AU2007100569A4 - Salon system - Google Patents

Description

S&F Ref: 814757

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 INNOVATION PATENT SPECIFICATION Name and Address of Applicants: Cornelis de Bilde, of 11/44-46 Putland Street, St Marys, New South Wales, 2760, Australia Yan Wu, of 270 Abercombie Street, Darlington, New South Wales, 2008, Australia Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: Comelis de Bilde, Yan Wu Spruson Ferguson St Martins Tower Level 31 Market Street Sydney NSW 2000 (CCN 3710000177) Salon system The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- 5843c(842131 _1) SALON SYSTEM Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to a salon system for allowing a person to view their appearance and, in particular, to a salon system for allowing the person to view their appearance from alternative perspectives while the person is being beautified.

Background Most humans take great pride in their appearance. An integral part of maintaining one's appearance involves getting a haircut.

A hair style is also used by many people to give them identity. For example, people use their hairstyles to reflect the social group they belong to, to indicate their individuality, or reflect their sense of style.

In view of the foregoing, most human visit a hairdresser or stylist on a regular basis. Also, some people are willing to spend large amounts of money in maintaining their hairstyle. Yet further, some people will only use the hairdressing services of a particular hairdresser, as they trust the skills of that hairdresser, and that hairdresser is familiar with the person's usual hair style.

One of the most common uses of mirrors, since their advent, has been in personal grooming. It is therefore no surprise that mirrors have played on integral role in hairdressing. Mirrors allow the "client" to watch the hairdresser while the client's hair is being cut, and also allow the client to inspect the final result.

However, the use of mirrors in a hairdressing salon has various limitations. One such a limitation is that a mirror only reflects the front of the client's head.

814757 -2- Summary It is an object of the present invention to substantially overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more disadvantages of existing arrangements.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a salon system for displaying at least part of a person's body, said system comprising: one or more cameras arranged to capture images of one or more parts of said person's body; a display device; and a processing device for receiving image signals from said one or more cameras, and providing a representation of said image signals to said display device.

Other aspects of the invention are also disclosed.

Brief Description of the Drawings One or more embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system for displaying at least part of a person's body; and Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an alternative system for displaying at least part of a person's body.

Detailed Description Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system 100 for displaying at least part of a person's body. In the preferred implementation where the system 100 is implemented in a hairdressing salon, the system 100 displays one or more views of a client's head 120.

814757 In one implementation the system 100 comprises 3 cameras 111, 112 and 113 Sarranged to capture different views of the client's head 120. Advantageously one of the tIn cameras is configured to capture images of the back of the client's head 120.

The respective outputs of the cameras 111, 112 and 113 are fed to a processing device 150. The processing device 150 also receives input from a controller 155. A t. display device 160, such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), receives a video signal from Sthe processing device 150.

(Ni The processing device 150 may be a conventional computer system wherein the operation of the processing device 150 is controlled by software executing within the computer system.

In operation a user is able to, through operation of the controller 155, select one or more of the cameras 111, 112 and 113, for output to the display device 160. Preferably the client of the hairdressing salon operates the control 155. This allows the client to have multiple views of its own head 120 while the hairdresser is styling its hair.

From the above it is clear that the system replaces the mirrors traditionally used in hairdressing salons.

In addition to merely replacing traditional mirrors, the system 100 is further configured to store on a storage device, such as a hard disk drive (not illustrated) forming part of or attached to the processing device 150, images or video from the cameras 111, 112 and 113. Upon a future visit to the salon, the video or images may be retrieved and displayed on the display device 160, enabling the client and the hairdresser to discuss the style desired by the client, while referring to the images displayed on the display device 160, the images resulting from previous visits to the hairdressing salon. Discussing the client's needs while referring to images and/or video is easier than merely relying on 814757

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verbal description. Preferably clients are equipped with membership cards including unique identifiers. The unique identifiers may be used to access then client's images and/or video faster.

Fig. 2 shows a further system 200 in which a plurality of systems 100-n are interconnected to a server 210 through a network 220. The network may be a wide-area network (WAN), such as the Internet, or a private WAN. The images or video captured in respective systems 100 are stored within the server 210. The system 200 allows images or video captured of a client to be retrieved from any one of the processing devices 150 of systems 100-n. Accordingly, this allows a client to visit any one of a number of participating hairdressing salons, for images and/or video of the client's hairstyle captured during a past visit.

By providing the ability to retrieve images and/or video of the client's hairstyle captured during a previous visit, the client is expected to feel more comfortable using the services of an alternative hairdresser, as the client does not have to rely on the familiarity of the hairdresser with the client's particular needs. It is expected that this ability would reduce the unnecessary bond between client's and their hairdresser.

In yet a further embodiment the processing device 150 processes the twodimensional images received from the cameras 111, 112 and 113, and forms a threedimensional image therefrom. The three-dimensional image is displayed on the display device 160, and based upon input from the controller 155, the three-dimensional image is animated to rotate, thereby creating the illusion of a real head tilting.

The processing device 150 may also display additional images and/or video to the client during the visit to the hairdresser. Such may include display of promotional material of new services and/or products, browsing a hair style catalogue, and entertainment.

814757 A salon may include one or more of the systems 100 described above, with the cameras 111 to 113 of respective systems being directed towards a salon chair (not illustrated on which the person being beautified is sitting. A salon system may therefore comprise the system 100 together with a salon chair.

The systems 100 and 200 are described above with reference to a hairdressing salon. However, it would be understood that the systems 100 and 200 may equally be applied in other related industries, including beauty salons.

The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention, and modifications and/or changes can be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, the embodiments being illustrative and not restrictive.

In the context of this specification, the word "comprising" means "including principally but not necessarily solely" or "having" or "including", and not "consisting only of'. Variations of the word "comprising", such as "comprise" and "comprises" have correspondingly varied meanings.

814757

Claims (4)

1. A salon system for displaying at least part of a person's body, said system comprising: one or more cameras arranged to capture images of one or more parts of said person's body; a display device; and a processing device for receiving image signals from said one or more cameras, and providing a representation of said image signals to said display device.

2. The salon system according to claim 1, further comprising: a controller connected to said processing device for controlling said representation.

3. The system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a storage device connected to said processing device for storing image data associated with said image signals.

4. The salon system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said processing device is configured to process said image signals to form a three-dimensional representation of said one or more parts of said person's body. A salon system for displaying at least part of a person's body, said system comprising: 814757 a plurality of sub-systems, each subsystem comprising a system according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 4; and a server in communication with the processing devices of each of said sub- systems, said server comprising a storage device for storing image data associated with said image signals, wherein said image data may be accesses and displayed by one or more of said sub-system. DATED this 22th Day of June 2007 CORNELIS DE BILDE and YAN WU Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON&FERGUSON 814757