RU2824021C2 - Method of obtaining procedure to be followed by hair dyeing operator - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: use of cosmetic or similar toilet products.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method and a system for obtaining a procedure to be followed by an operator for dyeing hair. Said result is achieved by analysing image data of a part of the hair, finding the parameters of the average colour code corresponding to the section of hair, excluding pixels falling within the range of white hair, and the relative amount of white hair present in the hair part, obtaining information indicating the colour to be applied to the hair; obtaining a procedure from a database to be followed by an operator for dyeing hair, based on the obtained parameters.

EFFECT: high accuracy of determining the procedure to be followed by an operator for hair colouring.

5 cl, 1 dwg

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY TO WHICH THE INVENTION RELATES

The present invention relates to a method for obtaining working steps by means of which a specialist operator can perform a hair dyeing operation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE KNOWN PRIOR ART

It is known that individuals use the services of specialist operators (hairdressers) to achieve a predetermined hair color, starting either from natural hair (first coloring) or from colored hair; in the latter case, the color of the color can be maintained or changed. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that the hair may contain white areas, which can cover all the hair (first coloring) or part of the hair (colored hair), starting from the root.

It is extremely important for the operator to determine the hair color (if it is natural) or the shade applied in the case of colored hair.

In both cases there are many flowers, painted in different tones.

The definition of colour and relative tone is of great importance, since the operator determines the subsequent hair colouring procedure as their function.

This procedure is also influenced by the presence and nature of white hairs in the hair.

It is known that the operator acts based on his own experience, checking the condition of the hair, that is, determining whether the analyzed hair has a natural color or an “artificial” coloring and, in the latter case, what color shade was applied to the hair.

However, determining the color shade is a subjective indicator: the more expert experience the operator has, the closer a certain shade corresponds to the nuance of the color actually applied to the hair.

Erroneous or inaccurate determination of the color shade of hair leads to results that are not always fully understood and entails disadvantages. Document WO 03/012728 describes a system comprising a collection system comprising a number of subsets of pixels: this collection system, connected to optical means, captures light reflected from a plurality of hairs.

Subsets of pixels are analyzed by a color analyzer designed to provide data about a variety of colors.

This data is fed into a cosmetic analyzer which provides color and quantity determination by weight of a variety of cosmetic colors.

In the system, after determining the spectrum of hair colors, the principle of maximum likelihood or other statistical methods must be used to estimate the following:

• whether one color is dominant over others;

• are there different similar colours at the same time and in comparable proportions;

• are there different colors that are not similar to each other.

The last mentioned case is possible when the hair color is significantly uneven due to the presence of highlighted or gray hair.

Because gray hair and non-gray hair respond differently to different dyes, it is helpful to know the percentage of gray hair when choosing dyes and hair coloring processes.

The system definitely contains:

• a collection system that detects light reflected by pixels of multiple hairs;

• a color analyzer that uses information from pixels to provide a set of color values for each subset of a set of subsets of a field of pixels with more than one pixel for each subset;

• a cosmetic analyzer that combines a plurality of color values from the subsets to provide a color definition containing relative amounts of a plurality of cosmetic colors.

WO 03/012728 mentions grey hair and grey hair percentage without specifying the parameter that defines them; in addition, terms such as "colour values" obtained by light reflected from pixels of subsets are used.

The expression “color code” was never used in any form; moreover, this expression cannot even be derived “indirectly” from an analysis of the description, the claims and the graphic materials.

It is stated that the system has problems identifying the "hair color spectrum" which includes the color of the hair examined, thus also including white hair.

In the prior art of the cited publication, a “hair color spectrum” is obtained, determined using all the information from the pixels considered, including data concerning white hair.

A general reference is made to the possibility of calculating the percentage of "gray hair" because it reacts differently to dyes than "hair without gray"; parameters by which the presence of gray hair can be assessed are not defined.

No reference is made to a "colour code" for determining the result of the pixel analysis, but only to a "hair colour spectrum". WO 03/012728 also does not define "white hair", which therefore falls within the entire set of hairs examined.

ESSENCE OF THE INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is to provide a method for performing hair diagnostics, based on the results of which the operator can determine the procedure to be followed for a predetermined hair coloring.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method that can be implemented even by an operator who is not a special expert.

The above-mentioned advantages are achieved according to the content of the invention formula.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF GRAPHIC MATERIALS

The characteristics of the present invention are presented below with reference to the accompanying graphic material, Fig. 1, which schematically depicts the working stages and means by which the described method is implemented.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATION OPTIONS

As shown in the graphic material, reference numeral 1 designates a device, such as a television camera, for obtaining an image of a tuft (C) of hair. An operator (for example, a hairdresser) "aims" the television camera at the tuft (C) of facial hair to confirm or change or achieve a predetermined coloring of the hair or part of the hair.

The beam zone (C) analyzed by the television camera (1) is designated by the letter (Z): see block (2) in the accompanying graphic material.

The image of the zone (Z) of the hair bundle obtained by the television camera (1) is transmitted to the electronic unit, which is entirely designated by the position number (100).

Node (100) receives an image (see block (3) in the graphic material) and proceeds to study only the central part (A) (see block (4) in the graphic material) of the zone, since it has been experimentally established that the color gamut of this part is closest to reality, since it is minimally affected by reflection.

The example portion is defined at 500px x 500px.

The pixels are analyzed individually to determine characteristics, for example according to formats known to those skilled in the art.

In this case, two formats were considered, namely RGB: color channels, respectively red, green and blue; and HLS, which respectively defines for a pixel: brightness, contrast (or hue) and saturation (percentage of color).

The HLS format provides the ability to detect pixels that represent a luminance greater than a predetermined value; these pixels exceed the "white hair" threshold: the count of such white hairs (percentage of the total number of hairs in the area (A)) is taken into account by the node (100) (see block 5 in the graphic).

Pixel data related to RGB and HLS formats is also stored in memory (see block 6 in the graphic).

The electronic unit (100) calculates the "average color" obtained by combining the colors of all pixels in area A, except those that were taken into account in the threshold for white hair (see block 7 in the graphic).

The electronic unit (100) additionally contains a first memory device (8), in which the colours obtained from the “reference beams” (C ₁ , C ₂ … C _N ) are stored.

As a result of this comparison with the evaluation according to the RGB parameter, different values are obtained.

The color value of the reference beam that is closest to the average color of the counted pixels is considered the result or color code.

Information concerning the percentage of white hair (block 5) and the colour code (comparison node (9)) is transmitted both to the display (10) (which displays the parameters associated with this information) and to the database (11).

The operator uses known means (12) to send to the database (11) information concerning the choice of color that the user wishes to apply to his hair (or part of it).

The above-mentioned database stores information which, as a function of the result (i.e. the colour code), the percentage of white hair and the colour to be applied to the hair, provides, for example, via the display (13), the procedure to be followed by the operator for colouring the hair.

This information is obtained both from the prior art and from the experience of one or more operators who may implement and/or modify this information as a function of their creativity.

As a non-limiting information, the electronic node (100) can be launched on devices such as smartphones and tablets with IOS and Android operating systems.

Specifically, the present invention relates to a method for obtaining a procedure to be followed by an operator for dyeing hair, which, using a digital database, is implemented as a function:

hair color code;

value indicating the percentage of white hair present in the hair;

and the color that should be applied to the hair.

Also, pixels that fall within the range of white hair are not taken into account when determining the color code.

Some examples are described below.

Example 1

The operator scans the hair using the device (1); the node (100) obtains an image of the Z zone.

The display (10) provides the following information:

- hair color detected is natural chestnut (4.0), with 70% white hair.

Using known means (12), the following information is sent to the database (11): the color that the client wishes to receive is wheat (7.4).

The corresponding procedure is displayed on the display (13), namely:

Apply color with shade 7.4 using bleach with intensity 20 to all hair, processing time 35 minutes.

Example 2

Based on the results of hair scanning using the device (1) and activation of the node (100), the display (10) informs that the hair color is natural chestnut (4.0), there are no white hairs.

To get a wheat color (7.4) you need the following: apply bleach with intensity 30 to the ends, processing time 10-20 minutes. Then apply dye with shade 7.4 using bleach with intensity 20 to all hair, processing time 30 minutes.

Example 3

Using the device (1) and the unit (100), the display (10) shows the information that the hair is: very light brown (10.0), no white hair.

Information is transmitted to the database (11) using known means (12) that the client wants to receive the chestnut color (4.0).

From the information on the display (13) the operator learns that:

- repigmentation is required by applying a copper-red shade directly to all hair;

- after this, shade 4.0 is applied using bleach with intensity 10 to all hair, processing time is 35 minutes.

Example 4

After scanning the hair bundle area and activating the node (100), the following information was obtained:

- hair color detected: dyed chestnut (4.0);

required color - wheat (7.4).

This last data is transmitted to the database (11) by means of known means (12). The following information is shown on the display (13):

- perform bleaching with foil using a bleaching agent with an intensity of 20; check the bleaching effect every 15 minutes until the desired result is achieved;

- rinse your hair using a special shampoo;

- perform a rescan of the hair (activating node 100) to check the shade obtained by bleaching, then perform the procedure according to the instructions shown on the display (13).

Certainly, with the help of the proposed method, an objective determination of the condition of the hair is carried out, namely, the following is determined: whether the color is natural or the result of dyeing, the color of the hair, the presence or absence of white hair, the percentage of white hair.

The detected color is also compared with the color of the reference beams, the value of one of them is selected as the color code on the basis of which it is obtained, using the database (11) in the hair coloring procedure.

The database also stores information that can be inferred from the properties of products sold on the market.

Obviously, when a new product comes to the market, the database can be updated.

It is understood that the above is described by way of example, and it is considered that the technical functional variants are included within the scope of legal protection of the present invention in accordance with the following claims.

Claims (10)

1. A method for obtaining the procedure that an operator must follow for hair coloring, which includes the following steps: preliminary involvement of an electronic database which, as a function of the colour code associated with a section of hair, the value indicating the relative amount of white hair present in the section of hair and the colour to be applied to the hair, provides the procedure to be followed by the operator for colouring the hair; obtaining an image of at least a portion of the hair using an imaging device; processing the obtained image data as follows: obtaining a color code associated with a portion of hair; analyzing the pixels of the portion to determine relative parameters at least with respect to the color of the pixels; estimating the average color of all pixels, except for pixels falling within the range of white hairs, comparing the average color value with a plurality of color values concerning a similar plurality of "reference bundles" of hairs to determine a color code that matches the color value of the "reference bundle" of the "reference bundles" that deviates least from the average color value; obtaining a value indicating the relative amount of white hairs present in the portion of hair; obtaining information indicating the color to be applied to the hair to obtain the color the user wishes to apply to his or her hair; obtaining from the database a procedure to be followed by the operator for dyeing the hair as a function of the following: a color code of the hair section; a value indicating the relative amount of white hair present in the hair section, obtained as a result of processing the received image; and a color to be applied to the hair, which is determined on the basis of the information obtained. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that determining the parameters associated with the color of the pixels includes detecting at least the RGB format containing the colors red, green and blue. 3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the pixels falling within the range of white hair have a brightness at least equal to the threshold value. 4. A system for obtaining a procedure to be followed by an operator for dyeing hair, comprising an image obtaining device (1) and an electronic unit (100) for determining the steps of the method according to paragraphs 1–3. 5. A machine-readable data carrier containing a computer program that contains instructions for the system to perform the steps of the method according to item 4.