Haircare appliance

Abstract

A haircare appliance is provided. The haircare appliance includes a body for engaging hair in use, a sensor arrangement, and a control unit. The sensor arrangement is configured to output a plurality of signals, each signal being indicative of a presence of an object at a respective region of the body. The control unit is configured to determine whether the object is hair based on temporal differences between the signals.

1 . A haircare appliance comprising:
 a body for engaging hair in use;   a sensor arrangement configured to output a plurality of signals, each signal being indicative of a presence of an object at a respective region of the body; and   a control unit configured to determine whether the object is hair based on temporal differences between the signals.   
     
     
         2 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 a first signal of the plurality of signals changes in response to an object present at a first region of the body;   a second signal of the plurality of signals changes in response to an object present at a second region of the body; and   the control unit is configured to determine whether the object is hair based on a temporal difference between the changes in the first signal and the second signal.   
     
     
         3 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine, based on changes in the signals, a sequence in which an object becomes present at different respective regions of the body, and wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether the object is hair based on the determined sequence. 
     
     
         4 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 3 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine that the object is hair responsive to the determined sequence corresponding to a predefined sequence. 
     
     
         5 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 , wherein the body comprises a curved portion and the regions are distributed so as to follow a curve of the curved portion, and wherein the curved portion has the shape of a cylinder or cone and the regions are distributed around a circumference of the cylinder or cone. 
     
     
         6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises a plurality of sensors, each sensor being located at a respective region of the body and being configured to output one of the plurality of signals. 
     
     
         8 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 7 , wherein one or more of the sensors are non-contact sensors. 
     
     
         9 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether the object is hair based on temporal differences between the plurality of signals that occur within a given time window. 
     
     
         10 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 , wherein each signal comprises a temporal series of values or the control unit samples each signal as a temporal series of values, and each of the values is indicative of the degree to which an object is present at the respective region at a given time. 
     
     
         11 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 10 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether the object is hair based on values of the plurality of signals that are within a given time window. 
     
     
         12 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 11 , wherein the control unit is configured to: between successive determinations of whether the object is hair, move the given time window so as to include the most recent values and remove the oldest values of the plurality of signals. 
     
     
         13 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether the object is hair using a trained machine learning model. 
     
     
         14 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 11 , wherein the control unit is configured to:
 determine whether the object is hair using a trained machine learning model, and   concatenate the values of each of the plurality of signals included in the given time window with one another, thereby to obtain an input for the trained machine learning model.   
     
     
         15 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control an operating mode of the haircare appliance in response to the determination. 
     
     
         16 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 15 , wherein the haircare appliance expels an airflow, and the control unit is operable to control one or more of a flow rate and a temperature of the airflow in response to the determination. 
     
     
         17 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 15 , wherein the control unit is configured to:
 operate the haircare appliance in a first mode in response to determining that the object is not hair; and   operate the haircare appliance in a second mode in response to determining that the object is hair, wherein operation in the first mode consumes a lower electrical power than operation in the second mode.   
     
     
         18 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 17 , wherein the haircare appliance comprises a heater, and the control unit is configured to operate the heater at a first temperature in the first mode and to operate the heater at a second temperature in the second mode, the second temperature being greater than the first temperature. 
     
     
         19 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 17 , wherein the haircare appliance comprises an air inlet, an air outlet, and an airflow generator for generating an airflow from the air inlet to the air outlet, and the control unit is configured to operate the airflow generator at a first flow rate in the first mode and to operate the airflow generator at a second flow rate in the second mode, the second flow rate being greater than the first flow rate. 
     
     
         20 . A control unit for a haircare appliance, the control unit configured to:
 receive a plurality of signals, each signal being indicative of a presence of an object at a respective region of a body of the haircare appliance; and   determine whether the object is hair based on temporal differences between the signals.   
     
     
         21 . A method of determining whether hair is present at a body of a haircare appliance, the method comprising:
 receiving a plurality of signals, each signal being indicative of a presence of an object at a respective region of the body; and   determining whether the object is hair based on temporal differences between the signals.