Granted Patent B2

US 12,653,651 · App. 18/266,704 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Inventors: Lili Tao (Bristol, GB); Christopher John Bateman (Swindon, GB); Ehsan Nadernejad (Coventry, GB); Miltiadis Alexios Papadopoulos (Bristol, GB)

Assignee: Dyson Technology Limited

A61C9/0053A46B15/0006A61C15/047A46B2200/108A61C17/00

Abstract

Claims (32)

1 . An oral treatment device for use in treating an oral cavity of a user, the oral treatment device comprising:

image sensor equipment configured to generate image data indicative of a sequence of images representing at least a portion of the oral cavity of the user; and

a controller configured to:

process the image data to determine a movement parameter indicative of movement of the oral treatment device relative to an interproximal gap between adjacent teeth in the oral cavity of the user, the determined movement parameter being indicative of a predicted future time at which the interproximal gap has a predetermined position relative to the oral treatment device; and

control the oral treatment device to perform an action based on the determined movement parameter.

2 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the predicted future time is based on a velocity and/or acceleration of the oral treatment device.

3 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to process the image data using an optical flow method.

4 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the oral treatment device to deliver a treatment to the interproximal gap at the predicted future time.

5 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to prevent treatment delivery by the oral treatment device before the predicted future time.

6 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the oral treatment device comprises a fluid delivery system for delivering working fluid to the oral cavity of the user, and wherein the controller is configured to output a control signal to the fluid delivery system to control delivery of the working fluid based on the determined movement parameter.

7 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the oral treatment device comprises a head, and wherein the image sensor equipment is at least partially comprised in the head.

8 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the oral treatment device comprises a handle, and wherein the image sensor equipment is at least partially comprised in the handle.

9 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the image sensor equipment comprises an intraoral camera.

10 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to process the image data to detect the interproximal gap.

11 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the interproximal gap is not present in at least one of the sequence of images, and wherein the controller is configured to estimate a location of the interproximal gap for the at least one of the sequence of images based on a location of the interproximal gap in at least one other image of the sequence of images.

12 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the oral treatment device comprises an inertial measurement unit, IMU, configured to output a signal indicating position and/or movement of the oral treatment device relative to the oral cavity of the user, and

wherein the controller is configured to determine the movement parameter in dependence on the signal output by the IMU.

13 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the sequence of images comprises a sequence of time-ordered images.

14 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the oral treatment device comprises a toothbrush.

15 . The oral treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined position is a position in the path of a jet of working fluid from a fluid delivery system of the oral treatment device.

16 . The oral treatment device according to claim 15 , wherein the action is delivery or delay of the jet of working fluid.

17 . A method of operating an oral treatment device for use in treating an oral cavity of a user, the oral treatment device comprising image sensor equipment and a controller, the method comprising:

generating, using the image sensor equipment, image data indicative of a sequence of images representing at least a portion of the oral cavity of the user;

processing, at the controller, the image data to determine a movement parameter indicative of movement of the oral treatment device relative to an interproximal gap between adjacent teeth in the oral cavity of the user, the determined movement parameter being indicative of a predicted future time at which the interproximal gap has a predetermined position relative to the oral treatment device; and

controlling, at the controller, the oral treatment device to perform an action based on the determined movement parameter.

18 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein the oral treatment device is controlled, at the controller, to perform the action at the predicted future time to deliver treatment to the interproximal gap.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computerised device, cause the computerised device to perform a method of operating an oral treatment device for use in treating an oral cavity of a user, the method comprising:

generating, using image sensor equipment, image data indicative of a sequence of images representing at least a portion of the oral cavity of the user;

processing the image data to determine a movement parameter indicative of movement of the oral treatment device relative to an interproximal gap between adjacent teeth in the oral cavity of the user, the determined movement parameter being indicative of a predicted future time at which the interproximal gap has a predetermined position relative to the oral treatment device; and

controlling the oral treatment device to perform an action based on the determined movement parameter.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 19 , wherein the oral treatment device is controlled to perform the action at the predicted future time to deliver treatment to the interproximal gap.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (141)