US 12,472,046 B2
Power toothbrush control
Jose Martin Villar Duran, Lake Forest Park, WA (US); Chelsea Pereira, Bothell, WA (US); Gul Dikmen, Bothell, WA (US); Ivonne Labadie Lezama, Bothell, WA (US); Elizabeth Michelle Starke, Seattle, WA (US); Robert Joseph Leigh Phibbs, Seattle, WA (US); and Brian Esley Tidball, Bothell, WA (US)
Assigned to KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
Appl. No. 18/266,234
Filed by KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
PCT Filed Dec. 6, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/084343
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 8, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/128560, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 23, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/125,910, filed on Dec. 15, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 21163344 (EP), filed on Mar. 18, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0050211 A1, Feb. 15, 2024
Int. Cl. A61C 17/22 (2006.01); A61C 17/26 (2006.01)
CPC A61C 17/221 (2013.01) [A61C 17/26 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A power toothbrush comprising:
a handle onto which a brush head can be mounted;
a motor in the handle for driving a brush head mounted to the handle; and
a controller responsive to an operating mode selection signal and arranged to control said motor, said controller comprising a timer for timing a total duration of a tooth brushing session with said power toothbrush and being adapted to:
store the timed total duration of said tooth brushing session;
in a first mode of operation, cause the generation of a first sensory output during a tooth brushing session upon its duration reaching a first target value corresponding to a recommended duration of the tooth brushing session;
switch between the first mode of operation and a second mode of operation in response to said operating mode selection signal, and in said second mode of operation:
calculate an average total duration of a tooth brushing session based on at least some of the stored tooth brushing session times;
define a second target value based on the calculated average total duration of the stored tooth brushing total durations; and
cause the generation of a second sensory output during a tooth brushing session upon said duration reaching the second target value.