Patents by Inventor Willem Auke Westerhof

Willem Auke Westerhof has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11730372
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an accessory device (20) for an image-capturing device (10) for capturing a skin image of a subject's skin comprising a tubular member (21) having a first opening (22) at its first end (23) configured to surround a light source (11) and an image sensor (12) included in the image-capturing device (10) and a second opening (24) at its second end (25) configured to surround a skin portion (101) and two mirrors (26, 27) arranged within the tubular number (21) at its second end (25), wherein a first mirror (26) is arranged to retied light (30) emitted by the light source (11) towards the skin portion (101) and a second mirror (27) is arranged to reflect light (31) reflected from the skin portion (101) towards the image sensor (12). The accessory device can be coupled to an image-capturing device to acquire an image of a skin portion, which is evaluated to determine a skin parameter, such as skin gloss.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Willem Auke Westerhof, Yue Wu, Matthijs Platje, Pascal Driessen, Willem Minkes, Marco Tenback
  • Publication number: 20230144894
    Abstract: Razor having a hair-severing member having a plurality of sawing teeth arranged along a hair-severing edge of the hair-severing member. Each sawing tooth has a tooth tip and tooth edges mutually connected via the tooth tip. The hair-severing member is mounted for sawing through hairs present on the skin by means of the sawing teeth by moving each sawing tooth in a local direction of extension of the hair-severing edge at the position of the respective sawing tooth. A drive is coupled to the hair-severing member for driving the hair-severing member such that the sawing teeth move with an average velocity larger than or equal to 10 m/s. The spacing between the tooth tips of two successive sawing teeth is between 20 ?m and 150 ?m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2021
    Publication date: May 11, 2023
    Inventors: Robert GODLIEB, Willem Auke WESTERHOF
  • Publication number: 20230053723
    Abstract: Razor having a hair-cutting fiber having a hair-cutting section attached to a support in such a position relative to a skin engaging surface that the hair-cutting section is exposed to a user's skin for cutting through hairs when the skin engaging surface is in contact with the skin and moved over the skin. The hair-cutting section has a fiber diameter smaller than or equal to 7 ?m and is made from a fiber material having a tensile strength larger than or equal to 5 GPa. A shaving method using such a razor is also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2021
    Publication date: February 23, 2023
    Inventor: Willem Auke WESTERHOF
  • Patent number: 11553873
    Abstract: Presented is a device (100), comprising: a means for attaching the device to an image recording device; a mechanical means configured for applying a pre-defined pressure to skin such that skin is deformed under the pre-defined pressure; and wherein the mechanical means is adapted such that an image of the deformed skin can be recorded by the image recording device when the device is attached to the image recording device. Further, a system and a method for determining skin elasticity is presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Willem Auke Westerhof, Matthijs Paltje
  • Publication number: 20220305684
    Abstract: A hair-cutting appliance comprising at least 19 hair-cutting units (10), each comprising a guard element (20) and a rotatably arranged hair-cutting element (15) having at least one hair-cutting edge (16), is provided. The hair-cutting units of the hair-cutting appliance are relatively small, abase of the guard element having a diameter in a range of 7 mm to 13 mm. In order to have a relatively small guard element (20) which is of robust and uncomplicated design, and which is capable of contributing to excellent hair-cutting results without causing skin irritation, it is proposed to let both an inner surface (35) and an outer surface (36) of an annular shaving track (30) of the guard element (20) have a conical shape relative to a central axis (21) of the guard element (20), in a similar slanting orientation relative to the central axis (21), in at least a hair-cutting portion of the shaving track (30).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2020
    Publication date: September 29, 2022
    Inventors: Willem Auke WESTERHOF, Jan VAN DALEN, Martinus Bernardus STAPELBROEK
  • Publication number: 20220088808
    Abstract: A method, a personal care system and a shaving device for providing staged shaving advice include a processor configured to receive usage data from the shaving device and personal assessment data from a user. The processor is further configured to determine and provide a shaving advice instruction presented to the user based on the usage data and/or the personal assessment data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2021
    Publication date: March 24, 2022
    Inventors: Willem Auke WESTERHOF, Johannes Antonius JANSEN, Lennart Jakob STAPELKAMP, Willem Henderikus VELDHUIS, Linda Jacoba Martina VAN DEN BEDEM, Dylan EVANS
  • Patent number: 11224981
    Abstract: A method, a personal care system and a shaving device for providing staged shaving advice include a processor configured to receive usage data from the shaving device and personal assessment data from a user. The processor is further configured to determine and provide a shaving advice instruction presented to the user based on the usage data and/or the personal assessment data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Willem Auke Westerhof, Johannes Antonius Jansen, Lennart Jakob Stapelkamp, Willem Henderikus Veldhuis, Linda Jacoba Martina Van Den Bedem, Dylan Evans
  • Publication number: 20200390362
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a device for skin parameter measurement, comprising a housing structure (112) defining an interior cavity (120) and a first opening (122) at a skin contact end (124) of the interior cavity (120), a movable part (113, 117) connected to the housing structure (112) via an elastic connecting arrangement (126), the movable part (113, 117) being movable with respect to the housing structure (112) and configured to protrude the skin contact end (124) through the first opening (122) of the housing structure when no external force is applied to move the movable part (113, 117) with respect to the housing structure, the movable part (113, 117) further comprising a second opening (116), an optical sensing unit (118) for performing measurement of a first skin parameter when the device is in contact with a skin surface, the optical sensing unit being provided within the interior cavity of the housing structure and comprising an illuminating unit (118A) for illuminating the skin surface by
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2019
    Publication date: December 17, 2020
    Inventors: Willem Auke WESTERHOF, Yue WU, Sahil WADHWA, Willem MINKES, Nicole Louisa DE KLEIN, Martijn VAN ZUTPHEN
  • Publication number: 20200375466
    Abstract: An apparatus for obtaining images for use in determining one or more properties of skin of a subject, the apparatus comprising an image sensor unit for generating an image of a skin sample, wherein the skin sample corresponds to an area of skin of the subject within a field of view, FOV, of the image sensor unit when the skin of the subject is spaced a predetermined working distance from the image sensor unit; a first light arrangement comprising one or more light sources for illuminating the skin of the subject; and a second light arrangement comprising one or more light sources for illuminating the skin of the subject.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Publication date: December 3, 2020
    Inventors: Arnoldus Johannes Martinus Jozeph RAS, Walter HERMANS, Willem Auke WESTERHOF, Babu VARGHESE, Willem MINKES, Sahil WADHWA, Martijn VAN ZUTPHEN
  • Publication number: 20200037882
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an accessory device (20) for an image-capturing device (10) for capturing a skin image of a subject's skin comprising a tubular member (21) having a first opening (22) at its first end (23) configured to surround a light source (11) and an image sensor (12) included in the image-capturing device (10) and a second opening (24) at its second end (25) configured to surround a skin portion (101) and two mirrors (26, 27) arranged within the tubular number (21) at its second end (25), wherein a first mirror (26) is arranged to retied light (30) emitted by the light source (11) towards the skin portion (101) and a second mirror (27) is arranged to reflect light (31) reflected from the skin portion (101) towards the image sensor (12). The accessory device can be coupled to an image-capturing device to acquire an image of a skin portion, which is evaluated to determine a skin parameter, such as skin gloss.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2017
    Publication date: February 6, 2020
    Inventors: WILLEM AUKE WESTERHOF, YUE WU, MATTHIJS PLATJE, PASCAL DRIESSEN, WILLEM MINKES, MARCO TENBACK
  • Publication number: 20190209074
    Abstract: Presented is a device (100), comprising: a means for attaching the device to an image recording device; a mechanical means configured for applying a pre-defined pressure to skin such that skin is deformed under the pre-defined pressure; and wherein the mechanical means is adapted such that an image of the deformed skin can be recorded by the image recording device when the device is attached to the image recording device. Further, a system and a method for determining skin elasticity is presented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2017
    Publication date: July 11, 2019
    Inventors: WILLEM AUKE WESTERHOF, MATTHIJS PALTJE
  • Patent number: 10265799
    Abstract: The present application relates to a device for cutting hair comprising a skin contacting face (3) that is placed against a surface of the skin (6) of a user during use. The device also has an optical system configured to direct a cutting laser beam (8) across a cutting zone (5) parallel to and spaced from said skin contacting face to cut hairs extending into the cutting zone. Also provided is a laser positioning mechanism which is arranged so that, during use of the device, the distance (H1) between said cutting laser beam and said skin contacting face is changed to maintain a predetermined distance between the cutting laser beam and the surface of the skin of a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Bastiaan Wilhelmus Maria Moeskops, Calina Ciuhu, Rudolf Maria Jozef Voncken, Klaas Hilverda, Geert Veenstra, Willem Auke Westerhof
  • Patent number: 10179418
    Abstract: The invention relates to a shaving device for skin hairs. The device comprises a skin-contacting surface structure (14, 15), a cutter (6) for cutting hairs in a hair-cutting area (16), a shape-changing smart material (7), and a controller for controlling activation of the shape-changing smart material during use of the shaving device. The shape-changing smart material is configured, arranged and effective to adapt the relative position and/or relative orientation between at least part of the skin-contacting surface structure (14) and at least part of the hair-cutting area (16).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Cornelis Petrus Hendriks, Werner Daniel Petrus Kauwenberg, Roland Alexander Van De Molengraaf, Denny Mathew, Sander Theodoor Pastoor, Rufus Eugen Deodatus Driessen, Paul Philip Thursfield, Mark Thomas Johnson, Frederick Maria Boekhorst, Willem Auke Westerhof, Daan Anton Van Den Ende
  • Publication number: 20180236675
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method, a personal care system and a shaving device (1) for providing staged shaving advice. Personal assessment data is provided by the user and usage data from a shaving device is provided as input data for a logic (10) associating shaving related data with corresponding shaving advice instructions. Based on an analysis of this input data, the logic determines a shaving advice instruction among a plurality of shaving advice instructions which is presented to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Publication date: August 23, 2018
    Inventors: WILLEM AUKE WESTERHOF, JOHANNES ANTONIUS JANSEN, LENNART JAKOB STAPELKAMP, WILLEM HENDERIKUS VELDHUIS, LINDA JACOBA MARTINA VAN DEN BEDEM, DYLAN EVANS
  • Publication number: 20170291319
    Abstract: The invention relates to a shaving device for skin hairs. The device comprises a skin-contacting surface structure (14, 15), a cutter (6) for cutting hairs in a hair-cutting area (16), a shape-changing smart material (7), and a controller for controlling activation of the shape-changing smart material during use of the shaving device. The shape-changing smart material is configured, arranged and effective to adapt the relative position and/or relative orientation between at least part of the skin-contacting surface structure (14) and at least part of the hair-cutting area (16).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2015
    Publication date: October 12, 2017
    Inventors: CORNELIS PETRUS HENDRIKS, WERNER DANIEL PETRUS KAUWENBERG, ROLAND ALEXANDER VAN DE MOLENGRAAF, DENNY MATHEW, SANDER THEODOOR PASTOOR, RUFUS EUGEN DEODATUS DRIESSEN, PAUL PHILIP THURSFIELD, MARK THOMAS JOHNSON, FREDERICK MARIA BOEKHORST, WILLEM AUKE WESTERHOF, DAAN ANTON VAN DEN ENDE
  • Patent number: 9333657
    Abstract: A safety razor apparatus having a blade assembly comprising two guiding members, each having a surface for abutting against the skin, and one or more blades located between the two guiding members (9,10), wherein the cutting edge of each blade and the surfaces are positioned substantially in one plane. The apparatus has a grip portion being pivotal relative to said blade assembly about a pivot axis, wherein the pivot axis is positioned parallel to the cutting edge. A location of the pivot axis is adjustable with respect to the blade assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Willem Auke Westerhof, Robert Alexander Van Eibergen Santhagens, Everhardus Johannes Hoexum, Ype Bernardus Brada, Roelof Steunenberg, Dirk Hendrik Wevers
  • Publication number: 20160016256
    Abstract: The present application relates to a device for cutting hair comprising a skin contacting face (3) that is placed against a surface of the skin (6) of a user during use. The device also has an optical system configured to direct a cutting laser beam (8) across a cutting zone (5) parallel to and spaced from said skin contacting face to cut hairs extending into the cutting zone. Also provided is a laser positioning mechanism which is arranged so that, during use of the device, the distance (H1) between said cutting laser beam and said skin contacting face is changed to maintain a predetermined distance between the cutting laser beam and the surface of the skin of a user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Publication date: January 21, 2016
    Inventors: BASTIAAN WILHELMUS MARIA MOESKOPS, CALINA CIUHU, RUDOLF MARIA JOZEF VONCKEN, KLAAS HILVERDA, GEERT VEENSTRA, WILLEM AUKE WESTERHOF
  • Patent number: 8056238
    Abstract: The invention relates to a shaving head (5) comprising at least two bladeshaped cutting members (7, 7?, 7?) each having a straight cutting edge (9, 9?, 9?) extending parallel to a longitudinal direction (Y) of the shaving head. Each cutting member is supported in a cartridge (11) of the shaving head by means of a supporting member (17) which supports the respective cutting member in a supported area (23) on the respective cutting member. Said supported area extends over a predetermined distance (D) perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. Each supporting member has a first portion (25) in contact with the supported area at a location remote from the cutting edge of the respective cutting member and a second portion (27) in contact with the supported area at a location near the cutting edge of the respective cutting member. The first portion has a basic cross-sectional area, seen perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction, and the second portion has a reduced cross-sectional area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2011
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
    Inventors: Robert Alexander Van Eibergen Santhagens, Ype Bernardus Brada, Willem Auke Westerhof, Hette Akkerman
  • Patent number: 7251894
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device (1) for shaving hair (93) and to a device having a shaving head (9). The shaving head (9) has at least one cutting member (17, 19) having a cutting edge (23) and a cutting direction (X), and the device has an actuator (29) for effecting a periodical motion of the cutting member relative to a base portion (3) of the device. According to the invention the periodical motion is effected in an imaginary plane which extends transversely to the cutting edge (23) and which has a first motion portion (89) and a second motion portion (91) following the first motion portion. The first motion portion is mainly directed in the cutting direction (X), and the second motion portion is mainly directed opposite to the cutting direction and is closer to the skin (93) than the first motion portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
    Inventors: Jasper Zuidervaart, Fokke Roelof Voorhorst, Roelof Steunenberg, Peter Hans Van Der Vlis, Robert Alexander Van Eibergen Santhagens, Dirk Hendrik Wevers, Willem Auke Westerhof