Haircare appliance

Abstract

Disclosed herein, a haircare appliance using wireless transmission of information and/or energy between the appliance's main body and an accessory. The appliance has a main body with a processing element, a communication element, and a blower for generating an airflow. The main body has an attachment region for connecting an accessory. The accessory has a sensor element to determine a sensor reading, a processing element, and a communication element. The accessory is selectively attachable to the main body at the attachment region, and when attached to the main body, it can receive the airflow from the blower, and discharge the received airflow towards the hair of a user. The main body and accessory have a communication connection for bidirectional communication. The bidirectional communication is a wireless communication connection, and energy for operating the sensor element is provided by the wireless communication and/or a separate wireless energy transfer connection.

1 . A haircare appliance comprising:
 a main body comprising:
 a processing element, 
 a communication element, and 
 a blower for generating an airflow, 
 wherein the main body comprises an attachment region adapted for connecting an accessory, 
   the haircare appliance further comprising:   an accessory, comprising:
 a sensor element adapted to determine at least one sensor reading, 
 a processing element, and 
 a communication element, 
 wherein the accessory is selectably attachable to and/or detachable from the main body at the attachment region, 
 wherein the accessory, when attached to the main body, is adapted to receive the airflow from the blower, and 
 wherein the accessory is adapted to discharge the received airflow towards the hair of a user, 
   wherein the main body and the accessory comprise a communication connection adapted for bidirectional communication between the main body and the accessory, between the main body communication element and the accessory communication element,   wherein the bidirectional communication between the main body and the accessory is a wireless communication connection, and   wherein the energy for operating the sensor element is provided by the wireless communication connection and/or by a separate wireless energy transfer connection.   
     
     
         2 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 , the accessory further comprising:
 an actuator element,   wherein the actuator element is powered from the main body.   
     
     
         3 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein the energy for operating the actuator element is provided via at least one of: an electrical connection, the wireless communication connection, the separate wireless energy transfer connection, and a separate second wireless energy transfer connection.   
     
     
         4 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein the actuator element is an element out of the group consisting of: motion actuator, vibration actuator, moisture dispensing actuator, fluid dispensing actuator, irradiation element, and emitter element.   
     
     
         5 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the wireless communication connection and/or the separate wireless energy transfer connections are operating in the near field, in particular according to the RFID standard.   
     
     
         6 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the sensor element is adapted to acquire a sensor reading out of the group consisting of: hair presence, hair moisture, hair colour, hair melanin content, hair distance, airflow, airflow temperature, sound pressure level, human perceived loudness of haircare appliance, perceived loudness of actuator element, torsion, force, light, tension, actuator element dependent sensor reading, magnetic field, infrared light, and inertial measurement sensor information.   
     
     
         7 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the operation of the haircare appliance is adaptable dependent on the sensor reading acquired by the sensor element.   
     
     
         8 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein the operation of the accessory and/or the actuator element is adaptable dependent on the sensor reading acquired by the sensor element.   
     
     
         9 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 7 ,
 wherein the powering of the blower, the powering of a heater associated with the blower, and/or the powering of the accessory is dependent on a hair presence detection.   
     
     
         10 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the communication connection between the main body and the accessory comprises at least one of an encrypted communication connection and an authenticated communication connection.   
     
     
         11 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the operation of the haircare appliance, the operation of the accessory, and/or the operation of the actuator element is dependent on an encrypted and/or authenticated communication connection between the main body and the accessory.   
     
     
         12 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the accessory is interchangeable, and   wherein the operation of the haircare appliance, the operation of the accessory, and/or the operation of the actuator element is dependent on a dedicated accessory.   
     
     
         13 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the accessory is interchangeable, and   wherein the operation of the haircare appliance, the operation of the accessory, and/or the operation of the actuator element is dependent on a dedicated sensor element.   
     
     
         14 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the accessory comprises a plurality of sensor elements, in particular comprising at least two sensor elements of different type.   
     
     
         15 . The haircare appliance according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the haircare appliance is a hand-held haircare appliance, comprising a self-contained haircare appliance, that is adapted to be operated by the user holding the haircare appliance.