KR102771247B1 - Dental care system using a toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries, wherein the dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries comprises: a toothbrush equipped with a sensor unit for measuring movement; a service server that wirelessly communicates with the sensor unit and provides a dental care system for a user based on the movement of the toothbrush detected by the sensor unit; and a user terminal that is a tool that communicates data with the service server and can utilize a service platform provided by the service server. The toothbrush according to the present invention includes a sensor unit that measures movement information of a toothbrush body, and has a remarkable effect of allowing a user to easily recognize his or her own tooth brushing information by allowing the user to check the user's toothbrushing information analyzed by the sensor unit through the user terminal.

Description

{Dental care system using a toothbrush}

The present invention relates to a dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries, and more specifically, to a dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries, in which a toothbrush including a sensor unit for detecting movement is linked to a user terminal to facilitate the user's dental care.

In general, toothbrushes are used to remove foreign substances between teeth and prevent the occurrence of dental diseases such as cavities. They mainly use brushes (toothbrush bristles) to physically remove food residue remaining between teeth and gums, as well as plaque and tartar that cause cavities, through friction.

Proper brushing of teeth using this type of toothbrush is considered an essential lifestyle rule as it not only has an oral hygiene effect but also a teeth whitening effect.

In particular, oral diseases, if not treated appropriately at the right time, not only cause great inconvenience in daily life but also cause appearance abnormalities, so early treatment is important even if the symptoms are minor, and if possible, prevention before the onset is more effective.

However, oral health projects up to now have been carried out primarily offline and individually, including research and education on oral health, fluoridation of tap water, oral health projects at schools, oral health projects at workplaces, oral health projects for the elderly and the disabled, and oral health projects for pregnant women and infants. This has resulted in a problem of low efficiency compared to the investment, despite the mobilization of a lot of time and personnel.

Republic of Korea, Registration No. 10-1736010 Republic of Korea, Publication No. 10-2016-0149012

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in the present invention, a toothbrush is linked to a user terminal, and tooth brushing information according to a measurement value of a sensor unit that detects movement of the toothbrush is transmitted to the user terminal, thereby allowing the user to check the tooth brushing information, thereby providing a dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries, which enables easy dental care at home before oral diseases occur.

The present invention relates to a dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries, and is characterized by including: a toothbrush equipped with a sensor unit for measuring movement; a service server that wirelessly communicates with the sensor unit and provides a dental care system for a user based on the movement of the toothbrush detected by the sensor unit; and a user terminal that communicates data with the service server and is a tool capable of utilizing a service platform provided by the service server.

In addition, the toothbrush is characterized by including a body part including bristles and a handle, a sensor part mounted on the body part to detect movement of the body part, a communication part enabling wireless communication between the sensor part and the service server, and a battery part for supplying power to the sensor part and the communication part.

In addition, the sensor unit is characterized by including at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a gravity sensor, a gyroscope sensor, and a motion detection sensor.

In addition, the service server is characterized by including a content provision module that provides educational content for dental care, a tooth brushing management module that analyzes and manages the number of times and cycle of a user's tooth brushing through movement information received from the sensor unit, a pattern analysis module that identifies and analyzes the user's tooth brushing pattern based on body movement information received from the sensor unit and tooth brushing information received through the tooth brushing management module, and a tooth care module for the user's overall dental care.

In addition, the dental care module is characterized by being linked to the server of a specific institution, such as a dental clinic or public health center, to receive treatment information, such as dental visit history, dental treatment history, and dental appointment history, and comprehensively manage the user's dental information.

Therefore, the toothbrush according to the present invention has a remarkable effect of allowing the user to easily recognize his/her own toothbrushing information by including a sensor unit that measures movement information of the toothbrush body, thereby allowing the user to check the user's toothbrushing information analyzed by the sensor unit through a user terminal.

Accordingly, the user's dental health is effectively maintained, and it has a remarkable effect of preventing oral diseases by helping users develop proper brushing habits.

The service server provided by the present invention includes a tooth brushing management module, and has a remarkable effect of enabling users to easily monitor the number of times they brush their teeth and the brushing time.

The service server provided by the present invention includes a pattern analysis module, thereby enabling the user to monitor his or her brushing habits by analyzing the user's brushing pattern.

In addition, the present invention has a remarkable effect of enabling correction of user habits by including a content provision module that provides tooth brushing education content and educational content for solving problems in the tooth brushing pattern analyzed by the pattern analysis module.

In addition, the present invention has the effect of comprehensively managing the user's teeth by including a dental management module that manages dental treatment information such as dental visit history, dental treatment history, and dental reservation history by linking with the server of a specific institution such as a dental clinic or public health center.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries according to the present invention.
Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a toothbrush for preventing dental caries according to the present invention.
Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a dental care system according to the present invention.

The advantages and features of the present invention and the methods for achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described in detail below together with the accompanying drawings.

However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below and may be implemented in various different forms, and the present embodiments are provided only to make the disclosure of the present invention complete and to fully inform a person skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs of the scope of the invention, and the present invention is defined only by the scope of the claims.

Additionally, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing embodiments only and is not intended to limit the present invention.

In this specification, the singular includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise in the phrase. As used in the specification, "comprises" and/or "comprising" do not exclude the presence or addition of other components other than the mentioned components.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein may be used in a commonly understood sense by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries according to the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries according to the present invention includes a toothbrush (100), a user terminal (200), and a service server (300), and the toothbrush, the user terminal, and the service server are connected to each other via a communication network so as to enable data communication.

First, the toothbrush (100) is an element that comes into direct contact with the user's teeth and removes foreign substances remaining on the teeth and gums through physical friction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the toothbrush (100) includes a body part (110), a sensor part (120), a control part (130), a communication part (140), and a battery part (150).

The above body part (110) is configured as a general toothbrush including bristles and a handle, and comes into direct contact with the user's teeth to remove foreign substances remaining on the teeth and gums through physical friction.

Next, the sensor part (120) is an element mounted on the body part (110) to detect movement information of the body part.

The above sensor part includes various sensors for detecting movement information such as whether the user is brushing his/her teeth and movement (motion) of the body part.

The above sensor unit (120) includes at least one of an acceleration sensor for measuring acceleration data to detect movement of the body unit, a gyro sensor for measuring the degree of rotation and tilt, a gravity sensor, a gyroscope sensor, and a motion detection sensor for detecting motion.

In addition, as another embodiment of the sensor unit, the sensor unit may further include a moisture detection sensor for detecting cleaning information, a pressure sensor for detecting the pressure of the brush head, and a touch sensor for detecting whether the user is gripping the brush head, in order to more accurately detect whether the user is brushing his or her teeth.

At this time, it is preferable that a moisture detection sensor for detecting the cleaning information of the toothbrush and a pressure sensor for detecting the pressure of the bristles be mounted on the bristles portion of the body part, and that the touch sensor be mounted on the handle portion of the body part to detect whether the user is gripping it.

Next, the control unit (130) is an element for generating the user's tooth brushing information based on the body movement information detected by the sensor unit (120).

More specifically, the control unit does not generate a signal if the movement of the body part transmitted from the sensor unit does not fall within a preset movement range, and if the movement of the body part transmitted from the sensor unit falls within a preset movement range, the control unit determines that the user is brushing teeth and generates tooth brushing information.

That is, the control unit receives body movement information detected from the sensor unit, analyzes the body movement signal based on a preset value, and diagnoses whether the user is brushing his or her teeth.

In addition, although the present invention describes that a control unit is included in the toothbrush, the control unit may be replaced with a control unit of a service server (300) or a user terminal (200) described later, and this is not limited to the present invention.

Next, the communication unit (140) is an element that enables wireless communication between the toothbrush (100) and the service server (300) or an external electronic device.

The above communication unit (140) supports wireless communication using WiFi (wireless fidelity), ZigBee, NFC, Bluetooth, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, etc., but is not limited to the present invention.

The above battery unit (150) is an element that provides the electric energy necessary for the sensor unit, control unit, and communication unit of the toothbrush (100) to operate.

The battery of the above battery section (150) may be built into the body section to enable wired and wireless charging through a separate charging terminal, or may be detachably installed from the body section to enable replacement, but this is not limited to the present invention.

In addition, the body part (110) of the toothbrush may further include a display part (not shown in the drawing) that outputs a signal generated by the control part, and the display part may output tooth brushing information such as tooth brushing time generated by the service server (300) described later based on the measurement value measured by the sensor part in real time.

In addition, the toothbrush may further include an alarm unit (not shown in the drawing), and the alarm unit detects that brushing has begun so that brushing is performed smoothly for a set period of time, and outputs an alarm signal to notify the end when the set period of time has elapsed.

Additionally, the alarm unit outputs an alarm signal at set time cycles so that the user can periodically change the brushing area.

At this time, the alarm signal is provided in the form of sound, light, vibration, etc., and it is desirable to differentiate between the alarm signal for changing the brushing area and the alarm signal for notifying the end of the brushing operation so that the user can intuitively perceive the alarm signal according to the situation.

Meanwhile, the user terminal (200) is connected to the toothbrush (100) via wireless communication and is a tool that can utilize a service platform provided by a service server (300) such as a desktop PC, tablet PC, or smartphone terminal.

At this time, the service platform may be provided in a web browser format or an application format.

In addition, the user terminal (200) may include an input unit, a wireless communication unit, a memory unit, an output unit, a control unit, an interface unit, a power supply unit, etc., and not all of the above-described components are essential components. The user terminal may be implemented with more components than the above-described components, or may be implemented with fewer components.

Lastly, the service server (300) is connected to the user terminal and a communication network so as to enable data communication with each other, and includes a database (310) that stores various types of information and data, and a module unit (320) that processes and processes the information and data stored in the database and is responsible for driving and executing the service platform.

The database (310) above stores user information such as user name, age, etc., and user brushing information such as number of times brushing per day, time spent brushing per time, start and end times of brushing, brushing pressure, brushing direction, and brushing pattern.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the module (320) includes a content provision module (322) that provides educational content for dental care such as a tooth brushing method, a tooth brushing management module (324) that analyzes and manages the number of times and cycle of a user's tooth brushing, a pattern analysis module (326) that identifies and analyzes a user's tooth brushing pattern, and a dental care module (328) for the user's overall dental care such as the user's scaling cycle.

The above content provision module (322) is a module that provides educational content such as brushing methods for proper brushing habits, thereby enabling the user to correct their habits.

In addition, the content provision module (322) receives information on the user's brushing pattern from the pattern analysis module (326) described later and provides solution content to resolve problems in the user's brushing pattern.

The above tooth brushing management module (324) measures the tooth brushing operation start and end times through movement information received from the sensor unit, thereby obtaining and recording tooth brushing information such as the time for one tooth brushing and the number of times the tooth brushing is performed.

The above tooth brushing management module is designed to encourage the user to brush their teeth by outputting an alarm at an appropriate time when brushing is required if it is determined that the user has not brushed their teeth the recommended amount per day.

And users can check information such as the number of brushing times and brushing time by set period units such as daily, weekly, and monthly through the tooth brushing management module.

The above pattern analysis module (326) is a module that analyzes the user's tooth brushing pattern based on the body movement information received from the sensor unit and the tooth brushing information received through the tooth brushing management module.

Here, movement information includes position change information such as brushing pressure and brushing direction, and the tooth brushing information includes the number of times a day to brush teeth, the time taken for one tooth brushing, the start time and end time of brushing teeth, etc.

The above pattern analysis module is designed to calculate three-dimensional movement information of the toothbrush based on position change information measured by the sensor unit through a specific algorithm, and calculate the user's toothbrushing pattern based on the movement information of the toothbrush.

In addition, the user can check the results of the tooth brushing pattern analysis through the pattern analysis module, and can check solution content for resolving problems in the tooth brushing pattern through the content provision module (322).

The above dental care module (328) is a module for the overall dental care of the user, such as informing the user of the scaling cycle.

The above dental care module can be linked to the server of a specific institution, such as a dental clinic or public health center, to receive treatment information, such as dental visit history, dental treatment history, and dental appointment history, and comprehensively manage the user's dental information.

In addition, the dental care module may be arranged to provide a questionnaire to the user for dental care, and analyze the entered questionnaire information to initially diagnose and evaluate the user's dental condition.

Therefore, the toothbrush according to the present invention has a remarkable effect of allowing the user to easily recognize his/her own toothbrushing information by including a sensor unit that measures movement information of the toothbrush body, thereby allowing the user to check the user's toothbrushing information analyzed by the sensor unit through a user terminal.

Accordingly, the user's dental health is effectively maintained, and it has a remarkable effect of preventing oral diseases by helping users develop proper brushing habits.

The service server provided by the present invention includes a tooth brushing management module, and has a remarkable effect of enabling users to easily monitor the number of times they brush their teeth and the brushing time.

The service server provided by the present invention includes a pattern analysis module, which analyzes a user's brushing pattern, thereby allowing the user to monitor his or her brushing habits, and provides educational content for solving problems in the brushing pattern through a content provision module, thereby having a remarkable effect of enabling the user to correct his or her habits.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings, this is only for the purpose of explaining the invention, and a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains will be able to understand that various modifications or equivalent embodiments are possible from the detailed description of the invention.

Therefore, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the patent claims.

100: Toothbrush
110: Body
120: Sensor section
130: Control Unit
140: Communications Department
150: Battery compartment
200: User terminal
300: Service Server
310: Database
320: Module section
322: Content provision module
324: Toothbrushing Management Module
326: Pattern Analysis Module
328: Dental Care Module

Claims (5)

A toothbrush equipped with a sensor unit to measure movement;
A service server that wirelessly communicates with the sensor unit and provides a user's dental care system based on the movement of the toothbrush detected by the sensor unit; and
It includes a user terminal which is a tool that can communicate with the service server and utilize the service platform provided by the service server;
The above toothbrush,
A body portion including a bristles and a handle;
A sensor part mounted on the above body part to detect movement of the body part;
A control unit that generates tooth brushing information, which is information indicating whether or not the user has brushed his or her teeth, based on movement information of the body part detected by the sensor unit;
A communication unit that enables wireless communication between the sensor unit and the control unit and the service server;
Includes a battery unit for supplying power to the sensor unit, communication unit, and control unit;
The above sensor part,
It includes at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a gravity sensor, a gyroscope sensor, and a motion detection sensor for detecting movement of the body part, a moisture detection sensor mounted on the toothbrush bristles part of the body part for detecting cleaning information of the toothbrush, a pressure sensor for detecting the pressure of the toothbrush bristles, and a touch sensor mounted on the handle part of the body part for detecting whether the user is gripping it.
The above control unit,
If the movement of the body part transmitted from the sensor part does not fall within the preset movement range, no signal is generated, and if the movement of the body part transmitted from the sensor part falls within the preset movement range, it is determined that the user is brushing teeth and tooth brushing information is generated.
The service server is,
Content provision module that provides educational content for dental care;
A tooth brushing management module that analyzes and manages the number of times and cycle of brushing the user's teeth through movement information received from the above sensor unit;
A pattern analysis module that identifies and analyzes the user's tooth brushing pattern based on the body movement information received from the sensor unit and the tooth brushing information received through the tooth brushing management module; and
Includes a dental care module for the user's overall dental care;
The above dental care module is,
A dental care system using a toothbrush for preventing dental caries, which is characterized by comprehensively managing the user's dental information by receiving treatment information such as dental visit history, dental treatment history, and dental appointment history through linkage with the server of a specific institution such as a dental clinic or public health center.
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