Oral cavity scanner system

Abstract

The present application relates to an oral scanner system having: an oral scanner constructed and / or arranged for performing a scanning procedure on at least a portion of an oral cavity of a subject; a position detector constructed and / or arranged for outputting position sensor data relating to discrete positions or positions at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure; a processor constructed and / or arranged to receive at least the position sensor data, process the position sensor data to determine a scanning discrete position or location within the at least a portion of the oral cavity where the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure, and calculating a scan program progress value for each of at least two discrete positions or positions based at least on the determined scan discrete positions or positions at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scan program, the scan program progress value being within a range between a start progress value and an end progress value; and a feedback unit constructed and / or arranged to provide feedback on the progress of the scanning procedure for each of the at least two discrete positions or positions during the scanning procedure.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an intraoral scanner system including an intraoral scanner, a position sensor, and a processor constructed and arranged to determine a discrete position or location within at least a portion of an oral cavity where the intraoral scanner is currently performing a scanning procedure. Background Art

[0002] Various professional and home oral scanner systems are known to those skilled in the art.

[0003] There is general interest, particularly for home use oral scanner systems, in providing an oral scanner system that enables improved ease of use or improved guidance through an oral scanning procedure and / or more versatile and ideally intuitive communication of oral health data related to at least one oral health condition in the context of a continuous oral care treatment. According to some aspects, it is desirable to provide at least one alternative oral scanner system. Summary of the invention

[0004] According to at least one aspect, an oral scanner system is provided, the oral scanner system comprising: an oral scanner constructed and / or arranged to perform a scanning procedure on at least a portion of an oral cavity of a subject; a position detector constructed and / or arranged to output position sensor data associated with a discrete position or location at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure; a processor constructed and / or arranged to receive at least the position sensor data, process the position sensor data to determine a scanned discrete position or location within the at least a portion of the oral cavity at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure, and based at least on the position sensor data, determine a scanned discrete position or location within the at least a portion of the oral cavity at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure. The oral scanner is currently performing the determined scanning discrete positions or locations of the scanning procedure, calculating a scanning procedure progress value for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations, the scanning procedure progress value being within a range between a start progress value and an end progress value; and a feedback unit constructed and / or arranged to provide feedback on the progress of the scanning procedure for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations during the scanning procedure, preferably as live or real-time feedback, preferably by indicating the calculated scanning procedure progress value as a single numerical value such as a percentage of each of the at least two discrete positions or locations.

[0005] The above aspects discussed in more detail below assist a user in using the oral scanner system with the aid of continuous and / or guided human-computer interaction. Feedback regarding the progress of a scanning procedure indicates an operational status of the oral scanner system. In addition to the oral scanner system as discussed herein, methods of scanning at least a portion of an oral cavity using an oral scanner system are also contemplated. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] The present disclosure will be further clarified by a detailed description of exemplary embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings,

[0007] Figure 1 is a schematic depiction of an example oral scanner system including an oral scanner and a processor disposed in the oral scanner;

[0008] Figure 2 is a schematic depiction of an example oral scanner system including an oral scanner and a separate device implementing or including a processor;

[0009] Figure 3 is a schematic depiction of basic components that enable a discrete position or location determination for an intraoral scanner, wherein the result of the discrete position or location determination is a discrete position or location in the oral cavity where a head of the intraoral scanner is currently performing a scanning procedure;

[0010] Figure 4 is a schematic depiction of another example oral scanner system including an oral scanner and an oral care device and further optional components such as a charger, wherein the oral scanner system may be constructed and / or arranged to communicate data between its various components and to at least one remote computing instance;

[0011] Figure 5 is a depiction of an example feedback screen of a feedback unit as visualized on a display as part of an oral scanner system, wherein the feedback screen includes a visualization of a live or saved image taken during a scanning procedure and an abstract visualization of the dentition with scan progress data and oral health data superimposed thereon in a live manner;

[0012] Figure 6 is a depiction of another feedback screen of a feedback unit as visualizable on a display being part of an intraoral scanner system, wherein the feedback screen shows a summary of oral health data superimposed on an abstract depiction of the dentition and further trends of the temporal development of the oral health status are visualized in the center of the screen; and

[0013] Figure 7is a depiction of another feedback screen of a feedback unit as visualized on a display as part of an oral scanner system wherein various oral health data is visually superimposed onto an abstract depiction of dentition and further visually provides a classification of relevant oral health conditions. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The following is a general disclosure of an example oral scanner system, which includes an example oral scanner and an example processor and additional optional components, such as a separate device that implements at least a portion of a feedback unit (e.g., including a display) and / or an oral care device. The phrase "structured and / or arranged" used in this disclosure refers to the structure and / or computer-implemented features of the corresponding components, and this will mean that the corresponding features or components are not only suitable for something, but are also arranged structurally and / or software-wise to actually perform as expected in operation. It is emphasized here that an oral scanner according to the present disclosure is understood to be an oral scanner that does not provide any oral care activities, in particular does not include any oral cleaning elements, i.e. does not contain oral cleaning elements or other oral treatment or care elements and does not provide any oral cleaning or oral treatment or oral care. In other words, the present disclosure relates to an oral scanner having at least one oral health sensor without any additional oral cleaning / treatment / care features. As will be discussed, such a separate oral scanner device can be directly or indirectly coordinated with an oral care device that is constructed and / or arranged to provide oral care activities. In such a system, the oral scanner and the oral care device are dedicated devices optimized for individual tasks and can benefit from information previously recorded by one or the other device, for example, the oral scanner can scan areas and / or segments of low oral activity of the oral care device, and vice versa, the oral care device can provide feedback to the user to increase oral care activity in areas and / or segments where the oral scanner has determined that oral health issues exist.

[0015] General Discussion

[0016] The present disclosure relates to an oral scanner system comprising at least an oral scanner and a processor, wherein the processor may be physically located at or inside the oral scanner, or may be implemented as a processor separate from the oral scanner (i.e., away from the oral scanner). As will be discussed in more detail below, the processor may also be implemented in a distributed manner. The oral scanner system may specifically include at least one separate or remote device, which, for example, implements at least a portion of a feedback unit (such as a display). This should not exclude, for example, that the oral scanner itself alternatively or additionally includes a display and / or at least one visual feedback element. The remote display and the remote processor may be arranged together in a separate device, i.e., they may have a joint housing. The separate device may be a proprietary or customized device (e.g., a charger with a display), or a well-known device that can be used to implement a separate display and / or a separate processor (such as a computer, a laptop, a notebook, a tablet, a phone such as a mobile phone or a smart phone, or a smart watch). As an alternative or in addition to a separate device, the oral scanner system may include at least one oral care device (such as a toothbrush, in particular an electric toothbrush), which may be directly or indirectly coupled to the oral scanner and / or the processor, at least for a limited period of time, preferably coupled for exchanging data such as by wireless communication. The oral scanner and the oral care device may share the same handle and be implemented only by attaching the corresponding oral scanner head or oral care head to the handle. However, it may be preferred to have an independent oral care device, which has its own handle and can be arranged to be used independently of the oral scanner system, that is, decoupled from the oral scanner system in terms of hardware. It is foreseeable that the oral care device may first need to be registered with the oral care system to become part of the oral care system. The oral scanner system may include at least one charger for charging the rechargeable energy storage device of the oral scanner and / or the oral care device and / or the separate device. The charger may be a wireless charger, such as an inductive charger.

[0017] The oral scanner may include at least one oral health sensor for acquiring, detecting, measuring or determining and for outputting oral health sensor data related to at least one oral health condition, wherein hereinafter, one of the terms "acquire", "detect", "measure" or "determine" (or other forms of these verbs or nouns derived from these verbs) is used in conjunction with the oral health sensor, which shall also include the other terms. The oral scanner system may include at least one position sensor, which is constructed and / or arranged to provide (i.e. output) position sensor data, which position sensor data allows detection, measurement or determination of at least one discrete position or location (or: segment) at which the oral scanner is currently performing a scanning procedure or has performed a scanning procedure at a given moment, wherein the scanning procedure includes the determination of oral health sensor data. In the context of the present invention, the term "discrete" in relation to a location position within the oral cavity shall indicate that the oral cavity is divided into one or more discrete regions or segments, such as the upper jaw and the lower jaw. Typically, the discrete regions or segments are non-overlapping and cover the portion of the oral cavity intended to be scanned substantially completely or in a gap-free manner.

[0018] It is mentioned here that the purpose of the proposal is to provide the user with easily digestible information, wherein for example the acquired oral health information or scanning procedure progress information etc. is provided in a manner processed by discrete positions or locations (or: by segments), specifically reduced to a single value or a single mark, i.e. a single percentage value representing the current or final achieved scanning procedure progress or oral health condition or a color indicating the achieved scanning procedure progress or oral health condition. The oral scanner system of the invention is specifically intended for home use by laymen, and therefore the improvements and benefits associated with the proposal are particularly suitable for home use by non-professional users.

[0019] The term "sensor" shall be understood to cover sensor types that measure or determine parameters related to an oral health condition based on an external measurement medium, such as ambient light impinging on the sensor or saliva available in the oral cavity analyzed by the sensor, i.e. sensors comprising a sensor receiver. The term "sensor" shall also cover sensor types comprising a sensor transmitter (i.e. a light transmitter) arranged for emitting a measurement medium such as light and a sensor receiver (such as a light receiver), such that the measurement or determination depends at least in part on a non-external measurement medium, which refers to a measurement medium provided by the respective sensor transmitter. The oral scanner is constructed and / or arranged for performing a scanning procedure, wherein the oral scanner acquires oral health sensor data from at least a portion of the oral cavity via an oral health sensor, preferably oral health sensor data related to determining oral health data related to at least one oral health condition. Preferably, the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data determined therefrom are acquired in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner, i.e. wherein the respective oral health sensor data and / or oral health data are assigned to position data or location data derived from the position sensor data acquired by the position sensor relative to the same instant or time period when or during the acquisition of the oral health sensor data.

[0020] In the context of the present disclosure, the term "oral health sensor data" refers to substantially unprocessed data output by an oral health sensor during a scanning procedure (e.g., image data if the oral health sensor is a camera, or pH values ​​if the oral health sensor is a pH sensor), and the term "oral health data" refers to processed oral health sensor data (e.g., normalized or absolute area per tooth or per discrete location or position, showing the average pH value of dental plaque or per discrete location or position). It should be understood that in some cases, the oral health sensor data itself is a direct measure of the state of oral health, for example, oral health sensor data from a malodor sensor may not require any further processing to allow a determination of whether a user has bad odor, as the malodor sensor may provide a certain level of sulfur emissions. The processing of the oral health sensor data can then be viewed as classifying the oral health sensor data into one of at least two condition categories, for example, "no relevant malodor level" as one condition category and "relevant malodor level" as another condition category. The classification can then be completed by a processor by comparison with at least one threshold value. More complex classification concepts are discussed below. Of course, the classification just described can also use processed oral health sensor data, i.e., oral health data. For example, the output from a malodor sensor may be averaged over several measurement instances and then used for classification.

[0021] The processor is coupled to the oral health sensor and / or the position sensor to receive at least one sensor data set, preferably a plurality of sensor data and / or a sequence of sensor data, wherein a single sensor data set may be received in time sequence to be accumulated as sensor data for a plurality of time intervals, or a plurality of sensor data may be received at each measurement instant so that this is accumulated as a plurality of sensor data for a plurality of time intervals. The sensor data may be sent to the processor as a sensor signal, for example, a sensor signal may be a voltage signal, which is typically the output of a sensor measuring a physical, chemical or material property. The sensor signal may be an analog signal or a digital signal. The term "data set" or "data" herein refers to the information content, while "signal" refers to the physical quantity that transmits the sensor data set or sensor data. Where the term "sensor data" is used in the present disclosure, this shall refer to "oral health sensor data" provided by the oral health sensor and "position sensor data" provided by the position sensor. Where only one of the two types of data is intended, the corresponding more limited term will be used. The processor is preferably arranged to process the sensor data from the at least one oral health sensor and the at least one position sensor so that at least one position-resolved or position-resolved oral health data set associated with at least one oral health condition is determined. That is, it is clear that the oral health sensor outputs can be processed by the processor to determine oral health data, and the position sensor outputs can be processed by the processor to determine position sensor data, and the processor can also associate or assign the oral health data and the position data to each other so as to produce position-resolved or location-resolved oral health data. As mentioned, the oral health sensor data can be assigned to the position data without further processing the oral health sensor data.

[0022] The oral scanner may comprise a scanner head and a scanner handle, which may be detachably connected, although this should not exclude that the scanner head and the scanner handle may be non-detachably connected and may form an integral device. The oral scanner may have a housing enclosing a hollow portion, in which components of the oral scanner (such as an energy source, a controller, a scanner communicator, etc.) may be arranged. The housing may allow a user to conveniently hold the oral scanner by hand. The size and shape of the scanner head may be set to be conveniently inserted into the oral cavity. The housing may accommodate at least one user-operable control element, such as an on / off button or on / off switch or a selector button or selector switch or other such elements typically expected or found on an oral scanner. The housing may also accommodate at least one feedback element of a feedback unit, which is constructed and / or arranged to provide user-perceivable feedback to the user. The feedback unit may comprise one or several feedback elements, such as a display provided by a separate device. The at least one feedback element may comprise at least one of a list including, in a non-limiting manner, an optical feedback element (such as a light emitter or light emitters or a display), an acoustic feedback element (such as a speaker or a piezoelectric speaker or a buzzer), and a tactile or haptic feedback element (such as a vibrator or any other type of tactile or haptic feedback generator, for example a refreshable Braille display).

[0023] In embodiments where the oral scanner system includes a display as an element of the feedback unit (e.g., at the oral scanner and / or implemented by a separate device or implemented at a separate device), the display may be arranged to visualize feedback about oral health (sensor) data related to at least one oral health condition of at least two discrete positions or locations (or: segments), for example, the display may be constructed and / or arranged to visualize oral health (sensor) data resolved at discrete positions or resolved at discrete locations (or: segment resolution). The term sensor after "oral health (sensor) data" shall cover both oral health sensor data and oral health data. The display may be constructed and / or arranged to show a depiction or visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity, such as an abstract or generalized depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity (such as the dentition), and the display may be arranged to additionally depict at least one feedback related to the oral health (sensor) data and / or related to at least one oral health condition and / or related to at least one condition category into which the oral health (sensor) data may have been classified with respect to at least one oral health condition, which feedback may be achieved by changing the depiction or visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity, or by superimposing a visual representation of the discrete position resolved or location resolved (or: segmented) oral health data onto the depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity, or by depicting the oral health data on the display (e.g., as textual data) and associating it with discrete positions or locations (i.e., segments) within the depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity. The feedback and depiction or visualization referred to herein are typically performed in a discrete position resolved, i.e. segmented manner. While the present disclosure focuses on an abstract or more realistic depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity (such as a complete dentition, e.g., maxillary and mandibular) and superimposed oral health data associated with one or more oral health conditions, this should not preclude displaying oral health (sensor) data in a different manner, such as as a table of oral health (sensor) data associated with one or several oral health conditions per discrete position or location within at least a portion of the oral cavity. Note that, for example, superposition of a live image or an image calculated from an acquired image on a model such as the dentition should not be considered discrete segment resolved feedback, as such superposition leaves the analysis of the segment information to the expert user. In the context of the present disclosure, feedback is provided in a processed manner such that a single indication or single value for each segment can be provided to a non-expert user without requiring any analysis by the lay user.

[0024] Feedback related to oral health (sensor) data may occur "live" or in real time (e.g., when a user uses an oral scanner to perform a scanning procedure), meaning that the feedback may adapt to the live progress of the scanning procedure, where "live" should mean that there is only a short time delay between the acquisition step and the feedback step, for example, a time delay of less than 10 seconds or less than 5 seconds or less than 4 seconds or less than 3 seconds or less than 2 seconds or less than 1 second. Feedback related to oral health (sensor) data may alternatively or additionally occur at the end of the scanning procedure through aggregated feedback, where the accumulated oral health (sensor) data is displayed as the final result. Again, all feedback described herein should be understood to include discretely position-resolved or location-resolved (or: segmented) feedback. This may include classification, preferably discrete position-resolved or location-resolved (or: segmented) classification of oral health (sensor) data with respect to at least two condition categories associated with at least one oral health condition. Alternatively or additionally, the oral health (sensor) data and / or condition categories determined in the classification step of the current scanning procedure may be compared with historical oral health (sensor) data and / or condition categories from a previous scanning procedure or from a sequence of previous scanning procedures, and trends or developments in the oral health (sensor) data and / or condition categories over time may be visualized as feedback. Again, this may occur in a discrete position resolved or location resolved (or: segmented) manner. Such historical data may be stored in a memory coupled or connected to the processor. The stored historical data may include oral care activity data associated with at least one oral care activity procedure performed with the oral care device, as will be discussed in more detail below.

[0025] The processor may be arranged to classify the oral health (sensor) data into at least two different condition categories relating to at least one oral health condition, for example two condition categories relating to the severity of the oral health condition. The processor may be arranged to classify the oral health (sensor) data preferably in a discrete position resolved or location resolved manner (or: segmented), i.e., wherein the classification is performed for a first position or first location or first segment, such as an upper right molar, and also for at least a second position or second location or second segment, such as a lower left molar or anterior teeth. Potentially subdividing the oral cavity into discrete positions or locations or segments is discussed in more detail further below. By way of example, the oral cavity intended to be scanned may be the dentition. Possible segments / discrete locations or positions may be (a1) maxillary and mandibular or (a2) mandibular and maxillary or (b) right upper molar, upper incisor, left upper molar, left lower molar, lower incisor and right lower molar or (c) buccal surface of right upper molar, occlusal surface of right upper molar and lingual surface of right upper molar or (d) buccal surface, lingual surface and chewing surface and lingual surface of tooth number 26 of human dentition or one of the above teeth. All surfaces of all teeth of human dentition may then result in 72 segments (molars have two surfaces, while canines and incisors have two surfaces) or 84 segments if all wisdom teeth are also included. In some examples, a complete scan of the user's dentition is intended as a standard scanning procedure, while in some examples, the scanning procedure affects only the selection of those segments that fully cover the human dentition. The latter may be the case in particular if, after a previous scanning session and / or after a previous oral care activity, only the selection of segments covering the complete dentition is selected for a repeated scan or a focused scan.

[0026] The terms "discrete locations" and "discrete locations" or "segments" are used interchangeably herein. For readability, this disclosure may not always refer to all three phrases in all instances.

[0027] The processor may be constructed and / or arranged to process the sensor data in a "live" manner, for example, during a scanning procedure, such that "live" or generally real-time information about the progress or status of the scanning procedure and / or the progress or status of oral health data acquisition may be visualized as feedback on the display, as already mentioned. The live display may also include an abstract or more realistic depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity and superimposed feedback related to at least the status of the scanning procedure. For example, various discrete locations or discrete positions or segments of the oral cavity to be scanned may be individually highlighted in a graded or staged manner, such that a user may easily identify the locations to which the oral scanner still needs to be moved or positioned to complete the scanning procedure. As an example, at least a portion of the depicted oral cavity may be shown in a starting color (e.g., dark blue), and various portions associated with different discrete locations or positions of at least a portion of the depicted oral cavity may be gradually depicted in brighter colors until they are substantially white, to indicate to the user a partially completed or finally completed scanning procedure with respect to the indicated discrete locations or positions of the oral cavity. Feedback related to the progress of the scanning procedure may be derived solely from the position sensor data, such as from the cumulative time that the oral scanner has performed the scanning procedure at various discrete locations or positions. This should not exclude that the processor is constructed and / or arranged to determine the progress of the scanning procedure in a more detailed manner, for example, by checking whether images taken from corresponding discrete positions or locations of the oral cavity by a camera, preferably as part of an oral health sensor, include sufficiently complete coverage of the discrete positions or locations of the oral cavity and / or whether such images have a certain image quality (e.g., no blur or unfocusing, etc.). Feedback related to the progress of the scanning procedure may also include superimposing position-resolved or position-resolved oral health (sensor) data onto an abstract or more realistic depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity. It should be understood that superimposition of visual feedback for display on a display means the generation of a single image displayed on the display by a display controller. Here, superimposition means modifying the basic image (e.g., a depiction of the dentition) to reflect the additional feedback that should be provided.

[0028] The various components of the oral scanner system (e.g., the oral scanner, the processor, the separate display, the charger and / or the oral care device) may be arranged for data exchange, or more generally for communication between at least two of these components in at least a unidirectional manner (preferably in a bidirectional manner). Although such data exchange or communication may be achieved via a wired connection (e.g., when the processor is housed inside the oral scanner), if data exchange should occur between the separate components, it is preferably achieved via wireless communication. Then, one of the components of the oral scanner system (e.g., the oral scanner) includes a scanner communicator such as a transmitter or a transceiver, and the other component (e.g., the processor in or implemented by a separate device) includes a processor communicator such as a receiver or a transceiver, which processor communicator may employ a proprietary or standardized wireless communication protocol such as the Bluetooth protocol, the Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 protocol, the Zigbee protocol, etc. Each of the components of the oral scanner system may be arranged for communication with one or several other components of the oral scanner system and / or may be arranged for wireless communication with an internet router or another device such as a mobile phone or tablet or computer to establish a connection to the internet, for example to transmit data to a cloud server which may be part of the oral scanner system and / or to receive data from a cloud server or any internet service such as a weather channel or a news channel. This means that the oral scanner system may be arranged to communicate with the internet directly or indirectly via a detour via a device which is not part of the oral scanner system.

[0029] It is also conceivable that (position-resolved or location-resolved) oral health (sensor) data and / or (position-resolved or location-resolved) condition categories are communicated from an oral scanner and / or processor to an oral care device, such as an electric toothbrush, gum massager, oral irrigator, dental flossing device, tooth cleaner, tooth polishing device, tooth whitening device, etc. It is also conceivable that the processor may communicate control data to the oral care device so that the oral care device can select one of at least two operating settings based on the control data, preferably in a discrete position-resolved or location-resolved manner. The latter also requires determining or tracking or monitoring the discrete position or location of the oral care device currently performing the oral care activity program. An oral care device position sensor can be used for this task, and reference is made to the description of the discrete position or location determination of the oral scanner, as the principles are the same.

[0030] Oral Scanner Hardware-Attachments

[0031] Various hardware components of an oral scanner have been described. In addition, the oral scanner may include an attachment that is preferably arranged to be replaceable, so that different attachments can be used for different users or for different applications. One focus of the present disclosure is an oral scanner including an oral health sensor, which includes a camera as a sensor receiver and at least a first light source as a sensor transmitter (also see further description below). The light inlet for the camera and the light outlet of at least the first light source can be arranged at the head of the oral scanner. Then, the attachment can be implemented as a detachable distance attachment. The distance attachment can be arranged so that the scanning procedure can have a substantially constant distance between one or more objects (e.g., teeth) being scanned and the light inlet of the camera. The distance piece of the distance attachment can be kept in contact with the scanned object (particularly the outer surface of the object) to maintain a constant distance. The camera can have a focal length that creates a clear image of the object, the distance of the object to the light inlet of the camera is defined by the distance piece. The distance piece can be implemented as a closed wall element surrounding the light outlet of the first light source and the light inlet of the camera, so that the closed wall element effectively blocks ambient light from irradiating the currently scanned object and thus blocks ambient light from ultimately reaching the camera. Thus, the distance attachment can solve two purposes, namely, maintaining a constant distance during the scanning procedure and effectively blocking ambient light from reaching the object surface to be scanned. The latter is particularly beneficial for embodiments in which the light emitted by the first light source will be primarily responsible for the oral health sensor data (i.e., the image data output by the camera).

[0032] The attachment (e.g., the distance attachment) may be detachable to allow replacement of the attachment when it is worn, or to allow changing the attachment if different users of the oral scanner use different attachments. The attachment may also be detachable to improve accessibility to parts of the oral scanner that benefit from regular cleaning, such as a window covering the light outlet of the first light source and / or the light inlet of the camera. Furthermore, the detachable attachment itself may benefit from regular cleaning, which is made easier when the attachment is detachable. For example, the attachment may be immersed in a cleaning liquid to clean it and possibly disinfect it.

[0033] Oral Health Sensors

[0034] The oral scanner as proposed herein comprises at least one oral health sensor and may comprise two or more different oral health sensors. An oral health sensor is understood to be a sensor arranged to acquire and output oral health sensor data relating to at least one attribute of the oral cavity, the oral health sensor data being relevant to determining the state of oral health status or being a direct measure of oral health status. Oral health status may relate to the presence of at least one of: dental plaque, calculus (tartar), decalcification, white spot lesions, gingival inflammation, tooth discoloration, stains, gingivitis, enamel erosion and / or wear, cracks, fluorosis, caries lesions, molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH), malodor, the presence of bacteria such as candidiasis pathogens or fungi, tooth malposition, periodontal disease or periodontitis, peri-implantitis, cysts, abscesses, mouth sores, and any other indicator related to oral health status understood by a skilled person.

[0035] It should be understood that the oral scanner may be arranged to acquire oral health sensor data in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner, wherein it is possible that, for example, malodor may be an oral health condition that affects the entire oral cavity and may therefore not be perceptibly acquired in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner. The latter should not exclude that malodor may still be acquired in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner and feedback related to the oral health sensor data may also be provided in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner, for example, wherein the feedback for all discrete positions or locations has the same malodor level or corresponding condition category.

[0036] Several of the above-mentioned oral health conditions may be detected by visual analysis, which typically requires an optical oral health sensor (such as a camera) and software implemented on a processor, the software being arranged for determining the oral health condition and possibly also for assessing the severity level of the oral health condition based on oral health sensor data provided from the optical oral health sensor (e.g., based on classification of image data or image sequences relative to at least two condition categories). Without being limited by theory, the classification of the input image may be accomplished by a neural network such as a convolutional neural network (CNN), which is preferably trained with training images and associated condition category results. The classifier used by the processor may be fed directly with oral health sensor data, such as image data, or the oral health sensor data may first be processed by the processor to determine one or several features, such as also referred to herein as oral health data associated with at least one oral health condition.

[0037] The oral health sensor may include only a sensor receiver that acquires oral health sensor information by using an external medium such as ambient light or saliva or gas components present in the oral cavity. According to several aspects, the oral health sensor may include at least one sensor transmitter that provides a primary medium and at least one sensor receiver that is arranged to detect at least the primary medium and / or a secondary medium generated by the interaction of the primary medium with the oral cavity (e.g., by interaction with oral tissue). This should not exclude that the sensor receiver is also sensitive to the external medium discussed above. In a more specific example described in more detail below, at least one sensor transmitter is a narrowband light source that emits light in a specific wavelength range as the primary medium, and a second medium, i.e., fluorescence of a higher wavelength, can be generated by the interaction of the emitted light with a specific material present in the oral cavity. The oral health sensor may also include at least one sensor filter that filters out at least a portion of the primary medium and / or at least a portion of the secondary medium before the corresponding medium reaches the sensor receiver. Obviously, the sensor receiver may also be sensitive to ambient light that can pass through at least one sensor filter. The effect of ambient light on data acquisition can be reduced by specific measures (such as the distance attachment discussed above). In some embodiments, the oral health sensor is an optical sensor, such as a photodiode, an M×N photosensor array, or a camera.

[0038] According to some aspects, an oral scanner includes an oral health sensor having at least a first light source and at least one camera, the oral scanner being constructed and / or arranged to perform a scanning procedure, which is typically an optical scanning procedure, wherein an optical scanning procedure is herein referred to as a procedure for capturing a sequence of images by a camera. The first light source may include a light outlet, and the camera may include a light inlet, the light outlet and the light inlet being arranged at a head of the oral scanner. This may allow, for example, an array of light-sensitive sensor elements (such as an M×N array of light-sensitive sensor elements of a camera) to be arranged at a distance from the light inlet (such as arranged in a handle), and light is guided from the light inlet to the array of light-sensitive sensor elements by means of optical elements (such as one or more lenses, one or more reflectors and / or one or more prisms and / or one or more light guides, etc.). A user-operable input element may be provided at the oral scanner, which may initiate the optical scanning procedure when operated by the user. The oral scanner may include two or more cameras, which may be arranged to allow a three-dimensional scan of at least a portion of the oral cavity.

[0039] The oral scanner may include a second light source and potentially additional light sources. Different light sources may use the same light outlet, or each light source may have its own light outlet. The first light source may emit a first wavelength or light having a first wavelength range, and the second light source may emit a second wavelength different from the first wavelength or light having a second wavelength range that does not overlap or only partially overlaps with the first wavelength or first wavelength range of the first light source. Additionally or alternatively, the first light source and the second light source may be arranged to emit different light intensities. However, this does not exclude providing the first light source and the second light source to emit light of substantially the same wavelength or having the same wavelength range and substantially the same intensity. As an example, the first light source may emit light having a wavelength of about 405nm or including a dominant wavelength of about 405nm, and the second light source may emit "white" light, i.e., light that substantially covers the entire visible wavelength range between 400nm and 700nm or includes several dominant wavelengths, so that humans can perceive the color impression of the emitted light as being substantially white. The light source is not limited to a light source that emits light in the visible range, and any light source that emits in the infrared (IR) or ultraviolet (UV) wavelength range or at least includes a wavelength range extending into these regions is also considered. The first and / or second light source (and any further light sources) may be implemented by light emitting diodes (LEDs), but other light sources are also conceivable, such as laser diodes, conventional light bulbs, in particular incandescent light bulbs, halogen light sources, gas discharge lamps, arc lamps etc.

[0040] The camera may comprise an array of light-sensitive sensor elements, wherein each light-sensitive sensor element may be arranged to output a signal indicative of the intensity of light impinging on a light-sensitive area of ​​the light-sensitive sensor element. Although each of the light-sensitive sensor elements may have an individual sensitivity range, i.e. an individual wavelength sensitivity, the array of light-sensitive sensor elements may typically comprise light-sensitive sensor elements that all have approximately the same light sensitivity (ignoring differences in gain etc., which are typical and handled by calibration). The array of light-sensitive sensor elements may be implemented as a regular M×N array, even though this does not exclude that the light-sensitive sensor elements are arranged in a different manner, e.g. in coaxial circles etc. The array of light-sensitive sensor elements may be implemented as a CCD chip or a CMOS chip, as is typically used in digital cameras. The number of light-sensitive sensor elements may be selected according to requirements and the processing power of the processor. A resolution of 640×480 may be one option, but essentially all other resolutions are conceivable, e.g. the camera may be a 4K camera with a resolution of 3840×2160, or the camera may have a lower resolution, e.g. a 320×240 resolution. It should not be excluded that the camera comprises a line sensor as is typically used in paper scanners.

[0041] In the context of the present application, a light-sensitive sensor element encompasses an RGB sensor element, ie each light-sensitive sensor element of the RGB type will deliver three signals relating to the R (red), G (green) and B (blue) color channels.

[0042] The camera of the oral scanner may include further optical elements, such as at least one sensor lens, to focus light onto the array of light-sensitive sensor elements, even though this does not exclude that the camera is implemented as a pinhole camera. The camera may also include at least one sensor mirror to direct light onto the array. In addition, the camera may include at least one sensor filter to selectively absorb or transmit light of a certain wavelength or light within at least one wavelength range. At least one sensor filter may be fixed or may be movable, i.e. the sensor filter may be arranged to move into and out of the optical path of the camera. Several sensor filters may be provided to allow selective filtering of the light corresponding to the array of light-sensitive sensor elements. The sensor filter may be a long-pass filter, a short-pass filter, a band-pass filter or a monochromatic filter. The sensor filter may apply wavelength-dependent filter characteristics, so that a certain wavelength or wavelength range may pass but only with a reduced amplitude, while another wavelength or wavelength range may pass without attenuation and even other wavelengths or wavelength ranges may be completely blocked. The sensor filter may be implemented as a color filter or a dichroic filter.

[0043] The first light source may be a narrowband light source such as an LED. The narrowband light source may emit light in a range between 390 nm and 410 nm (FWHM), such that a wavelength of about 405 nm is at least close to the dominant wavelength of the LED. As already mentioned, light of about 405 nm causes enamel and plaque to fluoresce. A sensor filter may then be used that transmits only light of wavelengths above about 430 nm, preferably the sensor filter may be a cut-off filter with a cut-off wavelength of 450 nm, which allows light of longer wavelengths to pass towards the array of light-sensitive sensor elements, such that reflected light originating from the first light source is absorbed and only the fluorescence transmitted by the sensor filter is determined.

[0044] The camera may be implemented, for example, by a camera module available from Bison Electronics Inc., Taiwan, China. Without any limitation, the camera module may include a photosensitive sensor array having an M×N pixel count of 1976×1200 implemented in CMOS technology (i.e., a 2.4 million pixel chip), but not all pixels are necessarily used to capture an image during scanning. The camera module may include a lens with a focal length of 12.5 mm so that clear images of objects close to the camera can be captured. This should not exclude the use of an autofocus camera. A hyperspectral imaging camera may also be used.

[0045] The examples involving optical sensors, in particular cameras, should not be understood as limiting. The at least one oral health sensor may also be implemented as one of the group including, in a non-limiting manner, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a pH sensor, a refractive index sensor, a resistance sensor, an impedance sensor, a conductivity sensor, a biosensor such as a sensor including a biological detection element (e.g., a fixed biologically active system) coupled to a physical sensor (transducer) that converts a biochemical signal into an electrical or optical signal and typically includes an amplifier, etc.

[0046] As explained, the oral health sensor acquires and outputs oral health sensor data sent in the form of analog or digital signals, and the processor may be arranged to process the oral health sensor data to determine oral health data and / or condition category data, preferably condition category data related to an oral health condition.

[0047] Position Sensors

[0048] The term "position sensor" shall encompass all position sensor arrangements that can determine a discrete position or location or segment in which the head of the oral scanner performs a scanning procedure in the oral cavity at a given moment, and may also include such determination with respect to at least one discrete position or location or segment in relation to the outside of the oral cavity. It should be understood that the use of the term "position sensor" does not mean that the position sensor itself is capable of directly determining a position inside or outside the oral cavity, but rather that a discrete position or discrete location or segment inside or outside the oral cavity may be derived from position sensor data, for example by deterministic calculations based on inputs from the position sensor, by decision trees, by clustering or by classification algorithms (to name a few). The processor may be constructed and / or arranged to perform such discrete position or location or segment determination based at least on the position sensor data. An oral health sensor (such as a camera) may also provide position sensor data, i.e., the oral health sensor may additionally be used as a position sensor or another camera may be provided as a position sensor. As an example, image data provided by a camera provided at the head of the oral scanner may allow the type of tooth being imaged to be determined, and thus a discrete position or discrete location or segment in the scanned oral cavity may be derived (see EP 2 189 198 B1 below).

[0049] Document EP 3 141 151 A1 describes, in particular, a method for determining a position based on the fusion of image data from a camera and data from an accelerometer disposed in an oral care device, the camera acquiring an image of a user when performing an oral care activity with the oral care device, the camera being separate from the oral care device, the accelerometer being used to determine the orientation of the oral care device relative to the earth's gravitational field. On the one hand, based on the classification of image data created at a given moment by a machine learning algorithm (each machine learning algorithm is specifically trained for one of these positions), and on the other hand, based on the classification of the orientation angle determined according to the accelerometer data at the same moment, the fused positioning determination result is calculated. The classification algorithm outputs a value similar to the probability of multiple positions in the oral cavity where an oral care activity may be performed. The highest measure generally indicates the position where the activity is performed with a certain reliability. EP 3 141 151 A1 should be incorporated herein by reference. The position sensor in this example includes a separate camera as a first position sensor and an accelerometer disposed in an oral care device (which may be an oral scanner according to the present disclosure) as a second position sensor. This indicates that the term "position sensor" does not refer to a single sensor arrangement, but rather "position sensor" encompasses implementations in which two or more different position sensors are used to provide position sensor data.

[0050] Document EP 3528172 A2 describes, inter alia, the determination of a discrete position or discrete positions or segments within the oral cavity where an oral care activity is currently being performed, the determination relying on the classification of position sensor data, which are time series of inertial sensor data created by, for example, accelerometers and / or gyroscopes located in an oral care device, by means of a neural network, preferably by means of a recurrent neural network. Based on a trained neural network, the classification of the current time series of position sensor data provides a set of values ​​similar to the probabilities regarding a plurality of possible discrete positions or locations within the oral cavity. The highest value generally indicates the position where the activity is being performed. EP 3 528 172 A2 shall be incorporated herein by reference.

[0051] Each of the techniques mentioned above and in the following paragraphs of this section can be used to determine a discrete position or location within the oral cavity where an oral scanner according to the present disclosure is performing a scanning procedure, but other techniques may also be used. For example, it is known to track the position of a user's head and toothbrush in a calibrated magnetic field, or to use an ultrasonic transmitter at the user's head and toothbrush to track the movement of both the user's head and toothbrush in a calibrated ultrasonic receiver arrangement so that the relative position of the toothbrush relative to the user's head and therefore relative to the user's oral cavity can be determined. Similarly, IR transmitters and receivers may be used. Other techniques may also be used, such as motion tracking techniques using multiple cameras known from CGI movies.

[0052] The latter mentioned techniques can determine the discrete locations or locations where oral care activities (e.g., brushing) are performed with relatively high accuracy (e.g., at the level of individual teeth), which accuracy justifies the use of the term "location" (although the location is still mapped to a "segment", where the segment can still represent an individual tooth or a group of teeth). At least at the time of filing this disclosure, the techniques described in the previous paragraphs have not been developed to provide results with such high accuracy and can allow determination of one of the 16 different segments where oral care activities are performed in the dentition. However, the term "location" may be more appropriate because the determination typically involves a group of teeth (e.g., the upper left molars) or a group of surfaces of a group of teeth (e.g., the buccal surfaces of the lower right molars). In a more common sense, the term "segment" is used to indicate a discrete location or discrete location.

[0053] Document EP 2 189 198 B1 describes determining discrete positions or locations in the oral cavity by analyzing camera data from a camera located at the head of the toothbrush. It is described that the analysis of the image data can identify the teeth shown in the image. It is conceivable that the classifier is trained with labeled images of the user's teeth and / or other parts of the oral cavity so that the processor can reliably identify the position in the oral cavity where the scanning procedure is currently being performed.

[0054] Document US 2010 / 0170052 A1 describes determining discrete locations or positions in the oral cavity where oral care activities are performed by an oral care device by analyzing images from a separately positioned camera that images the user's face and the oral care device. EP 2 189 198 B1 and US 2010 / 0170052 A1 are incorporated herein by reference.

[0055] Processor Hardware

[0056] The processor may be any kind of general purpose integrated circuit (e.g., IC; CPU) or application specific integrated circuit (e.g., ASIC), which may be implemented by a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a system on chip (SOC), or an embedded system, etc. The processor should not be understood as necessarily being a single circuit or chip, but it is conceivable that the processor is provided in a distributed manner, wherein a portion of the processing tasks may be performed by a first processor subunit and one or several additional processing tasks may be performed by at least a second or several additional processor subunits, wherein different processor subunits may be physically arranged at different locations, such as in or at an oral scanner, in or at a remote device, and / or in or at a cloud computer, etc. The processor may be substantially entirely implemented by a cloud computing device. It should also be included that the processor may include analog circuit elements and integrated circuit elements or only analog circuit elements.

[0057] The processor has at least one input and at least one output. The processor receives sensor data and / or oral care activity data from the oral care device via the input, and outputs oral health data and / or condition category data and / or control data via the output, preferably discretely located or positionally resolved oral health data and / or condition category data and / or control data. Condition category data refers to data that classifies oral health (sensor) data into at least one of at least two condition categories, such as into a non-serious category and a severe category, or into more than two categories, such as into a non-serious category, a category to be monitored, and a category recommended for an oral care professional visit. The following examples are for illustration purposes, and those skilled in the art may use any other number of classes and may appropriately name the classes.

[0058] Processor Software: Classification

[0059] It has been described in a number of previous paragraphs that the processor is constructed and / or arranged to classify oral health sensor data and / or oral health data into at least two condition categories. In more mathematical language, oral health (sensor) data (preferably for a given discrete position or location) can be considered as an observation, and the condition category is considered as a category, and a classifier algorithm can then be used to decide which category the observation belongs to. The oral health (sensor) data may include one or several variables or features that characterize the state of oral health, for example, the oral health data may include a normalized plaque area for each discrete position or location considered. The classifier can then simply label the input feature (plaque size) into a category by comparing it with one or several thresholds. The threshold itself may be derived from expert opinion or an analysis of the oral health status of multiple subjects with the aid of a machine learning algorithm. Instead of using features or feature vectors derived from the oral health sensor data, the oral health sensor data can be used as an input to the classifier without any prior processing, for example, the neural network can be directly fed with image data acquired by an oral health sensor including a camera.

[0060] For different discrete locations or positions in the oral cavity, the thresholds or other parameters affecting the classification may be set to different values. Such discrete location or position related thresholds or parameters affecting the classification for a given oral health condition may preferably be affected by at least one of a non-limiting list including the discrete location or position in the oral cavity in a global sense (i.e., for all users), or the evolution history of oral health (sensor) data for an individual or the condition category associated with this discrete location or position for a given oral health condition, or the overall or average oral health condition status for a given user.

[0061] While the above threshold-based classification method may be reasonable for oral health data that includes one or two features for each oral health condition, a different classifier algorithm may be used in the case where the oral health data includes multiple features. For example, a neural network may then be applied to the classification task, or any other classification algorithm known to the skilled person. The classification algorithm may be selected as one of a non-limiting list including: linear classifier, support vector machine, quadratic classifier, kernel estimation, boosting, decision tree, neural network, transformer, genetic programming, and learning vector quantization.

[0062] The condition class may be determined for at least one of the at least two discrete positions or locations, preferably for all discrete positions and locations for subdividing at least a portion of the scanned oral cavity into segments. At each such discrete position or location, at least two condition classes may be defined, preferably at least three condition classes may be used (similar to a traffic light system showing a green, yellow or red light). The underlying thresholds or parameters used by the classifier algorithm may be adaptive and thus may change over time and may be different for different users.

[0063] Processor Software: Timing Evaluation

[0064] According to some aspects, the oral scanner system proposed herein is intended for periodically repeating a scanning procedure, such as an optical scanning procedure of at least a portion of the oral cavity of a user or a subject being treated, thereby creating new oral health (sensor) data. The oral scanner system may preferably be constructed and / or arranged to compare newly determined oral health (sensor) data and / or condition category data with previously created oral health (sensor) data and / or condition category data, and to update information about the temporal development of the oral health (sensor) data and condition category data, which may then result in the updated information being fed back to the user. The comparison process may produce comparison data and / or discretely position-resolved or position-resolved comparison data. The processor may include a memory for storing and later accessing previously acquired and currently acquired oral health sensor data and / or position sensor data and any data created by processing such data, such as oral health data and / or condition category data and / or discrete position-resolved or position-resolved oral health sensor data and / or discrete position-resolved or position-resolved condition category data, and may also include comparison data and / or discrete position-resolved or position-resolved comparison data. The stored data associated with a previous scanning procedure is also referred to as historical data. In addition to the data just mentioned, further data may be stored in the memory, such as historical scanning procedure progress data or historical oral care activity data related to previous oral care activity procedures performed by the oral care device, which oral care activity data may have been sent to the processor and stored in the memory. The processor may also use the historical data stored in the memory to adjust the next scanning procedure, such as adjusting at least one scanning procedure parameter and / or adjusting scanning procedure guidance, which scanning procedure guidance includes at least one automatic feedback provided to the user immediately before or during the next scanning procedure. This means that instead of indicating the scanning procedure guidance at the end of the current scanning procedure, the scanning procedure guidance is automatically indicated just before the next scanning procedure, so that the user can basically benefit from such guidance in the scanning procedure that is about to be initiated. The scanning procedure guidance can be determined in a segment-resolved manner (i.e., for each discrete position or location in the oral cavity). Such segment-resolved scanning procedure guidance can then be automatically indicated once the user reaches the corresponding segment.

[0065] monitor

[0066] The oral scanner system may include a display as a feedback element of the feedback unit, preferably a display that allows visual depiction of oral health data and / or condition category data and / or oral scan progress data. The display may be any type of display, such as an LCD, LED, OLED (PMOLED or AMOLED) display. The display may be a monochrome or color display. The display may have any suitable resolution, such as a 96×48 resolution for a display implemented on an oral scanner, or may include a customized illuminable area. Since displays of user devices such as mobile phones, desktop computers, laptops, smart watches, etc. may be used, the corresponding technology and resolution of the displays of these user devices are taken into account. In this case, the App or software running on such a device may provide relevant programming for a general-purpose processor of the user device to at least act as a processor subunit or as a processor according to the present disclosure. The corresponding App or software may also implement any display control required for visualizing information, as discussed herein.

[0067] The present discussion of the display should not exclude that oral health (sensor) data and scanning procedure progress data, etc., are additionally or alternatively fed back to the user by means of other feedback elements of the feedback unit (such as the described multiple separate visual feedback elements and / or audio feedback elements and / or tactile feedback units). As an example, assuming that the oral cavity will be divided into four positions and / or locations for which the scanning procedure will be monitored and for which oral health data will be fed back alternatively or additionally, the scanning procedure progress data can be fed back by using four visual feedback elements, which start from a first color (e.g., dark green) and are controlled to gradually show brighter green until the scanning procedure is considered complete for a given discrete position or location, and the light indicator can then, for example, show a white signal. Each light feedback element can use an RGB LED to achieve this purpose. Similarly, the real-time communication of oral health data related to dental plaque, for example, can also use four visual feedback elements, and start from white to indicate the absence of dental plaque, and gradually change towards red on the scale to communicate the amount of dental plaque detected at the corresponding discrete position or location. Instead of live feedback, oral health data may be fed back to the user only at the end of the scanning procedure to indicate the level of dental plaque identified during the scanning procedure. The classification of oral health data related to dental plaque may then be indicated with a flashing light as a condition category of "critical". One skilled in the art will understand how to modify the number of visual feedback elements, the colors used, and other feedback means such as flashing, intensity changes, etc.

[0068] Display Software

[0069] It is envisaged that the display comprises a display controller that converts oral health (sensor) data (preferably position-resolved or location-resolved oral health (sensor) data) and / or condition category data and / or scanning procedure progress data into a visualization shown on the display, wherein the visualization is referred to as a feedback screen. The feedback screen may comprise at least one element of a graphical user interface. In the present disclosure, the focus is on a feedback screen comprising a visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity, which visualization may be a two-dimensional visualization or a 3D-type visualization, wherein the latter means a visualization that provides a three-dimensional impression on a two-dimensional display. The visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity may comprise a visualization of the dentition (i.e., a visualization of the teeth of the dentition), which may be an abstract visualization or a more realistic visualization. The visualization may be based on a generic model of the dentition, or may take into account individual data from the user, such as missing teeth, etc. An abstract visualization of the complete dentition may comprise a circle or annulus, wherein the top of the circle or annulus visualized on the display may be understood to represent the upper front teeth, and the bottom of the circle or annulus may represent the lower front teeth, while the sides represent the left and right molars, respectively. Instead of a continuous circle or annulus, multiple segments of a circle or annulus may be visualized, for example, an upper approximately 180 degree segment and a lower approximately 180 degree segment may indicate the maxilla and mandible, respectively. Alternatively, four approximately 90 degree segments may be used to display the quadrants of the dentition, as is known to those skilled in the art from visualization on, for example, the Oral-B SmartGuide. In addition, six segments may be used. It is also conceivable that each tooth of a universal or personalized dentition is visualized by a single segment, or any other type of segmentation deemed appropriate by the technician. At least one of the segments may be divided into at least two regions (which may represent inner and outer tooth surfaces), preferably into three regions, which represent inner and outer tooth surfaces (such as buccal and lingual surfaces) and occlusal or chewing surfaces, which may be particularly sensitive for molars and wisdom teeth. This should not exclude any other type of splitting of the segmented visualization. Although the segments are described herein as parts of a circle or annulus, it is also conceivable that the segments may be visualized in different ways. For example, each tooth may be represented by a circle, or a segment representing multiple teeth may be visualized as multiple overlapping circles, wherein the number of circles may correspond to the number of teeth generally represented by the segment, even though this is not to be construed as limiting. The visualization of the dentition may include information as used according to ISO 3950:2016. Some example visualizations are discussed further below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0070] Instead of an abstract visualization, a more realistic depiction of the dentition may be chosen, for example, a permanent dentition of up to 32 teeth for an adult user and a deciduous dentition of up to 24 teeth for a child. As already mentioned, the visualization may be personalized, for example, the user may input personal dental characteristics, such as missing teeth, misaligned teeth, fillings, inlays, crowns, artificial teeth, braces, etc., which may be taken into account in the visualization. As will be further explained below, the user may also be allowed to provide information about the oral health status of at least one surface of a tooth, at least one tooth, a group of teeth or a complete dentition and / or about the gums. For example, the user may provide input about tooth discoloration or braces or cavities, etc., wherein the oral scanner and / or a separate device may provide an interface for inputting information. Instead of manual input, the oral scanner may be constructed and / or arranged to perform a scanning procedure in which information about the oral cavity is obtained in order to personalize the visualization at at least a portion of the oral cavity in an automatic manner. Although the interface mentioned may be implemented as a graphical user interface, this should not exclude that the user may additionally or alternatively provide input via a voice recognition interface and / or a keyboard, etc. The interface may also allow the user to enter personalized information, such as name, email address, etc., and / or may allow the dentist exclusive access to any stored data, wherein the latter may preferably be allowed by remote access, for example from a computer in the dentist's office.

[0071] The above should not exclude visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity also including the tongue, preferably various areas of the tongue, inner cheeks, lips, uvula, pharynx, palate, etc. In some visualizations, at least one of the previously mentioned parts and at least a portion of the dentition are visualized (such as the tongue and the complete dentition).

[0072] This abstract or more realistic visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity provides a map on which further data, such as oral health data or scanning procedure progress data, can be visualized in a manner that a user can relate additional information to a location or position within the oral cavity.

[0073] The visualization mentioned can be used in a variety of feedback applications. For example, visualization can be used to provide feedback about the progress of the scanning procedure in real time (i.e., in a live manner), which means that the discrete position or location at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure and one or more corresponding visualization segments associated with the discrete position or location can then be modified so that the user can understand the progress of the scanning procedure. The visualization segment performing the scanning procedure can be additionally visually highlighted, for example, by a halo or similar visual measure, to allow the user to immediately identify the position at which the oral scanner performs the scan. An example has been discussed in which the coloring of the corresponding segment gradually changes from a first color to a second color (white and black are understood as colors here). Although this example involves a gradual change from one color to another, it should be understood that this is not restrictive. For example, the start color and the end color can be selected to be different for different segments. It is not necessary to have a gradual change. A gradual change or a single-step change from the start color to the end color can also be envisioned. In addition, as a replacement or supplement to the color, the segment may include a start pattern and an end pattern to visualize the scanning progress.

[0074] Interaction with oral care devices

[0075] As already mentioned, the oral scanner system may include an oral care device (such as an electric toothbrush, an electric flossing device or an electric irrigating device, etc.) that is provided to perform oral care activities, such as teeth cleaning, interdental area cleaning, gum massage, etc. The oral care device may preferably be equipped with its own oral care device position sensor (e.g., an IMU sensor) so that its discrete position or location in the oral cavity, at which the oral care activity program, such as brushing or flossing or irrigating, is performed, can be determined independently of the determination of the discrete position or location of the oral scanner. Additionally or alternatively, the discrete position or location of the oral care device performing the oral care activity program may be determined at least in part by using the same position detector used to determine the discrete position or location of the oral scanner (e.g., by the same external camera), i.e., the position sensor of the oral scanner may be a shared position sensor.

[0076] On the one hand, the use of a separate oral scanner to perform an oral scanning procedure and the use of a separate oral care device to perform an oral care activity is an interaction between the oral scanner and the oral care device. For example, the oral scanner can provide control data to be received by the oral care device, which control data will affect the oral care activity as long as the control data triggers at least one oral care instruction or at least the operating parameter is affected by the control data. The control data can specifically cause the instruction or influence to occur in a discrete position resolution or discrete positioning resolution or segmented manner. The separate oral scanner can be used to perform a dedicated scanning procedure that is not affected by any parallel oral care activities, and the oral care device can be used to perform a dedicated oral care activity that is not interfered with by any parallel scanning procedures. The data collected during the oral care activity can also be used to determine the control data that can be transmitted to the oral scanner to affect the next oral scanning procedure, for example, the scan can be limited or focused on the segment that was not properly cared for in the oral care activity. The oral care system including the oral scanner and the oral care device adds benefits to the simple juxtaposition of the two devices.

[0077] The oral care device may comprise a device communicator (such as a receiver or transceiver) for receiving control data from the processor at least via the processor communicator, the control data being specifically for selecting an operating setting from at least two different operating settings of the oral care device, preferably wherein the control data is for selecting an operating setting from at least two different operating settings in a discrete position or location dependent manner, i.e. in a segment resolved manner. Such operating settings may relate to recommended times for performing an oral care activity program in general or at a specific discrete position or location, or may relate to recommended minimum and / or maximum pressure or force values ​​to be applied by the oral care head in general or at a specific discrete position or location, or may relate to feedback provided to a user when a specific discrete position or location is processed in general or at a specific discrete position or location, or may relate to an operating mode to be used in general or at a specific discrete position or location, and wherein the oral care device may then be arranged to automatically switch to that mode as a result of the received control data. The operating mode may preferably be a motion mode of the oral care head driving the oral care device, and may comprise at least one parameter from a list including speed, frequency and amplitude.

[0078] Example Implementation

[0079] Without wishing to be limited, the present disclosure focuses on an oral scanner system comprising an oral scanner, a processor and a position sensor. The oral scanner is constructed and / or arranged to perform a scanning procedure on at least a portion of the oral cavity (such as a portion of the dentition) or the entire dentition and / or more or other portions of the oral cavity (such as the tongue). The position sensor is constructed and / or arranged to acquire and output position sensor data related to a discrete position or location (or: segment) in the oral cavity where the oral scanner performs a scanning procedure at a current moment or has performed a scanning procedure at a given moment, wherein this moment includes a time period required to acquire oral health sensor data and corresponding position data. In the case of an extended time period, a central time can be used as the moment. Therefore, at least a portion of the oral cavity can be divided into at least two discrete positions or locations (or: segments), as discussed. The processor is constructed and / or arranged to determine the discrete positions or locations (or: segments) where the oral scanner is or has performed a scanning procedure, and to determine the progress of the scanning procedure for at least two discrete positions or locations (or: segments), both of which are determined based at least on the position sensor data. This means that the processor is constructed and / or arranged to update the scanning program progress for each of at least two discrete positions or locations, wherein the scanning program progress may not change for discrete positions or locations for which the scanning program is not currently being performed for the oral cavity scanning, even though in the case of, for example, connected discrete positions or locations, the scanning program progress for at least two discrete positions or locations may change at the same moment, wherein it should be understood that if explicitly mentioned, the present disclosure only refers to the connected discrete portions. The discrete positions or locations are generally intended to be non-connected, and a complete set of discrete positions or locations should cover at least a portion of the oral cavity scanned in a gapless manner. An example of a connected segment could be that the upper anterior teeth and the lower anterior teeth are examples of connected segments, for example, they are separately indicated by, for example, a light-emitting display portion or LED. However, the processor may then not be constructed and arranged to distinguish between a scanner position in the upper anterior teeth or the lower anterior teeth, and therefore determining the scanner position as being in a connected anterior teeth segment will increase the scanning progress for both separate segments at the same time. The oral scanner may include at least one oral health sensor constructed and / or arranged to acquire oral health sensor data related to at least one oral health condition during a scanning procedure and output such oral health sensor data for receipt by the processor.

[0080] Depending on the type of scanning procedure, it may be necessary to acquire oral health sensor data from a given segment over a certain period of time, or in the case of a segment of a certain size (such as a segment extending over the buccal surface of the lower right molar), it may be necessary to acquire scanning data (i.e., oral health sensor data) from two or more sub-positions or sub-positions within the segment in order to complete the scanning of at least a portion of the oral cavity at a given discrete position or location (or: segment). This is described in more detail below. Therefore, in some examples, being at a discrete position or location only once may not be sufficient to complete the scanning procedure. It is contemplated herein that the scanning procedure progress is calculated and provided to the user as feedback by a feedback unit during the scanning procedure (e.g., by means of visual feedback elements that can change their individual colors and / or individual patterns and / or by depicting percentage levels assigned to discrete positions or locations (or: segments), etc.). In short, the feedback to be given is a single piece of information for each of these segments, wherein the single piece of information may be provided by a (normalized) number, for example, a percentage score indicating the scanning procedure progress for each of these segments, or a color from a color list indicating the scanning procedure progress for each segment. Instead of numbers or colors, patterns or auditory signals or tactile feedback may be used, wherein it should always be understood that each of the plurality of segments provides an easily understandable message to the user. In particular, the feedback may be live or real-time feedback, meaning feedback provided to the user with only a short time delay so that the user can adjust the scanning motion to achieve a complete scanning progress, i.e. a complete scanning progress at all discrete positions or locations (or: segments). Such a time delay may be about or less than 10 seconds, preferably about or less than 5 seconds, further preferably about or less than 2 seconds, even more preferably about or less than 1 second.

[0081] Examples of position sensors have been discussed. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) comprising an accelerometer and / or a gyroscope located at or within the oral scanner may be envisioned, preferably those implemented as MEMS sensors. Furthermore, it may be mentioned again here that the oral health sensor used to acquire oral health sensor data may also be used as a position sensor at the same time. The image data output by the camera of the oral health sensor may be classified, for example, by a classifier algorithm to determine whether the image data belongs to a discrete position or location (or: segment). As previously discussed, the data from the IMU sensor may be classified in parallel, and the results may be fused (i.e., mathematically combined) to determine the discrete position or location, or the IMU data and the image data or features derived from the IMU data and / or the image data may be input into the classifier algorithm to determine the discrete position or location. It may also be explained that the scanning procedure may be intended to generate oral health sensor data by using an oral health sensor that is constructed and / or arranged to acquire and output oral health sensor data associated with at least one oral health condition (such as dental plaque). The oral health sensor may include an optical sensor, such as an M×N array of photosensitive sensor elements, and may be implemented as a camera for capturing images. While in some cases, the oral health sensor data may already provide a direct understanding of the state of oral health (e.g., refer to the discussion of the malodor sensor above), it is conceivable that the processor may be constructed and / or arranged to process the oral health sensor data to determine oral health data that is a direct measure of the oral condition or allows for a simpler assessment of the oral health condition. For example, where the oral health sensor is a camera, the oral health sensor data is image data, and the processor may process the image data to determine oral health data, which may be related to dental plaque and / or caries lesions and / or missing or discolored teeth visible in the image, etc. Refer to the oral condition list discussed previously. The processor may also be arranged to classify the oral health sensor data and / or oral health data with respect to at least two condition categories, that is, the processor is constructed and / or arranged to determine condition classification data. The oral health data and classification results may be determined specifically for at least two of the at least two discrete positions or locations (or: segments), which should not exclude also determining a more comprehensive oral health condition covering at least two positions and / or locations and / or at least two oral health conditions. Furthermore, the feedback unit may be constructed and / or arranged to provide feedback on the oral health data and / or condition classification data during and / or at the end of the scanning procedure. The feedback unit may include at least one feedback element for visual, auditory and / or tactile or haptic feedback related to the progress of the scanning procedure, the oral health data and / or the condition classification data, in particular when such feedback is provided as position-resolved or position-resolved feedback.As mentioned, the current focus is on feedback provided during the scanning procedure regarding scanning procedure feedback to continuously guide the user to achieve a complete scanning procedure in a minimum time period, since by providing progress information in an easily understandable manner, the user can simply scan those segments that need further scanning and skip segments that have already been completely scanned. By means of easily understandable information, use at home is particularly enabled for lay users. Feedback provided in a manner where the user needs to perform his own interpretation or analysis etc. is less suitable for achieving this goal. The feedback unit may comprise at least two visual feedback elements for feedback of position resolution or positioning resolution feedback. The feedback unit may specifically comprise a display, and the processor may be constructed and / or arranged to provide feedback by means of a graphical user interface.

[0082] The feedback unit may be provided by a separate device, such as a dedicated device (e.g., a charger with a display), a computer, a notebook, a laptop, a tablet, a smart phone or a smart watch, etc. The processor may be provided at least in part by a separate device. It is conceivable that the separate units or devices as discussed herein can communicate wirelessly. For example, each of these units or devices may include a dedicated communicator for establishing at least one-way or two-way wireless communication. As discussed, the feedback unit may provide an abstract or more realistic visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity that should be scanned, such as a depiction of the dentition as an example. The visualization of the dentition may be superimposed with a visualization of scanning procedure progress data, oral health data, and / or condition classification data. The term "superimposition" should be understood to mean that a two-dimensional image can be displayed, which is based on the depiction of the dentition and may include further information of the additional depiction and / or further information such as the coloring or pattern of at least a portion of the depiction of the dentition. The two-dimensional image may include elements of a graphical user interface.

[0083] It has been mentioned that the scanning procedure progress is determined by the processor for at least two discrete positions or locations (or: segments), whereby the processor determines the scanning procedure progress data. The scanning procedure progress may depend on at least one of the following: the duration of the scanning procedure at the respective discrete positions or locations (or: segments); the quality of the movement derived from the position sensor data at the respective discrete positions or locations, such as length, speed, acceleration or direction; the number of oral health sensor data acquisitions, preferably image data acquisitions of a camera, preferably of non-overlapping or only partially overlapping content at the respective discrete positions or locations; the number of sub-positions or sub-locations determined based on the position sensor data at the respective discrete positions or locations; or a quality assessment of the oral health sensor data, preferably image data of a camera, at the respective discrete positions or locations.

[0084] Provides some more detailed explanation of the above possibilities:

[0085] (a) In some cases, it may be desirable to acquire oral health sensor data multiple times at the same discrete position or location so that the oral health sensor data can be averaged to achieve greater reliability. The processor may then be constructed and / or arranged to determine the scanning procedure progress by the number of oral health data acquisitions per discrete position or location (or: segment) and / or by the length of presence at a given discrete position or location (or: segment).

[0086] (b) The position sensor data may be used by the processor to determine a discrete position or location (or: segment) at which the scanner performs a scanning procedure. However, while the discrete position or location determined by the processor may be the same at several moments, the oral scanner is typically moving. The processor may use the position sensor data to determine the length of movement during the time that the oral scanner is determined to be in a discrete position or location. This may be accomplished by double integration of the acceleration data of the accelerometer. For example, if the buccal surface of the upper left molar may be approximately 3 cm in length, the processor may determine whether the movement in one direction in this segment may be close to 3 cm or above 3 cm, and may then determine that the scanning procedure is completed for that discrete position or location. If the length of movement in a direction that may be consistent with the extension direction of the molar (e.g., perpendicular to the earth's gravitational field) is determined to be 2 cm, the processor may provide feedback that approximately two-thirds or 66% of the scanning procedure has been achieved.

[0087] (c) Although the processor may be constructed and / or arranged to provide discrete positions or locations only at the level of oral segments of a certain size, for example for reliability reasons, the inherent resolution of the position determination may be higher and the processor may check whether each sub-position within a given segment to be determined and feedback provided has been visited by the oral scanner in order to determine the scanning procedure progress. This means that at a computational level, the discrete positions or locations may be determined with the resolution of each tooth surface, while feedback is only provided for segments comprising groups of tooth surfaces and / or groups of teeth, etc.

[0088] (d) The processor may use a camera (such as a camera implementing an oral health sensor) as an additional source, for example in addition to an accelerometer or gyroscope. The processor may be constructed and / or arranged to identify teeth on the image data and / or stitch together images from subsequent time instances acquired at different sub-positions within the same discrete position or location (or: segment) so that the image creates a panoramic image. The length of the imaged tooth at a given discrete position or location can then be determined based on the average size of the teeth at the given discrete position or location or based on an assumed size of the imaging area per pixel (e.g., assuming a certain focal length is used), which can be confirmed by checking the image quality (particularly the clarity of the image). An image stitching method is also described in a co-pending patent application with international patent application number PCT / CN2022 / 082673, which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0089] (e) Where the oral health sensor is a camera, the scanning procedure progress may depend on the quality of the image. The processor may be constructed or arranged to determine the image quality (e.g., clarity), and the scanning procedure progress may depend on the number of images acquired at a certain image quality.

[0090] Generally speaking, the processor may be constructed and / or arranged to also use the scan time per discrete position or location and / or the total scan time and to increase the scanning procedure progress if the time per discrete position or location or the total scan is above a certain threshold.

[0091] The oral scanner system may be constructed and / or arranged to provide additional feedback to the user or perform an action if the scanning procedure progress reaches a certain progress level value for a given discrete position or location or if a predetermined progress level value is achieved for all discrete positions or locations. Such an action may be a cessation of scanning activity and / or an indication that the entire scanning procedure has ended. The user may also receive specific feedback that a certain discrete position or location requires further scanning activity, such as an additional visually perceptible highlighting of the visually depicted discrete position or location, or an auditory message such as a voice message or tactile feedback, for example, the oral scanner may vibrate at a discrete position or location that has been sufficiently scanned, etc.

[0092] The processor may include a memory for storing data related to a scanning procedure or an oral care activity performed by an oral care device, such as oral health (sensor) data and / or position data and / or oral care activity data, preferably in a discrete position resolution or discrete location resolution manner (i.e., in a segment resolution manner), the oral care device being communicatively coupled to the processor and accessing such data from at least one previous scanning procedure or one previous oral care activity during or before a current scanning procedure. Based on such stored data from previous scanning procedures and / or oral care activities, the processor may provide personalized feedback and guidance to the user, or the processor may adjust a next or ongoing scanning procedure based on such stored data. For example, the processor may skip certain discrete positions or locations (i.e., segments) in the visualization of the progress of the current scanning procedure and / or may highlight specific discrete positions or locations in the feedback that require more attention than other discrete positions or locations. This may be the case if a previous condition classification associated with the discrete position or location indicates a more severe oral health condition than other discrete positions or locations, or if only an incomplete oral care activity was previously performed at a specific discrete position or location (which indicates that the oral health at that discrete position or location may require special attention).

[0093] According to one aspect, the focus of the present disclosure is an oral scanner system comprising an oral scanner, a processor and a position sensor implemented as an accelerometer and / or a gyroscope, and further comprising an oral health sensor comprising a camera arranged to acquire image data from the oral cavity, and the processor is then constructed and / or arranged to determine optical scanning procedure progress values ​​for at least two discrete positions or locations or segments and provide corresponding segmented feedback to a user via a feedback unit. All that has been said with respect to the previous aspect shall also be deemed to be said with respect to this aspect.

[0094] Discussion of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings

[0095] Figure 1is a schematic depiction of an example oral scanner system 1 according to the present disclosure. The oral scanner system 1 includes an example oral scanner 100 and a processor 200, which is constructed and arranged only for performing an oral scanning procedure without any oral care activity, wherein the processor 200 is disposed at or inside the oral scanner 100 in this example. The oral scanner 100 includes a handle portion 101 and a head portion 102. An oral health sensor 110 is disposed in or at the oral scanner 100. In general, two or more different oral health sensors may be used and thus these oral health sensors may be disposed in or at the oral scanner 100. In the example shown, at least one measurement inlet (such as a light inlet) cooperating with the oral health sensor 110 is disposed at the head portion 102, so that oral health data based on light measurements of the oral health sensor 110 can be acquired at the head portion 102. The head portion 102 here comprises a flat transparent window 1021 surrounded by a frame structure 1022, which frame structure can be arranged and / or configured to receive a preferably detachable attachment (see Figure 2). The size of the head portion 102 is set so that it can be conveniently introduced into the oral cavity of a human or animal. The size of the handle portion 101 is set so that it can be conveniently grasped by the hand of a human user. The handle portion 101 and the head portion 102 are separable from each other. In some embodiments, the handle portion 101 can be equipped with different replaceable head portions, such as a brush head portion, etc. in addition to the oral scanner head portion. The handle portion 101 may include at least one user-operable input element 103, such as an on / off button and / or a selector button or switch. The oral scanner 100 has a housing 104, which is preferably hollow to accommodate various internal components, such as a preferably rechargeable energy source and an associated charging circuit for preferably wireless charging of the energy source, a circuit board including various electronic components for control of the oral scanner, etc. Generally speaking, the oral scanner 100 is constructed and / or arranged to perform a scanning procedure on at least a portion of the oral cavity of the subject, that is, when the user holds the oral scanner 100 and moves the oral scanner, the oral scanner acquires oral health sensor data and determines the progress of the scan, and preferably analyzes the acquired oral health sensor data with respect to at least one oral health condition. Although this is understood to be non-restrictive, the processor 200 may be disposed on the circuit board. The processor 200 is coupled or connected to the oral health sensor 110 for receiving signals from the oral health sensor 110, that is, for receiving oral health sensor data at the processor 200. The processor 200 may be constructed and / or arranged to process the oral health sensor data to derive or determine oral health data associated with at least one oral health condition (such as dental plaque). In some embodiments, the oral health sensor may output oral health sensor data as a direct measure of the relevant oral health condition, so that only limited processing (if any) of the oral health sensor data may be required, for example, calculation of some reduction or normalization value to an integer, etc. The processor 200 may also be constructed and / or arranged to classify the oral health (sensor) data into at least two condition categories associated with at least one oral health condition, for example classification into a "no oral health problem" category (or "green" category) and classification into an "oral health problem" category (or "red" category), which may be done based on a comparison with at least one threshold value. Reference is made to the corresponding previous paragraphs, where the classification is explained in more detail. Classification may also be performed with respect to at least three categories, for example, in addition to the "green" category, a "low concern" ("orange") category and a "high concern" ("red") category may result from the classification process. It is again noted that a major aspect of the present application is that a simple feedback (e.g., a single value or a single color or a single pattern, etc.) is provided to the user by the feedback unit for each of the segments (discrete positions or locations) being scanned.This provision of simple feedback requires some processing of the oral health sensor data and / or the position sensor data to determine the simple feedback (value) for each segment. The simple feedback can be a number or a color, etc. In some embodiments, the indicated color can be changed in a substantially step-free manner to convey feedback, while in some embodiments, the feedback can be limited to a binary or ternary feedback space provided, for example, by two numbers (such as 0 and 1) or three numbers (such as 0 and 1 and 2) or by three colors (such as green, yellow and red).

[0096] As already explained and as will be referred to Figure 3 As further explained, the oral scanner system 1 may additionally include at least one position sensor coupled or connected to the processor 200, such that the processor 200 receives signals from the position sensor in operation, the signals conveying position sensor data, from which the processor 200 may determine a discrete position or location at which the oral scanner is currently performing a scanning procedure or has performed a scanning procedure in the oral cavity at a given moment. As previously defined, a discrete position or discrete location refers to a segment of at least a portion of the oral cavity being scanned, such that multiple segments cover the portion of the oral cavity being scanned in a gapless manner and without overlap. Time data related to the absolute or relative time at which the data was acquired may be part of the position sensor data, and may also be part of the previously mentioned oral health sensor data. The determination of the discrete position or location allows the processor 200 to calculate oral health data related to at least one oral health condition, and / or to classify the oral health sensor data and / or oral health data into at least two oral health condition categories (i.e., for each of the mentioned segments) in a discrete position or location resolved manner. Due to the design of the oral scanner system, oral health sensor data and position sensor data acquired at substantially the same time may be delivered to the processor 200 together, or the processor may be constructed and / or arranged to assign oral health sensor data and position data having the same time information ("timestamp") or the best fit (i.e., the closest lying time information (timestamp)) to each other. Note that, although the provision of position sensor data and / or oral health sensor data may be performed in real time, it is also possible to store the corresponding data for a certain period of time (preferably together with the time information) and may be sent to the processor at a later time, for example, data may be transmitted once every 10 seconds, or after the scanning procedure is stopped or completed. The term "position sensor" shall include implementations using two different position sensors that implement the "position sensor" together (e.g., an IMU and a separate camera provided at the oral scanner).

[0097] The oral scanner system 1 may comprise a feedback unit 120 for providing user-perceptible feedback, in particular feedback consisting of or at least comprising processed information for each segment, i.e., individual feedback in the form of a color or an individual value for each of the segments / discrete positions or locations. For example, Figure 1 As exemplarily shown in FIG. 1 , the oral scanner 100 may include a visual feedback unit 121 (as a part of the feedback unit 120 ) for providing visual feedback. Figure 1 In the embodiment of the present invention, the visual feedback unit 121 includes four quarter-annular light areas 1211, 1212, 1213, 1214, which are arranged to form an annulus, which can be understood as representing the four quadrants of the dentition. By illuminating the light areas 1211, 1212, 1213, 1214 with different colors and / or light with different intensity characteristics, user-perceivable feedback (e.g., provided live during the scanning procedure) can be provided so that the user can understand the progress of the scanning procedure in a discrete position or position-resolved manner. Additionally or alternatively, the four light areas 1211, 1212, 1213, 1214 can be used to indicate the severity of the oral health condition in a discrete position or position-resolved manner during the scanning procedure or at the end of the scanning procedure, for example by illuminating the corresponding light areas with a specific color and / or by applying an intensity variation pattern. These are only examples, and instead of four light areas, the oral scanner 100 may include two or three or five or six or sixteen or thirty-two, etc. The light area and / or the oral scanner system 1 may include a display to visualize user-perceivable feedback in an even more general manner, for example, a value such as a percentage per segment may be displayed. Reference is made to the previous paragraph relating to visualization of feedback. The oral scanner 100 may additionally or alternatively include one or more other feedback elements 122 as part of the feedback unit 120, such as a light ring at the bottom of the oral scanner 100 for communicating that the oral scanner 100 is turned on or that the energy storage needs to be charged, etc., one or more tactile or haptic feedback elements and / or one or more auditory feedback elements. In general, the processor 200 may be coupled or connected to a memory for storing oral health sensor data and / or oral health data and / or scanning process data and / or condition classification data and / or oral care activity data, wherein the stored data may be stored in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner, and in particular there may be current and historical stored data, wherein "history" herein relates to previous scanning procedures or oral care activities. The oral care activity data relates to oral care activity procedures performed with the oral care device, and the data is transmitted to the processor. With respect to Figure 1All aspects of the description of this embodiment indicated in should also be understood to be provided for all other embodiments in the present disclosure without repeating the same text, as long as the various aspects do not conflict with another embodiment.

[0098] Figure 2 is a schematic depiction of another example oral scanner system 1A according to the present disclosure. The oral scanner system 1A here includes an example oral scanner 100A and an example separate device 300A, which includes a processor 200A and a display 310A as part of a feedback unit for visualizing user-perceivable feedback (again, refer to the previous paragraphs providing details on visualization and to the following reference to Figures 5 to 7 Further described disclosure). The oral scanner 100A may include a scanner communicator 140A, and the separate device 300A may include a separate device communicator 340A, so that the oral scanner 100A and the separate device 300A can communicate wirelessly (e.g., via the Bluetooth protocol or the IEEE 820.11 protocol, etc.), that is, signals for conveying data can be exchanged. The possibility of wireless communication is indicated here and in the following figures by an icon comprising a small circle and three concentric circle segments, as a common standard for indicating a Wi-Fi connection feature. This should not exclude a permanent or temporary additional or alternative wired direct or indirect connection for exchanging signals or communications via another device (e.g., a charger or router or a cloud computing device, etc.). The separate device 300A is schematically indicated here as a mobile phone, although this should not be understood as a limitation. Reference is made to the possibility of implementing the separate device described in the previous paragraphs. In Figure 2 In it may be indicated that an oral health sensor 110A is disposed in or at the oral scanner 100A for acquiring oral health sensor data at a head portion 102A of the oral scanner 100A. As indicated, the oral health sensor 110A may include a sensor receiver 111A (e.g., an optical sensor such as a camera) and a sensor transmitter 112A (such as a light transmitter). A preferably detachable attachment 105A is attached to the head portion 102A here, which attachment may preferably be implemented as a distance attachment. Reference is made to the previous paragraphs relating to the attachment of the oral scanner. Instead of the sensor transmitter 112A being arranged directly at the head portion 102A, the head portion 102A may include an outlet in communication with the sensor transmitter 112A, such that the emitted medium may leave the head portion 102A at a desired location, and the sensor transmitter 112A itself may be disposed elsewhere in the oral scanner 100A. Likewise, an inlet may be provided at the head portion 102A, which may communicate with the sensor receiver 111A so that the medium to be measured may enter the head portion 102A at a desired location, and the sensor receiver 111A may be provided elsewhere in the oral scanner 100A.

[0099] Regardless of whether the feedback unit is at least partially provided at the oral scanner and / or at a separate device, the feedback discussed herein is intended to allow the user to respond to the feedback and thereby optimize the use of the oral scanner system. The use of the oral scanner system accordingly focuses on the use of the oral scanner system during a single scanning procedure on the one hand, and on the long-term use of the oral scanner system in various situations of procedures to be performed with the components of the oral scanner system (e.g., including the oral scanner and optionally an oral care device for providing oral care activities) on the other hand.

[0100] Figure 3 is a schematic depiction of an example oral scanner system 1B according to the present disclosure, the example oral scanner system comprising an oral scanner 100B, a separate device 300B (including a display 310B (as part of a feedback unit) and a processor 200B), position sensors 400B, 410B (including a first position sensor 400B and a second position sensor 410B, respectively), and is constructed and / or arranged to use position sensor data output by the position sensors 400B, 410B to determine a discrete position or location in the oral cavity 500B where the oral scanner 100B is currently performing a scanning procedure or has performed a scanning procedure at a given moment, wherein the moment can be derived from a time value output by the position sensors 400B, 410B and the related position sensor data, or a clock can be used for an absolute time value. As previously discussed, the position sensors 400B, 410B in this example include two position sensors, one disposed in or at the oral scanner 100B, and one separate from the oral scanner 100B.

[0101] Figure 3The oral cavity 500B shown includes (but not desirably complete) a dentition 510B, gums 520B, a tongue 530B, an uvula 540B, lips 550B, inner cheeks 560B, and a palate 570B. For simplicity, only the dentition 510B will be discussed further, even though all other regions in the oral cavity 500B may also be considered. For this exemplary discussion, the dentition 510B is virtually divided into four quadrants 511B, 512B, 513B, 514B, which are considered to be different segments of the oral cavity 500B where the oral scanner 100B may perform a scanning procedure. It should be understood that the segment defined in the oral cavity 500B need not cover the entire dentition 510B, but may only cover a portion thereof, which is then the portion of the oral cavity intended to be scanned. The first position sensor 400B is disposed at or in the oral scanner 100B, and may be implemented as an accelerometer and / or a gyroscope and / or a magnetometer (generally, implemented as an IMU). As already described, the position sensor data and the oral health sensor data may be wirelessly transmitted to and received by the processor 200B via the processor communicator, and the processor 200B may be constructed and / or arranged to determine a discrete position or location (i.e., a segment from the list of segments to be scanned) at which the oral scanner 100B is currently performing a scanning procedure based on the position sensor data, or at which the oral scanner 100B has performed a scanning procedure at a given moment based on the position sensor data, which may include timer data. In this example, the processor 200B may output one of the four dentition quadrants 511B, 512B, 513B, 514B as a scan segment, i.e., as a discrete position or location currently scanned. The processor 200B may preferably be constructed and / or arranged to also output that no scanning is currently occurring in any of the defined discrete positions or locations. For example, in the case where the oral scanner 100B is being moved outside the oral cavity 500B or across the tongue 530B, the processor may output that the scanning procedure does not occur at the discrete position or location being used, or the processor 200B may explicitly indicate that the oral scanner 200B is outside the discrete position or location being used. The processor 200B may also be constructed and / or arranged to calculate oral health data from the oral health sensor data in a position-resolved or location-resolved (i.e., segment-resolved) manner (i.e., by assigning the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data derived therefrom to the determined discrete position or location (or: segment)). Reference is made to the previous paragraphs disclosing the details of the discrete position or location determination and how the oral health data is assigned to the discrete position or location. In some embodiments, the processor 200B determines the orientation of the oral scanner 100B relative to the earth's gravitational field and determines the discrete position or location (or: segment) by sorting the orientation values ​​into predetermined discrete position or location (or: segment) buckets, as known in the art.

[0102] Additionally or alternatively, a second position sensor 410B may be utilized, which in this example is a separate camera that captures images from the outside or inside of the oral cavity 500B, wherein the images are understood as position sensor data delivered by the camera 410B. Based on the images alone and / or based on data fusion with position sensor data from the first position sensor 400B, a discrete position or location (or: segment) in the oral cavity 500B may be determined by the processor 200B, wherein the discrete position or location here relates to one of the indicated dentition quadrants 511B, 512B, 513B, 514B. Indicating an external camera here should not exclude the alternative or additional use of a camera as a position sensor, which is provided at the head portion or at the handle portion of the oral scanner 100B, so that images from the inside of the oral cavity 500B or images from the user's face, respectively, may be captured to support the determination of discrete positions or locations (or segments). According to some aspects throughout the specification, a camera used as an oral health sensor may additionally be used as a position sensor, see for example the reference made to EP 2189198 B1 in the previous paragraph.A scanning procedure performed with an oral health sensor comprising an optical sensor such as a camera is referred to as an optical scanning procedure.

[0103] Figure 4is a schematic depiction of an example oral scanner system 1C according to the present disclosure, which specifically includes an oral care device 700C, even though several aspects of the oral scanner system 1C are independent of the existence of the oral care device 700C. The oral scanner system 1C may include or interact with an oral scanner 100C, a separate device 300C (including a display 721C), the mentioned oral care device 700C (illustrated here as an electric toothbrush), a charger 710C, a base station 720C (including a display 310C and a charger 722C), a router 730C, a computer 740C, and a cloud server or cloud computing device 750C. The various components of the oral care system 1C may preferably all be constructed and / or arranged for wireless communication, as indicated by the previously mentioned icons. It should be understood that the components of the oral scanner system 1C shown here are optional components. For example, the oral scanner system 1C may include only one charger or no charger at all, or may actually include two chargers, one for the oral scanner 100C and one for the oral care device 700C, and possibly an additional charger for the separate device 300C. As explained in the previous paragraphs, the processor of the oral scanner system 1C may be implemented as a distributed processor, and the first processor subunit may be provided in the oral scanner 100C and the second processor subunit may be provided by the cloud computing device 750C, or the first processor subunit may be provided by the separate device 300C and the second processor subunit may be provided by the computer 740C. Reference is made to the previous discussion on how the oral care device 700C may be incorporated into the oral scanner system 1C and at least one operating setting of the oral care device 700C may be selected based on control data determined by the processor and / or the oral care device 700C may be constructed and / or arranged to transmit oral care activity data related to at least one oral care activity performed with the oral care device 700C to the processor, wherein the oral care activity data may be used to adjust the next scanning procedure. Data from one component may be transmitted directly to another component (e.g., from the oral care device 700C to the oral scanner 100C), or may be transmitted indirectly (e.g., from the oral care device 700C to the cloud server 750C), where the data may be stored in a memory and then transmitted, for example, from the cloud server 750C to a processor, which may be located in or at the separate device 300C and / or in or at the oral scanner 100C, as needed. The memory mentioned may be memory located in any of the mentioned components, or may be distributed memory.

[0104] Figure 5is a depiction of an example feedback screen 600D as may be visualized on a display of an oral scanner system. The term feedback screen refers herein to the visualization of user feedback via the display using specific feedback concepts within a continuous guidance provided to the user by the oral scanner system. The feedback screen is preferably used to assist the user in performing tasks using the oral scanner system via a continuous or guided human-computer interaction process, which should not exclude that the feedback screen additionally visualizes information such as the current time, etc. It should be understood that the various aspects of the feedback screen shown herein should not be construed as necessarily being disclosed together, but rather different feedback screen aspects may be assembled in any manner and the examples provided in the images are merely exemplary. In Figure 5 , the feedback screen 600D includes a first portion 610D and a second portion 620D. On the first portion, a live image or a saved image 611D from a camera on a head portion of an oral scanner of an oral scanner system is shown. The camera may be comprised of an oral health sensor. The live image may include unprocessed or processed image data related to an oral health condition, such as unprocessed or processed image data related to dental plaque image data visible as red fluorescence. The processor may be constructed and / or arranged to analyze the image data and may determine a boundary line within the image or a portion of the image where relevant oral health sensor data is located, and a corresponding indication 612D may be superimposed on the live image 611D and may also be visualized as part of the live or saved image. The indication 612D is Figure 5 , the indication is superimposed onto the visualized image data 611D and will provide a visible reference to the tooth areas visible on the image covered with dental plaque. It is noted that the indication 612D is derived from the camera data, in particular from the imaging fluorescence camera data, wherein the indication 612D shows the area on the currently scanned teeth (live image) or on a saved image (for example, because it shows the teeth with the most severe problems) where the scanned oral health problems, such as dental plaque, were found. Although the indication 612D is the result of processing the optical oral health data captured by the camera, the indication itself is meaningless if the indication 612D is not superimposed onto the image of the corresponding part of the mouth to which it relates. Only by further processing (such as calculating the normalized area related to the dental plaque within a given segment (discrete position or location) relative to the total tooth area) can an easily understandable single value for each segment be displayed to the user.

[0105] In the example shown, the second portion 620D of the feedback screen 600D includes an abstract visualization of a human dentition 621D. In the example shown, the abstract visualization of a human dentition 621D includes six segments (reflecting the scanned segments or discrete positions / locations) 622D, 623D, 624D, 625D, 626D, and 627D, which are generally arranged in a manner similar to an elliptical arrangement, with a certain distance between two adjacent segments. Each of the segments 622D, 623D, 624D, 625D, 626D, and 627D includes a plurality of overlapping circles or bubbles, which are understood to be non-limiting examples of visualization possibilities. The top three segments 622D, 623D, 624D should indicate the teeth of the maxilla, and the lower three segments 625D, 626D, 627D should indicate the teeth of the mandible. The top segment 623D and the bottom segment 626D shall represent locations in the dentition associated with the upper and lower anterior teeth, respectively, the left segments 622D and 627D shall represent locations in the dentition associated with the upper left molar and lower left molar, respectively, and the right segments 624D and 625D shall represent locations in the dentition associated with the upper right molar and lower right molar, respectively. Figure 6 Segment 625E, as another example), may indicate that the abstract segment shown may be visually divided into two or three or even more subdivisions (segments), which may then relate to different discrete locations or positions of the dentition. These subdivisions may be used to visually distinguish, for example, different teeth or groups of teeth associated with a higher stage or different tooth surfaces or groups of tooth surfaces associated with a higher stage. Segment 622D (and Figure 6 The segment 625E in FIG. 6 is divided into three regions 6221D, 6222D, 6223D, wherein the side regions 6221D and 6223D will represent the buccal and lingual surfaces of the molars of the segment 622D, respectively, and the center region 6222D will represent the chewing or occlusal surfaces of the molars of the segment 622D. Such a portion of the feedback screen, whether as only a portion of the entire feedback screen or as substantially the only portion of the feedback screen, can be used to provide live or summarized feedback to the user. Figure 5A feedback screen is shown as it may be seen by a user during a live scanning procedure. Segments 622D, 623D, 624D, 625D, 626D and 627D may be used to indicate position-resolved or location-resolved scanning procedure progress and / or the severity of an oral health condition, such as the total or normalized tooth area within the segment on which plaque, etc., is determined. Note again that the segments or subdivisions of segments shown on the feedback screen relate to discrete locations or locations in the oral cavity. As already discussed in the previous paragraphs, the scanning procedure progress may be visualized by first showing all segments and all segment subdivisions (if these are used with a base color or starting color (e.g., dark blue) or a starting pattern, etc.) and then gradually or stepwise changing the color or pattern, etc. towards a different color or pattern (e.g., towards a lighter blue and finally towards white) to indicate the scanning procedure progress for the respective segments (i.e., for the respective discrete locations or locations). While it may be preferred to use more than two colors or patterns in each segment or subdivision of the pattern to indicate the level of scanning procedure progress or the severity of an oral health condition, the use of only two colors or patterns, etc. should not be excluded. In Figure 5 In , shades of varying intensity are used instead of colors. The severity of the detected oral health condition is determined based on discrete location or position-resolved oral health (sensor) data and can be visualized by adding patterns of varying intensity in the colors. Figure 5 In the scale, additional points are used to indicate the severity of oral health conditions.

[0106] Figure 6 is a depiction of an example feedback screen 600E as may be visualized on a display of an intraoral scanner system. The feedback screen 600E includes information such as that shown with respect to Figure 5 The feedback screen 600E is an abstract visualization of substantially the same dentition 621E as explained above, and reference is made to the corresponding description. Abstract segments 622E, 623E, 624E, 625E, 626E, and 627E are shown. The feedback screen 600E may be understood as a summary screen in which the severity of the detected oral health condition (e.g., dental plaque) is indicated by different colors or patterns, etc., in a discrete or positionally resolved manner (in Figure 6 In this embodiment, as compared to Figure 5 The basic feedback concept discussed is used to indicate the live status of oral health status in each of these segments or the final status of oral health status at the end of the scanning procedure, rather than for Figure 5 The live or final scan progress in question. Additional patterns or structures may be applied to indicate additional feedback, for example, the presence of another oral health condition such as tartar (i.e., old dental plaque), where the intensity of the pattern or number of additional structures may indicate the severity of the additional oral health condition. Figure 6600E. In addition, the feedback screen 600E includes a visualization of changes over time associated with the severity of at least one oral health condition (e.g., dental plaque). Such visual feedback may indicate the severity of the oral health condition as determined in the most recent scanning procedure in an appropriate manner, as well as a change indicator that provides feedback regarding the change in severity compared to at least one previous scanning procedure. Figure 6 The bar indicator shown with the time-varying arrow is only one example of such a visualization of comparative data (i.e., comparative data related to the comparison of current data with stored historical data). The bar indicator shown includes a bar indicating an oral health condition, wherein the bottom here does not involve problems and the top involves a condition of concern, wherein the first number (here 75) indicates a normalized oral health condition score (here the normalization may involve a range between 0 and 100), and the second number (here 8) indicates a time change relative to a previous (i.e., historical scanning procedure). The reference guide 630E can be visualized so as to allow mapping of colors or symbols or patterns, etc. to the severity of the oral health condition, wherein the severity as indicated in the reference guide 630E may be consistent with the condition category into which the oral health data is classified, wherein three condition categories are used in the example shown, namely "low", "medium" and "high". In this example, information related to the comparison of historical data is shown as a global indicator for the complete portion of the mouth being scanned. In contrast, it is conceivable that a feedback screen could be shown in which temporal variation is indicated in a segment-resolved manner, e.g., the color and / or assigned value of each segment could be used to indicate better or worse temporal variation for each segment (i.e., for each discrete position or location).

[0107] Figure 7 is a depiction of an example stand-alone device 300F that is part of an intraoral scanner system and includes a display 310F on which an example feedback screen 600F is visualized. Again, as Figure 5 and Figure 6, as in . In addition to the segments of the dentition, locations 640F associated with segments of the gingiva are indicated at which oral health conditions of a certain severity are detected (i.e., where analysis of the oral health sensor data results in an oral health condition being above a threshold), for example, where inflammation of the gingiva is detected based on analysis of image data created, for example, by a camera of a sensor receiver serving as an oral health sensor. The feedback screen 600F provides an example of a visualization to provide feedback on various oral health conditions categorized into different condition categories. A reference guide 630F may be visualized allowing colors or symbols or patterns, etc. to be mapped to types of oral health conditions and their classification. Visual markers 640F, 641F may be superimposed on the abstract visualization 621F of the dentition to provide feedback on further oral health conditions (e.g., cavities, etc.). The size of such a marker 641F may be related to the severity, and therefore to the condition category. As Figure 7 As indicated in , individual discrete positions or locations may be displayed in an even more resolved manner, for example, resolved at the level of individual teeth.

[0108] The dimensions and values ​​disclosed herein should not be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values ​​cited. Instead, unless otherwise indicated, each such dimension is intended to represent the stated value and a functionally equivalent range around that value. For example, a dimension disclosed as "40 mm" is intended to mean "about 40 mm".

Claims

1. An oral scanner system, comprising: an intraoral scanner constructed and / or arranged to perform a scanning procedure on at least a portion of an oral cavity of a subject; a position detector constructed and / or arranged to output position sensor data associated with a discrete position or location at which the intraoral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure; A processor constructed and / or arranged to receiving at least said position sensor data, processing the position sensor data to determine a scanned discrete position or location within the at least a portion of the oral cavity at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure, and calculating, based at least on the determined scanning position or location at which the intraoral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure, a scanning procedure progress value for each of at least two discrete positions or locations, the scanning procedure progress value being within a range between a start progress value and an end progress value; and A feedback unit constructed and / or arranged to provide feedback on the progress of the scanning procedure for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations during the scanning procedure, preferably as live or real-time feedback, preferably by indicating the calculated scanning procedure progress value as a single numerical value such as a percentage of each of the at least two discrete positions or locations.

2. The oral scanner system according to claim 1, wherein: The position sensor comprises at least one from the list consisting of an accelerometer and a gyroscope, preferably wherein the accelerometer or gyroscope is implemented as a MEMS sensor.

3. An oral scanner system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the oral scanner includes an oral health sensor, which is constructed and / or arranged to acquire and output oral health sensor data from at least the portion of the oral cavity during the scanning procedure.

4. The oral scanner system according to claim 3, wherein: The oral health sensor comprises an optical sensor, preferably an M by N array of light-sensitive sensor elements.

5. The oral scanner system according to claim 4, wherein: The optical sensor is a camera.

6. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein: The processor is constructed and / or arranged to determine oral health data associated with at least one oral health condition based on the oral health sensor data.

7. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The processor is constructed and / or arranged to processing the oral health sensor data to determine oral health data associated with the at least one oral health condition, and classifying the oral health data with respect to at least two condition categories associated with the at least one oral health condition and determining a condition category from among the at least two condition categories to which the oral health data belongs, Alternatively, the oral health sensor data may be classified with respect to the at least two condition categories associated with the at least one oral health condition and a condition category may be determined from the at least two condition categories to which the oral health sensor data belongs.

8. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The feedback unit comprises at least one visual feedback element for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations, and wherein the feedback unit is constructed and arranged to visually indicate the scanning procedure progress for the at least two discrete positions or locations via the at least two visual feedback elements, preferably wherein the feedback unit comprises the display unit implementing the at least two visual feedback elements.

9. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: The feedback unit is implemented as or by a separate device, preferably wherein the separate device is a computer, a notebook, a laptop, a tablet, a smart phone or a smart watch.

10. The oral scanner system according to claim 9, wherein: The processor is located at least partially at or within the separate device.

11. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 9 or 10, wherein: The oral scanner includes a scanner communicator, and the separate device includes a separate device communicator, and the processor and the separate device communicator are constructed and / or arranged for wireless communication.

12. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein: The feedback unit is constructed and arranged to visualize a generic depiction of the at least a portion of the oral cavity, preferably including at least a generic visualization of the dentition, and wherein the scanning procedure progress values ​​for the at least two discrete positions or locations are additionally visualized, preferably wherein the visualization of the scanning procedure progress values ​​are superimposed on the depiction of the dentition or wherein the depiction of the dentition is modified based on the scanning procedure progress values.

13. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein: The processor is constructed and / or arranged to stop the scanning procedure if the scanning procedure progress value for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations is above a predetermined threshold, preferably wherein the threshold is different for at least two different discrete positions or locations of the at least two different discrete positions or locations.

14. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein: The processor is constructed and / or arranged to determine the scanning procedure progress value for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations based on at least one from a list, the list comprising: the duration of the scanning procedure at the corresponding discrete position or location; the quality of motion, such as length, speed, acceleration or direction, derived from the position sensor data at the corresponding discrete position or location; the number of oral health sensor data acquisitions, preferably camera image data acquisitions, of preferably non-overlapping or only partially overlapping content at the corresponding discrete position or location; the number of sub-positions or sub-locations determined based on the position sensor data at the corresponding discrete position or location; or a quality assessment of the oral health sensor data, preferably a quality assessment of the image data of the camera at the corresponding discrete position or location.

Images