Oral Scanner System

Abstract

This application relates to an oral scanner system, the oral scanner system having an oral scanner, the oral scanner comprising an oral health sensor configured to obtain oral health sensor data from at least a part of a subject's dentition during a scan procedure related to at least one oral health condition, a position detector configured to obtain position sensor data during the scan procedure, and a processor configured to receive the oral health sensor data and the position sensor data, process the position sensor data to determine whether the oral scanner is currently executing a scan procedure or discrete positions or locations from at least two discrete positions or locations of at least a part of the dentition for which a scan procedure was executed at a given time, assign the oral health sensor data to one of the at least two discrete positions, create discretely position-resolved oral health sensor data, compare the discretely position-resolved oral health sensor data with discretely position-resolved historical oral health sensor data stored in the memory of the oral scanner system and determined in at least one previous scan procedure to generate comparison data, and control a display unit to provide a visualization of the discretely position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or a visualization of the comparison data, at least after the scan procedure is completed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an oral scanner having an oral health sensor and a processor configured and arranged for determining oral health data regarding at least one oral health condition.

Background Art

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

[0003] Particularly with respect to home oral scanner systems, there is a general interest in providing an oral scanner system that enables improved usability or improved guidance through the oral scanning procedure and / or more versatile and preferably intuitively understandable communication of oral health data regarding at least one oral health condition in the context of continuous oral care treatment. According to some aspects, there is a desire to provide at least alternative oral scanner systems.

Summary of the Invention

Means for Solving the Problems

[0004] According to at least one aspect, an oral scanner system is provided, the oral scanner system comprising an oral health scanner configured and / or arranged to obtain oral health data from at least a part of a subject's dentition during a scan procedure for at least one oral health condition, and a position detector configured and / or arranged to obtain position sensor data during the scan procedure; an oral scanner comprising the oral health scanner and the position detector; a processor that receives the oral health sensor data and the position sensor data, processes the position sensor data to determine whether the oral health scanner is currently executing a scan procedure or discrete positions or locations from at least two discrete positions or locations of at least a part of the dentition where the scan procedure was executed at a given time, assigns the oral health sensor data and / or oral health data determined by the processor based on the oral health sensor data to one of the at least two discrete positions or locations, creates discretely position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or oral health data, compares the discretely position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or oral health data with discretely position-resolved or location-resolved historical oral health sensor data and / or historical oral health data stored in the memory of the oral scanner system and determined in at least one previous scan procedure respectively to generate comparison data, preferably discretely position-resolved or location-resolved comparison data, and controls a display unit to provide a visualization of the discretely position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or oral health data, and / or a visualization of the comparison data, preferably discretely position-resolved or location-resolved comparison data, at least after the scan procedure is completed; and relates to an oral scanner system including the processor.

[0005] The above aspects will be described in more detail in the following description that supports the use of the user's oral scanner system by continuous and / or induced human and device interactions. Feedback compared to historical data supports more optimized use of the oral scanner system. In addition to the oral scanner system described herein, a method of using an oral scanner system to scan at least a portion of the oral cavity is also contemplated.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0006] The present disclosure will be made more apparent by the detailed description of exemplary embodiments and reference to the drawings.

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0007] The following is a general disclosure of an exemplary oral scanner and an exemplary processor, and further optional components such as a separate device that implements at least a portion of a feedback unit including, for example, a display and / or an oral care device, of an exemplary oral scanner system. As used in this disclosure, the phrase "configured and / or arranged" refers to the structural and / or computer-implemented features of each component, and implies that each feature or component is not only suitable for something, but is also structurally and / or software-wise arranged to actually perform as intended during operation. Here, it is emphasized that the oral scanner according to this disclosure does not provide the oral care activity itself, and in particular does not include an oral cleaning element, that is, an oral scanner without an oral cleaning element or other oral treatment or care element, and does not provide oral cleaning or oral treatment or oral care. In other words, this disclosure relates to an oral scanner having at least one oral health sensor without further oral cleaning / treatment / care functions. As will be described later, such a single oral scanner device may cooperate directly or indirectly with an oral care device configured and / or arranged to provide an oral care activity. In such a system, the oral scanner and the oral care device are dedicated devices optimized for individual tasks, and one or the other device can benefit from the information previously recorded by the other device. For example, the oral scanner may scan areas and / or segments of low oral activity by the oral care device, and vice versa. The oral care device may provide feedback to the user to increase oral care activity in areas and / or segments where the oral scanner has determined the presence of oral health problems.

[0008] General Considerations The present disclosure relates to an oral scanner system comprising at least an oral scanner and a processor, where the processor may be physically located in or on the oral scanner or may be realized as a processor separate from, i.e., remote from, the oral scanner. As will be explained in more detail below, the processor may be realized in a distributed manner. The oral scanner system may specifically comprise at least one separate or remote device that realizes at least a part of a feedback unit, such as a display for example. This does not exclude, for example, the oral scanner itself from alternatively or additionally including 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 an enclosing outer housing. The separate device may be a proprietary or custom-made device, such as a charger with a display, or a computer, laptop, notebook, tablet, telephone such as a mobile phone or smartphone, or a generally known device such as a smartwatch that can be used to realize a separate display and / or a separate processor. The oral scanner system may comprise at least one oral care device, particularly an electric toothbrush, that is directly or indirectly coupled to the oral scanner and / or the processor for a data exchange, preferably by means of wireless communication, for at least a limited period of time, as an alternative to or in addition to the separate device. The oral scanner and the oral care device may share the same handle and may be realized in such a way only by attaching their respective oral scanner head or oral care head to the handle. However, it may be preferred to have an independent oral care device that has its own handle and is arranged to be used independently from the oral scanner system, i.e., it can be hardware-detached from the oral scanner system. It may be foreseen that the oral care device may need to be registered with the oral care system first in order to become part of the oral care system.The oral scanner system may include at least one charger for charging a rechargeable energy storage unit of the oral scanner and / or the oral care device and / or a separate device. The charger(s) may be a wireless charger such as an inductive charger.

[0009] The oral scanner may comprise at least one oral health sensor for obtaining, detecting, measuring or determining and outputting at least one oral health sensor data regarding at least one oral health condition. Hereinafter, one of the terms "obtaining", "detecting", "measuring" or "determining" (or other forms of nouns derived from these verbs) is used in relation to the oral health sensor, which shall also include other terms. The oral scanner system may be configured and / or arranged to provide, i.e., output, position sensor data that enables detecting, measuring or determining at least one discrete position or location (or segment) where the oral scanner is currently performing a scan procedure or was performing a scan procedure at a given time. The scan procedure includes the determination of the oral health sensor data. In this context, the term "discrete" related to the position of a location within the oral cavity shall indicate that the oral cavity is divided into one or more discrete regions or segments, such as the upper and lower jaws. Typically, the discrete regions or segments do not overlap and essentially completely or without gaps cover the part of the oral cavity that is intended to be scanned.

[0010] Here, the object of the present proposal is to provide the user with understandable information. For example, the acquired oral health information or scan procedure progress information is provided in a way that is processed for each discrete position or location (or for each segment). Specifically, it is mentioned that it is reduced to a single value or a single mark, that is, a single percentage value representing the current or finally achieved scan procedure progress or oral health state, or a color indicating the achieved scan procedure progress or oral health state. This oral scanner system is particularly intended for home use by laypersons. Therefore, the improvements and benefits associated with the present proposal are particularly seen in such home use by non-expert users.

[0011] The term "sensor" is to be understood as covering a sensor type that measures or determines parameters related to oral health based on ambient light incident on the sensor or an external measurement medium such as saliva available in the oral cavity analyzed by the sensor, that is, a sensor equipped with a sensor receiver. The term "sensor" further covers a sensor type that includes a measurement medium such as light, that is, a sensor emitter arranged to emit 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 that means the measurement medium provided by each sensor emitter. The oral scanner is configured and / or arranged to perform a scan procedure for acquiring oral health sensor data related to the oral scanner determining oral health sensor data, preferably oral health data related to at least one oral health state, from at least a part of the oral cavity via an oral health sensor. Preferably, the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data determined therefrom are acquired in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner. That is, each oral health sensor data and / or oral health data is assigned to position data or location data derived from position sensor data acquired by a position sensor at the same time or period when the oral health sensor data was acquired.

[0012] In the context of the present disclosure, the term "oral health sensor data" refers to essentially 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 a pH value if the oral health sensor is a pH sensor), and the term "oral health data" refers to processed oral health sensor data (e.g., a normalized or absolute area per tooth or discrete position or location indicating dental plaque, or an average pH value per discrete position or location). In some cases, oral health sensor data is itself a direct measure of oral health status. For example, it should be understood that oral health sensor data from a halitosis sensor may not require further processing to enable a user to determine whether they have halitosis, as the halitosis sensor may provide a certain level of sulfur emission. Processing of oral health sensor data can then be considered as a classification into at least one of at least two state classes of the oral health sensor data, for example, a classification into "no associated level of halitosis" as one state class and "associated level of halitosis" as another state class. The classification can then be performed by a processor by comparison with at least one threshold. More complex classification concepts are described below. Of course, the classification described above can also use processed oral health sensor data, i.e., oral health data. For example, the output from a halitosis sensor may be averaged over several measurement instances and then used for classification.

[0013] The processor is coupled to an oral health sensor and / or a position sensor to receive at least one sensor data, preferably a plurality and / or a series of sensor data. It may receive single sensor data in chronological order and accumulate it into a plurality of time interval sensor data, or receive a plurality of sensor data at each measurement time and accumulate the plurality of sensor data into a plurality of time interval sensor data. The sensor data may be transmitted to the processor as a sensor signal. For example, the sensor signal may often be a voltage signal that is the output of a sensor that measures physical, chemical, or material properties. The sensor signal may be an analog signal or a digital signal. Here, the term "datum" or "data" refers to the information content of the physical quantity to which the sensor datum or sensor data is transmitted and the "signal". When the term "sensor data" is used in the present disclosure, it shall refer to "oral health sensor data" provided by the oral health sensor and "position sensor data" provided by the position sensor. If it is intended to mean only one of the two types of data, the more limited terms for each are used. The processor is preferably arranged to process sensor data from at least one oral health sensor and at least one position sensor such that at least one position-resolved or location-resolved oral health data related to at least one oral health state is determined. However, the oral health sensor outputs oral health sensor data that can be processed by the processor to determine oral health data, the position sensor outputs position sensor data that is processed by the processor to determine position data, and it is further clarified that the processor can relate or assign oral health data and position data to each other such that position-resolved or location-resolved oral health data is obtained. As described above, the oral health sensor data can be assigned to the position data without the need for further processing of the oral health sensor data.

[0014] The oral scanner may comprise a scanner head and a scanner handle that can be removably connected, and thus it is not excluded that the scanner head and the scanner handle can be non-removably connected and form one integrated device. The oral scanner may have a housing that surrounds a hollow part in which components of the oral scanner, such as an energy source, a controller, a scanner communicator, etc., can be arranged. The housing may be such that the user can conveniently hold the oral scanner by hand. The scanner head may be sized and shaped to be conveniently inserted into the oral cavity. The housing can further accommodate at least one user-operable control element, such as an on / off button or an on / off switch or a selector button or a selector switch, or any other such element typically expected or seen on an oral scanner. The housing can further accommodate at least one feedback element of a feedback unit configured and / or arranged to provide the user with perceptible feedback. The feedback unit may comprise one or several feedback elements, for example, a display provided by a separate device. The at least one feedback element can include at least one from a list including, but not limited to, an optical feedback element such as a light emitter or a plurality of light emitters or a display, an acoustic feedback element such as a loudspeaker or a piezoelectric speaker or a buzzer, and a vibrator or any other type of tactile or haptic feedback generator, such as a haptic or tactile feedback element such as a refreshable braille display.

[0015] In embodiments where the oral scanner system includes a display as an element of the feedback unit, which is implemented, for example, in an oral scanner and / or by a separate device or in a separate device, the display can be arranged to visualize feedback regarding oral health (sensor) data related to at least one oral health state for at least two discrete positions or locations (or segments). For example, the display may be configured and / or arranged to visualize discretely-positioned or discretely-located (or segmented) oral health (sensor) data. The term that the sensor is within "oral health (sensor) data" shall include oral health sensor data and oral health data. The display may be configured and / or arranged to show a depiction or visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity, for example, an abstract or generalized depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity such as the dentition. The display can be arranged to additionally depict at least one oral health state and / or at least one state class with respect to oral health (sensor) data that can be classified for at least one oral health state and / or feedback regarding oral health (sensor) data. The feedback can be realized by changing the depiction or visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity, or by overlaying a visual representation of discretely-positioned or discretely-located (or segment-by-segment) oral health data on the depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity, or by depicting oral health data on the display as, for example, text 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 the depiction or visualization referred to herein are typically done discretely, i.e., on a segment-by-segment basis.The present disclosure focuses on either an abstract or a more realistic depiction of a complete dentition, such as at least a portion of the oral cavity including the upper and lower jaws, along with overlaid oral health state data related to one or more oral health states, but does not exclude that the oral health state (sensor) data is presented in different ways, for example as a table of oral health state (sensor) data related to one or more oral health states for discrete positions or locations within at least a portion of the oral cavity. For example, an overlay of a live image or an image calculated from an acquired image on a model such as a dentition should be noted not to be considered as discretely segmented feedback, as such an overlay leaves the analysis of the segment information to the discretion of the expert user. In the context of the present disclosure, feedback is provided in a processed way such that it can provide a single display or a single value per segment to a non-expert user without the need for any analysis by the lay user.

[0016] Feedback on oral health (sensor) data may be provided "live" or in real-time, for example, while the user is performing a scan procedure using an oral scanner, meaning that the feedback can adapt to the live progress of the scan procedure, and "live" shall mean that there is only a short time delay, e.g., less than 10 seconds, less than 5 seconds, less than 4 seconds, less than 3 seconds, less than 2 seconds, or less than 1 second, between the acquisition step and the feedback step. Feedback on oral health (sensor) data may alternatively or additionally be provided at the end of the scan procedure via summary feedback in which the accumulated oral health (sensor) data is presented as a final result. Again, all feedback described herein shall be understood to include discretely position-resolved or location-resolved (or per-segment) feedback. This can include a classification, preferably a discrete position-resolved or location-resolved (or per-segment) classification of the oral health (sensor) data with respect to at least two state classes related to at least one oral health condition. Alternatively or additionally, the oral health (sensor) data and / or state classes determined by the classification of the current scan procedure may be compared to historical oral health (sensor) data and / or state classes from a previous scan procedure or a series of previous scan procedures, and the trend or progression of the oral health (sensor) data and / or state classes over time may be visualized as feedback. Again, this may be done in a discrete position-resolved or location-resolved (or per-segment) manner. Such historical data may be stored in a memory coupled or connected to a processor. The stored historical data may include oral care activity data related to at least one oral care activity procedure performed using an oral care device, as will be described in more detail below.

[0017] The processor may be arranged to classify oral health (sensor) data into at least two different state classes related to at least one oral health state, for example, two state classes related to the severity of the oral health state. The processor may preferably be arranged to classify the oral health (sensor) data in a discretely position-resolved or location-resolved manner (or per segment), that is, the classification is performed for a first position or a first location or a first segment such as the upper right molar, or for at least a second position or a second location or a second segment such as the lower left molar or incisor. The possibility of subdividing the oral cavity into discrete positions or locations or segments will be explained in more detail below. By way of example, the oral cavity intended to be scanned may be the dentition. Possible segments / discrete positions or locations may be (a1) the upper jaw and the lower jaw, or (a2) the mandible and the maxilla, or (b) the upper right molar, the upper front teeth, the upper left molar, the lower left molar, the lower front teeth, and the lower right molar, or (c) the buccal surface of the upper right molar, the occlusal surface of the upper right molar, and the lingual surface of the upper right molar, or (d) the buccal, lingual, and chewing surfaces of the 26th tooth of the human dentition, or one of the above, and the tongue surface. All surfaces of all teeth of the human dentition can result in 72 segments (molars have two surfaces, canines and incisors have two surfaces), or 84 segments if all unknowns are similarly included. In some examples, a full scan of the user's dentition is intended as a standard scan procedure, but in some examples, the scan procedure only affects the selection of these segments that fully cover the human dentition. The latter may be the case especially when, after a previous scan session and / or after a previous oral care activity, only the selection of segments that cover the full dentition is selected for repeated scans or focused scans.

[0018] The terms "discrete position" and "discrete location" or "segment" are used interchangeably herein. For readability, the present disclosure may not always refer to all three phrases in all cases.

[0019] The processor may be configured and / or arranged to process sensor data in a "live" manner, for example during a scan procedure, such that "live" or generally real-time information regarding the progress or status of the scan procedure and / or the progress or status of oral health data collection can be visualized as feedback on a display as previously described. The live display may similarly include an abstract or more realistic depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity and superimposed feedback regarding at least the status of the scan procedure. For example, the various discrete positions or locations or segments of the oral cavity being scanned may be individually highlighted in a graded or staged manner such that the user can readily identify where the oral scanner still needs to be moved or positioned in order to complete the scan procedure. By way of example, at least the depicted portion of the oral cavity may be shown in an initial color, for example, dark blue, and the individual portions associated with different discrete positions or locations of the depicted portion of the oral cavity may be progressively depicted in lighter colors until they are essentially white to indicate to the user the scan procedure that has been partially or finally completed with respect to the indicated discrete position or location of the oral cavity. Feedback regarding the progress of the scan procedure may be derived solely from position sensor data, for example, from the cumulative time that the oral scanner has performed the scan procedure at individual discrete positions or locations. This is not to exclude the processor from being configured and / or arranged to determine the progress of the scan procedure in a more refined manner by checking, for example, whether images taken by a camera, which is preferably a part of the oral health sensor, from each discrete position or location of the oral cavity include a sufficiently complete coverage of the discrete position or location of the oral cavity and / or whether such images have a particular image quality, for example, are not blurry, are in focus, etc. Feedback regarding the progress of the scan procedure may further include an overlay of oral health (sensor) data that is position-resolved or location-resolved onto an abstract or more realistic depiction of at least a portion of the oral cavity.The overlay of the visualized feedback for display on the display is to be understood to mean the generation of a single image that is displayed on the display by the display controller. The overlay, here, means that the base image, for example the depiction of the dental arch, is modified to reflect the additional feedback to be provided.

[0020] The various components of an oral scanner system, such as an oral scanner, a processor, a separate display, a charger, and / or an oral care device, may be arranged to communicate for data exchange, or more generally, at least in one direction, preferably bidirectionally, between at least two of these components. Such data exchange or communication may be realized, for example, by a wired connection when the processor is housed inside the oral scanner, but when data exchange is to be performed between separate components, it is preferably realized by wireless communication. Then, one of the components of the oral scanner system, such as the oral scanner, comprises a scanner communicator such as a transmitter or transceiver, and another component, such as a processor realized within or by a separate device, comprises a processor communicator such as a receiver or transceiver that can use a proprietary or standardized wireless communication protocol such as the Bluetooth protocol, the Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 protocol, the Zigbee protocol. Each of the components of the oral scanner system may be arranged to communicate with one or some other components of the oral scanner system, and / or to wirelessly communicate with another device such as an Internet router or a mobile phone or a tablet or a computer to establish a connection to the Internet, for example, to transmit data to a cloud server that may be part of the oral scanner system, and / or to be arranged to receive data from any Internet service such as a cloud server or 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 through a detour via a device that is not part of the oral scanner system.

[0021] Furthermore, oral health (sensor) data and / or state classes (positionally or locationally resolved) may also be communicated from an oral scanner and / or a processor to an oral care device such as an electric toothbrush, a gum massager, an oral irrigator, a floss device, a calculus remover, a tooth polishing device, a tooth whitening device, etc. Further, the processor may communicate control data to the oral care device, whereby the oral care device may be enabled to select, based on the control data, preferably in a discretely positionally or locationally resolved manner, one of at least two operating settings. The latter requires that the discrete position or location at which the oral care device is currently performing an oral care activity procedure is also determined or tracked or monitored. An oral care device position sensor may be used for this task, and since the principle is the same, reference is made to the description of the discrete position or location determination of the oral scanner.

[0022] Oral Scanner Hardware: Attachment The various hardware components of the oral scanner have already been described. Additionally, the oral scanner may comprise an attachment that is preferably arranged to be replaceable so that different attachments can be used for different users or different applications. One focus of the present disclosure is an oral scanner comprising an oral health sensor comprising a camera as a sensor receiver and at least a first light source as a sensor emitter (see also the following description). The light inlet for the camera and the light outlet of at least the first light source may be provided in the head of the oral scanner. The attachment may be realized as a removable distance attachment. The distance attachment may be arranged to enable a scanning procedure at an essentially constant distance between one or more objects to be scanned, such as teeth, and the light inlet of the camera. The distance piece of the distance attachment may remain in contact with the object to be scanned, specifically the outer surface of the object, in order to maintain a constant distance. The camera can have a focal length that generates a sharp image of the object having a distance to the light inlet of the camera defined by the distance piece. The distance piece may be realized as a closed wall element surrounding the light outlet of the first light source and the light inlet of the camera, whereby the closed wall element effectively blocks ambient light from illuminating the object currently being scanned and thus ultimately reaching the camera. Thus, the distance attachment can solve two problems, namely maintaining a constant distance during the scanning procedure and effectively blocking ambient light from reaching the surface of the object being scanned. The latter is particularly beneficial for embodiments in which the light emitted by the first light source mainly contributes to oral health sensor data, i.e., the image data output by the camera.

[0023] An attachment, such as a distance attachment, may be removable to enable replacement of the attachment when worn or to enable changing of the attachment when different attachments are used by different users of the oral scanner. The attachment may further be removable to improve access to parts of the oral scanner that benefit from periodic cleaning, such as a window covering the light exit of the first light source and / or the light entrance of the camera. Further, the removable attachment itself may benefit from periodic cleaning, which is made easier when the attachment is removable. For example, the attachment may be immersed in a cleaning solution to clean it and potentially sterilize it.

[0024] Oral health sensor The oral scanner 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 regarding at least one characteristic of the oral cavity, and the oral health sensor data may be related to determining the status of the oral health condition or may be a direct measure of the oral health condition. The oral health condition may be related to the presence of at least one of the following: dental plaque, tartar, demineralization, white spot lesions, gingival inflammation, tooth discoloration, stains, gingivitis, enamel erosion and / or wear, cracks, fluorosis, carious lesions, molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH), bad breath, the presence of pathogens such as pathogens causing candidiasis or fungi, tooth misalignment, periodontal ligament disease or periapical periodontitis, peri-implantitis, cysts, abscesses, aphthae, and any other indicators that are understood by those skilled in the art to be related to the oral health condition.

[0025] The oral scanner may be arranged to acquire oral health sensor data in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner, if possible. For example, bad breath may be an oral health condition that affects the entire oral cavity, and thus may not need to be perceptibly acquired in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner. However, the latter does not exclude the possibility that bad breath can be acquired in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner, and that feedback regarding this oral health sensor data can also be provided in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner. For example, the feedback for all discrete positions or locations has the same bad breath level or belongs to the same state class.

[0026] Some of the above-mentioned oral health conditions can be detected by visual analysis, which typically requires an oral health optical sensor such as a camera and software implemented on a processor arranged to determine the oral health condition based on oral health sensor data provided by the optical oral health sensor, for example, based on the classification of image data or an image sequence regarding at least two state classes, and potentially also to evaluate the level of severity of the oral health condition. Without being limited by theory, the classification of the input image may be performed by a neural network such as a convolutional neural network (CNN), preferably trained using training images and associated state class results. The classifier used by the processor may be directly supplied 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, which are also referred to herein as oral health data related to at least one oral health condition.

[0027] The oral health sensor may only include a sensor receiver that uses an external medium such as ambient light, saliva, gaseous components, etc. present in the oral cavity or the like to acquire oral health sensor data. According to some aspects, the oral health sensor can include at least one sensor emitter that provides a primary medium and at least one sensor receiver arranged to detect a secondary medium generated by at least the primary medium and / or the interaction between the primary medium and the oral cavity, for example, by interaction with oral tissues. This does not rule out the sensor receiver being sensitive to the external medium at the same time, as described above. In a more specific example described in more detail below, the at least one sensor emitter 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 between the emitted light and a specific material present in the oral cavity. The oral health sensor may then further 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 each medium reaches the sensor receiver. In that case, it would appear obvious that the sensor receiver can be similarly sensitive to ambient light that can pass through the at least one sensor filter. The influence of ambient light on data collection can be reduced by specific means such as the distance attachment described above. In some embodiments, the oral health sensor is an optical sensor such as a photodiode, an M×N array of optoelectronic elements, or a camera.

[0028] According to some aspects, an oral scanner comprises an oral health sensor having at least a first light source and at least one camera, and the oral scanner is configured and / or arranged to perform a scanning procedure, which is typically an optical scanning procedure, where the optical scanning procedure refers to a procedure in which a series of images are captured by the camera. The first light source may comprise a light outlet, the camera may comprise a light inlet, and the light outlet and the light inlet may be provided on the head of the oral scanner. This can enable, for example, arranging a photoelectric sensor element array, such as an M×N photoelectric sensor element array of the camera, at a distance to the light inlet such as a handle, and guiding light from the light inlet to the photoelectric sensor element array by optical elements such as one or more lenses, one or more mirrors, and / or one or more prisms, and / or one or more light guides. A user-operable input element may be provided on the oral scanner that can initiate the optical scanning procedure upon operation by the user. The oral scanner may comprise two or more cameras arranged to enable a three-dimensional scan of at least a portion of the oral cavity.

[0029] The oral scanner may comprise 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 can emit light having a first wavelength or a first wavelength range, and the second light source can emit light having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, or a second wavelength range that does not overlap or only partially overlaps with the first wavelength or the first wavelength range of the first light source. Additionally or alternatively, the first and second light sources may be arranged to emit different light intensities. However, this does not exclude the first and second light sources being provided such that they have essentially the same wavelength or the same wavelength range and emit light of essentially the same intensity. As an example, the first light source can emit light having a wavelength with a main wavelength of about 405 nm or including it, and the second light source can emit "white" light, i.e., light that essentially covers the complete visible wavelength range between 400 nm and 700 nm or includes several main wavelengths, such that a human can essentially perceive the color impression of the emitted light as white. The light sources are not limited to light sources that emit 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 spanning these regions is equally considered. The first and / or second light source (and any additional light sources) may be implemented by light-emitting diodes (LEDs), but other light sources, such as laser diodes, conventional light bulbs, especially incandescent bulbs, halogen light sources, gas discharge lamps, arc lamps, etc. are also conceivable.

[0030] The camera may comprise an array of optoelectronic sensor elements, and each optoelectronic sensor element may be arranged to output a signal indicative of the light intensity incident on the optoelectronic region of the optoelectronic sensor element. Each of the optoelectronic sensor elements may have an individual sensitivity range, i.e., an individual wavelength sensitivity, but the array of optoelectronic sensor elements may typically comprise optoelectronic sensor elements all having substantially the same light sensitivity (which is typical and ignores differences such as gain that are addressed by calibration). The array of optoelectronic sensor elements may be implemented as a regular M×N array, but does not exclude the optoelectronic sensor elements being arranged in different ways, for example, in coaxial circles. The array of optoelectronic sensor elements may be implemented as a CCD chip or a CMOS chip as typically used in a digital camera. The number of optoelectronic sensor elements may be selected according to the requirements and processing capabilities of the processor. A resolution of 640×480 may be one option, but essentially all other resolutions are conceivable. For example, the camera may be a 4K camera having a resolution of 3840×2160, or the camera may have a lower resolution, for example, 320×240. It is not excluded that the camera includes a line sensor as typically used in a paper scanner.

[0031] In the context of the present application, the optoelectronic sensor elements include RGB sensor elements, i.e., each optoelectronic sensor element of the RGB type supplies three signals related to the R (red), G (green), and B (blue) color channels.

[0032] The camera of the oral scanner is not precluded from being implemented as a pinhole camera, but may include additional optical elements such as at least one sensor lens for focusing light onto the array of optoelectronic sensor elements. The camera may further include at least one sensor mirror for directing light onto the array. Additionally, the camera may include at least one sensor filter that selectively absorbs or transmits light of a specific wavelength or at least one wavelength range. The at least one sensor filter may be fixed or movable, i.e., the sensor filter may be arranged to move inside and outside the optical path of the camera. Several sensor filters may be provided to enable selective filtering of the light reaching the array of optoelectronic 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 such that a specific wavelength or wavelength range can only pass through with a reduced amplitude, another wavelength or wavelength range can pass through without attenuation, and yet another wavelength or wavelength range can be completely blocked. The sensor filter may be implemented as a color filter or a dichroic filter.

[0033] The first light source may be a narrow-band light source such as an LED. The narrow-band light source can emit light in the range of 390 nm to 410 nm (FWHM) such that the wavelength of about 405 nm is at least close to the main wavelength of the LED. As already mentioned, the light of about 405 nm causes fluorescence to be emitted by the tooth enamel and dental plaque. Then, a sensor filter that transmits only light having a wavelength exceeding about 430 nm may be used. Preferably, the sensor filter is a cut-off filter having a cut-off wavelength of 450 nm that allows light of a longer wavelength to pass towards the optoelectronic sensor element array such that the reflected light rays originating from the first light source are absorbed and only the fluorescence transmitted by the sensor filter is determined.

[0034] The camera may be implemented by a camera module available from, for example, Bison Electronics Inc. in Taiwan. Although not limiting, the camera module may comprise a photoelectric sensor array having 1976×1200 M×N pixel count (i.e., 2.4 megapixel chip) implemented with CMOS technology, although not all pixels are necessarily used to capture an image during a scan. The camera module may be provided with a lens providing a focal length of 12.5 mm so as to be able to capture a sharp image of an object close to the camera. This does not exclude the use of an autofocus camera. A hyperspectral imaging camera may also be used.

[0035] Examples related to optical sensors, particularly cameras, should not be understood as limiting. At least one oral health sensor may further be realized as one from a group including, without limitation, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, pH sensors, refractive index sensors, resistance sensors, impedance sensors, conductivity sensors, biosensors such as sensors including biological detection elements, e.g., immobilized biological active systems combined with physical sensors (transducers) that convert biological chemical signals into electrical or optical signals and typically include amplifiers, etc.

[0036] As already explained, the oral health sensor acquires and outputs oral health sensor data transmitted in the form of an analog signal or a digital signal, and the processor may be arranged to process the oral health sensor data to determine oral health data and / or state class data, preferably state class data regarding the oral health state.

[0037] Position sensor The term "position sensor" shall encompass all position sensor configurations that can determine the discrete position or location or segment at which the oral scanner head performs a scanning procedure at a given time within the oral cavity, and may also include such determinations for at least one discrete position or location or segment associated with the outside of the oral cavity. The use of the term "position sensor" does not mean that the position sensor itself can directly determine a position inside or outside the oral cavity, but rather that discrete positions or discrete locations or segments inside or outside the oral cavity can 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. The processor may be configured and / or arranged to perform such determination of discrete positions or locations or segments, based at least on position sensor data. Oral health sensors such as cameras may further provide position sensor data, i.e., the oral health sensor may additionally be used as a position sensor, or a further camera may be provided as a position sensor. As an example, image data provided by a camera provided on the head of an oral scanner may be used to determine the type of teeth imaged and thus to derive discrete positions or discrete locations or segments within the scanned oral cavity (see, for example, European Patent No. 2189198 (B1) below).

[0038] European Patent No. 3141151 (A1) describes, among other things, a positioning based on the fusion of image data from a camera (which is separate from the oral care device) that acquires an image of the user while performing an oral care activity using the oral care device, and data from an accelerometer disposed within the oral care device to determine the orientation of the oral care device with respect to the Earth's gravitational field. On the one hand, based on the classification of the image data created at a given time by a machine learning algorithm specifically trained for each of one of the positions, and on the other hand, based on the classification of the orientation angle determined from the accelerometer data at the same time, a fused positioning result is calculated. The classification algorithm outputs values similar to the probabilities for a plurality of positions within the oral cavity where the oral care activity can be performed. The highest measure typically indicates the location where the activity is being performed with a certain reliability. European Patent No. 3141151 (A1) is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification. The position sensor in this example comprises a separate camera as the first position sensor and an accelerometer disposed within the oral care device (which may be an oral scanner according to the present disclosure) as the second position sensor. This shows that the term "position sensor" does not refer to a single sensor configuration, but encompasses embodiments where a "position sensor" uses two or more different position sensors to provide position sensor data.

[0039] European Patent Application Publication No. 3528172 (A2) describes, among other things, the determination of discrete positions or locations or segments within the oral cavity where an oral care activity is currently being performed, and this determination depends on the classification of position sensor data that is a time series of inertial sensor data generated, for example, by an accelerometer and / or a gyroscope located within the oral care device, using a neural network, preferably a recurrent neural network. Based on the trained neural network, the classification of the current time sequence of the 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 typically indicates the location where the activity is being performed. European Patent No. 3528172 (A2) is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.

[0040] Each of the above-mentioned techniques and the techniques mentioned in the following paragraphs of this section can be used for determining discrete positions or locations within the oral cavity where the oral scanner according to the present disclosure is performing a scanning procedure, but other techniques can be used as well. For example, tracking the positions of the user's head and toothbrush within a calibrated magnetic field so as to be able to determine the relative position of the toothbrush with respect to the user's head and thus with respect to the user's oral cavity, or using ultrasonic emitters on the user's head and toothbrush to track the movement of both within a calibrated ultrasonic receiver configuration. Similarly, IR emitters and receivers may be used. Further techniques, such as motion tracking techniques using multiple cameras known from CGI videos, can be used as well.

[0041] The latter techniques can determine discrete positions or locations where oral care activities, such as toothbrushing, are performed with relatively high accuracy (e.g., at the level of individual teeth), and the accuracy can justify the use of the term "position" (this position is still mapped onto a "segment" which can still represent a single tooth or a group of teeth). The techniques described in the previous paragraph were not developed to provide results with such high accuracy, at least at the time of filing of the present disclosure, and may be able to determine one of 16 different segments in the dental arch where oral care activities are performed. The term "position" may then be more suitable as the determination is typically related to a group of teeth (e.g., upper left molars) or a group of surfaces of a group of teeth (e.g., the buccal surface of the lower right molars). In a more general sense, the term "segment" is used to indicate a discrete position or discrete location.

[0042] European Patent No. 2189198 (B1) describes determining discrete positions or locations within the oral cavity by analyzing camera data from a camera located in a toothbrush head. The analysis of the image data is described as being able to identify teeth shown in the image. It can be contemplated that a classifier is trained using labeled images of the user's teeth and / or other parts of the oral cavity so that a processor can reliably identify the position within the oral cavity where a scanning procedure is currently being performed.

[0043] U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010 / 0170052 (A1) describes determining discrete positions or locations within the oral cavity where oral care activities are being 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. European Patent No. 2189198 (B1) and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010 / 0170052 (A1) are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

[0044] Processor hardware The processor may be any kind of general-purpose integrated circuit (e.g., IC: CPU) or application-specific integrated circuit (e.g., ASIC), and may be implemented by a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a system-on-chip (SOC), an embedded system, etc. The processor should not necessarily be understood as a single circuit or chip. One part of the processing task may be executed by a first processor subunit, and one or several additional processing tasks may be executed by at least a second or several additional processor subunits in a distributed manner. It is contemplated to provide the processor in a distributed manner, and different processor subunits may be physically disposed at different locations, such as within or in an oral scanner, within or in a remote device, and / or within or in a cloud computer. The processor may be essentially fully realized by a cloud computing device. It is also included that the processor may comprise analog circuit elements and integrated circuit elements, or only analog circuit elements.

[0045] 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 state class data and / or control data, preferably discretely located or location-resolved oral health data and / or state class data and / or control data, via the output. The state class data refers to data that classifies oral health (sensor) data into at least one of at least two state classes, e.g., a non-severe class and a severe class, or more than two classes, e.g., a non-severe class, a monitored class, and a class recommended for an oral care expert visit. The latter examples are for illustration purposes, and those skilled in the art can use any other number of classes and can appropriately name these classes.

[0046] Processor Software: Classification As described in various previous paragraphs, the processor is configured and / or arranged to classify oral health sensor data and / or oral health data into at least two state classes. In more mathematical terms, oral health (sensor) data (preferably for a given discrete location or place) may be said to be observations, state classes are categories, and a classifier algorithm may then be used to determine the category to which an observation belongs. Oral health (sensor) data may include one or several variables or features characterizing the oral health state. For example, oral health data may include the normalized plaque area for each considered discrete location or place. The classifier may then simply label the input feature (plaque size) into a category by comparison with one or several thresholds. The threshold(s) themselves may be derived from expert opinion or from the analysis of the oral health states of multiple subjects by a machine learning algorithm. Instead of using features or a vector of features derived from oral health sensor data, oral health sensor data may be used as input to the classifier without preprocessing. For example, a neural network may be directly fed with image data acquired by an oral health sensor equipped with a camera.

[0047] Thresholds or other parameters affecting the classification may be set to different values for different discrete locations or places within the oral cavity. Such discrete location- or place-dependent thresholds or parameters affecting the classification for a given oral health state may preferably be affected by at least one from a non-limiting list including, in a comprehensive sense (i.e., for all users) or for an individual, the discrete location or place within the oral cavity, the oral health (sensor) data or the history of the development of the state classes related to this discrete location or place for a given oral health state, or the status of the overall or average oral health state for a given user.

[0048] The above-described threshold-based approach for classification may be practical for oral health data that includes one or two features per oral health condition. However, when the oral health data includes multiple features, different classifier algorithms may be used. For example, a neural network may be applied to the classification task or any other classification algorithm known to those skilled in the art. The classification algorithm may be selected to be one from a non-limiting list including linear classifiers, support vector machines, quadratic classifiers, kernel estimation, boosting, decision trees, neural networks, transformers, genetic programming, and learning vector quantization.

[0049] The state classes may be determined for at least one of at least two discrete positions or locations, preferably for all discrete positions and locations used to subdivide at least a portion of the scanned oral cavity into segments. In each of such discrete positions or locations, at least two state classes may be defined, preferably at least three state classes may be used (similar to a traffic signal system indicating any of green, yellow, or red lights). The underlying thresholds or parameters used by the classifier algorithm may be adaptive and thus may change over time and may vary for different users.

[0050] Processor Software: Time Evaluation According to some aspects, the oral scanner system proposed herein is intended to periodically repeat a scanning procedure, such as an optical scanning procedure of at least a portion of the oral cavity of a user or subject to be treated, thereby creating new oral health (sensor) data. The oral scanner system may preferably be configured and / or arranged to compare newly determined oral health (sensor) data and / or state class data with previously created oral health (sensor) data and / or state class data, and update information regarding the temporal progression of the oral health (sensor) data and state class data, which may then lead to the updated information being fed back to the user. The comparison process may result in comparison data and / or discretely position-resolved or location-resolved comparison data. The processor may comprise a memory for storing and later accessing the previously and currently acquired oral health sensor data and / or position sensor data, and any data created by processing such data, e.g., oral health data and / or state class data and / or discretely position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or discretely position-resolved or location-resolved state class data, and may further comprise comparison data and / or discretely position-resolved or location-resolved comparison data. The stored data related to the previous scanning procedure is also referred to as history data. In addition to the data described above, further data, e.g., history scan procedure progress data or history oral care activity data regarding previous oral care activity procedures performed by an oral care device, may be stored in the memory, and this oral care activity data may be transmitted to and stored in the memory by the processor. The history data stored in the memory may further be used by the processor to adapt the next scanning procedure, e.g., to adapt at least one scanning procedure parameter, and / or to adapt a scanning procedure guidance including at least one automatic feedback provided to the user immediately before or during the next scanning procedure.That is, it means that the scan procedure guidance is automatically displayed immediately before the next scan procedure, rather than being displayed at the end of the current scan procedure, and the user can basically benefit from such guidance in the scan procedure to be started. The scan procedure guidance may be determined in a segmented manner, that is, for each discrete position or location in the oral cavity. Then, such segmented scan procedure guidance can be automatically shown when the user reaches each segment.

[0051] Display The oral scanner system may include a display as a feedback element of the feedback unit, preferably a display that enables a visual depiction of oral health data and / or status class 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 monochromatic or color display. The display may have any suitable resolution such as 96×48 resolution for a display mounted on the oral scanner, or may include a custom-made illuminable area. Since the displays of user devices such as mobile phones, table computers, laptops, smart watches, etc. can be used, the respective technologies and resolutions of the displays of such user devices should be considered. In such a case, the app or software executed on such a device may provide relevant programming for the general-purpose processor of the user device so as to function as at least one processor subunit or as a processor according to the present disclosure. Each app or software may further implement any display control required to visualize the information as discussed herein.

[0052] This description of the display does not exclude that oral health (sensor) data, scan procedure progress data, etc. are additionally or alternatively fed back to the user by other feedback elements of a feedback unit such as a plurality of individual visual feedback elements and / or audio feedback elements and / or tactile feedback units as already described. As an example, assuming that the oral cavity is segmented into four positions and / or locations, for which the scan procedure is monitored and alternatively or additionally oral health data is fed back, the scan procedure progress data can be fed back by using four visual feedback elements that are controlled to start with a first color, for example dark green, and to show a progressively lighter green until the scan procedure is considered completed for a given discrete position or location, after which the light indicator can show, for example, a white signal. For this purpose, RGB light-emitting diodes by the light feedback elements can be used. Similarly, for example, live communication of oral health data regarding dental plaque can also use four visual feedback elements, starting with white to indicate the absence of dental plaque and progressively changing towards red to communicate the amount of dental plaque detected at each discrete position or location. Instead of live feedback, the oral health data may be fed back to the user only at the end of the scan procedure to indicate the level of dental plaque identified in the scan procedure. Then, the classification of the oral health data regarding dental plaque may be indicated by a blinking light of the state class "severe". A person skilled in the art will understand how to modify the number of visual feedback elements, the colors used, and other feedback means such as blinking, intensity changes, etc.

[0053] Display software The display is assumed to comprise a display controller that converts oral health (sensor) data, preferably position-resolved or location-resolved oral health (sensor) data and / or state class data and / or scan procedure progress data into a visualization shown on the display, and the visualization is referred to as a feedback screen. The feedback screen may include at least one element of a graphical user interface. In the present disclosure, the focus is on a feedback screen including a visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity, and the visualization may be a two-dimensional visualization or a 3D type visualization, where the latter means a visualization on a two-dimensional display that provides a three-dimensional impression. The visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity may include a visualization of the dentition, i.e., the teeth of the dentition, and may be an abstract visualization or a more realistic visualization. The visualization may be based on a general model of the dentition or may take into account individual data from the user such as missing teeth. The abstract visualization of the complete dentition may include a circle or a ring, and the upper part of the circle or ring visualized on the display may be understood to represent the upper front teeth, and the bottom part of the circle or ring may represent the lower front teeth, in which case the sides may represent the left and right molars, respectively. Instead of a continuous circle or ring, a plurality of segments of the circle or ring may be visualized, for example, an upper segment of about 180 degrees and a lower segment of about 180 degrees may each indicate the upper and lower jaws. Alternatively, four segments of about 90 degrees can be used to display a quarter section of the dentition, which is known to those skilled in the art, for example, from the visualization on an Oral-B SmartGuide. Further, six segments may be used. It is also contemplated to visualize each tooth of the general or individualized dentition by a single segment or to use any other type of segmentation that may be appropriate to those skilled in the art. At least one of the segments may be separated into at least two regions that can represent the inner and outer tooth surfaces, preferably three regions representing the inner and outer tooth surfaces (such as the buccal and lingual surfaces) and the occlusal surface that may be particularly sensitive in molars and incisors. This is not to exclude any other type of fragmentation of the segmented visualization.Although the segment has been described here as a circular or annular portion, it is also conceivable to visualize the segment in a different way. For example, each tooth may be represented by a circle, or the segment representing a plurality of teeth may be visualized as a plurality of overlapping circles, and the number of circles may coincide with the number of teeth typically represented by this segment, but should not be understood as limiting. The visualization of the dentition may include information as used in accordance with ISO3950:2016. Some exemplary visualizations are further described below with reference to the drawings.

[0054] Instead of an abstract visualization, a more realistic depiction of the dentition may be selected, for example, up to 32 teeth for the permanent dentition of an adult user or up to 24 teeth for the primary dentition of a child. As already mentioned, the visualization may be individualized. For example, the user may be able to input personal dental characteristics such as missing teeth, misaligned teeth, fillings, inlays, crowns, artificial teeth, orthodontic appliances, etc. that may be considered in the visualization. As further explained below, the user may further be enabled 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 the complete dentition, and / or about the gums. For example, the user may be able to provide inputs regarding tooth discoloration or orthodontic appliances or cavities, and an oral scanner and / or a separate device may be able to provide an interface for inputting the information. Instead of manual input, the oral scanner may be configured and / or arranged to perform a scanning procedure that automatically individualizes the visualization in at least a portion of the oral cavity based on the associated information being acquired. The above-mentioned interface may be implemented as a graphical user interface, but does not exclude the possibility that the user may additionally or alternatively provide input by means of a voice recognition interface and / or a keyboard, etc. The interface may further enable the user to input personalization information such as name, email address, etc., and / or may enable a dentist to have dedicated access to any stored data, which may preferably be enabled, for example, by remote access from a computer in the dentist's office.

[0055] The above does not exclude that the visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity further includes the tongue, preferably various regions of the tongue, the inner side of the cheeks, the lips, the uvula, the pharynx, the palate, etc. In some visualizations, at least one of the aforementioned parts such as the tongue and the complete dentition and at least one part of the dentition are visualized.

[0056] This abstract or more realistic visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity provides a map on which additional data, such as oral health data or scan procedure progress data, can be visualized such that the user can associate the additional information with locations or positions within the oral cavity.

[0057] The visualization referred to can be used in a manifold feedback application. For example, the visualization may be used to provide feedback regarding the progress of a scan 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 scan procedure, and each respective visualized segment associated with this discrete position or location, may then be modified such that the progress of the scan procedure can be understood by the user. The visualized segments on which the scan procedure is performed may be additionally visually emphasized, for example, by a halo or similar visual scale, to enable the user to immediately identify the location at which the scan is being performed with the oral scanner. An example where the coloring of each segment starts with a first color and gradually changes to a second color has already been described (where white and black are understood to be colors here). It should be understood that this example refers to a gradual change from one color to another, but is not limiting. For example, the start color and end color may be selected differently for different segments. There is no need to have a gradual change. A stepwise change or a single step from the start color to the end color is also envisioned. Further, instead of or in addition to colors, the segments can include start and end patterns for visualizing the scan progress.

[0058] Interaction with Oral Care Devices As described above, the oral scanner system may include an oral care device such as an electric toothbrush, an electric floss device, or an electric cleaning device provided for performing oral care activities such as tooth cleaning, interdental area cleaning, and gum massage. The oral care device preferably has its own oral care device position sensor (e.g., an IMU sensor) such that the discrete position or location within the oral cavity where an oral care activity procedure such as brushing or flossing or cleaning 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 where the oral care device performs an oral care activity procedure may be at least partially determined by using the same position detector that serves 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.

[0059] The use of a single oral scanner for performing an oral scan procedure and a single oral care device for performing oral care activities is an interaction between the oral scanner and the oral care device. For example, the oral scanner may provide control data received by the oral care device, and this control data affects the oral care activities as long as at least one oral care guidance is triggered by the control data or at least the operating parameters are affected by the control data. The control data can, in particular, cause the guidance or influence to occur in a discretely position-resolved, or discretely location-resolved, or per-segment manner. The single oral scanner can be used to perform a dedicated scan 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 disrupted by any parallel scan procedures. Data collected during the oral care activities can likewise be used to determine control data that can be transmitted to the oral scanner to affect the next oral scan procedure, for example, to restrict or focus the scan on segments that were not properly cared for during the oral care activities. An oral care system comprising an oral scanner and an oral care device benefits from a simple juxtaposition of the two devices.

[0060] The oral care device may include a device communicator, such as a receiver or transceiver, for receiving at least control data from a processor via a processor communicator. The control data may specifically be used to select one from at least two different operating settings of the oral care device. Preferably, the control data is used to select one from at least two different operating settings in a discrete position or location-dependent manner, i.e., in a segmented manner. Such operating settings may be related to the recommended time for performing the oral care activity procedure generally or at a specific discrete position or location, or may be related to the recommended minimum and / or maximum pressure or force values applied by the oral care head generally or at a specific discrete position or location, or may be related to the feedback provided to the user when a specific discrete position or location is being treated, or may be related to the operating mode used generally or at a specific discrete position or location. In that case, the oral care device may be arranged to automatically switch to this mode according to the received control data. The operating mode may preferably be a movement mode in which the oral care head of the oral care device is driven, and may include at least one parameter from a list including speed, frequency, and amplitude.

[0061] Exemplary embodiments Although not wishing to be limiting, the present disclosure focuses on an oral scanner system comprising an oral scanner having an oral health sensor, a processor, and preferably a position sensor. The oral scanner performs a scan procedure of at least a part of the dentition or the entire dentition and / or more parts or other parts of the oral cavity, obtains oral health sensor data by means of the oral health sensor, and preferably is configured and / or arranged to obtain position sensor data regarding a discrete position or location (or segment) from a list of at least two discrete positions / locations or segments where the oral scanner is currently performing a scan procedure. The processor comprises or is coupled to a memory of the oral scanner system in which historical scan procedure data from at least one previous scan procedure is stored, specifically historical oral health sensor data and / or historical oral health data, more preferably historical comparison data and / or historical classification data, the latter two being described in more detail in the following explanation. The stored historical data is optionally stored in a discretely position-resolved / location-resolved manner (in a segment-resolved manner). The processor is preferably configured and / or arranged to assign currently obtained oral health sensor data or oral health data derived therefrom to the current discrete position / location or segment where the oral scanner performs a scan procedure to create current discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segment-resolved oral health (sensor) data. The memory may be implemented within the oral scanner or in the oral scanner, or in a separate device that may implement a display, for example as part of a feedback unit, or in a separate device, but the memory may also be arranged in the cloud, and the memory may further be a distributed memory located in different physical locations.The processor is configured and / or arranged to compare the currently acquired oral health sensor data or the currently determined oral health data with the stored historical oral health sensor data or the stored historical oral health data respectively to generate comparison data, where the comparison data may be the difference between the historical data and the current data, expressed, for example, as a percentage difference, or the comparison data may be qualitative information indicating only whether an increase or decrease in the values being compared has been shown by the comparison. These examples should be understood to be non-limiting. The comparison data may further include a determination of whether the oral health state, expressed, for example, by a state class, has improved or deteriorated in view of the comparison with the historical data. Further, the oral scanner system comprises a feedback unit configured and / or arranged to provide user-perceivable feedback for the comparison data, and it is also possible to provide user-perceivable feedback for the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data. Optionally, the comparison data is additionally or alternatively determined in a discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segmented manner.

[0062] An oral scanner system preferably includes a position sensor configured and / or arranged to obtain and output position sensor data related to whether the oral scanner is performing a scan procedure at the current time or the position or location within the oral cavity where the scan procedure was performed at a given time, where the time includes the period required to obtain the oral health sensor data and respective position data. In the case of a period, the central time can be used as the time. Thus, at least a portion of the oral cavity can be divided into at least two positions or locations as already discussed. A processor is configured and / or arranged to determine the discrete position / location or segment where the oral scanner is performing or has performed a scan procedure, and for each of the at least two discrete position / locations or segments, to determine discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segment-resolved oral health sensor data and / or discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segment-resolved oral health data, and each respective oral health sensor data and / or oral health data is assigned to the determined discrete position / location or segment related to the same instant. The comparison may then be made with stored discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segment-resolved historical oral health sensor data, and / or stored discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segment-resolved historical oral health data. Next, the comparison result may be fed back for at least one discrete position / location or segment, preferably for at least two discrete position / locations or segments, and more preferably for all discrete position / locations or segments.

[0063] Examples of position sensors have already been described. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) comprising an accelerometer and / or gyroscope located on or within an oral scanner is contemplated, preferably an IMU implemented as a MEMS sensor. It is again noted here that an oral health sensor for acquiring oral health sensor data can also function as a position sensor at the same time. Image data output by a camera can be classified, for example, by a classifier algorithm to determine whether an image taken at a given time belongs to a particular position or location. As described above, data from the IMU sensor may be classified in parallel, and the results may be fused to determine a position or location, or features derived from the IMU data and image data, or the IMU data and / or image data, may be input into a classifier algorithm. The oral health sensor may comprise an optical sensor such as an M×N array of optoelectronic sensor elements and may be implemented as a camera for taking images. In some cases, oral health sensor data may already provide a direct insight into oral health status (see, for example, the discussion of the above-mentioned halitosis sensor), but it is contemplated that the processor may be configured and / or arranged to process oral health sensor data to determine oral health data, which is a direct measure of the oral condition. For example, if the oral health sensor is a camera, the oral health sensor data is image data, and the processor may be expected to process the image data to determine oral health data, which may be related to plaque or dental caries lesions or tooth loss or discoloration visible in the image. Reference is made to the above list of oral conditions. The processor may be further configured to classify oral health sensor data or oral health data with respect to at least two state classes. Oral health data and state classification data regarding the classification results may, in particular, determine at least two of at least two discrete positions / locations or segments.The processor may be configured and / or arranged to compare the currently determined state class or discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segmented state class with at least one historical state class or discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segmented historical state class determined during at least one previous scanning procedure, and the state class is stored in memory as historical state class data.

[0064] The feedback unit may be configured and / or arranged to provide feedback regarding the oral health data and / or the state classification data either during the scanning procedure and / or at the end of the scanning procedure. The feedback unit may comprise at least one feedback element for visual, auditory and / or tactile or haptic feedback regarding the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data and / or the state classification data, particularly when such feedback is provided as discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segmented feedback. As described above, the focus of the present invention is on the feedback provided regarding the comparison results, preferably in a discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segmented manner, in order to continuously guide the user to achieve optimal use of the oral scanner system. The intention is to provide simple feedback that is easy to digest, providing the user with a single piece of information such as a single number or value for each segment. The feedback unit may comprise at least two visual feedback elements for feedback regarding discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segmented feedback. It should be understood that the feedback unit may particularly comprise a display, and the display may be used to define a plurality of visual feedback elements, with reference being made to each of the explanations in the previous paragraph.

[0065] The feedback unit may be provided by a separate device such as a unique device (e.g., a charger with a display), a computer, a notebook, a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone, or a smartwatch. The processor may be at least partially provided by a separate device. It is contemplated that the separate units or devices described herein may communicate in a wireless manner. For example, each of the units or devices may include a communicator for establishing at least one-way or two-way or multi-directional wireless communication. As already explained, the feedback unit can provide an abstract or more realistic visualization of at least a portion of the oral cavity being scanned, such as an abstract depiction of the dentition, which is taken as an example. The visualization of the dentition may be overlaid with visualization of scan procedure progress data, oral health (sensor) data, and / or state classification data and / or comparison data. The term "overlaid" is to be understood to mean that a two-dimensional image based on the depiction of the dentition may be displayed and may additionally include further information being depicted, and / or coloring or patterning of at least a portion of the depiction of the dentition. The image may include elements of a graphical user interface.

[0066] According to one aspect, the present disclosure relates to an oral scanner system, the oral scanner system comprising an oral scanner, the oral scanner having an oral health sensor, the oral health sensor including a camera for performing an optical scan procedure, receiving image data from the camera, and storing historical image data and / or historical oral health data in a memory connected or coupled to a processor, the historical data having historical data stored therein, and comparing the oral health data regarding at least one oral health state derived from the image data and / or the image data with the historical image data and / or the historical oral health data, and a processor for generating comparison data regarding changes in the image data and / or the oral health data between the current optical scan procedure and a previous optical scan procedure, i.e., regarding the comparison result. The oral scanner system then further comprises a feedback unit for providing feedback regarding the comparison result. The oral scanner can create discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segmented comparison data, and may comprise a position sensor as described above such that respective discretely position-resolved / location-resolved or segmented feedback is provided.

[0067] Consideration of Embodiments with Reference to the Drawings Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary oral scanner system 1 according to the present disclosure. The oral scanner system 1 includes an exemplary oral scanner 100 configured and arranged alone to perform an oral scan procedure without oral care activities, and a processor 200, which in this example is disposed in or within the oral scanner 100. The oral scanner 100 includes a handle portion 101 and a head portion 102. An oral health sensor 110 is disposed in or on the oral scanner 100. Generally, two or more different oral health sensors may be used and thus may be disposed in or on the oral scanner 100. In the illustrated example, at least one measurement inlet, such as a light inlet that cooperates with the oral health sensor 110, is provided in the head portion 102 so that acquisition of oral health data based on light measurement by the oral health sensor 110 is enabled at the head portion 102. Here, the head portion 102 includes a flat transparent window 1021 surrounded by a frame structure 1022 that may preferably be arranged and / or configured to receive a removable attachment (see FIG. 2). The head portion 102 is sized to be conveniently introduced into the oral cavity of a human or animal. The handle portion 101 is sized to be conveniently gripped by the hand of a human user. The handle portion 101 and the head portion 102 may be separable from each other. In some embodiments, the handle portion 101 may be equipped with different replaceable head portions in addition to an oral scanner head portion such as a brush 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 preferably has an outer housing 104 that may preferably be hollow to accommodate various internal components, such as a rechargeable energy source and preferably a related charging circuit for wireless charging of the energy source, and a circuit board including various electronic components for control of the oral scanner.Generally, the oral scanner 100 is configured and / or arranged to perform a scanning procedure of at least a part of a subject's oral cavity, that is, while the user holds and moves the oral scanner 100, the oral scanner acquires oral health sensor data to determine the progress of the scan, and preferably analyzes the oral health sensor data acquired regarding at least one oral health condition. Although this is not limiting, the processor 200 may be disposed on a circuit board. The processor 200 is coupled or connected to the oral health sensor 110 to receive a signal from the oral health sensor 110, that is, to receive oral health sensor data in the processor 200. The processor 200 may be configured and / or arranged to process the oral health sensor data to derive or determine oral health data regarding at least one oral health condition such as dental plaque. In some embodiments, the oral health sensor may output oral health sensor data that is a direct measure of the relevant oral health condition, such that (where applicable) only limited processing of the oral health sensor data may be required, such as calculations of normalized values or some reduction to integers. The processor 200 may further be configured and / or arranged to classify the oral health (sensor) data into at least two state classes related to at least one oral health condition, for example, an "oral health no concern" class (or "green" class) and an "oral health concern" class (or "red" class), and this may be performed based on a comparison with at least one threshold value. Reference is made to each of the previous paragraphs where the classification is described in more detail. The classification may further be performed regarding at least three classes, for example, in addition to the "green" class, a "low concern" ("orange") class and a "high concern" ("red") class may result from the classification process. It should be noted again that one of the main aspects of the present application is the provision of simple feedback (such as a single value or a single color or a single pattern, etc.) for each of the segments (discrete positions or locations) being scanned for the user by the feedback unit.The provision of this simple feedback requires some processing of oral health sensor data and / or position sensor data to determine a simple feedback (value) for each segment. The simple feedback may be, for example, a number or a color. In some embodiments, the color shown may vary essentially continuously to convey the feedback, and in some embodiments, the feedback may be limited to a binary or ternary feedback space provided by, for example, two numbers such as 0 and 1, or three numbers such as 0, 1, and 2, or two colors such as green and red, or three colors such as green, yellow, and red.

[0068] As already explained and as further explained with reference to FIG. 3, the oral scanner system 1 may further comprise at least one position sensor coupled or connected to the processor 200, whereby the processor 200 receives a signal from the position sensor delivering position sensor data during operation, and the processor 200 can determine from the position sensor data the discrete position or location at which the oral scanner is currently performing a scan procedure or was performing a scan procedure at a given time within the oral cavity. As defined above, a discrete position or discrete location means a segment of at least a portion of the oral cavity being scanned, and a plurality of segments cover this portion of the oral cavity being scanned without gaps and without overlapping. Time data regarding the absolute or relative time at which the data was acquired may be part of the position sensor data or may be part of the aforementioned oral health sensor data. The determination of the discrete position or location enables the processor 200 to calculate oral health data regarding at least one oral health condition and / or to classify the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data in a discrete position or location-resolved manner, i.e., for each of the segments mentioned, into at least two oral health condition classes. The oral health sensor data and the position sensor data acquired essentially at the same time may be delivered together to the processor 200 due to the design of the oral scanner system, or the processor may be configured and / or arranged to assign oral health sensor data and position data having the same time information (“timestamp”) or time information that best matches each other, i.e., the closest time information (timestamp). The provision of the position sensor data and / or the oral health sensor data may be performed in a live manner, but it should be noted that each data may preferably be stored over a period of time together with time information and transmitted to the processor at a later point in time, for example, the data may be transmitted every 10 seconds or after the scan procedure has stopped or been completed. The term “position sensor” is intended to include embodiments in which two discrete position sensors that together implement a “position sensor” are used, for example, an IMU provided on the oral scanner and a separate camera.

[0069] The oral scanner system 1 may include a feedback unit 120 for providing user-perceivable feedback, specifically, feedback composed of or at least including processed information for each segment, i.e., a single feedback provided in the form of a color or a single value for each segment / discrete position or location. For example, as exemplarily shown in FIG. 1, the oral scanner 100 may include a visual feedback unit 121 which is part of the feedback unit 120 for providing feedback visually. In FIG. 1, the visual feedback unit 121 includes four 1 / 4 ring light regions 1211, 1212, 1213, 1214 arranged to form a ring that can be understood to represent four 1 / 4 sections of the dentition. By illuminating the light regions 1211, 1212, 1213, 1214 with light of different colors and / or light having different intensity characteristics, user-perceivable feedback can be provided, for example, live during the scanning procedure, and as a result, the user can understand the progress of the scanning procedure in a discrete position or location-resolved manner. Additionally or alternatively, the four light regions 1211, 1212, 1213, 1214 may be used to indicate the severity of the oral health condition during or at the end of the scanning procedure in a discrete position or location-resolved manner, for example, by illuminating each light region with a specific color and / or by applying an intensity variation pattern. These are merely examples, and instead of four light regions, the oral scanner 100 may include two, three, five, six, sixteen, or thirty-two, etc. The light regions and / or the oral scanner system 1 may include a display for more versatile visualization of user-perceivable feedback, for example, displaying values such as percentages for each segment. See the previous paragraph regarding the visualization of feedback.The oral scanner 100 may additionally or alternatively include one or several other feedback elements 122, which are part of a feedback unit 120 such as a light ring at the bottom of the oral scanner 100, for communicating, for example, that the oral scanner 100 is switched on or that the energy storage device needs to be charged, one or several tactile or haptic feedback elements, and / or one or several audible feedback elements. Generally, the processor 200 may be coupled or connected to a memory for storing oral health sensor data and / or oral health data and / or scan progress data and / or state classification data and / or oral care activity data, and this stored data may be stored in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner, specifically, current and historical memory data may be present, where "historical" relates to previous scan procedures or oral care activities. The oral care activity data relates to oral care activity procedures performed using an oral care device, and the data has been sent to the processor. All aspects described with respect to this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are further to be understood as being provided for all other embodiments in the present disclosure without repetition of the same text, to the extent that the individual aspects do not conflict with other embodiments.

[0070] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of another exemplary oral scanner system 1A according to the present disclosure. The oral scanner system 1A here includes, for example, an exemplary oral scanner 100A and an exemplary separate device 300A that includes a processor 200A and a display 310A as part of a feedback unit for visualizing user-perceivable feedback (see the previous paragraph providing details regarding visualization and FIGS. 5-7 for further reference to the following disclosure). The oral scanner 100A may include a scanner communicator 140A, and the separate device 300A may include a separate device communicator 340A. As a result, the oral scanner 100A and the separate device 300A can communicate wirelessly, for example, via a Bluetooth protocol or an IEEE 820.11 protocol, that is, exchange signals for delivering data. The possibility of wireless communication is indicated here and in the following figures by an icon that includes a small circle and three concentric circular segments, as is a common standard for indicating Wi-Fi connectivity. This does not exclude the possibility of signal exchange or permanent or temporary additional or alternative wired direct or indirect connections for communication via further devices, such as a charger or a router or a cloud computing device. The separate device 300A is schematically shown here as a mobile phone, but should not be understood as limiting. Refer to the possibility of realizing the separate device described in the previous paragraph. In FIG. 2, an oral health sensor 110A is shown to be provided within or on the oral scanner 100A for acquiring oral health sensor data in the head section 102A of the oral scanner 100A. As shown, the oral health sensor 110A may include a sensor receiver 111A, such as an optical sensor like a camera, and a sensor emitter 112A, such as an optical emitter. A preferably removable attachment 105A is attached here to the head portion 102A, which may preferably be realized as a distance attachment. Refer to the previous paragraph regarding the attachment of the oral scanner.Instead of the sensor emitter 112A being placed directly on the head portion 102A, the head portion 102A may include an outlet that communicates with the sensor emitter 112A such that the emitted medium can exit the head portion 102A at the intended location and the sensor emitter 112A itself can be disposed elsewhere within the oral scanner 100A. Similarly, an inlet may be provided in the head portion 102A that communicates with the sensor receiver 111A such that the medium to be measured can enter the head portion 102A at the intended location and the sensor receiver 111A can be disposed at some other location within the oral scanner 100A.

[0071] Regardless of whether the feedback unit is provided at least in part on the oral scanner and / or a separate device, the intent of the feedback described herein is for the user to respond to the feedback and thus enable optimization of the use of the oral scanner system. Here, the use of the oral scanner system focuses, on the one hand, on the use of the oral scanner system during a single scan procedure and, on the other hand, on the long-term use of the oral scanner system over various instances of procedures performed using the components of the oral scanner system (including, for example, the oral scanner and optionally an oral care device for providing oral care activities).

[0072] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary oral scanner system 1B according to the present disclosure. The oral scanner system 1B includes an oral scanner 100B, a separate device 300B including a display 310B as part of a feedback unit and a processor 200B, and position sensors 400B, 410B each including first and second position sensors 400B and 410B. The position sensors 400B, 410B are configured and / or arranged to utilize position sensor data output by the position sensors 400B, 410B to determine whether the oral scanner 100B is currently executing a scan procedure or a discrete position or location within the oral cavity 500B where the scan procedure is being executed at a given time. The time may be derivable from time values output by the position sensors 400B, 410B together with the associated position sensor data, or a clock may be used for absolute time values. As described above, the position sensors 400B, 410B in this example include two position sensors, one disposed within or on the oral scanner 100B and one separate from the oral scanner 100B.

[0073] The oral cavity 500B shown in FIG. 3, while not desired to be complete, includes the dental arch 510B, the gums 520B, the tongue 530B, the uvula 540B, the lips 550B, the inner cheeks 560B, and the palate 570B. Although all other areas within the oral cavity 500B can be similarly considered, for simplicity, only the dental arch 510B will be further discussed. In this exemplary description, the dental arch 510B is virtually separated into four quarter sections 511B, 512B, 513B, 514B that are considered different segments within the oral cavity 500B where the oral scanner 100B can perform a scanning procedure. The segments defined within the oral cavity 500B do not have to cover the entire dental arch 510B and may cover only a portion of the dental arch 510B, which is to be understood as the portion of the oral cavity intended to be scanned. The first position sensor 400B is here disposed on or within the oral scanner 100B and may be implemented as an accelerometer and / or a gyroscope and / or a magnetometer (generally, as an IMU). The position sensor data and the oral health sensor data may be wirelessly transmitted and received to / from the processor 200B via the processor communicator as already described, and the processor 200B is configured and / or arranged to determine a segment from a list of segments to be scanned, i.e., the discrete position or location where the oral scanner 100B is currently performing a scanning procedure based on the position sensor data, or where the oral scanner 100B was performing a scanning procedure at a given time based on position sensor data that may include timer data. In this embodiment, the processor 200B may output one of the four dental arch quarter sections 511B, 512B, 513B, 514B as the scan segment, i.e., as the discrete position or location currently being scanned. The processor 200B may preferably also be configured and / or arranged to output that no scan is currently being performed at any of the defined discrete positions or locations.For example, when oral scanner 100B is moved outside oral cavity 500B or across tongue 530B, the processor may output that it does not occur at any of the discrete positions or locations where the scan procedure was used, or processor 200B may explicitly indicate that it is outside the discrete position or location where oral scanner 200B was used. Processor 200B may be further configured and / or arranged to calculate oral health data from the oral health sensor data by assigning, in a position-resolved or location-resolved, i.e., segmented, manner, the oral health sensor data and / or oral health data derived therefrom to determined discrete positions or locations (or segments). See the previous paragraph for details of the determination of the discrete positions or locations and how the oral health data is assigned to the discrete positions or locations. In some embodiments, processor 200B determines the orientation of 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 is known in the art.

[0074] Additionally or alternatively, a second position sensor 410B may be utilized. In this embodiment, it is a separate camera that captures an image from outside or inside the oral cavity 500B, and the image is understood to be position sensor data delivered by the camera 410B. Based on only the photograph and / or on data fusion with position sensor data from the first position sensor 400B, discrete positions or locations (or segments) within the oral cavity 500B may be determined by the processor 200B, where the discrete positions or locations are associated with one of the shown dentition 1 / 4 sections 511B, 512B, 513B, 514B. The fact that an external camera is shown here does not exclude the alternative or additional use of a camera as a position sensor disposed in the head portion or the handle portion of the oral scanner 100B so as to be able to assist in determining discrete positions or locations (or segments) by capturing an image from inside the oral cavity 500B or an image from the user's face, respectively. According to some aspects throughout this specification, a camera that functions as an oral health sensor may be further utilized as a position sensor. See, for example, European Patent No. 2189198 (B1) of the previous paragraph. A scanning procedure performed using an oral health sensor equipped with an optical sensor such as a camera is called an optical scanning procedure.

[0075] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary oral scanner system 1C according to the present disclosure that specifically includes an oral care device 700C, although some aspects of the oral scanner system 1C are independent of the presence of the oral care device 700C. The oral scanner system 1C may include or interact with an oral scanner 100C, a separate device 300C with a display 310C, the aforementioned oral care device 700C, exemplified here as an electric toothbrush, a charger 710C, a base station 720C with a display 721C 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 configured and / or arranged for wireless communication as indicated by the aforementioned icons. It should be understood that the components shown here of the oral scanner system 1C are an optional assembly. For example, the oral scanner system 1C may include only one charger, or no charger at all, or actually two chargers, one for the oral scanner 100C and one for the oral care device 700C, and potentially an additional charger for the separate device 300C. As already explained in the previous paragraph, the processor of the oral scanner system 1C may be implemented as a distributed processor, with a first processor subunit disposed within the oral scanner 100C, a second processor subunit provided by the cloud computing device 750C, or a first processor subunit provided by the separate device 300C and a second processor subunit provided by the computer 740C.How the oral care device 700C can be incorporated into the oral scanner system 1C, and that at least one operating setting of the oral care device 700C can be selected based on control data determined by a processor, and / or that the oral care device 700C can be configured and / or arranged to send oral care activity data regarding at least one oral care activity performed using the oral care device 700C to the processor, where the previous description regarding its use for adapting the next scan procedure is referred to. Data from one component may be sent directly to another component, for example from the oral care device 700C directly to the oral scanner 100C, or indirectly, for example from the oral care device 700C to the cloud server 750C, where it may be stored in memory and then sent to the processor from the cloud server 750C, for example on demand. The processor may be located within a separate device 300C and / or within or in the oral scanner 100C. The memory referred to may be the memory located in any of the components referred to, or may be a distributed memory.

[0076] FIG. 5 is a depiction of an exemplary feedback screen 600D that can be visualized on the display of an oral scanner system. The term feedback screen, as used herein, refers to the visualization of feedback to a user by a display that uses specific feedback concepts within the 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 by a continuous or guided human and device interaction process, and does not exclude visualizing information such as the current time on the feedback screen. It should be understood that the individual aspects of the feedback screen shown here are not necessarily disclosed together, that different feedback screen aspects may be assembled in any manner, and that the examples provided in the figures are merely exemplary. In FIG. 5, feedback screen 600D includes a first portion 610D and a second portion 620D. The first portion shows a live or saved image 611D from a camera on the head portion of the oral scanner of the oral scanner system. The camera may be included in the oral health sensor. The live image can include unprocessed or processed image data related to the oral health condition, such as plaque image data that appears as red fluorescence. The processor may be configured and / or arranged to analyze the image data, and may determine a boundary line within the image or portion of the image where the relevant oral health sensor data is located, and each display 612D may be overlaid on the live image 611D and visualized in the same manner as the portion of the live or saved image. Display 612D is shown in FIG. 5, and this display is overlaid on the visualized image data 611D and is intended to provide a visible reference for the area of the tooth that can be seen on the image covered by plaque. Here, display 612D is derived from the camera data, specifically the camera data that images fluorescence, and it is stated that display 612D indicates the area where a scanned oral health problem such as plaque has been found on the currently scanned tooth (live image) or on the saved image (e.g., to show the tooth with the most serious problem).Display 612D is the result of processing optical oral health data captured by a camera, but the display 612D itself has no meaning unless it is overlaid on an image of each part of the oral cavity to which it relates. Only further processing, such as calculating a normalized area of dental plaque for the total tooth area within a given segment (discrete position or location), enables a single value that is easily understandable for each segment to be presented to the user.

[0077] In the illustrated example, 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 the human dentition 621D generally includes six segments (reflecting scanned segments or discrete positions / places) 622D, 623D, 624D, 625D, 626D, and 627D that are spaced apart between two adjacent segments in an oval-like configuration. Each of the segments 622D, 623D, 624D, 625D, 626D, and 627D includes a plurality of overlapping circles or bubbles and is understood to be a non-limiting example of a visualization possibility. The upper three segments 622D, 623D, 624D show the upper teeth, and the lower three segments 625D, 626D, 627D show the lower teeth. The upper segment 623D and the lower segment 626D are each taken to represent the positions in the dentition related to the upper and lower front teeth, respectively, and the left segments 622D and 627D are each taken to represent the positions in the dentition related to the upper and lower left molars, respectively, and the right segments 624D and 625D are each taken to represent the positions in the dentition related to the upper and lower right molars, respectively. Referring to segment 622D (and also with respect to segment 625E of FIG. 6 as a further example), it is shown that the abstract segment shown can be visually separated into two or three or more subdivisions (segments) that can be related to different discrete positions or places in the dentition. These subdivisions may be used, for example, to visually distinguish different teeth or groups of teeth related to a higher-order segment, or different tooth surfaces or groups of tooth surfaces related to a higher-order segment. Segment 622D (and segment 625E of FIG. 6) is separated into three regions 6221D, 6222D, 6223D, where the side regions 6221D and 6223D each represent the buccal and lingual surfaces of the molar of segment 622D, respectively, and the central region 6222D represents the occlusal or occluding surface of the molar of segment 622D. Such a portion of the feedback screen may be used to provide live or summary feedback to the user as just a portion of the overall feedback screen or as essentially the sole portion of the feedback screen. FIG. 5 shows a feedback screen that a user can view during a live scan procedure.Segments 622D, 623D, 624D, 625D, 626D, and 627D may be used to indicate the location or site resolved scan procedure progression and / or the severity of the oral health condition, e.g., the total or normalized area of teeth within the segment where dental plaque etc. has been determined. Again, note that the segments or subdivisions of segments shown on the feedback screen relate to discrete positions or sites within the oral cavity. As already explained in the previous paragraph, the scan procedure progression can be visualized by first showing all segments and all segment subdivisions in a base or starting color (e.g., dark blue) or starting pattern etc., then gradually or stepwise changing the color or pattern etc. towards a different color or pattern, e.g., towards light blue, and finally towards white, by showing the scan procedure progression for each segment, i.e., for each discrete position or site. It may be preferred to have three or more colors or patterns used for each segment or subdivision of the pattern to indicate the level of the scan procedure progression or the severity of the oral health condition, although it does not exclude the use of only two colors or patterns etc. In FIG. 5, different intensities of shading are used instead of colors. The severity of the detected oral health condition is determined based on the discrete position or site resolved oral health (sensor) data and can be visualized by adding patterns of different intensities to the colors. In FIG. 5, additional dots are used to indicate the severity of the oral health condition.

[0078] FIG. 6 is a depiction of an exemplary feedback screen 600E that can be visualized on a display of an oral scanner system. Feedback screen 600E includes an abstract visualization of an essentially same dentition 621E as described with respect to FIG. 5, with each description being incorporated by reference. Abstract segments 622E, 623E, 624E, 625E, 626E, and 627E are shown. Feedback screen 600E can be understood as a summary screen in which the detected oral health condition, e.g., the severity of dental plaque, is shown in a discretized position or location-resolved manner by different colors or patterns, etc. (in FIG. 6, different intensities of shading are used). In this embodiment, the basic feedback concept described with respect to FIG. 5 is used to show the live status of the oral health condition in each of the segments, or the final status of the oral health condition at the end of the scan procedure, instead of the live or final scan progress described with respect to FIG. 5. Additional patterns or structures may be applied to indicate additional feedback, e.g., the presence of another oral health condition such as tartar (i.e., old dental plaque), and the intensity of the pattern or the number of additional structures may indicate the severity of the additional oral health condition. Additional dots are shown in FIG. 6. Further, feedback screen 600E includes a visualization of the temporal change with respect to at least one oral health condition, e.g., the severity of dental plaque. Such visualized feedback can show, in a suitable way, the severity of the oral health condition determined in the most recent scan procedure and a change indicator for the change in severity compared to the severity in at least one previous scan procedure. The bar indicator with a temporal change arrow shown in FIG. 6 is merely an example of such a visualization of comparison data, i.e., comparison data regarding the comparison of current data with stored historical data. The bar indicator shown includes a bar indicating the oral health condition, where the bottom is related to no problem and the top is related to a concerning state, a first number, here 75, indicating a normalized oral health condition assessment (normalization may be related to a range between 0 and 100 here), and a second number, here 8, indicating the temporal change versus the previous, i.e., the historical scan procedure.The reference guide 630E can be visualized to map colors or symbols or patterns, etc. to the severity of the oral health condition, and the severity shown in the reference guide 630E may match the state class into which the oral health data is classified. In the example shown, three state classes, namely "low", "medium", and "high" are used. In this example, information regarding comparison with historical data is shown as a comprehensive indicator for the entire scanned portion of the oral cavity. In contrast, it can be envisioned that a feedback screen can be shown, where the temporal changes are shown, for example, in a segmented manner as the color of each segment, and / or the assigned values can be used to indicate better or worse temporal changes for each segment, i.e., for each discrete position or location.

[0079] Figure 7 is a diagram of an exemplary separate device 300F that is part of an oral scanner system and includes a display 310F on which an exemplary feedback screen 600F is visualized. Again, an abstract visualization 621F of the dentition is utilized as in FIGS. 5 and 6. In addition to the segments of the dentition, the location where an oral health condition of a particular severity was detected (i.e., the location where the analysis of the oral health sensor data resulted in an oral health condition exceeding a threshold), for example, the location where gingival inflammation was detected based on the analysis of image data such as that created by a camera acting as a sensor receiver of an oral health sensor, a position 640F regarding segments of the gingiva is shown. The feedback screen 600F provides an example of a visualization for providing feedback regarding various oral health conditions classified into different state classes. The reference guide 630F can be visualized to map colors or symbols or patterns, etc. to the type of oral health condition and its classification. The visualized marks 640F, 641F may be overlaid on the abstract visualization 621F of the dentition to provide feedback regarding further oral health conditions, such as cavities, etc. The size of such a mark 641F may be related to the severity and thus to the state class. As shown in FIG. 7, the individual discrete positions or locations may be shown in an even more decomposed manner, for example, decomposed at the level of individual teeth.

[0080] The dimensions and values disclosed in this specification should not be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. Instead, unless otherwise indicated, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. For example, a dimension disclosed as "40 mm" is intended to mean "about 40 mm".

Claims

1. An oral scanner system, wherein the oral scanner system comprises an oral scanner equipped with an oral health sensor configured and / or arranged to obtain oral health sensor data from at least a part of a subject's dentition during at least one scan procedure related to the oral health condition; a position detector configured and / or arranged to obtain position sensor data during the scan procedure; a processor, receiving the oral health sensor data and the position sensor data, processing the position sensor data to determine discrete positions or locations from at least two discrete positions or locations of the at least part of the dentition where the oral scanner is currently performing the scan procedure or was performing the scan procedure at a given time, assigning the oral health sensor data and / or oral health data determined by the processor based on the oral health sensor data to one of the at least two discrete positions or locations to create discretely position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or oral health data, storing the discretely position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or oral health data in the memory of the oral scanner system and comparing them respectively with discretely position-resolved or location-resolved historical oral health sensor data and / or historical oral health data determined in at least one previous scan procedure, generating comparison data, preferably discretely position-resolved or location-resolved comparison data, controlling a display unit to provide visualization of the discretely position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data and / or to provide visualization of the comparison data, preferably the discretely position-resolved or location-resolved comparison data, at least after the scan procedure is completed, a processor configured and / or arranged as such; An oral scanner system comprising the above.

2. The oral scanner system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured and / or arranged to provide a position-resolved visualization of the comparison data.

3. The position sensor includes at least one from a list including an accelerometer and a gyroscope, and preferably, the accelerometer or the gyroscope is implemented as a MEMS sensor, the oral scanner system according to claim 2.

4. The processor assigns the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data to the determined discrete position or location at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scan procedure such that the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data are position-resolved or location-resolved, preferably, the position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or the position-resolved or location-resolved oral health data are stored in a memory and compared with position-resolved or location-resolved historical oral health sensor data and / or position-resolved or location-resolved historical oral health data determined in at least one previous scan procedure to generate position-resolved or location-resolved comparison data, the oral scanner system according to claim 2 or 3.

5. The processor is configured and / or arranged to control the feedback unit to provide user-perceivable feedback regarding the position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or the position-resolved or location-resolved oral health data, the oral scanner system according to claim 4.

6. The processor is configured and / or arranged to control the feedback unit to provide user-perceivable feedback, preferably visually perceivable feedback, regarding the position-resolved or location-resolved comparison data, the oral scanner system according to claim 4 or 5.

7. The processor processes the oral health sensor data to determine oral health data regarding the at least one oral health state, classifies the oral health data regarding at least two state classes regarding the at least one oral health state, determines one state class from the at least two state classes to which the oral health data belongs, or configured and / or arranged to classify the oral health sensor data with respect to at least two state classes regarding the at least one oral health condition and to determine one state class to which the oral health sensor data belongs from the at least two state classes, the oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 6

8. The processor is preferably configured and / or arranged to classify the position-resolved or location-resolved oral health sensor data and / or the position-resolved or location-resolved oral health data with respect to at least two state classes regarding the at least one oral health condition, based on different classification requirements for at least two positions or locations of the at least part of the oral cavity. The oral scanner system according to claims 4 and 7

9. History classification data is stored in the memory, preferably, the history classification data includes at least one history state class determined in at least one previous scan procedure, and more preferably, the history classification data includes at least two history position-resolved or location-resolved state classes determined in at least one previous scan procedure. The oral scanner system according to claim 7 or 8

10. The oral health sensor is an optical sensor, preferably comprising an M×N array of optoelectronic sensor elements. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 9

11. The oral health sensor is a camera for acquiring image data, and the processor is configured and / or arranged to process the image data to derive the oral health data as a set of numerical values in a position-resolved or location-resolved manner. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 9

12. The display unit is realized as a separate device or thereby, and the separate device is a computer, notebook, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or smartwatch. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 11

13. The oral scanner includes a communicator, the display unit includes a communicator, and the communicator is configured and / or arranged for at least one-way wireless communication from the oral scanner to the display unit. The oral scanner system according to claim 12.

14. The feedback unit is configured and arranged to visualize the depiction of at least a part of the oral cavity, preferably including at least the visualization of the dental arch virtually separated into at least two distinct segments representing at least two positions or locations, and preferably for at least two of the at least two positions or locations, at least the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data, and the comparison data are further visualized, preferably at least the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data are visually overlaid on the depiction of the dental arch, or the depiction of the dental arch is corrected based on at least the oral health sensor data and / or the oral health data. The oral scanner system according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

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