Granted Patent B2

US 12,667,988 · App. 16/364,699 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Inventors: Martin Fuellgrabe (Bad Camberg, DE); Stefan Fuerst (Kronberg, DE); Christian Neyer (Eschborn, DE); Johannes Julian Weinkauff (Frankfurt am Main, DE); Lucy Abigail Zimmermann (Kronberg, DE)

Assignee: Braun GMBH

B26B19/388B26B19/048B26B19/3886B26B19/46

Abstract

Claims (33)

1 . A hair removal apparatus for removing, in a hair removal operation, hair from a body portion, the hair removal apparatus comprising:

a shaver comprising a shaver head and a shaver handle,

a first sensor located in the shaver handle that is configured to determine a current handling of the hair removal apparatus during the hair removal operation,

an actuator for changing a hair removal characteristic of said hair removal apparatus, and

an electronic unit comprising:

a control unit for controlling the actuator, wherein the control unit is configured to receive first multiple input data from the first sensor and to map, by using a control function, said first multiple input data to an output signal for controlling the actuator during the hair removal operation and

an adaptation unit that is configured to receive second multiple input data from the first sensor and from a second sensor, and to adapt during the hair removal operation the control function of the control unit depending on the second multiple input data, wherein the second sensor is located in the shaver handle.

2 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adaptation unit is configured to determine a personal shaving behavior or a common shaving behavior based on the second multiple input data, and to adapt during the hair removal operation the control function of the control unit depending on the personal shaving behavior or the common shaving behavior, such that the control unit controls the actuator in response to the personal shaving behavior or the common shaving behavior.

3 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shaver head being pivotally attached to said shaver handle by a pivoting element mounted to said shaver handle, wherein the pivoting element defines a pivoting axis, wherein the shaver head is configured to move relative to the shaver handle by swiveling around the pivoting axis, wherein the actuator is configured to alter a swiveling stiffness at which the shaver head moves relative to the shaver handle by swiveling around the pivoting axis.

4 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adaptation unit is configured to perform a temporal statistical evaluation of a signal derived from the second multiple input data for obtaining one or more statistical measures, and to adapt the control function of the control unit depending on said one or more statistical measures.

5 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the adaptation unit is configured to perform the temporal statistical evaluation over one time interval.

6 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adaptation unit is configured to adapt the control function of the control unit multiple times during the hair removal operation depending on the second multiple input data received at multiple points in time.

7 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor comprises an acceleration sensor that is configured to determine the current handling of the hair removal apparatus by sensing an acceleration of the hair removal apparatus during the hair removal operation, and to provide acceleration sensor data as the first multiple input data to the control unit and to provide the acceleration sensor data as a portion of the second multiple input data to the adaptation unit.

8 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the second sensor comprises a gyroscope that is configured to determine the current handling of the hair removal apparatus by sensing a rotation of the hair removal apparatus during the hair removal operation, and to provide gyroscope sensor data as a portion of the second multiple input data to the adaptation unit, and wherein the first sensor comprises a pressure sensor that is configured to determine the current handling of the hair removal apparatus by sensing a pressure exerted by the hair removal apparatus during the hair removal operation, and to provide pressure sensor data as a further portion of the second multiple input data to the adaptation unit and to provide the pressure sensor data as the first multiple input data to the control unit.

9 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control unit comprises a set of preconfigured control functions, and wherein the adaptation unit is configured to adapt during the hair removal operation the control function of the control unit by selecting, during the hair removal operation, one of the preconfigured control functions based on the second multiple input data.

10 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the adaptation unit is configured to alter a parametrization of at least one preconfigured control function contained in the set of preconfigured control functions based on the second multiple input data.

11 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the control unit is configured to perform a classification for classifying the first multiple input data, wherein the classification is performed by a neural network, a machine learning classifier or thresholding, wherein when the classification is performed by thresholding, the thresholding uses a threshold value, such that the first multiple input data is classified into one of at least two classes if a value of the first multiple input data is below or above the threshold value.

12 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the adaptation unit is configured to adapt, based on the second multiple input data, the classification of the first multiple input data performed by the control unit, wherein when the classification is performed by thresholding, the adaptation unit is configured to (i) calculate an average value of the second multiple input data obtained during the hair removal operation and (ii) replace the threshold value of the control unit by the average value.

13 . The hair removal apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shaver comprises reciprocally moving cutting blades.

14 . A shaver comprising:

a shaver body and a shaver head being pivotally attached to said shaver body by a pivoting element mounted to said shaver body, wherein the pivoting element defines a pivoting axis, wherein the shaver head is configured to move relative to the shaver body by swiveling around the pivoting axis and

an actuator for altering a swiveling stiffness at which the shaver head moves relative to the shaver body by swiveling around the pivoting axis,

a pressure sensor located in the shaver body that is configured for sensing a current pressure exerted by the shaver on a skin of a user during a shaving operation, and

an electronic unit comprising:

a control unit for controlling the actuator, wherein the control unit is configured to receive pressure sensor data from the pressure sensor and to map, by using a control function, said pressure sensor data to an output signal for controlling the actuator during the shaving operation and

an adaptation unit that is configured to receive the pressure sensor data from the pressure sensor and further sensor data from a second sensor, and to adapt during the shaving operation the control function of the control unit depending on the pressure sensor data and the further sensor data, wherein the second sensor is located in the shaver body.

15 . A method for controlling a hair removal apparatus for removing hair from a body portion in a hair removal operation, the hair removal apparatus comprising a shaver comprising a shaver head, a shaver handle, a first sensor located in the shaver handle and a second sensor located in the shaver handle, the method comprises:

receiving first multiple input data from the first sensor based on a sensing of a current handling of the hair removal apparatus during the hair removal operation,

controlling an actuator for changing a hair removal characteristic of the hair removal apparatus, wherein the step of controlling comprises receiving the first multiple input data and to map, by using a control function, the first multiple input data to an output signal for controlling the actuator during the hair removal operation, and

receiving second multiple input data from the first sensor and from the second sensor, and adapting during the hair removal operation the control function to the current handling of the hair removal apparatus depending on the second multiple input data.

16 . A computer readable digital storage medium having stored thereon a computer program having a program code, the program code for performing, when running on a computer, the method according to claim 15 .

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the shaver head being pivotally attached to said shaver handle by a pivoting element mounted to said shaver handle, wherein the pivoting element defines a pivoting axis, wherein the shaver head is configured to move relative to the shaver handle by swiveling around the pivoting axis, wherein the actuator is configured to alter a swiveling stiffness at which the shaver head moves relative to the shaver handle by swiveling around the pivoting axis.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (204)