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

• US 9,307,829 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:
  US14/106,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20150164407A1
• 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 hair and scalp care system, comprising:

a body structure including a plurality of spaced-apart projections configured to engage hair, one or more of the spaced-apart projections having a scalp contact region;

one or more ultrasound transducers acoustically coupled to the scalp contact region of the spaced-apart projections;

an ultrasound-imaging module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the ultrasound-imaging module operably coupled to the one or more ultrasound transducers, the ultrasound-imaging module operable to transmit and receive ultrasound signals associated with a scalp lesion;

a scalp lesion morphology module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp lesion morphology module operably coupled to the ultrasound transducers and configured to generate, responsive to one or more inputs from the one or more ultrasound transducers, 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 hair and scalp care system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the ultrasound transducers form part of one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projections.

3. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound-imaging module is operable to acquire ultrasound information associated with the scalp lesion.

4. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, wherein the one or more ultrasound transducers include a plurality of electromechanical transducer elements, the plurality of electromechanical transducer elements configured to interrogate the scalp region with an ultrasonic stimulus.

5. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound-imaging module is configured to generate one or more of an ultrasound image, a color velocity Doppler mode image, or a power Doppler mode image of the scalp region.

6. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound-imaging module is configured to generate a three-dimensional ultrasound image of the scalp region during grooming.

7. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound-imaging module is configured to compare ultrasound images with previously acquired ultrasound images in real time.

8. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, including

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

and

an inertial navigation module operably coupled to the body structure and to the 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 accelerometers, inclinometers, or gyroscopes to generate information indicative of a location and orientation of a portion of the hair and scalp care system.

9. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, including

one or more impedance sensors forming part of the body 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.

10. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, including

a sensor array forming part of the body structure, the sensor array including one or more sensor elements;

and

a scalp lesion morphology module operably connected to the sensor array 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 sensor array.

11. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, including

a sensor array forming part of the body structure, the sensor array including one or more image sensors;

and

a scalp lesion imaging module operably connected to the sensor array and including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, wherein the scalp lesion imaging module is configured to identify a scalp surface object based on one or more images of a scalp region obtained during grooming.

12. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, including

a scalp examination module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp examination module operably coupled to the ultrasound-imaging module and configured to determine cumulative lesion examination information based on at least one output from the ultrasound imaging module.

13. The hair and scalp care system of claim 12, wherein the scalp examination module includes one or more memory devices having user-specific lesion data stored thereon.

14. The hair and scalp care 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.

15. The hair and scalp care system of claim 14, wherein the examined region module is configured to activate release of a marker to mark examined regions during grooming.

16. The hair and scalp care system of claim 14, wherein the one or more marker-dispenser components are operably coupled to one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projections.

17. The hair and scalp care system of claim 14, wherein the examined region module is operable to detect a marker previously released by at least one of the one or more marker-dispenser components.

18. The hair and scalp care 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 one or more ultrasound transducers, and wherein the tactile response is indicative of the scalp lesion morphology information.

19. The hair and scalp care system of claim 1, wherein the tactile response is indicative of a user instruction.

20. The hair and scalp care system of claim 19, 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.

21. A scalp examination device, comprising:

a body structure having a plurality of spaced-apart projections configured to engage hair;

one or more electromechanical transducer elements acoustically coupled to one or more scalp contact regions of one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projections;

one or more contact sensors forming part of the body structure and configured to sense skin contact by one or more scalp contact regions of one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projections;

circuitry for interrogating one or more scalp regions with an ultrasonic stimulus delivered from one or more of the electromechanical transducer elements via one or more scalp contact regions of one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projections during grooming;

circuitry for assessing whether one or more scalp contact regions of one or more of the spaced-apart projections are in contact with the one or more scalp regions;

circuitry for acquiring an ultrasonic response via one or more of the electromechanical transducer elements responsive to an indication that one or more scalp contact region of the one or more spaced-apart projections is in contact with the one or more scalp regions, the ultrasonic response associated with interrogation of the one or more scalp regions with the ultrasonic stimulus during grooming; and

a scalp lesion morphology module including computing device circuitry and memory circuitry, the scalp lesion morphology module operably coupled to the one or electromechanical transducer elements and configured to generate scalp lesion morphology information associated with the one or more scalp regions responsive to the ultrasonic response.

22. The scalp examination device of claim 21, including

circuitry for generating lesion classification information associated with the one or more scalp regions responsive to one or more inputs from the circuitry for acquiring an ultrasonic response by comparing information associated with the ultrasonic response with reference lesion classification information.

23. The scalp examination device of claim 21, including

circuitry for generating scalp lesion ultrasound information associated with the one or more scalp regions responsive to one or more inputs from the circuitry for acquiring an ultrasonic response by comparing information associated with the ultrasonic response with reference lesion ultrasound information.

24. The scalp examination device of claim 21, including

circuitry for generating one or more of an ultrasound image, a color velocity Doppler mode image, or a power Doppler mode image of the one or more scalp regions responsive to one or more inputs from the circuitry for acquiring the ultrasonic response.

25. The scalp examination device of claim 21, including

circuitry for generating a three-dimensional ultrasound image of the one or more scalp regions during grooming responsive to one or more inputs from the circuitry for acquiring the ultrasonic response.

26. The scalp examination device of claim 21, including

circuitry for generating an ultrasound image of the one or more scalp regions responsive to one or more inputs from the circuitry for acquiring the ultrasonic response.

27. The scalp examination device of claim 21, wherein the one or more contact sensors are dimensioned and configured to deflect responsive to contacting topographic features on the scalp during grooming.

28. The scalp examination device of claim 21, 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.

29. The scalp examination device of claim 21, wherein the one or more contact sensors include one or more pressure sensors, capacitance sensors, flexure sensors, strain sensors, or optical sensors.

30. A method, comprising:

interrogating one or more hair-covered scalp regions with an ultrasonic stimulus during grooming with a scalp examination device, the scalp examination device including a body structure having a plurality of spaced-apart projections configured to engage hair, one or more electromechanical transducer elements acoustically coupled to one or more scalp contact regions of one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projections and configured to interrogate the one or more hair-covered scalp regions with the ultrasonic stimulus, one or more contact sensors configured to sense skin contact by one or more scalp contact regions of one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projection, an output component configured to deliver a tactile response to the user, a scalp lesion morphology module operably connected to the one or more electromechanical transducer elements and configured to generate the tactile response, and computing device circuitry and memory circuitry operably coupled to the one or more electromechanical transducer elements and one or more contact sensors;

sensing via the one or more contact sensors skin contact by the one or more scalp contact regions of one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projections;

detecting via the one or more of the electromechanical transducer elements acoustically coupled to the one or more scalp contact regions, responsive to sensing via the one or more contact sensors skin contact by the one or more scalp contact regions of one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projections, an ultrasonic response associated with interrogating the one or more scalp regions with the ultrasonic stimulus;

generating scalp lesion information associated with the one or more scalp regions with the computing device circuitry responsive to one or more inputs indicative of the ultrasonic response;

generating the tactile response with the scalp lesion morphology module, responsive to one or more inputs from the one or more electromechanical transducer elements; and

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

31. The method of claim 30, wherein generating the scalp lesion information includes generating primary lesion information responsive to the one or more inputs indicative of an ultrasonic response.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein generating the scalp lesion information includes generating secondary lesion information responsive to the one or more inputs indicative of an ultrasonic response.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein generating the scalp lesion information includes generating lesion configuration information responsive to the one or more inputs indicative of an ultrasonic response.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein generating the scalp lesion information includes generating scalp lesion ultrasound information associated with the one or more scalp regions responsive to one or more inputs associated with the detected ultrasonic response.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein generating the scalp lesion information includes generating one or more of an ultrasound image, a color velocity Doppler mode image, and a power Doppler mode image of the one or more scalp regions responsive to one or more inputs associated with the detected ultrasonic response.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein generating the scalp lesion information includes generating a three-dimensional ultrasound image of the one or more scalp regions responsive to one or more inputs associated with the detected ultrasonic response.

37. A method, comprising:

interrogating one or more hair-covered scalp regions with an ultrasonic stimulus during grooming with a hair and scalp care system, the hair and scalp care system including a body structure having a plurality of spaced-apart projections configured to engage hair, one or more ultrasound transducers acoustically coupled to one or more scalp contact regions of one or more of the plurality of spaced-apart projections and configured to interrogate the one or more hair-covered scalp regions with the ultrasonic stimulus, an output component configured to deliver a tactile response to a user, and computing device circuitry and memory circuitry including an ultrasound imaging module operable to transmit and receive ultrasound signals associated with the scalp region via the one or more ultrasound transducers, and a scalp lesion morphology module configured to generate a tactile response for delivery to the user;

sensing with the ultrasound imaging module, via the one or more ultrasound transducers, an ultrasound signal associated with a scalp lesion;

generating with the scalp lesion morphology module, responsive to one or more inputs from the one from the one or more ultrasound transducers, a tactile response; and

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