Electric hair grooming appliance including touchscreen

Abstract

An electric hair grooming appliance is configured to have one or more operations to facilitate grooming of hair. The electric hair grooming appliance includes a control circuit, and a touchscreen for receiving one or more inputs from a user and to facilitate communication between the user and the control circuit. The touchscreen is configured to send one or more command signals to the control circuit in response to receiving the one or more inputs from the user. The control circuit is configured to control one or more operations of the electric hair grooming appliance in response to receiving one or more of the command signals.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electric, handheld hair grooming appliance comprising:
 a housing; 
 at least one hair grooming device adapted to facilitate grooming hair, said at least one hair grooming device comprising a movable comb; 
 a comb-driving assembly operatively coupled to the comb for moving the comb to a selected hair cut-length setting of the hair grooming appliance; 
 a control circuit in the housing for operating said at least one hair grooming device; and 
 a touchscreen on at least one of the at least one hair grooming device and the housing for receiving at least one input from a user to facilitate communication between the user and the control circuit, the touchscreen being configured to send at least one command signal to the control circuit in response to receiving said at least one input from the user; and 
 a locking control for selectively locking the touchscreen, 
 wherein the control circuit is configured to control said movement of the at least one hair grooming device in response to receiving said at least one command signal such that the user is able to operate the at least one hair grooming device using the touchscreen, and 
 wherein the touchscreen is configured to receive a first input of said at least one input from the user and send a first command signal of said at least one command signal to the control circuit in response to receiving said first input, and wherein the touchscreen is configured to receive a second input of said at least one input from the user and send a second command signal of said at least one command signal to the control circuit in response to receiving said second input, the control circuit being configured to control the comb-driving assembly to move the comb to increase the cut-length setting of the hair grooming appliance in response to receiving said first command signal, and configured to control the comb-driving assembly to move the comb to decrease the hair cut-length setting of the hair grooming appliance in response to receiving said second command signal. 
 
     
     
       2. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in  claim 1  wherein the touchscreen is configured to generate a first icon for indicating a first location on the touchscreen for receiving the first input, and to generate a second icon for indicating a second location on the touchscreen for receiving the second input. 
     
     
       3. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in  claim 1  further comprising indicia applied to the touchscreen, the indicia including a first marking for indicating a first location on the touchscreen for receiving the first input, and a second marking for indicating a second location on the touchscreen for receiving the second input. 
     
     
       4. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in  claim 1  further comprising:
 a reciprocating blade; and  
 an electric motor for moving the at least one hair grooming device said reciprocating blade at a selected speed-setting. 
 
     
     
       5. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in  claim 1  wherein the hair grooming appliance comprises a locking control for selectively locking the touchscreen. 
     
     
       6. An electric, handheld hair grooming appliance comprising:
 a housing; 
 at least one hair grooming device adapted to facilitate grooming hair, said at least one hair grooming device comprising one of a movable hair cutting blade and a movable hair pinching plate; 
 a drive assembly operatively coupled to one of the hair cutting blade and the hair pinching plate; 
 a control circuit in the housing for operating said at least one hair grooming device; and 
 a touchscreen on at least one of the at least one hair grooming device and the housing for receiving at least one input from a user to facilitate communication between the user and the control circuit, the touchscreen being configured to send at least one command signal to the control circuit in response to receiving said at least one input from the user, 
 wherein the control circuit is configured to control said movement of the at least one hair grooming device in response to receiving said at least one command signal such that the user is able to operate the at least one hair grooming device using the touchscreen, and 
 wherein the touchscreen is configured to receive a first input of said at least one input from the user and send a first command signal of said at least one command signal to the control circuit in response to receiving said first input, and wherein the touchscreen is configured to receive a second input of said at least one input from the user and send a second command signal of said at least one command signal to the control circuit in response to receiving said second input, the control circuit being configured to control the drive assembly to decrease the speed of the one of the blade and the plate in response to receiving said first command signal, and adapted to control the drive assembly to increase the speed of the one of the blade and the plate in response to receiving said second command signal. 
 
     
     
       7. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in  claim 6  wherein the touchscreen has a first icon for indicating a first location on the touchscreen for receiving the first input, and a second icon for indicating a second location on the touchscreen for receiving the second input. 
     
     
       8. An electric, handheld hair grooming appliance comprising:
 a housing;   at least one hair grooming device adapted to facilitate grooming hair, said at least one hair grooming device comprising a movable comb;   a comb-driving assembly operatively coupled to the comb for moving the comb to a selected hair cut-length setting of the hair grooming appliance;   a control circuit in the housing for operating said at least one hair grooming device; and   a touchscreen on at least one of the at least one hair grooming device and the housing for receiving at least one input from a user to facilitate communication between the user and the control circuit, the touchscreen being configured to send at least one command signal to the control circuit in response to receiving said at least one input from the user,   wherein the control circuit is configured to control said movement of the at least one hair grooming device in response to receiving said at least one command signal such that the user is able to operate the at least one hair grooming device using the touchscreen,   wherein the touchscreen is configured to receive a first input of said at least one input from the user and send a first command signal of said at least one command signal to the control circuit in response to receiving said first input, and wherein the touchscreen is configured to receive a second input of said at least one input from the user and send a second command signal of said at least one command signal to the control circuit in response to receiving said second input, the control circuit being configured to control the comb-driving assembly to move the comb to increase the cut-length setting of the hair grooming appliance in response to receiving said first command signal, and configured to control the comb-driving assembly to move the comb to decrease the hair cut-length setting of the hair grooming appliance in response to receiving said second command signal, and   wherein the hair grooming appliance further comprises a mechanical locking control for selectively locking the touchscreen to prevent inadvertent adjustment of the cut-length setting.   
     
     
       9. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 8 wherein the mechanical locking control is a push button. 
     
     
       10. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 9 wherein the push button and the touchscreen are mounted on the same side of the housing. 
     
     
       11. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 10 wherein the push button is situated below the touchscreen. 
     
     
       12. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 11 wherein the appliance generates a graphical output to communicate the cut-length setting to a user, the graphical output being located on the same side of the housing as the touchscreen and the push button. 
     
     
       13. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 12 wherein the touchscreen generates a graphical icon denoting an area of the touchscreen which is touchable for adjusting the cut-length setting. 
     
     
       14. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 13 wherein the graphical icon is a plurality of spaced-apart graphical icons. 
     
     
       15. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 14 wherein the graphical icons are arrow-shaped. 
     
     
       16. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 14 wherein the graphical output is generated on the touchscreen. 
     
     
       17. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 14 wherein the graphical output is not generated on the touchscreen. 
     
     
       18. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 17 wherein the graphical output is a numerical output. 
     
     
       19. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 18 wherein the numerical output is presented in units of tenths of millimeters. 
     
     
       20. An electric hair grooming appliance as set forth in claim 14 wherein appliance generates a locking icon indicating that the touchscreen is locked.