Toothbrush and System with Sensors and User Identification

Abstract

A toothbrush provides a unique opportunity to integrate health monitoring sensors into an object widely used by the mass population daily. A toothbrush is provided with various health monitoring sensors including an orientation sensor, oximetry sensor, capacitive sensor, pressure sensor, and temperature sensor. Further, the toothbrush is comprised in a system including a data transfer medium (i.e. “smartphone”) and the Cloud, which allows for data transfer between multiple platforms from the toothbrush. The system further allows for passive participation in social games with awards and incentives. The system and toothbrush further provide for active participation in brushing games to encourage proper brushing techniques. Further, the toothbrush also provides a user identification system utilizing capacitive coupling of the human body and a mobile unit that is optionally a “smartphone.” The mobile unit of the user identification system may also be used for user identification by other devices that require the user to touch them for proper use.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A toothbrush, comprising:
 a handle having a brush head with a plurality of bristles;   a data processing unit having at least one collector that is configured to collect data, a storage medium that is configured to store data, and at least one processor that is configured to process data;   a transceiver that is configured to transmit and receive data; and   a temperature sensor that is configured to measure body temperature of the user.   
     
     
         2 . The toothbrush of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one additional sensor chosen from the group consisting of an orientation sensor, oximetry sensor, capacitive sensor, pressure sensor, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The toothbrush of  claim 1 , wherein the transceiver is chosen from the group consisting of a universal serial bus (USB), serial port, wired Ethernet port, radio frequency, microwave communication, infrared short-range communication, near field communication, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The toothbrush of  claim 1 , wherein the temperature sensor is chosen from the group consisting of a thermocouple, thermistor, resistance temperature detector, infrared temperature sensor, thermopile, thermostat, silicon bandgap temperature sensor, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The toothbrush of  claim 1 , wherein the temperature sensor is at least partially located in the brush head. 
     
     
         6 . The toothbrush of  claim 5 , wherein the brush head is detachably connected to the remainder of the handle. 
     
     
         7 . A toothbrush system, comprising:
 a toothbrush having a handle with a plurality of bristles on one end, a data processing unit that is configured to store and process data, a transceiver that is configured to receive and transmit data, and a temperature sensor that is configured to measure body temperature of the user; and   a cloud computing network having at least one data processing unit that is configured to store and process data and a transceiver that is configured to receive and transmit data.   
     
     
         8 . The toothbrush system of  claim 7 , further comprising a data transfer medium having a transceiver that is configured to receive and transmit data, a data processing unit that is configured to store and process data, and a display that is configured to show data. 
     
     
         9 . The toothbrush system of  claim 7 , wherein the toothbrush further comprises an additional sensor chosen from the group consisting of an orientation sensor, oximetry sensor, capacitive sensor, pressure sensor, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The toothbrush system of  claim 7 , wherein the data transfer medium further comprises a user interface that is configured to facilitate participation in social games such that participation is accomplished passively through data collection of the toothbrush over a period of time. 
     
     
         11 . The toothbrush system of  claim 7 , wherein the data transfer medium further comprises a user interface that is configured to facilitate active participation in games, wherein the toothbrush is a game controller. 
     
     
         12 . A toothbrush system, comprising:
 a toothbrush that is configured to act as a base unit having a handle with a plurality of bristles on one end, a data processing unit that is configured to store and process data and detect touch input from the user, and a transceiver that is configured to receive and transmit data;   a mobile unit having a data processing unit that is configured to store and process data and communicate with the toothbrush via capacitive coupling,   wherein both the toothbrush and the mobile unit are in contact with the human body such that the human body acts as a capacitive coupler and is arranged to allow for the transmission of at least one signal.   
     
     
         13 . The toothbrush system of  claim 12 , wherein the toothbrush is configured to transmit a signal at a frequency that is different than frequency of the signal that the mobile unit is configured to transmit. 
     
     
         14 . The toothbrush system of  claim 13 , wherein the toothbrush and mobile unit are configured to transmit signals simultaneously. 
     
     
         15 . The toothbrush system of  claim 12 , wherein the toothbrush is configured to transmit a signal to the mobile unit when a touch input is detected. 
     
     
         16 . The toothbrush system of  claim 15 , wherein the mobile unit is configured to transmit a response signal to the toothbrush. 
     
     
         17 . The toothbrush system of  claim 16 , wherein the response signal further comprises at least one identification code. 
     
     
         18 . The toothbrush system of  claim 12 , wherein the mobile unit is comprised in a data transfer medium. 
     
     
         19 . The toothbrush system of  claim 12 , wherein the mobile unit is comprised in a dedicated system that is configured to detachably connect to a data transfer medium having at least one data processing unit and is configured to utilize the data processing unit of the data transfer medium. 
     
     
         20 . The toothbrush system of  claim 12 , wherein the mobile unit is configured to communicate with additional base units.