Grooming systems, devices, and methods including detection of hair-covered skin lesions during grooming and including topographical analysis

• US 9,307,828 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2013
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., McKnight, Gary L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cwern, Jonathan
• Application Number:
  US14/106,234
• Publication Number:
  US 20150164213A1
• Time in Patent Office: 851 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 24/10 combined with additional devices
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 15/0004 with a controlling means
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 15/0036 with a lighting means, e.g. laser, bulb A46B15/0034 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 15/0055 Brushes combined with other articles normally separate from the brushing process, e.g. combs, razors, mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 2200/1093 Brush for use on animal A46B2200/1086 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 9/023 arranged like in hair brushes, e.g. hair treatment, dyeing, streaking
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0266 Optical strain gauges
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/046 in a matrix array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0064 Body surface scanning
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0066 Optical coherence imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0071 by measuring fluorescence emission
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0075 by spectroscopy, i.e. measuring spectra, e.g. Raman spectroscopy, infrared absorption spectroscopy A61B5/0071 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0531 Measuring skin impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1032 Determining colour for diagnostic purposes measuring colour in general G01J3/46
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1072 measuring distances on the body, e.g. measuring length, height or thickness A61B5/1076 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1077 Measuring of profiles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1079 using optical or photographic means
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/444 Evaluating skin marks, e.g. mole, nevi, tumour, scar
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6887 mounted on external non-worn devices, e.g. non-medical devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 : Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 : using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 : using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7455 : characterised by tactile indication, e.g. vibration or electrical stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/08 : Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/085 : for locating body or organic structures, e.g. tumours, calculi, blood vessels, nodules
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0858 : involving measuring tissue layers, e.g. skin, interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/13 : Tomography A61B8/10, A61B8/12 take precedence; tomography for radiation diagnosis A61B6/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4455 : Features of the external shape of the probe, e.g. ergonomic aspects
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4472 : Wireless probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/483 : involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/488 : involving Doppler signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5223 : for extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data for algorithms to analyse biomedical images G06T7/0012
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/00 : Ultrasound therapy lithotripsy A61B17/22, A61B17/225; massage using supersonic vibration A61H23/00 ; using ultrasound for introducing media into the body A61M37/0092
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 : for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods are described for acquiring, among other things, lesion information from a hair or fur-covered region of a biological subject.

Claims

1. A grooming system, comprising:

a brush structure having a bristle face and a plurality of bristles extending outward from the bristle face;

an image sensor component forming part of the brush structure, the image sensor component including one or more image sensors located proximate a scalp contact region of one or more of the plurality of bristles, the image sensors operable to detect at least one of an emitted energy or a remitted energy associated with a portion of a scalp during grooming with the grooming system;

a scalp-imaging module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp-imaging module operably coupled to the image sensor component to receive one or more inputs from the image sensor component;

a scalp lesion morphology module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp lesion morphology module operably coupled to the image sensor component and configured to generate, responsive to the one or more inputs from the image sensor component, a tactile response for delivery to a user; and

an output component operably coupled to the scalp lesion morphology module and configured to deliver the tactile response to the user.

2. The grooming system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of bristles form part of an optical image sensor.

3. The grooming system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of bristles comprises an optical fiber.

4. The grooming system of claim 1, wherein the image sensor component includes at least one illumination component and at least one image sensor component and is configured to measure one or more of a spectral reflectance, a polarization, and a fluorescence of a scalp region.

5. The grooming system of claim 1, wherein the image sensor component is operable to acquire one or more images of a scalp region during grooming.

6. The grooming system of claim 1, including

an optical coherence tomography module operably coupled to the image sensor component and configured to generate a cross-sectional tomographic imaging of one or more scalp regions imaged by the image sensor during grooming, the optical coherence tomography module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry.

7. The grooming system of claim 1, wherein the scalp-imaging module is operable to generate a spatial map of a scalp region by combining images from the image sensor component obtained at different spatial locations during grooming.

8. The grooming system of claim 1, wherein the scalp-imaging module is operable to generate classification information associated with the scalp lesion responsive to one or more inputs from the image sensor component indicative of a lesion color.

9. The grooming system of claim 1, including

a scalp lesion location module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp lesion location module configured to generate scalp lesion registration information responsive to one or more inputs from the image sensor component.

10. The grooming system of claim 1, including

one or more accelerometers, inclinometers, or gyroscopes forming part of the brush structure;

and

an inertial navigation module operably coupled to the brush structure and to the one or more one or more accelerometers, inclinometers, or gyroscopes, the inertial navigation module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, wherein the inertial navigation module is configured to use the one or more one or more accelerometers, inclinometers, or gyroscopes to generate information indicative of a location and orientation of a portion of the grooming system.

11. The grooming system of claim 1, including

one or more impedance sensors forming part of the brush structure;

and

a scalp lesion dielectric module operably coupled to the one or more impedance sensors and including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp lesion dielectric module configured to identify a scalp surface object based on a detected impedance obtained during grooming.

12. The grooming system of claim 1, including

one or more topographic sensors forming part of the brush structure;

and

a scalp lesion morphology module operably connected to one or more topographic sensors and including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, wherein the scalp lesion morphology module is configured to determine a presence of a scalp lesion responsive to one or more inputs from the one or more topographic sensors.

13. The grooming system of claim 1, including

one or more ultrasonic transducers forming part of the brush structure;

and

a scalp lesion ultrasound imaging module operably coupled to the one or more ultrasonic transducers and including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp lesion ultrasound imaging module configured to identify a scalp surface object based on one or more ultrasound images of a scalp region obtained during grooming.

14. The grooming system of claim 1, including

a scalp examination module operably coupled to the scalp-imaging module, the scalp examination module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry.

15. The grooming system of claim 14, wherein the scalp examination module includes one or more memory devices having user-specific lesion data stored thereon.

16. The grooming system of claim 1, including

one or more marker dispenser components;

and

an examined region module operably coupled to the one or more marker-dispenser components and including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the examined region module configured to activate release of one or more marker or dye particles by the marker dispenser components.

17. The grooming system of claim 16, wherein the examined region module is configured to activate release of a marker to mark examined regions during grooming.

18. The grooming system of claim 16, wherein the examined region module is operable to activate release of the one or more marker or dye particles from one or more of the plurality of bristles based on a determination that a region has been examined, wherein the one or more of the plurality of bristles are operably coupled to the one or more marker-dispenser components.

19. The grooming system of claim 16, wherein the examined region module is operable to detect a marker previously released by the one or more marker-dispenser components.

20. The grooming system of claim 1, wherein the scalp lesion morphology module is configured to generate scalp lesion morphology information responsive to the one or more inputs from the image sensor component, and wherein tactile response is indicative of the scalp lesion morphology information.

21. The grooming system of claim 1, wherein the tactile response is indicative of a user instruction.

22. The grooming system of claim 21, wherein the tactile response is indicative of a user instruction instructing the user to perform at least one of a second pass, a slower pass, a static inspection, a re-inspection with a different imaging modality, a re-grooming, and grooming using a different imaging modality.

23. A hairbrush device, comprising:

a brush structure having a bristle face and a plurality of bristles extending outward from the bristle face;

an image sensor component forming part of the brush structure and including one or more image sensors located proximate a scalp contact region of one or more of the plurality of bristles, the image sensors operable to detect at least one of an emitted energy or a remitted energy associated with a portion of a scalp during grooming with the hairbrush device;

an output component configured to deliver a tactile response to a user;

circuitry for acquiring images of one or more scalp regions from the image sensor component during grooming of the one or more scalp regions with the hairbrush device;

circuitry for generating scalp lesion identification information responsive to the one or more inputs from the circuitry for acquiring images of the one or more scalp regions; and

a scalp lesion morphology module operably coupled to the image sensor component and configured to generate, responsive to the one or more inputs from the image sensor component, a tactile response for delivery to a user via the output component;

wherein the circuitry for acquiring images of one or more scalp regions, the circuitry for generating scalp lesion identification information, and the scalp lesion morphology module include computing device circuitry and memory circuitry.

24. The hairbrush device of claim 23, wherein the circuitry for acquiring images is operable to determine a scalp disease state responsive to identifying at least one object in an image from the image sensor component by comparing information associated with the image from the image sensor component with reference image information.

25. The hairbrush device of claim 23, wherein the circuitry for generating scalp lesion identification information is operable to identify groups of pixels in an image indicative of at least one scalp lesion by comparing image information associated with the image indicative of the at least one scalp lesion with reference image information.

26. The hairbrush device of claim 23, wherein the circuitry for generating scalp lesion identification information is operable to generate lesion color information responsive to one or more inputs from the circuitry for acquiring images of one or more scalp regions.

27. A grooming method, comprising:

acquiring one or more images of a hair-covered scalp region from one or more image sensors of an image sensor component with circuitry for acquiring images during grooming with a hairbrush device, the hairbrush device including a brush structure having a bristle face and a plurality of bristles extending outward from the bristle face, an image sensor component forming part of the brush structure and including the one or more image sensors, an output component configured to deliver a tactile response to a user, the circuitry for acquiring images, and a scalp lesion morphology module operably connected to the image sensor component and configured to generate the tactile response, the circuitry for acquiring images and the scalp lesion morphology module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry;

identifying at least one object in the one or more images with the circuitry for acquiring images;

generating scalp lesion information with the circuitry for acquiring images responsive to identifying the at least one object in the one or more images;

generating the tactile response with the scalp lesion morphology module, responsive to one or more inputs from the image sensor component; and

delivering the tactile response to the user via the output component.

28. The grooming method of claim 27, including

determining a scalp disease state with the circuitry for acquiring images responsive to identifying the at least one object in the one or more images.

29. The grooming method of claim 27, including

storing at least one parameter associated with the at least one object in the memory circuitry, wherein the at least one object is indicative of a scalp lesion.

30. The grooming method of claim 27, including

registering the at least one object using at least one of an artificial body surface marking, a tattoo, or a plurality of nanoparticle fiducial markers.

31. The grooming method of claim 27, wherein acquiring one or more images of the hair-covered scalp region from the one or more image sensors includes detecting at least one of an emitted energy and a remitted energy associated with the hair-covered scalp region.

32. The grooming method of claim 27, wherein generating the scalp lesion information includes generating scalp lesion morphology information, and wherein the tactile response is indicative of the scalp lesion morphology information.

33. The grooming method of claim 27, wherein the tactile response is indicative of a user instruction.

34. The grooming system of claim 33, wherein the tactile response is indicative of a user instruction instructing the user to perform at least one of second pass, a slower pass, a static inspection, a re-inspection with different imaging modality, re-grooming, and grooming using a different imaging modality.

35. A grooming system, comprising:

a brush structure having a bristle face and a plurality of bristles extending outward from the bristle face;

an image sensor component forming part of the brush structure, the image sensor component including one or more image sensors located proximate a scalp contact region of one or more of the plurality of bristles, the image sensors operable to detect at least one of an emitted energy or a remitted energy associated with a portion of a scalp during grooming with the grooming system;

a scalp-imaging module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp-imaging module operably coupled to the image sensor component to receive one or more inputs from the image sensor component;

one or more contact sensors forming part of the brush structure and configured to sense skin contact by one or more of the plurality of bristles; and

a scalp lesion morphology module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp lesion morphology module operably coupled to the image sensor component and to the one or more contact sensors and operable to collect lesion information associated with a scalp region responsive to an indication from at least one of the one or more the contact sensors that at least one of the one or more bristles is in contact with the scalp region.

36. The grooming system of claim 35, wherein the one or more contact sensors are dimensioned and configured to deflect responsive to contacting topographic features on the scalp during grooming.

37. The grooming system of claim 35, wherein the one or more contact sensors are dimensioned and configured to be displaced along a longitudinal axis responsive to contacting topographic features on the scalp during grooming.

38. The grooming system of claim 35, wherein the one or more contact sensors include one or more pressure sensors, capacitance sensors, flexure sensors, strain sensors, or optical sensors.