Apparatus and method for analyzing hair and/or predicting an outcome of a hair-coloring treatment

• US 10,806,234 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2015
• Issued: 10/20/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Coloright Ltd. (L'Oreal SA)
• Original Assignee: Coloright Ltd. (L'Oreal SA)
• Inventors: Miklatzky, Efraim, Mandelik, Daniel, Davara, Gilad, Benny, Eliyahu, Livneh, Oded, Marcu, Tal, Wasserman, Thierry
• Primary Examiner(s): Decenzo, Shawn
• Application Number:
  US15/303,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20170156476A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,036 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 2044/007 Devices for determining the condition of hair or skin or for selecting the appropriate cosmetic or hair treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 44/005 for selecting or displaying personal cosmetic colours or hairstyle
• 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 5/1032 Determining colour for diagnostic purposes measuring colour in general G01J3/46
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/448 Hair evaluation, e.g. for hair disorder diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4848 Monitoring or testing the effects of treatment, e.g. of medication
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 33/84 Mixing plants with mixing receptacles receiving material dispensed from several component receptacles, e.g. paint tins
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 33/841 with component receptacles fixed in a circular configuration on a horizontal table, e.g. the table being able to be indexed about a vertical axis
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 33/8442 using a computer for controlling information and converting it in a formula and a set of operation instructions, e.g. on the point of sale
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0272 Handheld
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/463 Colour matching
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/50 using electric radiation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/01 Arrangements or apparatus for facilitating the optical investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/25 Colour; Spectral properties, i.e. comparison of effect of material on the light at two or more different wavelengths or wavelength bands
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/31 Investigating relative effect of material at wavelengths characteristic of specific elements or molecules, e.g. atomic absorption spectrometry G01N21/72 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/84 Systems specially adapted for particular applications

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to devices and methods for analyzing hair and/or predicting an outcome of hair-coloring treatment. disclosed is method of predicting a result of a hair-color-modifying treatment on a sample of hair, the method comprising: a. for each given region of a plurality of distinct regions, respectively measuring a region-specific spectrum of respective material of the hair-sample respectively disposed within the given region; and b. computing first and second predicted post-treatment spectra respectively from first and second initial spectra by respectively predicting a transformation of the first and second initial spectra following subjecting the sample of hair to the hair-color-modifying treatment, the first and second initial spectra being distinct and (i) derived from the plurality of measured region-specific spectra and/or (ii) corresponding to first and second of the measured region-specific spectra.

Claims

1. A method of predicting a result of a hair-color-modifying treatment on a sample of hair, the method comprising:

a) for each given region of a plurality of distinct regions, respectively measuring a region-specific spectrum of respective material of the hair-sample respectively disposed within the given region to obtain a plurality of measured region-specific spectra; and

b) computing first and second predicted post-treatment spectra respectively from first and second initial spectra by respectively predicting a transformation of the first and second initial spectra following subjecting the sample of hair to the hair-color-modifying treatment, the first and second initial spectra being distinct and (i) derived from the plurality of measured region-specific spectra and/or (ii) corresponding to first and second instances of the plurality of measured region-specific spectra,

the method further comprising;

computing from the first and second predicted post-treatment spectra, a predicted sample-representative post-treatment spectrum representing a predicted spectrum for the entire sample of hair after subjecting to the hair-color-modifying treatment,

wherein

the predicted sample-representative post-treatment spectrum is further computed in accordance with a hair-shaft color-heterogeneity parameter of the hair-sample which describes relative fractions of natural white shafts and natural-pigmented shafts within a sample of natural gray hair.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the hair-sample is a sample of natural-gray hair that is a mixture of natural white shafts and natural-pigment-containing shafts;

each measured region-specific spectrum of a first set of the measured region-specific spectra is generated primarily by light scattered from natural white shaft(s);

each measured region-specific spectrum of a second set of the measured region-specific spectra is generated primarily by light scattered from natural-pigment-containing shaft(s);

the first and second initial spectra are respectively representative of the first and second set of spectra and are respectively derived therefrom.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein

the hair-sample is a sample of formerly natural-gray hair that:

(A) was formerly mixture of natural white shafts and natural-pigment-containing shafts; and

(B) is presently a mixture of shafts of first and second color-types that are respectively derived from the natural white and the natural-pigmented-containing shafts;

each measured region-specific spectrum of a first set of the measured region-specific spectra is generated primarily by light scattered from shaft(s) of the first color-type;

each measured region-specific spectrum of a second set of the measured region-specific spectra is generated primarily by light scattered from shaft(s) of the second color-type; and

the first and second initial spectra are respectively representative of the first and second set of spectra and are respectively derived therefrom.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein

multiple region-specific spectra are compared to each other, and the predicted sample-representative post-treatment spectrum is computed according to the results of the comparing of the region-specific spectra.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein a different predicted sample-representative post-treatment spectrum is respectively computed for each candidate hair-color-modifying treatment of a plurality of candidate hair-color-modifying treatments, and wherein a recommended hair-color-modifying treatment is obtained upon comparing predictions for each of the candidate hair-color-modifying treatments.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising computing a combination of ingredients for a hair-coloring composition in accordance with the sample-representative post-treatment spectrum, and dispensing the computed combination of ingredients.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) is performed respectively for each candidate hair-color-modifying treatment of a plurality of candidate hair-color-modifying treatments, and wherein a recommended hair-color-modifying treatment is obtained upon comparing predictions for each of the candidate hair-color-modifying treatments.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising computing in a combination of ingredients for a hair-coloring composition in accordance with the predicted post-treatment spectra computed in step (b).

9. The method of claim 1 wherein each measured region-specific spectrum includes at least one reading in the [600+N*50 nm, 1000 nm] range, wherein N is an integer having a value of at least 1 or at least 2 or at least 3 or at least 4 or at least 5.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein each measured region-specific spectrum includes at least one reading in all of the following ranges:

{[400 nm, 500 nm], [500 nm, 600 nm], [600 nm, 700 nm], [700 nm, 800 nm]}.

11. A method of optically acquiring data from a sample of hair by a measurement device defining object and image planes, the method comprising:

a) disposing the hair sample so that the object plane passes through the sample of hair; and

b) optically processing light reflected by hair of the sample of that, upon reaching the image plane;

i) along each given line of a set of parallel lines in the image plane, only light from a corresponding line of a set of parallel lines in the object plane reaches the given line in the image plane;

ii) for each given point along each given line of the set of parallel lines in the image plane, light of only a single wavelength from multiple locations along the corresponding line in the object plane reaches the given point of the given line; and

iii) along each given line of the set of parallel lines in the image plane, the wavelength of light received from the object plane monotonically increases.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the processed light is received by an array of photodetectors to detect one or more spectrum of the sample of hair or of a portion thereof.

13. The method of claim 11 performed to measure spectra as follows:

for each given region of a plurality of regions, a respective region-specific spectrum of respective material of the hair-sample respectively disposed within the given region is measured.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein:

the sample hair is disposed so that the object plane passes through each of the regions;

a perpendicular projection of each region into the object plane yields a respective elongated area of the object-plane defining an elongate axis;

each elongated area defined by a projection of a respective region into the object plane has a respective aspect ratio equal to at least 5 or at least 10 and/or a respective width of each elongated area of the object plane is at most 100 microns or at most 50 microns or at most 25 microns or most 15 microns; and

all of the elongated axes are aligned with each other.

15. The method of claim 14, performed on a sample of hair-shafts that are aligned with each other to define an hair-alignment-axis, the hair-alignment axis being aligned with each of the elongate axes of the elongated areas.

16. Apparatus for predicting a result of a hair-color-modifying treatment on a sample of hair, the apparatus comprising:

a) a spectrum-measuring device configured to measure a plurality of spectra as follows;

for each given region of a plurality of distinct regions, respectively measuring a region-specific spectrum of respective material of the hair-sample respectively disposed within the given region to obtain a plurality of measured region-specific spectra; and

b) electronic circuitry configured to compute first and second predicted post-treatment spectra respectively from first and second initial spectra by respectively predicting a transformation of the first and second initial spectra following subjecting the sample of hair to the hair-color-modifying treatment, the first and second initial spectra being distinct and (i) derived from the plurality of measured region-specific spectra and/or (ii) corresponding to first and second instances of the plurality of measured region-specific spectra,

the electronic circuitry being further configured to;

compute from the first and second predicted post-treatment spectra, a predicted sample-representative post-treatment spectrum representing the predicted spectrum for the entire sample of hair after subjecting to the hair-color-modifying treatment,

wherein

the predicted sample-representative post-treatment spectrum is further computed in accordance with a hair-shaft color-heterogeneity parameter of the hair-sample which describes relative fractions of natural white shafts and natural-pigmented shafts within a sample of natural gray hair.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the spectrum measuring device includes by color-dispersion optics.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the spectrum measuring device includes a hyperspectral device.