Skin treating device comprising a processor for determination of the radiation pulse dose

• US 20030023235A1
• Filed: 07/23/2002
• Published: 01/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Cense, Abraham Josephus, Cheng, Xiang Sheng
• Granted Patent: US 6,706,035 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/9
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/20 using laser
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/203 applying laser energy to the outside of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00057 Light
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00452 Skin
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00476 Hair follicles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00636 Sensing and controlling the application of energy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00904 Automatic detection of target tissue

Abstract

The invention relates to a device (1) for the treatment of skin (3) by means of radiation pulses. The device comprises a housing (7) accommodating a radiation source (15), a control unit (35) for controlling the radiation source, and a detector (37) for detecting an image of the skin. The control unit comprises a processor (51) which determines from said image a dimension (t_R) and a color of a target object (5′) to be treated, and which determines from said dimension and color a pulse dose of the radiation source necessary for treating said target object.

In a particular embodiment, the device (1) is a laser epilator, and the processor (51) determines the pulse dose that is necessary to destroy a hair root (49) of a hair (5) to be removed from the thickness (t_R) of the hair root and the color of the hair.

In a further embodiment, the device (1′) is a laser shaver, and the processor (51′) determines the pulse dose that is necessary to cut a hair (5′) from the thickness (t_H) and the color of the hair.

Claims

1. A device for treating skin by means of radiation pulses, which device comprises a housing, a radiation source, a control unit for controlling the radiation source, and a detector for detecting an image of at least a part of the skin, said control unit comprising a processor which, in operation, determines from the image detected by the detector a dimension of a target object to be treated on the skin and which determines from said dimension a pulse dose of the radiation source that is necessary to treat said target object, characterized in that the processor also determines from the detected image a color of the target object to be treated, the processor determining the necessary pulse dose from said dimension and said color.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the radiation source comprises a laser source and the device is provided with a laser beam manipulator that can be controlled by the control unit, which laser beam manipulator is used to position a laser beam supplied by the laser source in a target position on the skin, the processor determining from the detected image also a position and/or orientation on the skin of the target object and said processor determining the target position from said position and/or orientation, and the control unit activating the laser source if the laser beam manipulator is in a position that corresponds to the target position.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the detector comprises a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the processor determines the color of the target object to be treated from a gray value that the target object has in the image of the skin detected by means of the image sensor.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the device is a hair removing device, wherein the processor determines from the detected image a thickness and a color of a hair to be removed, and the detector determines from said thickness and color a pulse dose that is necessary to remove said hair.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the device is a shaver, wherein the processor determines the thickness and the color of a hair to be cut close to a position on the hair where the hair projects from the skin.

7. A device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the device is an epilation device, wherein the processor determines a thickness of the hair root from the thickness of the hair by means of a predetermined relationship between hair thickness and hair root thickness, and wherein the processor determines the necessary pulse dose from the color and from the hair root thickness thus determined.