The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 23, 2001
Filed:
Jul. 31, 1998
Shinji Nishimura, Kadoma, JP;
Masayuki Hayashi, Kadoma, JP;
Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd., Osaka-fu, JP;
Abstract
Since the electrical impedance of an ultrasonic vibrator may vary according to the contact or non-contact of an application member with the skin, a detection circuit detects the contact or non-contact of the application member with the skin by converting the current the ultrasonic vibrator current into a voltage, and a comparator compares this voltage with a reference voltage. When contact is detected by the detection circuit, a constant-voltage circuit sets the level of the constant voltage output to the ultrasonic oscillation circuit at a standard voltage, but when non-contact is detected, the constant voltage is switched to a lower-level constant voltage. Thus, when non-contact is detected, the level of the ultrasound emitted from the ultrasonic vibrator via the application member is lowered, so that an unnecessary rise in the temperature of the application member is be prevented.