display may be mechanically attached to the casing and coupled to the analog to digital converter for visual displaying of the image representation. Further, the device may include a standard analog video interface, and in such a case the transmitter is an analog video driver, the analog video interface may be substantially based on one or more out of NTSC, PAL or SECAM formats, analog RGB and S-video, and the port is a coaxial or a RF connector. Alternatively, a standard digital video interface is employed, wherein the transmitter is a digital video driver and the port is a digital data connector. The digital video interface may be substantially based on one or more out of USB, SDI (Serial Digital Interface), FireWire, HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), DVI (Digital Visual Interface), UDI (Unified Display Interface), DisplayPort, Digital Component Video and DVB.

In one aspect of the invention, the communication medium is free air propagation of electromagnetic radio-frequency waves, and the port is an antenna for transmitting the wireless signal to the air, wherein the transceiver is a wireless transceiver. Such wireless communication and the wireless signal may be based on standard WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) or WLAN (Wireless Local area Network) technologies, and may substantially conform to at least one of the following standards: WMAN, WAN, BWA, LMDS, MMDS, WiMAX, HIPERMAN, IEEE 802.16, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.15, UWB (Ultra-Wide-band), ZigBee, cellular, IEEE 802.11, WirelessHD, GSM, GPRS, 2.5G, 3G, UMTS, DCS, PCS and CDMA.

In one aspect of the invention, the communication medium is a wired medium, the port is a connector, and the transmitter is a wired transmitter adapted to transmit digital data to the wired medium. The communication over the wired medium may be according to a wired PAN (Personal Area Network) or a LAN (Local area Network) standard, and may further be based on serial or parallel transmission. For example, the wired medium may be a LAN cable substantially according to EIT/TIA-568 or EIA/TIA-570 containing a UTP (unshielded Twisted Pair) or STP (Shielded Twisted Pair). In such case the connector is an RJ-45 type, and the communication over the cable may substantially conform to IEEE 802.3 Ethernet 10BaseT or 100BaseTX or 1000BaseT, and the transmitter may be a LAN transceiver. In an alternative aspect, the wired transmitter and the connector substantially conform to one out of IEEE 1394, USB (Universal Serial Bus), EIA/TIA-232 and IEEE 1284.

In one aspect of the invention, the communication medium is a cable, the port is a connector, and the transmitter is a wired transmitter adapted to transmit digital data to the wired medium. Further, the cable concurrently carries a power signal, and the device is at least in part powered from the power signal. The power signal may be a DC (Direct Current) power signal, or an AC (Alternating Current) power signal. The cable may contain multiple insulated wires, and the power signal may be carried over dedicated wires distinct from the wires carrying the communication signal. In the case wherein the cable contains multiple insulated wires, and the wires are used to simultaneously carry both power and communication signals, the power and communication signals are carried over the same wires. In such a case the power may be a DC power carrying over a phantom channel over the wires. For example, the cable may be a LAN cable substantially according to EIT/TIA-568 or EIA/TIA-570 and containing UTP or STP twisted-pairs, the connector may be RJ-45 type, the communication over the cable may substantially conform to IEEE 802.3 Ethernet 10BaseT, 100BaseTX, or 1000BaseT, the transmitter may be a LAN transceiver, and the power may be carried over the cable substantially according to IEEE 802.3af or IEEE 802.3 at standards.

Alternatively, the power and communication signals may be carried over the same wires using Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), wherein the power signal is carried over a power frequency, and wherein the communication signal is carried over a communication frequency band distinct and above the power frequency. In this case, the device may further include a low pass filter coupled between the connector and the transmitter for substantially passing only the power frequency, for powering the transmitter from the power signal. Such device may also further include a high pass filter coupled between the connector and the transmitter for substantially passing only the communication frequency band, for passing the communication signal between the connector and the transmitter. In the case where power is AC power, the connector may be an AC power plug for connecting to AC power wiring, and the transmitter may be part of a powerlines modem, such as HomePlug or UPB.

In one aspect of the invention, the device further contains an additional optical lens for focusing received light mechanically oriented to guide the image of at least part of the skin area, an additional photosensitive image sensor array disposed approximately at an image focal point plane of the additional optical lens for capturing the image and producing additional electronic image information representing the image, and an additional analog to digital (A/D) converter coupled to the additional image sensor for generating an additional digital data representation of the image. The device may further include a multiplexer coupled to the analog to digital converters for generating a multiplexed signal containing the digital data representation of the images, a port for coupling a signal to the communication medium, and a transmitter coupled between the port and the image processor for transmitting the multiplexed signal to the communication medium.

In one aspect of the invention, the device further contains a digital image processor for processing the digital data representation of the image. The digital image processor may be operative to identify individual hair or a hairy area in the captured image, and the device may be further operative to generate a digital data representation of the image wherein the individual hairs or the hairy area are marked.

In one aspect of the invention, the device further includes a light source for providing an illumination. The light source may be mechanically mounted for illumination of at least part of the skin area captured by the optical lens and image sensor, and can be an LED (Light Emitting Diode).

The above summary is not an exhaustive list of all aspects of the present invention. Indeed, the inventor contemplates that his invention includes all systems and methods that can be practiced from all suitable combinations and derivatives of the various aspects summarized above, as well as those disclosed in the detailed description below and particularly pointed out in the claims filed with the application. Such combinations have particular advantages not specifically recited in the above summary.

It is understood that other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein are shown and described only embodiments of the invention by way of illustration. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various other respects, all without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the claims. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description, drawings and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter. It is intended that all such additional apparatus and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

