Abstract:
A hand-held device for evaluating skin or hair condition which includes a housing, a hydration meter, and a camera supported within the housing. The hydration meter has a surface portion contactable against skin or hair to measure moisture content. The camera receives images through a tunnel terminating at a light transparent window at a front end of the housing. The window is surrounded by the external surface of the hydration meter.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention concerns a hand holdable device for simultaneously measuring multiple parameters defining a person&#39;s skin or hair condition. 
         [0003]    2. The Related Art 
         [0004]    Most people do not have perfect skin or hair. Imperfections can cosmetically be treated with an appropriate product. Selection of the appropriate product is often not scientific. Some will provide excellent results, others modest improvement, and still others will simply not be effective. A correct match needs to start with an evaluation of a person&#39;s skin or hair condition. 
         [0005]    Evaluation systems have been reported in the literature. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,692 (Rigg et al.) discloses a hand-held device for measuring skin color at a point of retail sale and recommending a suitable facial foundation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,112 (Flynn et al.) discloses a method for providing a customized skin foundation product to cover human skin imperfections. The steps include spectrophotometrically measuring a customer&#39;s normal skin to obtain normal skin coloration values of lightness, redness and yellowness. These coloration values are then converted through calculation to a modified value determined by a set program. The skin analyzing module is a hand-held spectrophotometer/colorimeter operating with at least one visible light source such as an LED operating in the 400-900 nm wavelength range. 
         [0006]    JP 2003210416 (Wave Cyber KK) describes a skin measuring instrument held within a transparent body. A light source shines illuminating light through the transparent body and an optical detector absorbs reflected light from the contact surface. Water content is measured by way of static capacitance at a skin contact point. Also present within the body is a camera for photographing the skin surface. 
         [0007]    Devices to measure moisture and skin blemishes/topography are commercially available. Yet rarely is all the information collected with a single instrument. When this occurs such as in the aforementioned Japanese disclosure, coordination of camera, hydrometer and other analytics to focus on the identical small area of skin is problematic. Better devices are required which simultaneously measure/deliver information on moisture content, blemishes and topography. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    A device for evaluating skin or hair condition is provided which includes:
       (i) a housing;   (ii) a hydration meter for measuring moisture, the meter being supported within the housing and having an external surface contactable against skin or hair to measure moisture content thereof, the meter including at least two metallic wires with their respective capacitance sensitive to differences in dielectric constant;   (iii) a camera held within the housing for electronically recording images of an area of skin or hair to be evaluated, the camera being supported within the housing, the electronically recorded images being received through a light transparent window at a front end of the housing; and       
 
         [0012]    wherein the window is surrounded by the external surface of the hydration meter. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0013]    Further advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from consideration of the drawing wherein: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an embodiment; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is an end plan view of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a half-shell view of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is an enlarged partial view of  FIG. 2  highlighting the camera and diffuser area; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 5   a - e  are a series of embodiments of alternate diffusers. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0019]    Evaluation of skin condition needs a combination of a moisture measurement and a visual analysis of the surface. These two different types of measurements must be focused on the same small area. Now we have found that a device that combines both a hydration meter and a camera can best operate in tandem via a common window. The external contact surfaces for the hydration meter circumscribe the border of the window. A camera is focused through this window thereby insuring cooperation on an identical surface area for analysis. 
         [0020]      FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of the hand-held device. By the term “hand-holdable” or “hand-held” is meant a device measuring in length less than 35 cm, preferably between 10 and 25 cm (not including cord) and a width between 2 and 8 inches, preferably between 3 and 6 cm. The device features a housing  2  with a shell  4  and a gripping portion  6 . Normally the shell is formed of a relatively hard plastic such as ABS (polyacrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) which is a high impact resistant plastic. Advantageously the gripping area will be formed of a less rigid material such as a rubber. 
         [0021]    Measurements are taken from an evaluation area  8  of the device.  FIG. 2  best illustrates the evaluation area. Normally area  8  is on an end of the device distant from any electrical or fiber optic cords exiting the housing. Area  8  has at least a central section formed of a transparent panel. Clear plastic is useful for this purpose. Light transmission is a necessary property for this panel. 
         [0022]    When the evaluation area is contacted against skin, the first contact surface is a moisture sensing cell  10  of a hydration meter  12 . The sensing cell  10  picks up electrical signals from the stratum corneum of skin. Metallic electrical conducting wires, preferably of copper on a circuit board, are embedded within a hardened resin of the sensing cell. These wires are sensitive to differences in dielectric constant of their aqueous environment. Differences in relative electrical capacitance resulting from differences in the dielectric constant reveal the measure of moisture at the skin or hair surface. Hydration meters are commercially available from Courage-Khazaka Electronics, Koln, Germany. The sensing cell  10  is circular (donut shaped) having a central transparent window  11  through which light can be transmitted. 
         [0023]    Although in the preferred embodiment, the sensing cell  10  is circular, alternate configurations are possible. These configurations may be oval or polygonal. Illustrative but not limiting are polygonal structures such as square, rectangle, triangle, pentagonal, hexagonal and octagonal. Further, the circumscribing sensing cell may also have an irregular structure wherein the polygonal sides are not equivalent in length one to another (e.g. trapezoidal). 
         [0024]      FIG. 3  is a view with half of the housing removed. For this embodiment the housing is a pair of separately molded plastic shells. These shells are fastened together by alternating male and female peg/socket clasps  12  and  14 , respectively, arranged along a periphery of the shells. Also present are a male and female pair of wall joints  16  and  18 , respectively, near a rear end of the housing. These wall joints project inward to engage their respective joints on each of the half shells. 
         [0025]    A camera  22  is mounted within the housing. Components of the camera include a camera microchip  24 , a lens system  26 , an optical image receiver  28  and a diffuser  30 . The camera microchip  24  has a circuit board electrical arrangement that can adjust the lens system, store image information and transmit the images to a receiver outside the housing. 
         [0026]    One or more light emitting diodes (LED)  32   a / 32   b  are positioned downstream from the optical image receiver  28 .  FIG. 4  best illustrates the arrangement. The LED may be selected from blue wavelength light emitter (to improve quality of images), from infrared wavelength light emitter and combinations thereof. In the preferred embodiment, the LEDs will be utilized to emit but not receive light. 
         [0027]    Although the LED  32   a  and  32   b  are oriented to emit light downward to the front end  34  of the housing, their light will be intercepted by the funnel-shaped wall segment  36  of the diffuser  30 . As a consequence, the LED emitted light will scatter back and forth along the diffuser and down a tunnel  9  to finally exit through the central transparent window  11  at the front end of the housing. 
         [0028]      FIG. 5   a  provides another view of the LED, diffuser and the light path L. The emitted light  38  moves along the diffuser and tunnel in a zig-zag pattern. This pattern is achieved by the LED being spaced away from any straight bore sections of the tunnel  9  that would ordinarily allow the emitted light uninterfered transit from the LED through the central window  11 . Alternate embodiments of the diffuser  30  are shown in  FIGS. 5   b ,  5   c ,  5   d  and  5   e . In other embodiments of this invention, the camera may be operative without the diffuser albeit providing images of lesser definition. 
         [0029]    Reflectance spectroscopy measurements can be confused by gloss on the skin surface. The special arrangement of the LEDs in the sensor allows measurement of surface gloss as well as the spectro signature of the skin. 
         [0030]    Data generated from the hydration meter and the LEDs initially is in analog form. This form arises because the meter and LEDs are transducers which inherently provide an analog response to the physical event being measured. The analog data is next converted to digital values (numbers stored in a micro-controller). Thereafter, the digital values are transformed back into analog mode, this time as an audio wave signal. The audio signal is thereafter transformed back into a digital signal at a downstream USB microchip. By this manner we can double the base frequency or reduce the base frequency by half. In summary, the data is converted from analog to digital to analog to digital. This ADAD conversion is a key factor allowing use of off-the-shelf components to transfer skin data in a way the computer already recognizes. 
         [0031]    The generated data is converted through a pre-set series of calculations to identify a Skin Index unique to the measured skin area. The Skin Index permits a user to monitor their skin over a period of time. A product recommended by the program to adjust the consumer&#39;s skin into an improved condition may be applied over the monitored period. This allows a consumer to evaluate effectiveness of the product or any other products that might be applied to improve the skin condition. 
         [0032]    A USB port  26  is attached to an end of an electrical wire or optical fiber cord  28  as shown in  FIG. 1  the USB port can plug into a computer to access a program companion to the device is the most advantageous connector to the computer. However, the system may also work by Bluetooth connectivity or serial port connection routes. 
         [0033]    Most preferred is that power to the system be delivered externally from an electric grid. Alternatively, power can be supplied by a rechargeable battery or disposable batteries within the device. In circumstances wherein power is supplied by a rechargeable or a disposable battery, the only cord projecting from the housing is the data cord  28 . 
         [0034]    In one aspect of the invention, the device can be considered as a “personal trainer” for a user&#39;s skin. 
         [0035]    A polarizer plate  44  may be placed in tandem with the central window. All emitted light will pass through the polarizer plate. With the polarizer, the camera better images wrinkles and spots. 
         [0036]    All documents referred to herein, including all patents, patent applications, and printed publications, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety in this disclosure. 
         [0037]    The term “comprising” is meant not to be limiting to any subsequently stated elements but rather to encompass non-specified elements of major or minor functional importance. In other words the listed steps, elements or options need not be exhaustive. Whenever the words “including” or “having” are used, these terms are meant to be equivalent to “comprising” as defined above. 
         [0038]    Except in the operating and comparative examples, or where otherwise explicitly indicated, all numbers in this description indicating amounts of material ought to be understood as modified by the word “about”. 
         [0039]    It should be noted that in specifying any range or amount, any particular upper value can be associated with any particular lower value or amount. 
         [0040]    The foregoing description illustrates selected embodiments of the present invention and in light thereof variations and modifications will be suggested to one skilled in the art all of which are within the spirit and purview of this invention.