Patent Picks—Imaging Skin, Simulating Eyelashes, Assaying Immune Response and More

By: Rachel Grabenhofer

Posted: August 11, 2010

Chosen biweekly by Rachel Grabenhofer, senior editor, for their relevance to personal care, Patent Picks are taken from publicly available sources. This edition features recently issued patents relevant to advances in testing for cosmetics R&D.

Visible light image capturing, processing system
US Patent 7773802
Publication Date: Aug. 10, 2010
Assignee: Olympus Corp. (Tokyo)

This patented image processing system includes a photographing apparatus and a processing apparatus. The photographing apparatus includes six LEDs for emitting light with characteristics of spectroscopic distributions varied in a visible light area. In addition, the invention includes a monochrome-type charge-coupled device (CCD) that picks up an image of the subject illuminated by the LEDs and is formed by an image pick-up optical system. The processing apparatus includes a calculating device and a display that projects the signal created by the calculating device. The calculating device creates the signal for color reproduction at the high fidelity level by capturing the six-primary-color subject spectroscopic images photographed by the photographing apparatus.

Simulating and imaging eyelashes
US Patent 7773091
Publication Date: Aug. 10, 2010
Assignee: L'Oréal (Paris)

This patent describes a computer-implemented method for simulating the appearance of at least one fringe of lashes. The invention includes a processing unit based on at least one value of at least one simulation parameter that is modifiable by a user; at least one 3D image of the at least one fringe of lashes, allowing the user to modify the value of the simulation parameter relating to at least one characteristic of a product applied to the lashes and a cosmetic treatment of the lashes. Simulation parameters relate to lash characteristics such as curvature, length, thickness and angles that define an orientation in which the lashes extend from a surface of the skin, allowing the user to select an applicator impacting at least one of these values.