BACKGROUND

[0001] Hair care appliances, such as straightening irons, are regularly used by a large number of individuals. However, many individuals unknowingly use them incorrectly, such as by operating the devices at either too high or too low temperatures for their hair characteristics. If the devices are operated at temperatures that are too low, the users’ hair may not be styled properly (or at all). If the devices are operated at temperatures that are too high, then the users’ hair could be damaged by the devices. Without proper instruction and experience, users may not even know that they are not using the devices optimally. Therefore, there is a need for hair care appliances that dynamically adjust their operational parameters to the users’ hair characteristics so that the hair care appliances operate in a personalized manner for each user.

SUMMARY

[0002] In one general aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a hair care appliance comprising a heating element, a touchscreen comprising a user interface, and a controller operably coupled to the heating element and the touchscreen. The heating element is configured to heat to a plurality of heat levels. The controller is configured to receive a user selection of one or more hair parameters via the user interface, determine a heat level corresponding to the selected one or more hair parameters, and control the heating element to cause the heating element to heat to the determined heat level.

[0003] In another general aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a method for controlling a heat level of a hair care appliance, the hair care appliance comprising a touchscreen comprising a user interface and a heating element. The method comprises receiving a user selection of one or more hair parameters via the user interface, determining a heat level corresponding to the selected one or more hair parameters, and controlling the heating element to cause the heating element to heat to the determined heat level.

FIGURES

[0004] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the invention and together with the written description serve to explain the principles, characteristics, and features of the invention. In the drawings:

[0005] FIG. l is a perspective view of a straightening iron, in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

[0006] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a hair care appliance, in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

[0007] FIG. 3 is a detail view of the user interface (UI) of the straightening iron of FIG. 1, in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

[0008] FIG. 4 is a logic flow diagram of a process for controlling a heat level of a hair care appliance, in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION

[0009] This disclosure is not limited to the particular systems, devices, and methods described, as these may vary. The terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope. Hair Care Appliance

[0010] The present disclosure is generally directed to hair care appliances, especially hair care appliances having heat elements, such as hair straightening and styling irons (i.e., straightening irons), curling irons, hair rollers, hot-air brushes, hair-straightening brushes, curling wands, hair dryers, and so on. Referring collectively now to FIGS. 1-3, there is shown one such hair care appliance 100 in the form on a straightening iron. FIG. 2 represents a generalized block diagram of a hair care appliance 100, which may or may not take the form of the hair care appliance shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. In the illustrated aspect, the hair care appliance 100 can include a pair of arms 102 A, 102B that are pivotably connected to each other at a joint 108, a heating element 104 positioned on at least one of the arms 102A, 102B, and an ion generator 106 that is configured to generate and/or apply ions to hair being manipulated by the hair care appliance 100. In other embodiments where the hair care appliance 100 is in a different type of device than a straightening iron, the heating element 104 can be positioned appropriately for that device type, as would be appreciated by a person skilled in the technical field. The aspect shown in FIG. 1 includes a wired connection 110 and an electrical plug 112, but other aspects can alternatively or additionally include other electrical connectors, onboard batteries or other power sources, and other such components. The hair care appliance 100 can further include insulation (e.g., that is present within or on the arms 102A, 102B) that is sufficient to protect a user from heat generated by the heating element 104 and make the hair care appliance 100 comfortable to hold and use.

[0011] The hair care appliance 100 can further include a touchscreen 114 or another such I/O device that is configured to provide a UI 120 with which a user can control the operations of the hair care appliance 100 and provide other inputs thereto. The touchscreen 114 can include a capacitive touchscreen, for example. The UI 120 can be embodied as a graphical UI, for example. The UI 120 can provide controls for controlling the heat level or operational mode(s) of the hair care appliance 100 or receiving user parameters, for example. The hair care appliance 100 can further include a controller 116 that is operably coupled to the heating element 104 and the touchscreen 114 (and, thus, the UI 120 provided thereby). In various aspects, the controller 116 can include a control circuit (e.g., an ASIC), a processor (e.g., a CPU) coupled to a memory, a FPGA, and various other hardware, software, and/or firmware components or combinations thereof that are capable of executing logic or instructions. The controller 116 can be embodied as a SoC or other computer systems (or components thereof), for example.

[0012] In the depicted aspect, the UI 120 can include a heat selection UI element 122 and user parameter UI element(s) 124. The heat selection UI element 122 can allow users to control the heat level of the heating element 114 and, thus, the amount of heat applied by the hair care appliance 100 to the user’s hair. The heat selection UI element 122 can be embodied as a series of marks where the number of marks corresponds to the selected heat level. The heat selection UI element 122 can be manipulated by a user to increase or reduce the selected heat level. The user parameter UI elements 124 can allow users to input various parameters associated with their hair. In the depicted aspect, the user parameter UI elements 124 include a hair texture UI element 124A, a hair length UI element 124B, and a color treatment UI element 124C; however, the hair care appliance 100 can alternatively or additionally include other user parameter UI elements 124 for receiving other user hair parameters. The hair texture UI element 124A can be utilized by a user to input the thickness (e.g., thin, medium, or thick) or texture (e.g., fine, medium, or coarse) of the user’s hair, the hair length UI element 124B can be utilized to input the length of the user’s hair (e.g., short, medium, or long), and the color treatment UI element 124C can be utilized to input whether the user’s hair has been color-treated. The input parameters can then be stored by the hair care appliance 100 (e.g., in a memory of or coupled to the controller 116) and utilized by the controller 116 to control various functions of the hair care appliance 100 in a manner personalized to the specific characteristics of the user, as described in further detail below.

[0013] The UI 120 can include additional UI elements, such as UI elements for activating/deactivating various modes or for otherwise controlling the hair care appliance 100. The UI elements for controlling modes of the hair care appliance 100 can include, for example, a refresh mode UI element 126 for activating/deactivating a refresh mode of the hair care appliance 100, which is describe in further detail below. The UI 120 can also include a power button 128 for activating/deactivating the hair care appliance 100 or locking/unlocking the touchscreen 114, for example.

Personalized Heat Selection Algorithm

[0014] The hair care appliances described herein, such as the hair care appliance 100 shown in FIGS. 1-3, can be configured to execute various algorithms, processes, or modes to tailor their operations based on the personalized characteristics of the user that have been input. For example, FIG. 4 illustrates a process 200 for controlling a heat level of a hair care appliance. In the following description of the process 200, reference can also be made to FIGS. 1-3. In various aspects, the process 200 can be executed by a controller, such as the controller 116 of the hair care appliance 100 illustrated in FIG. 2. For example, the process 200 can be embodied as a set of computer-executable instructions stored in memory coupled to a processor of the controller 116 such that, when the instructions are executed by the processor, the controller 116 performs the illustrated process 200. As another example, the controller 116 can be embodied as an ASIC that has been fabricated to execute the illustrated process 200.

[0015] Accordingly, a controller executing the process 200 can receive 202 selections for one or more user hair parameters via, for example, the user parameter UI elements 124. As noted above, the received user hair parameters can include, but are not limited to, hair texture, hair length, and whether the hair has been color-treated. In one aspect, the user hair parameter selections are received 202 by being selected directly on the hair care appliance itself, rather than being transmitted (e.g., wirelessly) to the hair care appliance from a remote device or system. In an alternative aspect, the user hair parameter selections are received 202 by being transmitted (e.g., wirelessly) to the hair care appliance from a device (e.g., a smartphone) executing a software application (e.g., a smartphone app) that is communicably coupled to the hair care appliance.

[0016] Accordingly, the controller can determine 204 a heat level for the heating element corresponding to the hair parameter selections. In one aspect, the controller can determine 204 the corresponding heat level by performing a calculation given the received user hair parameter values. In another aspect, the controller can determine 204 the corresponding heat level by retrieving a heat level value from a lookup table, such as is shown in TABLE 1.

TABLE 1

For example, if a user had input that his or her hair was medium thickness, short, and was not color-treated, then the controller would query the lookup table with those values and correspondingly retrieve heat level four from the particular lookup table shown by TABLE 1. The various heat levels can correspond to particular temperatures, which can vary from each other by fixed or variable increments, for example.

[0017] Accordingly, the controller can cause 206 the heating element, such as the heating element 104 shown in FIG. 1, to heat to the determined heat level (i.e., temperature). In various aspects, the controller can monitor the temperature of the heating element via a heat sensor assembly and then cause the heating element to increase or decrease in temperature accordingly so that the determined heat level is maintained by the heating element.

[0018] In one aspect, once the user hair parameters have been input to and saved by the hair care appliance, the process 200 can be executed automatically upon the hair care appliance being activated. Therefore, the hair care appliance can automatically set itself to the ideal heat level for the hair profile of the user, without any further actions required by the user after the initial device setup. In one aspect, the hair care appliance can selectively transition between a manual mode in which the user manually sets the heat level of the heating element (e.g., via the heat selection UI element 122) and an automatic mode in which the hair care appliance executes the aforementioned process 200 to automatically select the heat level.

Refresh Mode

[0019] The hair care appliances described herein, such as the hair care appliance 100 shown in FIGS. 1-3, can be further configured to execute various additional modes that provide additional functionality or alter the functionality of the process 200 shown in FIG. 4. For example, the user could activate a refresh mode (e.g., via the refresh mode UI element 126) that causes the controller (e.g., the controller 116 in FIG. 2) to decrease the heat level determined 204 according to the input user hair parameters. When activated, the refresh mode could cause the controller to reduce the determined heat level by a particular number of levels (e.g., one level) or a set number of degrees, for example. This mode can be beneficial because it may not be desirable to use a lower heat level when performing touch-ups or straightening one’s hair on subsequent days after the initial straightening. Accordingly, one can use the refresh mode to temporarily reduce the heat level generated by the hair care appliance to an appropriate temperature, without having to re-input hair parameters or manually adjust the heat level. [0020] As used in this document, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Nothing in this disclosure is to be construed as an admission that the embodiments described in this disclosure are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention.

[0021] As used in this document, the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to.” As used in this document, the term “consisting of’ means “including the specified components, but excluding any element, step, or ingredient not specified.” As used in this document, the term “consisting essentially of’ means “including the specified components, but excluding any element, step, or ingredient not specified, except for those that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristic(s) of the described composition, device, system, or method.” Further, all of the embodiments that use the transition “comprising” are intended to likewise encompass the transitions “consisting of’ and “consisting essentially of.”

[0022] While various illustrative embodiments incorporating the principles of the present teachings have been disclosed, the present teachings are not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Instead, this application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present teachings and use its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure that are within known or customary practice in the art to which these teachings pertain.

[0023] In the above detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the present disclosure are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be used, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily understood that various features of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated herein.

[0024] The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particular embodiments described in this application, which are intended as illustrations of various features. Many modifications and variations can be made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those enumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing descriptions. It is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particular methods, reagents, compounds, compositions or biological systems, which can, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting.

[0025] With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

[0026] It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein are generally intended as “open” terms (for example, the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” et cetera). While various compositions, methods, and devices are described in terms of “comprising” various components or steps (interpreted as meaning “including, but not limited to”), the compositions, methods, and devices can also “consist essentially of’ or “consist of’ the various components and steps, and such terminology should be interpreted as defining essentially closed-member groups.

[0027] In addition, even if a specific number is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (for example, the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, et cetera” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (for example,

“a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, et cetera). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of

A, B, or C, et cetera” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (for example, “a system having at least one of A,

B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, et cetera). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, sample embodiments, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.” [0028] In addition, where features of the disclosure are described in terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

[0029] As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and all purposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, et cetera. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third, et cetera. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all language such as “up to,” “at least,” and the like include the number recited and refer to ranges that can be subsequently broken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 components refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3 components. Similarly, a group having 1-5 components refers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 components, and so forth.

[0030] Various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into many other different systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art, each of which is also intended to be encompassed by the disclosed embodiments.