EP 3351141 A1 20180725 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR QUANTIFYING A WEAR LEVEL OF A BRISTLE FIELD OF A BRUSH
Title (en)
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR QUANTIFYING A WEAR LEVEL OF A BRISTLE FIELD OF A BRUSH
Title (de)
VERFAHREN UND VORRICHTUNG ZUR QUANTIFIZIERUNG EINES ABNUTZUNGSGRADS EINES BORSTENFELDS EINER BÜRSTE
Title (fr)
PROCÉDÉ ET DISPOSITIF POUR QUANTIFIER UN NIVEAU D'USURE D'UN CHAMP DE POILS D'UNE BROSSE
Publication
Application
Priority
EP 17152086 A 20170119
Abstract (en)
A method and device for quantifying a wear level of a bristle field of a brush are disclosed comprising a plurality of bristle tufts grouping each a plurality of single bristles, said bristle tufts being distributed over the bristle field, the method comprising the following steps: - recording and storing an image of the bristle field; - converting the image into a gray scale image by use of digital image processing and storing the gray scale image; - converting the gray scale image to at least one binarized image with only two tone values by use of digital image processing, thereby assigning one tone value to bristles and/or bristle tufts visible in the image and the other tone value to the background in the image not showing bristles or bristle tufts, and storing the binarized image; - applying the following evaluation method: determining the geometrical splay of the bristle field (3) by creating a contour image, wherein the contour of the image is determined by edge detection of the grey scale image by use of digital image processing, - comparing the results of the applied evaluation method with reference data of an unused brush and/or of used brushes with determined wear levels to classify the wear level of the bristle field of the brush.
IPC 8 full level
A46B 15/00 (2006.01)
CPC (source: EP)
A46B 15/001 (2013.01); A46B 2200/1066 (2013.01)
Citation (applicant)
RIDLER TW; CALVARD S: "Picture thresholding using an iterative selection method", IEEE TRANS. SYSTEM, MAN AND CYBERNETICS, vol. SMC-8, 1978, pages 630 - 632
Citation (search report)
- [A] WO 0010425 A1 20000302 - CORONET WERKE GMBH [DE], et al
- [E] EP 3150082 A1 20170405 - PROCTER & GAMBLE [US]
- [A] "Investigation of wear in manual toothbrushes from different price categories", SCHWEIZ MONATSSCHR ZAHNMED, 2010, XP055253969, Retrieved from the Internet <URL:https://www.sso.ch/fileadmin/upload_sso/2_Zahnaerzte/2_SDJ/SMfZ_2010/SMfZ_09_2010/smfz-09_2010-forschung1.pdf> [retrieved on 20160229]
- [A] EVA KAISER ET AL: "Brush head wear, subject-perceived and laboratory cleaning performance of two oscillating-rotating electric toothbrush heads over 3 months", AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DENTISTRY, April 2012 (2012-04-01), United States, pages 84 - 90, XP055253952, Retrieved from the Internet <URL:http://www.dentalcare.com/media/en-US/research_db/pdf/am-j-dent/2012/AJDApril2012Kaiser.pdf> [retrieved on 20160229]
Designated contracting state (EPC)
AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NO PL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TR
Designated extension state (EPC)
BA ME
DOCDB simple family (publication)
DOCDB simple family (application)
EP 17152086 A 20170119; US 2018014406 W 20180119