JP2024081779A - Systems and methods for using biomarker analysis for personalized skin care - Patents.com - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for improving skin care product formulations to address predicted skin trends is provided.
The method includes using a biomarker analysis system to determine concentrations of various protein biomarkers for a user, and a skin diagnostic computing device that uses the protein biomarker concentrations to determine one or more skin tendencies, determines one or more skin care product ingredients to address the skin tendencies, and formulates a skin care product including the one or more skin care product ingredients. For example, protein biomarker concentration information for a subject is obtained and used to determine one or more skin tendencies that the subject is likely to experience. Skin care product recommendations are generated based on the protein biomarker concentration information.
[Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

Cross-reference to related applications

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Application No. 16/528,380, filed July 31, 2019, and U.S. Application No. 16/528,196, filed July 31, 2019, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In some embodiments, a system for creating a custom skin care product is provided. The system comprises a skin care product formulation device and a skin diagnostic computing device. The skin diagnostic computing device comprises at least one processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium. The non-transitory computer readable medium has computer executable instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium that, upon execution by the at least one processor, cause the skin diagnostic computing device to perform actions. The actions include obtaining protein biomarker concentration information, determining at least one skin care product ingredient based on the protein biomarker concentration information, and transmitting the determined at least one skin care product ingredient to the skin care product formulation device. The skin care product formulation device is configured to receive the determined at least one skin care product ingredient and dispense a skin care product including the at least one skin care product ingredient.

In some embodiments, a method for creating a custom skin care product is provided. A skin diagnostic computing device obtains protein biomarker concentration information. The skin diagnostic computing device determines at least one skin care product ingredient based on the protein biomarker concentration information. The skin diagnostic computing device transmits the determined at least one skin care product ingredient to a skin care product formulation device to create a custom skin care product.

In some embodiments, a system for creating a custom skin care product is provided. The system includes circuitry for obtaining protein biomarker concentration information, circuitry for determining at least one skin care product ingredient based on the protein biomarker concentration information, and circuitry for transmitting the determined at least one skin care product ingredient to a skin care product formulation device to create a custom skin care product.

In some embodiments, a computer-implemented method is provided for providing a skin care product recommendation to a subject. A computing device obtains protein biomarker concentration information. The computing device determines at least one skin trend based on the protein biomarker concentration information. The computing device determines at least one skin care product associated with the at least one skin trend. The computing device presents the at least one skin care product recommendation via a display.

In some embodiments, a system for providing skin care product recommendations to a subject is provided. The system includes circuitry for obtaining protein biomarker concentration information, circuitry for determining at least one skin trend based on the protein biomarker concentration information, circuitry for determining at least one skin care product associated with the at least one skin trend, and circuitry for presenting, via a display, the at least one skin care product recommendation.

In some embodiments, a computing device is provided that is configured to provide a skin care product recommendation to a subject by obtaining protein biomarker concentration information, determining at least one skin trend based on the protein biomarker concentration information, determining at least one skin care product associated with the at least one skin trend, and presenting the at least one skin care product recommendation via a display.

The above-described aspects and many of the attendant advantages of the present invention will become better understood and more readily appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a high-level schematic diagram illustrating various components of an exemplary embodiment of a system according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating details of an exemplary embodiment of a biomarker analysis system, a skin diagnostic computing device, and a skin care product prescription device according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method for generating a custom skin care product according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a procedure for obtaining protein biomarker concentration information according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a high level schematic diagram illustrating various components of an exemplary embodiment of a system according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating further details of an exemplary embodiment of a biomarker analysis system and an exemplary embodiment of a product recommendation computing device according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for presenting skin care product recommendations according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

Currently, the medical field is being advanced by the widespread use of biomarker analysis systems. The systems can be operated in an outpatient or clinical setting and provide non-invasive measurements of various protein concentrations. These protein concentrations can then be used for various treatment-related purposes. Through clinical studies, it has been determined that certain proteins that can be detected by such biomarker analysis systems are associated with clinical symptoms of aging and responsiveness/non-responsiveness to various active ingredients in skin care products. For example, biomarkers such as YKL40, TG3, LCN1, IDE and FLG2 have been found to correlate with clinical symptoms and responsiveness of aging (e.g., shiny skin, rough skin, uneven skin tone, eye wrinkles, photoaging, reduced elasticity, enlarged pores, responsiveness to retinol, and responsiveness to proxylan).

Even though these correlations have been identified, biomarker analysis systems have only provided raw protein concentration information and have not used these correlations. What is desired is a system and method that uses the biomarker concentration information to improve skin care product formulations to address predicted skin trends. What is also desired is a system and method that uses the biomarker concentration information to generate skin care product recommendations and improve such recommendations to address predicted skin trends.

1 is a high-level schematic diagram illustrating various components of an exemplary embodiment of a system according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The system shown in FIG. 1 is used to obtain a sample from a user 90, generate a skin care product formula based on skin trends determined based on the sample, and improve the skin care product formula over time. As shown, one or more sampling disks 102, 104 are used to obtain a sample from the user 90. The sampling disk 104 is then processed by a protein extraction device 208, and the collected sample is placed in a test cartridge 108. The test cartridge 108 is inserted into an immunoassay analysis device 106. The immunoassay analysis device 106 determines the concentrations of various protein biomarkers associated with various skin trends. The protein biomarker concentration information is then provided to a skin diagnostic computing device 110 to determine the skin trends present. Based on the detected skin trends, a skin care product formulation device 112 is used to create a custom skin care product to address the skin trends, and the user 90 can use the custom skin care product. Feedback regarding the effectiveness of the custom skin care product may be provided back to the skin diagnostic computing device 110 or the skin care product formulation device 112 to improve future custom skin care products.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing details of an exemplary embodiment of a biomarker analysis system, a skin diagnostic computing device, and a skin care product prescription device according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the biomarker analysis system 202 includes one or more devices that allow for the measurement of biomarkers sampled from a subject. In some embodiments, such sampling is performed rapidly and non-invasively, thus allowing for biomarker sampling to occur in an outpatient clinical or retail environment. In the illustrated embodiment, the biomarker analysis system 202 includes a sampling disk 204, a test cartridge 206, a protein extraction device 208, and an immunoassay analysis device 210.

In some embodiments, the sampling disk 204 has a substrate and an adhesive. The adhesive is suitable for removably attaching the sampling disk 204 to the subject's skin to obtain a skin cell sample therefrom. Although a sampling disk 204 is described, in some embodiments, an adhesive device having another shape may be used, including, but not limited to, a rectangle or tape. In some embodiments, instead of the adhesive device, a swab, wipe, or another device that can be used to obtain a skin cell sample may be used. One non-limiting example of a device suitable for use as the sampling disk 204 is the D-SQUAME® sampling disk manufactured by CuDerm Corporation, although other devices may be used.

In some embodiments, the protein extraction device 208 is configured to remove the sample from the sampling disc 204 and convert the sample into a form that can be provided to the test cartridge 206 for processing steps. In some embodiments, the protein extraction device 208 may include a container into which the sampling disc 204 can be placed along with a buffer solution. The protein extraction device 208 may also include a device for agitating, centrifuging, or otherwise processing the container such that proteins from the collected skin sample are released from the sampling disc 204 and dissolved in the buffer solution.

In some embodiments, the test cartridge 206 is roughly the size of a credit card and includes an inlet into which a droplet (about 30 μl) of a solution containing the proteins of the collected skin sample can be placed. The inlet may be coupled to one or more microfluidic channels through which the solution automatically flows. In some embodiments, antibodies may be attached within one or more microfluidic channels to react with antigens in the sample. This reaction may cause fluorescent beads associated with the antibodies to fluoresce in response to the concentration of the protein being measured. The immunoassay analysis device 210 can receive the test cartridge 206 and measure the concentration of the protein of interest in the sample. In some embodiments, the immunoassay analysis device 210 can measure the concentration of the protein by using laser light to determine which fluorescent beads are fluorescing. Once measured, the immunoassay analysis device 210 can provide the determined protein concentration to other components of the system using any suitable technique. Any suitable technique includes, but is not limited to, presenting the protein concentration on a display, printing the protein concentration on a paper receipt, and electronically transmitting the determined protein concentration to another device. One non-limiting example of an immunoassay analysis device 210 (and its associated test cartridge 206) is the FREND system offered by NanoEnTek Inc.

In some embodiments, the skin diagnostic computing device 212 is a computing device configured to receive protein concentration information from the biomarker analysis system 202, determine one or more skin trends based on the protein concentration information, and determine recommended product ingredients based on the protein concentration information (and, in some embodiments, additional information collected by the skin diagnostic computing device 212). The skin diagnostic computing device 212 may then provide the recommended product ingredients to the skin care product formulation device 222 to create the specialized product, and may also receive feedback regarding the specialized product to improve ingredient recommendations for future products.

In some embodiments, the skin diagnostic computing device 212 can be a mobile computing device, such as a smartphone or a tablet computing device. In some embodiments, the skin diagnostic computing device 212 can be a desktop computing device or a laptop computing device. In some embodiments, the skin diagnostic computing device 212 can include two or more computing devices, such as a user computing device configured to provide a user interface and one or more server computing devices configured to provide computing functionality (such as functionality of the trend determination engine 214 and/or the composition determination engine 216 described below). In such embodiments, the user computing device and the one or more server computing devices can communicate via any suitable communication technology or technologies. Any suitable communication technology or technologies can be wired technology (including but not limited to Ethernet, USB, or Internet) or wireless technology (including but not limited to WiFi, WiMAX, 3G, 4G, LTE, or Bluetooth).

As shown, the skin diagnostic computing device 212 includes a trend determination engine 214, an ingredient determination engine 216, a feedback processing engine 218, and a product data store 220.

In some embodiments, the trend determination engine 214 is configured to receive protein biomarker concentration information from the biomarker analysis system and determine skin trends using clinically determined correlation information.

In some embodiments, the ingredient determination engine 216 is configured to receive skin trend information and determine ingredients for one or more skin care products based on the skin trend information. In some embodiments, the ingredient determination engine 216 may directly use protein biomarker concentration information to determine ingredients for the skin care product. In some embodiments, the ingredient determination engine 216 may also present a questionnaire providing environmental information relevant to the user 90 to gather additional information to inform the selection of ingredients for the skin care product. However, the manner in which the additional information is gathered is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the ingredient determination engine 216 also provides the selected skin care product ingredients to the skin care product formulation device 222.

In some embodiments, the feedback processing engine 218 receives information from the user 90 regarding the effectiveness of the custom skin care product created from the instructions provided by the ingredient determination engine 216. The feedback processing engine 218 can store the information, and in some embodiments, the feedback processing engine 218 can use the stored information to improve ingredient selections for future skin care products.

In some embodiments, the product data store 220 can be used to store relevant information for each user 90, including, but not limited to, protein biomarker concentration information, additional information collected by the ingredient determination engine 216, skin trends determined by the trend determination engine 214, ingredients of skin care products selected by the ingredient determination engine 216, and feedback collected by the feedback processing engine 218.

In some embodiments, the skin care product formulation device 222 is configured to receive instructions generated by the skin diagnostic computing device 212 of ingredients to be included in the custom skin care product. The skin care product formulation device 222 then produces and packages the custom skin care product. One non-limiting example of a skin care product formulation device 222 suitable for use in embodiments of the present disclosure is the Custom D.O.S.E. system offered by SkinCeuticals.

As shown, the skin care product formulation device 222 includes an ingredient dispensing device 224, a compounding device 226, and a packaging device 228. In some embodiments, the ingredient dispensing device 224 includes one or more components, such as a pump, a dropper, a pipette, and a spoon, that can dispense ingredients from ingredient reservoirs associated with the skin care product formulation device. In some embodiments, the compounding device 226 is configured to receive ingredients from the ingredient dispensing device 224 and compound a final product by performing operations such as, but not limited to, grinding, stirring, and compressing. In some embodiments, the packaging device 228 can be configured to receive the compounded product from the compounding device 226 and place it into a container for delivery to the user 90. In some embodiments, the packaging device 228 may also be configured to seal and/or label the container.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method for generating a custom skin care product according to various aspects of the present disclosure. From a start block, the method 300 proceeds to process block 302, where a process is performed by the biomarker analysis system 202 to obtain protein biomarker concentration information for the subject. Any suitable process can be used to collect the protein biomarker concentration information, including but not limited to process 400 shown in FIG. 4 and described below.

At block 304, the trend determination engine 214 of the skin diagnostic computing device 212 receives the protein biomarker concentration information. In some embodiments, the protein biomarker concentration information is received by the trend determination engine 214 from the biomarker analysis system 202 via a network. The network may be a wireless network, including but not limited to a Wi-Fi network, a cellular network (including but not limited to a 3G network, a 4G network, a 5G network, or an LTE network), or a Bluetooth network, a wired network, including but not limited to an Ethernet network, a USB network, or a FireWire network, and/or any other type of network. In some embodiments, the protein biomarker concentration information may be displayed by a display device (not shown) of the biomarker analysis system 202, the protein biomarker concentration information may be manually entered into an interface associated with the skin diagnostic computing device 212, or the protein biomarker concentration information may be captured from the display device of the biomarker analysis system 202 by a camera of the skin diagnostic computing device 212.

In block 306, the trend determination engine 214 determines at least one skin trend based on the protein biomarker concentration information. Preliminary clinical studies suggest an association between five biomarkers (FLG2, TG3, IDE, LCN1, and YKL40) and clinical symptoms of aging. Examples of the predictive ability (ROC curves) of these biomarkers for various clinical symptoms of aging are shown in Table 1.

Preliminary studies also suggest an association between the biomarkers and whether a subject is a responder or non-responder to retinol or proxilan. Preliminary clinical studies suggest that the YKL40 and TG3 biomarkers indicate a subject's response to retinol for the improvement of under-eye wrinkles, the TG3 and LCN1 biomarkers indicate a subject's response to retinol for the improvement of overall facial dyschromia, and the YKL40 biomarker indicates a subject's response to proxilan for the improvement of erythrosis. In some embodiments, the trend determination engine 214 uses one or more of these clinically suggested relationships and the biomarker concentration information to predict one or more facial aging trends based on the biomarker concentration information. In some embodiments, the trend determination engine 214 can store the biomarker concentration information and/or predicted facial aging trends/skin trends in the product data store 220.

The method 300 then proceeds to block 308, where the ingredient determination engine 216 of the skin diagnostic computing device 212 presents a questionnaire to the subject and receives responses to one or more questions of the questionnaire. The ingredient determination engine 216 may present the questionnaire to the subject using any suitable technique. In one non-limiting example, the ingredient determination engine 216 may present a user interface including the questionnaire questions on a display device (not shown) of the skin diagnostic computing device 212 and may receive the responses via one or more human-machine interaction (HMI) devices (not shown) of the skin diagnostic computing device 212. The one or more human-machine interaction devices include, but are not limited to, a touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse, and a voice input system. In another non-limiting example, the ingredient determination engine 216 may present an audible question via a loudspeaker (not shown) of the skin diagnostic computing device 212 and may receive the responses via a microphone or a voice recognition system (not shown). In yet another non-limiting example, the questionnaire may be presented on paper or other physical embodiment, the subject may answer the questions on the paper, and the skin diagnostic computing device 212 may scan the answers from the paper using a camera (not shown), laser scanner, or other suitable device incorporated into or communicatively coupled to the skin diagnostic computing device 212. In some embodiments, the answers to the questionnaire questions are stored on a computer-readable medium accessible to the ingredient determination engine 216. In some embodiments, the questionnaire questions relate to environmental and/or behavioral factors likely to affect either facial aging trends or the effectiveness of ingredients in a given product. Such environmental and/or behavioral factors include, but are not limited to, climate, humidity, stress levels, sun exposure, diet, hydration, and smoking status.

In block 310, the ingredient determination engine 216 determines one or more skin care product ingredients based on the protein biomarker concentration information and/or the answers. As one non-limiting example, a particular skin care product ingredient can be associated with a particular skin trend to be addressed. Thus, if a skin trend based on the protein biomarker concentration information is present, the particular skin care product ingredient may be included by default. As another non-limiting example, if some of the skin care product ingredients can be used to address more than one skin trend, an optimal combination of skin care product ingredients may be included based on the multiple skin trends. As yet another non-limiting example, if opposing effects are present, a combination of ingredients may be included that achieves an optimal overall effect in treating the combination of skin trends (e.g., if a first skin care product ingredient improves a first skin trend and a second skin trend but worsens a third skin trend, a second skin care product ingredient may be included to address the third skin trend, or a third skin care product ingredient may be included to address the first skin trend or the second skin trend instead of the first skin care product ingredient to avoid worsening the third skin trend). As yet another non-limiting example, a skin care product ingredient can be selected based on whether the protein biomarker concentration information indicates a responsiveness to a particular skin care product ingredient. In all of the above cases that described selecting a skin care product ingredient based on skin tendencies or protein biomarker concentration information, in some embodiments, the selection may instead be made based on responses to a questionnaire, or based on both the protein biomarker concentration information and the responses to a questionnaire.

At block 312, the ingredient determination engine 216 transmits the ingredients of one or more skin care products to the skin care product formulation device 222. In some embodiments, the ingredient identity, the amount of the ingredient, the relative concentration of the ingredient, the type of vehicle for delivery, instructions for preparation, instructions for application, and/or other relevant information related to the preparation and use of the custom skin care product may be transmitted by the ingredient determination engine 216. In some embodiments, the information is transmitted electronically using any wired or wireless technology described herein. In some embodiments, the ingredient determination engine 216 may cause the information to be presented on a display of the skin diagnostic computing device 212 or may cause the information to be manually entered into an interface of the skin care product formulation device 222. In some embodiments, the ingredient determination engine 216 may print the information on a hard copy form and transmit the form to the skin care product formulation device 222 for registration. In some embodiments, the ingredient determination engine 216 may also store the information in the product data store 220.

At block 314, the skin care product formulation device 222 formulates and packages a custom skin care product including one or more skin care product ingredients. In some embodiments, the skin care product formulation device 222 can combine one or more liquid, gel, powder, solution, suspension, serum, or other skin care product ingredients as specified by the information received from the ingredient determination engine 216. In some embodiments, the skin care product formulation device 222 can dispense the formulated custom skin care product into a container, seal the container, and label the container with one or more of an identification of the user 90, an ingredient list of the custom skin care product, and a set of instructions for use of the custom skin care product. The packaged custom skin care product is provided to the subject for use.

At block 316, the feedback processing engine 218 of the skin diagnostic computing device 212 receives feedback from the subject regarding the custom skin care product. In some embodiments, the subject provides the feedback as a response to a separate questionnaire provided by a component of the skin diagnostic computing device 212, such as the feedback processing engine 218. In some embodiments, the questionnaire may include subjective feedback from the subject regarding the subject's satisfaction with the custom skin care product. In some embodiments, the feedback may be objective feedback received from a skin care professional or by re-testing biomarkers using the biomarker analysis system 202. In some embodiments, the feedback may be entered directly into the skin diagnostic computing device 212, while in other embodiments, the feedback may be collected by another device (such as the biomarker analysis system 202 or the subject's computing device) and then provided to the skin diagnostic computing device 212 using any suitable technique.

At block 318, the feedback processing engine 218 updates the ingredient determination engine 216 based on the feedback. In some embodiments, the ingredient determination engine 216 can use the feedback to update the stored efficacy for each ingredient in the custom skin care product (e.g., increasing efficacy for the stored skin trend if use improves skin trend, and decreasing efficacy for the stored skin trend if use does not improve skin trend). In some embodiments, the ingredient determination engine 216 can use the feedback as training data for a machine learning system. The machine learning system is used to select ingredients based on protein biomarker concentration information, questionnaire responses, and/or skin trend.

The method 300 then proceeds to the end block and ends.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a procedure for obtaining protein biomarker concentration information according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Procedure 402 is a non-limiting example of a procedure suitable for use in block 302 of FIG. 3 to obtain protein biomarker concentration information for a subject.

From a start block, the procedure 400 proceeds to block 402 where a sample is obtained from the subject using a sampling disk 204. In some embodiments, the sampling disk 204 can be attached to the subject's skin via an adhesive. In some embodiments, the sampling disk 204 can absorb substances such as sweat, sebum, and other skin secretions. In some embodiments, the adhesive of the sampling disk 204 can collect skin cells from the subject's skin. In some embodiments, the sampling disk 204 may be placed on the skin and removed multiple times to collect skin samples. In some embodiments, a weight or pressure may be applied on the sampling disk 204 and/or the sampling disk 204 may be left in place for a certain amount of time to obtain a consistent sample.

Next, in block 404, the protein extraction device 208 extracts proteins from the sampling disk into a solution. In some embodiments, the protein extraction device 208 may add a solution to the sampling disk to dissolve the skin cells, skin secretions, or other sampled material into the solution. In some embodiments, the sampling disk 204 may be placed in a buffer solution and then shaken so that the skin sample is dissolved into the solution.

At block 406, the solution is applied to the test cartridge 206. In some embodiments, a droplet of the solution produced by the protein extraction device 208 containing the proteins from the sampling disk is placed at the inlet of the test cartridge 206. At block 408, proteomic analysis is performed on the test cartridge 206 by the immunoassay analysis device 210, and protein biomarker concentration information is generated. In some embodiments, the test cartridge 206 is inserted into the immunoassay analysis device 210. The immunoassay analysis device 210 uses laser light to measure the fluorescent beads, which determines the concentration of the protein biomarkers in the skin sample. The procedure 400 then proceeds to an end block and ends. The protein biomarker concentration information may be displayed on a screen of the immunoassay analysis device 210, electronically transmitted to another device, or provided in some other manner to another device so that the protein biomarker concentration information can be used to create and update skin care product formulations (or for any other purpose).

5 is a high level schematic diagram illustrating various components of an exemplary embodiment of a system according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The system shown in FIG. 5 is used to obtain a sample from a user 90, generate skin care product recommendations based on the sample, and improve the recommendations over time. As shown, one or more sampling disks 102, 104 are used to obtain a sample from a user 90. The sampling disk 104 is then processed by a protein extraction device 208, and the collected sample is placed in a test cartridge 108. The test cartridge 108 is inserted into an immunoassay analysis device 106. The immunoassay analysis device 106 determines the concentrations of various protein biomarkers associated with various skin tendencies. The determination of the various protein biomarkers is similar to that shown in FIG. 1 and described above.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the protein biomarker concentration information is provided to a product recommendation computing device 510 to determine an existing skin trend. Based on the detected skin trend, the product recommendation computing device 510 provides a recommendation of one or more skin care products to address the skin trend. The product recommendation computing device 510 also receives feedback about the recommended skin care product or products, which feedback can be used to improve recommendations for future requests.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating further details of an exemplary embodiment of a product recommendation computing device according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The system shown in FIG. 5 uses a biomarker analysis system 202 similar to that shown in FIG. 2 and described in detail above. Therefore, for brevity, the biomarker analysis system will not be described again here.

In some embodiments, the product recommendation computing device 612 is a computing device configured to receive protein concentration information from the biomarker analysis system 202, determine one or more skin trends based on the protein concentration information, and determine product recommendations based on the protein concentration information. In some embodiments, the product recommendation computing device 612 is also configured to receive feedback on recommended products, which can then be used to improve future product recommendations.

In some embodiments, the product recommendation computing device 612 may be a mobile computing device, such as a smartphone or a tablet computing device. In some embodiments, the product recommendation computing device 612 may be a desktop computing device or a laptop computing device. In some embodiments, the product recommendation computing device 612 may include two or more computing devices, such as a user computing device configured to provide a user interface and one or more server computing devices configured to provide computing functionality (such as the functionality of the trend determination engine 614 and/or the product recommendation engine 616 described below). In such embodiments, the user computing device and the one or more server computing devices may communicate using any suitable communication technology or technologies. Any suitable communication technology or technologies may be wired technology (including but not limited to Ethernet, USB, or Internet) or wireless technology (including but not limited to WiFi, WiMAX, 3G, 4G, LTE, or Bluetooth).

In the illustrated embodiment, the product recommendation computing device 612 includes a trend determination engine 614, a product recommendation engine 616, a display device 618, and a product data store 620.

In some embodiments, the trend determination engine 614 is configured to receive protein biomarker concentration information from the biomarker analysis system and determine skin trends using clinically determined correlation information.

In some embodiments, the product recommendation engine 616 is configured to receive skin trend information and determine one or more products based on the skin trend information. In some embodiments, the product recommendation engine 616 may directly use protein biomarker concentration information to determine the one or more products. In some embodiments, the product recommendation engine 616 may also present a questionnaire providing environmental information relevant to the user 90 to gather additional information to inform the selection of the one or more products. However, the manner in which the additional information is gathered is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the product recommendation engine 616 may also gather feedback from the user 90 regarding the one or more products selected, and use this feedback to improve future product recommendations to the user 90 and other users.

In some embodiments, the display device 618 may be an LED display, an OLED display, or other type of display that presents a user interface to the user 90. The user interface may include a presentation of the recommended products and may include a form or other type of interface that allows the user 90 to provide feedback on the recommended products.

In some embodiments, the product data store 620 can be used to store relevant information for each user 90, including, but not limited to, protein biomarker concentration information, skin trends determined by the trend determination engine 614, one or more products recommended by the product recommendation engine 616, and feedback collected by the product recommendation engine 616.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for providing skin care product recommendations according to various aspects of the present disclosure. From a start block, the method 700 proceeds to process block 702, where the biomarker analysis system 202 performs a procedure for obtaining protein biomarker concentration information for the subject. Any suitable procedure can be used to collect the protein biomarker concentration information, including, but not limited to, procedure 400 shown in FIG. 4 and described above.

At block 704, the trend determination engine 614 of the product recommendation computing device 612 receives the protein biomarker concentration information. In some embodiments, the trend determination engine 614 receives the protein biomarker concentration information from the biomarker analysis system 202 via a network. The network may be a wireless network, including but not limited to a Wi-Fi network, a cellular network (including but not limited to a 3G network, a 4G network, a 5G network, or an LTE network), or a Bluetooth network, a wired network, including but not limited to an Ethernet network, a USB network, or a FireWire network, and/or any other type of network. In some embodiments, the protein biomarker concentration information may be displayed by a display device (not shown) of the biomarker analysis system 202, the protein biomarker concentration information may be manually entered into an interface presented by the display device 618, or the protein biomarker concentration information may be captured from the display device of the biomarker analysis system 202 by a camera of the product recommendation computing device 612.

At block 706, the trend determination engine 614 determines at least one skin trend based on the protein biomarker concentration information. As discussed above, preliminary clinical studies suggest associations between five biomarkers (FLG2, TG3, IDE, LCN1, and YKL40) and clinical symptoms of aging, and also associations between the biomarkers and whether a subject is a responder or non-responder to retinol or proxilan. In some embodiments, the trend determination engine 614 uses one or more of these clinically suggested relationships and the biomarker concentration information to predict one or more facial aging trends based on the biomarker concentration information. In some embodiments, the trend determination engine 614 may store the biomarker concentration information and/or the predicted facial aging trend/skin trend in the product data store 620.

At block 708, the product recommendation engine 616 of the product recommendation computing device 612 uses information in the product data store 620 to determine at least one product for addressing at least one skin tendency. In some embodiments, the product data store 620 stores records identifying multiple products, where each record can associate a given product with one or more skin tendencies addressed by the given product. Each record can also include one or more ingredients present in the given product. The product data store 620 can also store records regarding what users have received product recommendations, and can also store records regarding feedback received from users regarding the recommended products. In some embodiments, the product data store 620 can also store information about the users themselves, including but not limited to age, gender, demographic information, and location, and can be used to group users with other similar users based on the stored information. In some embodiments, the product recommendation engine 616 uses the record of previous recommendations, the received feedback, and information about the user as inputs to a collaborative filter, a content-based filter, or a hybrid filter to generate recommendations for the user 90 to address at least one detected skin tendency.

At block 710, the product recommendation computing device 612 presents a recommendation of at least one product on the display device 618 of the product recommendation computing device 612. In some embodiments, the recommendation may be presented as a link to a web page or app where the user 90 can purchase the recommended at least one product. In some embodiments, the recommendation may be presented as instructions on how to obtain the product from the retailer.

At block 712, the product recommendation engine 616 receives feedback about the at least one product and stores the feedback in the product data store 620. In some embodiments, the product recommendation engine 616 may use the display device 618 to present a feedback form to the user 90 through the collection of feedback, and the feedback form may be presented at some future time after the user 90 has had an opportunity to use the at least one product. In some embodiments, the product recommendation engine 616 may collect implicit feedback by monitoring purchases made by the user 90 and attributing a positive feedback value to additional purchases of the at least one recommended product. In some embodiments, the product recommendation engine 616 may collect feedback by evaluating social media posts by the user 90 that mention the at least one product and performing sentiment analysis on the posts. In some embodiments, the product recommendation engine 616 may collect feedback by receiving future analysis results by the biomarker analysis system 202 and the trend determination engine 614 and may determine the feedback based on whether the detected skin trend has been addressed. In some embodiments, the feedback stored in the product data store 620 is used by a collaborative filter, a content-based filter, or a hybrid filter of the product recommendation engine 616 to improve future recommendations.

The method 700 then proceeds to the end block and ends.

Although exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it should be understood that various modifications may be made to the exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Example Set 1
<Claim 1> A system for creating custom skin care products, comprising:
A skin care product prescription device and a skin diagnostic computing device are provided,
The skin diagnostic computing device comprises:
at least one processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by the at least one processor, cause the skin diagnostic computing device to perform an action;
The action is:
obtaining protein biomarker concentration information;
determining at least one skin care product ingredient based on said protein biomarker concentration information; and transmitting said determined at least one skin care product ingredient to said skin care product formulation device;
The skin care product formulation device comprises:
receiving the determined at least one skin care product ingredient;
A system configured to dispense a skin care product comprising the at least one skin care product ingredient.
<Claim 2> The system according to claim 1, wherein the action is:
presenting a survey; and receiving responses to the survey questions;
The system, wherein the determination of ingredients of the at least one skin care product is further based on the answers.
<Claim 3> The system according to claim 2,
The questionnaire includes questions regarding at least one of climate, humidity, stress levels, and smoking status.
<Claim 4> The system according to claim 1,
The system, wherein determining ingredients for at least one skin care product includes using a recommendation engine to determine ingredients for skin care products used by subjects having similar characteristics.
<Claim 5> The system according to claim 4, wherein the action is:
receiving skin care product feedback from a subject; and updating the recommendation engine based on the feedback.
<Claim 6> The system according to claim 1,
The system, wherein the skin diagnosis computing device is a smartphone or a tablet computing device.
<Claim 7> The system according to claim 1,
The system further comprises an immunoassay analysis device configured to generate said protein biomarker concentration information from a sample provided by the subject.
<Claim 8> A method for making a custom skin care product, comprising:
obtaining protein biomarker concentration information by a skin diagnostic computing device;
determining, by the skin diagnostic computing device, at least one skin care product ingredient based on the protein biomarker concentration information; and transmitting, by the skin diagnostic computing device, the determined at least one skin care product ingredient to a skin care product formulation device for creating a custom skin care product.
<Claim 9> The method according to claim 8,
receiving, by a skin care product formulation device, the determined ingredients of the at least one skin care product; and dispensing, by the skin care product formulation device, the custom skin care product including the ingredients of the at least one skin care product.
<Claim 10> The method according to claim 8,
presenting a questionnaire by the skin diagnostic computing device; and receiving answers to the questionnaire questions by the skin diagnostic computing device.
The method, wherein the determination of ingredients of the at least one skin care product is further based on the answers.
<Claim 11> The method according to claim 10,
The method, wherein the questionnaire includes questions regarding at least one of climate, humidity, stress levels, and smoking status.
<Claim 12> The method according to claim 8,
The method, wherein determining ingredients for at least one skin care product comprises using a recommendation engine to determine ingredients for skin care products used by subjects having similar characteristics.
<Claim 13> The method according to claim 12,
receiving, by the skin diagnostic computing device, skin care product feedback from a subject; and updating, by the skin diagnostic computing device, the recommendation engine based on the feedback.
<Claim 14> A system for creating custom skin care products, comprising:
a circuit for obtaining protein biomarker concentration information;
a circuit for determining at least one skin care product ingredient based on said protein biomarker concentration information; and a circuit for transmitting said determined at least one skin care product ingredient to a skin care product formulation device for creating a custom skin care product.
<Claim 15> The system according to claim 14,
the system further comprising: a circuit for receiving the determined at least one skin care product ingredient; and a circuit for dispensing the custom skin care product including the at least one skin care product ingredient.
<Claim 16> The system according to claim 14,
circuitry for presenting a survey; and circuitry for receiving answers to the survey questions,
The system, wherein the determination of ingredients of the at least one skin care product is further based on the answers.
<Claim 17> The system according to claim 16,
The questionnaire includes questions regarding at least one of climate, humidity, stress levels, and smoking status.
<Claim 18> The system according to claim 14,
The system, wherein determining ingredients for at least one skin care product includes using a recommendation engine to determine ingredients for skin care products used by subjects having similar characteristics.
<Claim 19> The system according to claim 18,
The system further comprises a circuit for receiving skin care product feedback from a subject; and a circuit for updating the recommendation engine based on the feedback.
<Claim 20> The system according to claim 14,
The system further comprises circuitry for receiving said protein biomarker concentration information from an immunoassay analysis device.

Example Set 2
<Claim 1> A computer-implemented method for providing skin care product recommendations for a subject, comprising:
obtaining, by a computing device, protein biomarker concentration information;
determining, by the computing device, at least one skin trend based on the protein biomarker concentration information;
determining, by the computing device, at least one skin care product associated with the at least one skin tendency; and presenting, by the computing device, a recommendation of the at least one skin care product via a display.
<Claim 2> The method according to claim 1,
The method, wherein determining the at least one skin care product comprises providing the at least one skin tendency and information related to the subject to a recommendation engine.
<Claim 3> The method according to claim 2,
The method, wherein the recommendation engine generates the recommendations using at least one of a collaborative filter, a content-based filter, and a hybrid filter.
<Claim 4> The method according to claim 2,
receiving feedback about the at least one skin care product; and updating the recommendation engine with the feedback.
<Claim 5> The method according to claim 1,
receiving responses to the one or more surveys;
The method, wherein the determination of the at least one skin tendency is further based on responses to the one or more questionnaires.
<Claim 6> The method according to claim 1,
The method, wherein the protein biomarker concentration information comprises information about the concentration of at least one of the following biomarkers: FLG2 biomarker, TG3 biomarker, IDE biomarker, LCN1 biomarker, and YKL40 biomarker.
<Claim 7> The method according to claim 1,
The method, wherein obtaining said protein biomarker concentration information comprises receiving said protein biomarker information from an immunoassay analysis device.
<Claim 8> The method according to claim 1,
The method, wherein the at least one skin tendency comprises the occurrence of at least one of oily skin, rough skin, uneven skin tone, eye wrinkles, photoaging, loss of elasticity, and enlarged pores.
<Claim 9> The method according to claim 1,
The method, wherein the computing device is a smartphone or a tablet computing device.
<Claim 10> A system for providing skin care product recommendations for a subject, comprising:
a circuit for obtaining protein biomarker concentration information;
a circuit for determining at least one skin trend based on said protein biomarker concentration information;
a circuit for determining at least one skin care product associated with said at least one skin tendency; and a circuit for presenting a recommendation of said at least one skin care product via a display.
<Claim 11> The system according to claim 10,
The system, wherein determining the at least one skin care product includes providing information related to the at least one skin tendency and the subject to a recommendation engine.
<Claim 12> The system according to claim 11,
The system, wherein the recommendation engine generates the recommendations using at least one of a collaborative filter, a content-based filter, and a hybrid filter.
<Claim 13> The system according to claim 11,
The system further comprises: a circuit for receiving feedback about the at least one skin care product; and a circuit for updating the recommendation engine with the feedback.
<Claim 14> The system according to claim 10,
further comprising circuitry for receiving one or more survey responses;
The system, wherein the determination of the at least one skin tendency is further based on responses to the one or more questionnaires.
<Claim 15> The system according to claim 10,
The system, wherein the protein biomarker concentration information includes information about the concentration of at least one of a FLG2 biomarker, a TG3 biomarker, an IDE biomarker, an LCN1 biomarker, and a YKL40 biomarker.
<Claim 16> The system according to claim 10,
The system, wherein obtaining the protein biomarker concentration information comprises receiving the protein biomarker information from an immunoassay analysis device.
<Claim 17> The system according to claim 10,
The at least one skin tendency includes the occurrence of at least one of oily skin, rough skin, uneven skin tone, eye wrinkles, photoaging, loss of elasticity, and enlarged pores.
<Claim 18> The system according to claim 10,
The system, wherein the circuitry is included in a smartphone or tablet computing device.
<Claim 19> A computing device configured to provide skin care product recommendations for a subject, comprising:
obtaining, by said computing device, protein biomarker concentration information;
determining, by the computing device, at least one skin trend based on the protein biomarker concentration information;
determining, by the computing device, at least one skin care product associated with the at least one skin tendency; and presenting, by the computing device, a recommendation of the at least one skin care product via a display.
<Claim 20> The computing device according to claim 19,
The device, wherein determining the at least one skin care product includes providing the at least one skin tendency and information related to the subject to a recommendation engine.
<Claim 21> The computing device according to claim 20,
The device, wherein the recommendation engine generates the recommendations using at least one of a collaborative filter, a content-based filter, and a hybrid filter.
<Claim 22> The computing device according to claim 20, wherein the computing device is
receiving feedback about the at least one skin care product;
The device is further configured to update the recommendation engine with the feedback.
<Claim 23> The computing device according to claim 19, wherein the computing device is
further configured to receive responses to the one or more surveys;
The device, wherein the determination of the at least one skin tendency is further based on responses to the one or more questionnaires.
<Claim 24> The computing device according to claim 19,
A device, wherein the protein biomarker concentration information comprises information about the concentration of at least one of a FLG2 biomarker, a TG3 biomarker, an IDE biomarker, an LCN1 biomarker, and a YKL40 biomarker.
<Claim 25> The computing device according to claim 19,
The device, wherein obtaining the protein biomarker concentration information comprises receiving the protein biomarker information from an immunoassay analysis device.
<Claim 26> The computing device according to claim 19,
The at least one skin tendency includes the occurrence of at least one of oily skin, rough skin, uneven skin tone, eye wrinkles, photoaging, loss of elasticity, and enlarged pores.
<Claim 27> The computing device according to claim 19,
The computing device is a smartphone or a tablet computing device.

Claims (15)

1. A method for making a custom skin care product, comprising:
obtaining protein biomarker concentration information by a skin diagnostic computing device;
determining, by the skin diagnostic computing device, at least one skin care product ingredient based on the protein biomarker concentration information; and transmitting, by the skin diagnostic computing device, the determined at least one skin care product ingredient to a skin care product formulation device for creating a custom skin care product. 2. The method of claim 1 ,
presenting a questionnaire by the skin diagnostic computing device; and receiving answers to the questionnaire questions by the skin diagnostic computing device.
The method, wherein the determination of ingredients of the at least one skin care product is further based on the answers. 3. The method of claim 2,
The method, wherein the questionnaire includes questions regarding at least one of climate, humidity, stress levels, and smoking status. 2. The method of claim 1 ,
The method, wherein determining ingredients of the at least one skin care product comprises using a recommendation engine to determine ingredients of skin care products used by subjects having similar characteristics. 5. The method of claim 4,
receiving, by the skin diagnostic computing device, skin care product feedback from a subject; and updating, by the skin diagnostic computing device, the recommendation engine based on the feedback. 1. A system comprising:
A skin diagnostic computing device and a skin care product prescription device,
A system, wherein the skin diagnostic computing device is configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the skin care product formulation device comprises:
receiving the determined at least one skin care product ingredient;
A system configured to dispense the custom skin care product comprising the at least one skin care product ingredient. 7. The system of claim 6,
The system further comprises an immunoassay analysis device configured to generate said protein biomarker concentration information from a sample provided by said subject. 1. A computer-implemented method for providing skin care product recommendations to a subject, comprising:
obtaining, by a computing device, protein biomarker concentration information;
determining, by the computing device, at least one skin trend based on the protein biomarker concentration information;
determining, by the computing device, at least one skin care product associated with the at least one skin tendency; and presenting, by the computing device, a recommendation of the at least one skin care product via a display. 10. The method of claim 9,
The method, wherein determining the at least one skin care product comprises providing information related to the at least one skin tendency and the subject to a recommendation engine. 11. The method of claim 10,
The method, wherein the recommendation engine generates the recommendations using at least one of a collaborative filter, a content-based filter, and a hybrid filter. 11. The method of claim 10,
receiving feedback about the at least one skin care product; and updating the recommendation engine with the feedback. 10. The method of claim 9,
The method, wherein the protein biomarker concentration information comprises information about the concentration of at least one of the following biomarkers: FLG2 biomarker, TG3 biomarker, IDE biomarker, LCN1 biomarker, and YKL40 biomarker. 10. The method of claim 9,
The method, wherein the at least one skin tendency comprises the occurrence of at least one of oily skin, rough skin, uneven skin tone, eye wrinkles, photoaging, loss of elasticity, and enlarged pores. A computing device configured to provide a subject with skin care product recommendations by performing the method of any one of claims 9 to 14.