Patent Grant
10377048
This application is the U.S. National Phase application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2015/071027, filed on Sep. 15, 2015, which claims the benefit of International Application No. 14185364.8 filed on Sep. 18, 2014. These applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The present disclosure relates to an adjustment drive for an adjustable spacing comb for a hair cutting appliance, wherein the adjustment drive comprises an actuator that is configured for actuating a movable comb portion of the adjustable spacing comb with respect to a blade set of the hair cutting appliance, and a drivetrain for coupling the actuator and the movable comb portion, wherein the drivetrain comprises a reduction gear unit. The present invention further relates to an adjustable spacing comb comprising such an adjustment drive and to a hair cutting appliance that comprises such an adjustable spacing comb.
Hair cutting appliances, particularly electric hair cutting appliances, are generally known and may include trimmers, clippers and shavers. Electric hair cutting appliances may also be referred to as electrically powered hair cutting appliances. Electric hair cutting appliances may be powered by electric supply mains and/or by energy storages, such as batteries, for instance. Electric hair cutting appliances are generally used to trim (human) body hair, in particular facial hair and head hair to allow a person to have a well-groomed appearance. Frequently, electric hair cutting appliances are used for cutting animal hair.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,968,623 B2 discloses a hair trimmer comprising a body, a cutting head including a blade set, an adjustable comb, wherein the comb is movable with respect to the blade set, an electric motor for driving the blade set to effect a cutting action, and an actuator assembly that is capable of moving the comb with respect to the blade set between a fully retracted position and a fully extended position, the actuator assembly comprising a comb carriage, a comb button connected to the comb carriage, wherein the comb button is actuatable to adjust the position of the comb relative to the blade set, and a lock button movable with respect to the comb button, wherein the lock button selectively prevents and permits movement of the comb button relative to the body. Consequently, manual adjustment of the length of the comb is enabled.
EP 2 500 153 A2 discloses a hair grooming appliance comprising a housing; at least one hair grooming device carried by the housing and adapted to facilitate grooming of hair, said at least one hair grooming device comprising a blade selectively movable with respect to the housing and adapted to cut hair; an adjustable comb assembly including a comb selectively movable relative to the blade, and a comb-driving assembly operatively coupled to the comb; a control circuit in the housing and in communication with said at least one hair grooming device; and a touchscreen for receiving at least one input from a user, 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 an operation of the adjustable comb assembly, and wherein the operation of the adjustable comb assembly includes the comb-driving assembly moving the comb relative to the blade to a selected hair cut-length setting of the hair grooming appliance.
US 2008/163495 A1 discloses a hair clipper with a motorized cutting guide which comprises a motor connected by a shaft to the cutting guide. The cutting guide is driven by a program available via a microprocessor suggesting various options to the user. The user can operate the cutting guide in a manual mode and an automatic mode. The user can operate the cutting guide by pressing virtual buttons at a touchscreen.
A comb for a hair cutting appliance, particularly a spacing comb, generally may be arranged as an attachable comb or an integrally formed comb. A spacing comb generally spaces a blade set of the hair cutting appliance from the skin when the appliance is moved in a moving direction with respect to the skin during operation. Consequently, the spacing comb may enable to cut hair to a desired length, i.e. to a desired length of remaining hair at the skin.
Conventional hair cutting appliances may be fitted with a set of attachment combs, each of which associated with a distinct hair length. Consequently, a user of the appliance basically needs to replace an attachment comb by another one to alter the hair cutting length. Furthermore, manually adjustable comb attachments are known, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,968,623 B2. Furthermore, also powered adjustment combs have been presented in recent years, as for instance disclosed in EP 2 500 153 A2. Typically, powered adjustment combs comprise a movable comb portion that is movable with respect to a blade set of the hair cutting appliance, wherein the movable comb portion is coupled to an actuator, particularly to an electromotor and/or an electric powertrain.
However, operating a motorized adjustment comb frequently has proven to be afflicted with several drawbacks. It is often cumbersome for the user to operate the adjustable spacing comb in a precise and accurate manner since typically rather conventional control elements are provided, for instance push buttons, control levers etc. Typically, these control elements provide a predefined user input sensitivity. In other words, a single user input action may cause a defined response of the motor such that the adjustable spacing comb is displaced by a defined distance or step. Basically the same applies to conventional touchscreens, as shown in EP 2 500 153 A2.
Consequently, coarsely positioning the adjustable spacing comb in the provided adjustment range (which may include covering considerably long distances in the adjustment range) may be experienced as time-consuming. Furthermore, fine adjustment of the adjustable spacing comb may be difficult since conventional control elements typically require considerably large minimum increments of the adjustment motion, as indicated above. Consequently, operating a motorized adjustable spacing comb by means of conventional control elements may be regarded as a trade-off between adjustment speed and adjustment precision.
Due to the above-mentioned lack of operating and adjusting efficiency of conventional adjustable spacing comb arrangements, operating the hair cutting appliance may be further complicated. It would be therefore advantageous to simplify the act of adjusting the spacing comb. It would be further advantageous to provide an adjustable spacing comb and an adjustment drive therefor that may be operated by the user in a time-efficient and highly accurate manner.
There is thus still room for improvement in length adjustment mechanisms.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hair cutting appliance, an adjustable spacing comb for a hair cutting appliance, and an adjustment drive for such an adjustable spacing comb that may overcome at least some of the above-mentioned problems. In particular, it is an object to provide an adjustment drive for an adjustable spacing comb that may ensure simplified operability and, more preferably, extended input options for a user. It would be further beneficial to seek for improvements in adjustment speed and adjustment precision and accuracy. It would be further advantageous to provide a corresponding method for operating an adjustable spacing comb.
According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, an adjustment drive for an adjustable spacing comb for a hair cutting appliance is presented, the adjustment drive comprising:
wherein the sensor element is configured to detect multi-faceted user inputs applied to the sensor element and to output a user input signal that is derived from the multi-faceted user inputs, and
wherein the actuator is operated on the basis of the user input signal.
This aspect is based on the insight that the sensor element—which is touch sensitive sensor element which may also involve that the sensor element is arranged as a proximity sensitive sensor element—may enable user input actions which may induce both precise positioning and quick positioning of the movable comb portion. This can be achieved since the sensor element is capable of detecting multi-faceted user inputs. On the one hand side, the user may operate the sensor element slowly and by small increments (strokes). This may enable a precise positioning of the movable comb portion. On the other hand, the user may operate the sensor element quickly and by large increments (strokes). Operating the sensor element may typically comprises applying strokes or swipe movements to a sensing surface of the sensor element or, at least, in the proximity of the sensor element. Consequently, the sensor element may be configured and/or operated to detect dynamic properties and to exhibit “simulated” inertia properties. By applying quick and considerably long strokes to the sensor element, the movable comb portion may be moved by a considerably long distance. Conversely, the user may slightly and slowly drag over the sensor element so as to move the movable comb portion by considerably small increments. The sensor element may be arranged as a touch sensitive surface (touchpad) and/or a touchscreen.
As used herein, a multi-faceted user input may involve an input operation that involve more than a simple activation or deactivation (or selection or deselection). By contrast “multidimensional” user operations can be envisaged. Generally, extended information can be drawn from multi-faceted user inputs. By way of example, multi-faceted user inputs may be indicative of at least two of the following characteristics or input components: input stroke direction, input stroke speed, input stroke length, presence of input tap, presence of input stroke, presence of input double tap, presence of multi-touch operations, presence of press, presence of motion patterns, etc., and combinations thereof. Multi-faceted user inputs may also be referred to as gestures, particularly as touch gestures. In other words, more generally, multi-faceted user inputs may be referred to as multi-aspect inputs, multi-dimensional inputs, and/or multi-characteristic inputs.
As shown in the above-mentioned EP 2 500 153 A2, touchscreens may be utilized to enable simple operations such as moving a comb portion by a defined increment in response to a respective tap at a defined field of the touchscreen. Such a tap shall be referred to as simple user input and/or conventional user input. Consequently, conventional devices may, if at all, enable “one-dimensional” user operations. This may for instance require that respective fields of the touchscreen are assigned to respective simple user commands. For each user command a respective field may be required (e.g., “slow extension”, “fast extension”, “slow retraction”, “fast retraction”, etc.).
An adjustment drive in accordance with the present disclosure therefore overcomes several drawbacks inherent in conventional user operation approaches for motorized comb adjustment drives. The sensor element may provide an input surface. More particularly, at least a sub-portion of a touch sensitive layer or a proximity (sensitive) layer may be selected and/or activated for the detection of adjustment comb operation commands.
Generally, the sensor element may be referred to as length adjustment sensor element. However, the sensor element may be arranged as a multi purpose sensor element. This may involve that the sensor element is operable in several distinct operation states. Operation states may involve comb (length) adjustment, cutting speed adjustment, safety lock activation/deactivation, activation of individual stored user settings, etc.
Needless to say, the sensor element may be embedded in or covered by a housing portion of the hair cutting appliance and/or the adjustment drive. To this end, sensitive layers in accordance with touchpad and/or touchscreen techniques may be utilized that do not require contacts at the sensitive layer to detect user inputs. By way of example, the sensor element may be arranged as a touch-sensitive region at a surface of the housing portion of the hair cutting appliance. The term touch-sensitive may involve proximity sensing and/or contact sensing. Furthermore, the user may operate the sensor element with his/her fingers or thumbs. However, also input tools such as a stylus and/or similar input instruments may be utilized.
The adjustment drive in accordance with the above aspect may have the further advantage that a single sensor element may be used for extending and retracting the movable comb portion. Basically, the sensor element may detect opposite input stroke directions. Consequently, the input motion direction may be “translated” into an extending or a retracting motion of the movable comb portion.
Depending on a detected input speed level, respective operation modes may be selected (in terms of retraction/extraction speed, retraction/extraction increments and/or retraction/extraction motion overrun or time lag). Consequently, a relatively fast user input stroke may trigger an operation mode wherein an inertia behavior of the sensor element is simulated by activation a motion overrun or time lag which may include the an adjustment motion in response to the user input stroke is present for a longer period than the initial input stroke.
According to an embodiment of the adjustment drive, the user input signal is indicative of at least one signal component selected from the group consisting of input speed, input direction, input drag length, input path length, and combinations thereof. Consequently, enhanced user input information can be derived from an input action applied to the sensor element. A detected input direction can indicate whether an extraction or a retraction of the movable comb portion is desired. A detected input drag (or stroke) length can indicate a desired absolute or relative length adjustment level in a qualitative and/or quantitative manner.
The signal components may also be referred to as signal characteristics. Preferably, the user input signal is indicative of at least two signal components selected from the group consisting of input speed, input direction, input drag length, input path length, and combinations thereof. Input speed detection may comprise the detection of peak velocities and/or average velocities of a user input stroke or drag while performing a gesture. Input speed detection may be based on the detection of a time interval that is actually required for accomplishing a user input, particularly a user input gesture, or a least a portion thereof. Input direction detection may comprise rough detection of instantaneous and/or overall directions of a user input stroke or drag while performing a gesture. Rough detection of directions may involve assigning detected inputs to defined main input directions (e.g., ±X, ±Y, North <>
South, East <> West, etc.). Generally, direction detection may also involve the detection of a positive/negative sign of a user input stroke or drag. Furthermore, also more precise direction detection of user input strokes or drags may be envisaged.
In another embodiment, the adjustment drive further comprises a control unit coupled to the actuator and to the sensor element, wherein the control unit is configured to convert the user input signal into an actuator operating signal. The above embodiment of the adjustment drive can be further developed in that the control unit is further configured to set an adjustment length value based on a detected user input speed, and wherein the control unit is preferably further configured to set an adjustment direction based on a detected user input direction.
As already mentioned above, the user input signal can be indicative of at least one value selected from the group consisting of input command speed, input command direction and input command length, particularly of input stroke speed, input stroke direction, input stroke length, and combinations thereof. Generally, the actuator operating signal may be indicative of at least one value selected from the group consisting of adjustment direction, relative adjustment length, absolute adjustment length, relative adjustment offset, absolute adjustment offset, adjustment speed, adjustment time, and combinations thereof.
In yet another embodiment of the adjustment drive, the control unit is further configured to adjust length adjustment increments depending of detected user input speed, wherein the actuator is operated on the basis of a set length adjustment increment. Consequently, the adjustment drive may be operable at a plurality of adjustment speed ranges which may also be referred to as adjustment “gear” ranges. However, the adjustment “gear” ranges shall not be interpreted in a limiting sense as necessarily referring to fixed (mechanical) gear ranges. Rather, speed control and speed adjustment may be based on a variation of the voltage on the actuator (or: motor) of the adjustment drive, for instance. Hence, a virtual gear setting may be utilized (based on respective voltage ranges). Further, the adjustment speed may be basically infinitely (or: steplessly) adjustable by respective voltage variation. This may involve that the adjustment speed may be varied in small increments so that actually small adjustment steps may be present.
In one exemplary configuration, the adjustment drive can be operated in a rough adjustment mode and a fine adjustment mode, depending on a detected input speed. The rough adjustment mode may comprise incremental step size responses to a single user input event in the range from about 0.5 mm to about 5 mm, the applied value depending on a detected input length. The fine adjustment mode may comprise incremental step size responses to a single user input event in the range from about 0.1 mm to about 0. 5mm, the applied value depending on a detected input length. More generally, at least a first and a second distinct operation mode may be selected on the basis of at least one value that can be derived from the detected enriched user input information.
In still another embodiment of the adjustment drive, the control unit is further configured to convert a slow user input motion into a small length adjustment increment, and wherein the control unit is further configured to convert a fast user input motion into a large length adjustment increment. Preferably, the control unit is further configured to convert a small user input motion length into a small absolute length adjustment motion. More preferably, the control unit is further configured to convert a large user input motion length into large absolute length adjustment motion.
Consequently, the control unit is operable to either “amplify” (or gear up) detected user inputs into a large comb adjustment response or to “gear down” detected user inputs into a small comb adjustment response. Consequently, slow user input movement may result in precise incremental step output while fast user input movement may result in fast output at relatively large increments.
Generally, the present disclosure makes use of the idea that the activation impulse applied by the user to the sensor element and a corresponding data processing activity carried out by the control unit can be (physically) decoupled from each other such that a respective operation mode detection algorithm may be interposed between the user input impulse and the determination of the corresponding actuator operation signal. In other words, the operation mode detection algorithm can detect or, rather, anticipate whether fast response or slow response is desired by the user. This may further result in a quickly moving movable comb portion towards longer (absolute and/or relative) length settings, and a slowly and precisely moving movable comb portion in a shorter (absolute and/or relative) length setting range.
In still yet another embodiment of the adjustment drive the sensor element is configured to detect touch gestures and/or gestures in the proximity of the sensor element. Preferably, the sensor element is preferably configured to detect a user input swipe. User input gestures may generally comprise swipe, pinch, zoom and tap input actions. As used herein an input swipe may also be referred to as an input stroke. An input swipe may be induced by a uses by dragging a finger (or thumb) across a touch-sensitive or proximity-sensitive surface of the sensor element.
In another preferred embodiment of the adjustment drive, the sensor element comprises a touch-sensitive surface including (or being coupled to) at least one tactile sensor. The touch-sensitive surface may be formed by at least one flexible foil, particularly a conductive or capacitive flexible foil. The touch-sensitive surface may be formed by or be coupled with a flexible printed circuit board, for instance. The sensor element may be arranged as a touchpad, a trackpad, a touchscreen and/or similar gesture-sensitive input interfaces, preferably contact and/or proximity sensitive input interfaces.
It is worth mentioning in this regard that in some embodiments a flexible printed circuit board may be utilized that may be arranged as a capacitive and/or inductive sensor capable of detecting changes in capacity and/or inductivity. In some specific embodiments, the capacitive and/or inductive sensor may be arranged remote from the touch-sensitive surface. In other words, a respective sensor may be arranged within the housing of the hair cutting appliance. To this end, at least one signal transmission element may be disposed between the (inner) sensor and the (outer) touch-sensitive surface. The at least one signal transmission element may be arranged as a metal transmitter, for instance a metal spring that connects the (inner) sensor and the (outer) touch-sensitive surface. The metal spring-based signal transmission element may further comprise a metal plate that is coupled to the touch-sensitive surface.
At the touch-sensitive surface, capacitive and/or inductive manipulations can be applied by the user when performing an input operation. Respective signals that are indicative of the input operation can be “transferred” to the (inner) sensor. Preferably, at least two signal transmission elements may be utilized. More preferable, at least three signal transmission elements may be arranged at separate locations at the touch-sensitive surface. As a consequence of the arrangement of multiple signal transmission elements, multi-directional user inputs can be detected. Preferably, each signal transmission element is assigned to a respective sensor element of the sensor.
In accordance with still another embodiment of the adjustment drive, the sensor element is a capacitive sensing element or a conductance sensing element, and wherein the sensor element is preferably a multi-touch sensing element. Capacitive touch sensing elements and conductance touch sensing elements are generally known to the person skilled in the art, particularly in connection with mobile devices and/or computer technology interfaces. Furthermore, so-called multi touch sensor elements are generally known to the person skilled in the art. However, adopting these techniques shall not be understood as potentially rendering the present disclose obvious.
In yet another embodiment, the adjustment drive further comprises a feedback unit that is operably coupled to the control unit. Preferably, the control unit is configured to provide user guidance indicating that user inputs are enabled at the sensor element. Preferably, the control unit is further configured to provide user feedback in response to detected user inputs to the user. Generally, the sensor element and the feedback unit may be integrally implemented in a touchscreen unit. However, also alternative embodiments including a sensor element and a feedback unit that are separately arranged in a distinct manner may be envisaged. User feedback may generally comprise an indication of an actual and/or a selected length of the movable comb.
The above embodiment may be further developed in the feedback unit comprises at least one of an optical feedback element, an acoustic feedback element and/or a tactile feedback element. A tactile feedback element may be arranged as part of a haptic response system and include vibration elements, for instance. An optical feedback element may be arranged as a light feedback element, such as an LED. Also a touchscreen may be operated so as to define at least one optical feedback element.
Particular in connection with optical feedback elements, visual guidance for the user can be provided to indicate where and how a comb length adjustment input can be applied to the sensor element. In may be further preferred in this context, that the feedback unit comprises an array of optical feedback elements, particularly an array of chase light elements that are selectively operable to indicate a direction of potential user inputs. Chasing lights may indicate both input direction and a location or region where user inputs may be applied.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an adjustable spacing comb for a hair cutting appliance is presented, the adjustable spacing comb comprising a movable comb portion that is arranged to be moved with respect to a housing portion of the hair cutting appliance, and an adjustment drive in accordance with at least some embodiments discussed herein. In other words, the movable comb portion is movable with respect to the housing portion of the hair cutting appliance. Generally, the spacing comb may be arranged as an attachable and detachable spacing comb. In the alternative, the spacing comb may be arranged as an integrated or integrally provided spacing comb that cannot be detached from the hair cutting appliance. The movable comb portion may comprise a plurality of comb teeth that may divide and guide hairs when the hair cutting appliance including the adjustable spacing comb is moved through hair to cut hair to a selected length.
In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a hair cutting appliance, particularly a hair trimmer or clipper, is presented, the hair cutting appliance comprising a housing portion, a cutting unit including a blade set, and an adjustable spacing comb in accordance with at least some embodiments described herein. Generally, the hair cutting appliance may be regarded as an electrically powered hair cutting appliance. Consequently, a motor may be provided for driving the blade set. Typically, the blade set may comprise a stationary blade and a movable blade, wherein the movable blade is movable with respect to the stationary blade. The movable blade may be driven with respect to the stationary blade, particularly oscillatingly driven. The movable blade and the respective stationary blade may comprise cutting edges that may cooperate to cut hair.
Generally, the hair cutting appliance may comprise an elongated housing comprising a first end and a second end which is opposite to the first end. At the first end of the housing, a cutting head may be arranged. The second end of the housing may also be referred to as handle end.
In one embodiment of the hair cutting appliance, the sensor element is inconspicuously integrated in the housing portion. This may involve that the sensor element is hidden in the housing portion. Preferably, the sensor element, particularly a touch-sensitive or proximity-sensitive foil thereof, is covered by a wall of the housing portion. This may be advantageous since in this way an integrally shaped housing portion may be provided that exhibits a reduced tendency for soiling and dirt deposits. Furthermore, forming the device in a waterproof-manner can be facilitated. However, as indicated above, alternatively or in addition, the hair cutting appliance may be fitted with a touchscreen that may be utilized for the detection of multi-faceted user inputs and, at least in some embodiments, for providing user feedback, particularly user guidance.
According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for operating an adjustable spacing comb for a hair cutting appliance is presented, the method comprising the following steps:
Preferably, the method can make use of the adjustable spacing comb and the adjustment drive as discussed herein. Preferred embodiments of the disclosure are defined in the dependent claims. It shall be understood that the claimed method has similar and/or identical preferred embodiments as the claimed device and as defined in the dependent claims.
These and other aspects of the disclosure will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter. In the following drawings
The hair cutting appliance 10 may further comprise operator controls. For instance, an on-off switch or button 20 may be provided. Furthermore, a length adjustment control 22 may be provided at the housing 12 of the hair cutting appliance 10. The length adjustment control 22 may be provided in case an adjustable spacing comb 26 is attached to the housing portion 12 of the hair cutting appliance 10. In
As can be further seen from
With further reference to
With particular reference to
The adjustment drive 50 may comprise an actuator 52 or, more particularly, an electromotor. The actuator 52 may be coupled to a reduction gear 54. The reduction gear 54 may be coupled to a transmission element 56. Generally, the transmission element 56 may be arranged to convert a rotational output motion of the actuator 52 and the reduction gear 54, if any, into a basically longitudinal positioning motion of the movable comb portion 40. A respective longitudinal direction is indicated in
As can be seen from
For operating the adjustment drive 50, respective control elements may be provided. To this end, the adjustment drive 50 may comprise a sensor element 64, particularly a sensor element 64 that is sensitive to user gestures. The sensor element 64 may be arranged as a touch-sensitive and/or a proximity-sensitive sensor element 64. The sensor element 64 may be arranged as a basically areally extending sensor element 64, e.g. a sensor element 64 extending in basically two dimensions. Needles to say, the sensor element 64 may include a curved surface. In accordance with the present invention, the sensor element 64 is configured to detect relatively multi-faceted user inputs that are indicative of extended or enhance user input information. By way of example, user inputs may comprise input swipes, e.g. user strokes across the sensor element 64.
The sensor element 64 may be coupled with a control unit 68. The control unit 68 may be provided with a user input signal that is delivered from the sensor element 64. The control unit 68 may monitor the sensor element 64. The control unit 68 may comprise a processing unit. The control unit 68 may convert the detected user input signal into an actuator operating signal that may be transferred to the actuator 52. Consequently, there is no power transmission or force transmission link between the actuator 52 and the sensor element 64. Rather, electric signals may be transferred from the sensor element 64 to the actuator 52 via the control unit 68. As indicated above, the user input signal may be indicative of extended information, such as input speed, input length, input direction and respective information derivable therefrom. Based on the extended information, the control unit 68 may process a resulting actuator operating signal that can be used to operate the actuator 52.
As illustrated in
Further reference is made to
Further reference is made to
With respect to the adjustment comb length setting, the display 76 may be arranged to illustrate alphanumeric comb length related information. Furthermore, display 76 may display user guidance information indication that the user may select a desired length setting by applying a multi-faceted user input to the sensor element 64. As can be further seen from
This arrangement may have the advantage that the chasing light arrays 80 may clearly indicate that the user may adjust the comb length by dragging across the sensor element 64 in the desired direction (arrows 70, 72) to extend or retract the movable comb portion 40. Each of the feedback elements 82 may be selectively activated or deactivated. Further, feedback elements 82 may be operated in a chasing light manner so as to clearly indicate the directions 70, 72. However, the feedback elements 82 may be also operated so as to indicate absolute and/or relative length adjustment settings, such as absolute and/or relative length adjustment values.
As can be seen from
In some embodiments, the sensor element 64 may be further coupled with a feedback unit that is capable of providing tactile feedback (not shown in
With further reference to
The spacing comb 26 shown in
It goes without saying that the exemplary configurations of the adjustment drive 50 illustrated in
With further reference to
The user input signal may be analysed and processed accordingly. By way of example, the method may comprise optional sub-steps that may be implemented as optional steps or in combination. The sub-steps may comprise a step S22 that involves the derivation of an input stroke direction from the input signal. Consequently, it may be assessed whether the user wants to extract or retract the movable comb portion. The sub-steps may further comprise a step S24 that involves the derivation of an input stroke speed from the input signal. Consequently, it may be assessed whether the user wants to operate movable comb portion at high speed or low speed to bridge large or small adjustment distances. The sub-steps may further comprise a step S26 that involves the derivation of an input stroke length from the input signal. Consequently, conclusions as to the desired qualitative and/or quantitative length adjustment values can be drawn from the input stroke length. A subsequent step S28 may involve the generation of a output signal under consideration of data obtained at any of the (sub-)steps S22, S24 and S26. Based on the output signal, the adjustment drive and thus the adjustable spacing comb may be operated to set the desired cutting length.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.
In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.
Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14185364 | Sep 2014 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2015/071027 | 9/15/2015 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2016/041929 | 3/24/2016 | WO | A |
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| 20170305020 A1 | Oct 2017 | US |
