JP2024062428A - Ingredient information retrieval system, ingredient information retrieval apparatus, and ingredient information retrieval method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a food information retrieval system that can retrieve a discarded ingredient based on an arbitrary menu.SOLUTION: An ingredient information retrieval system 1 is configured to include a user terminal 2 and a server 3. The user terminal 2 includes a menu specification reception unit 21 that receives a specification of an arbitrary menu from a user, and a notification unit that notifies the user of a retrieval result by the server 3. The server 3 includes a menu information acquisition unit 31 that acquires information indicating the menu received by the menu specification reception unit 21, an ingredient identification unit 32 that identifies a cooking ingredient which is an ingredient used for cooking the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit 31, a discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35 that acquires information indicating a discarded ingredient, and a retrieval execution unit 33 that retrieves the cooking ingredient identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredient indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

This disclosure relates to an ingredient information search system, an ingredient information search device, and an ingredient information search method.

In recent years, the issue of food waste has been raised as a global problem. Food waste primarily refers to food that is still edible but is thrown away. For example, the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) aim to halve per capita food waste worldwide at the retail and consumer levels by 2030.

In relation to this, Patent Document 1 discloses a product inventory information providing system capable of reducing food waste. This system comprises a store product inventory database that registers store information, product information, and product inventory for each store, a storage means for storing the database, and a server for providing product inventory information to users via a network. The server then identifies inventory information for products that satisfy conditions specified by the user from the store product inventory database, as well as store information for stores that have the products, and provides this to the user's mobile terminal. Here, the conditions specified by the user can include, for example, product names and product genres (Japanese, Western, Chinese, etc.), as well as products that are close to their expiration date.

JP 2020-24739 A

In the system described in Patent Document 1 (hereinafter also referred to as the "conventional system"), a user can specify a product that is close to its expiration date, which enables efficient search and purchase of so-called discarded food ingredients, including the specified product, and potentially contributes to reducing food waste. However, in the above-mentioned conventional system, a user cannot specify a menu as a condition and search for discarded food ingredients based on the menu.

This disclosure has been made to solve the above problems, and aims to provide an ingredient information search system that can search for discarded ingredients based on any menu.

The food ingredient information search system according to the present disclosure is an ingredient information search system including a user terminal and a server. The user terminal includes a menu specification receiving unit that receives a menu specification from the user, and a notification unit that notifies the user of the search results by the server. The server includes a menu information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating the menu accepted by the menu specification receiving unit, an ingredient identification unit that identifies cooking ingredients that are ingredients used to cook the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit, a waste ingredient information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating waste ingredients, and a search execution unit that searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the waste ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the waste ingredient information acquisition unit.

According to the present disclosure, with the above configuration, it is possible to search for discarded ingredients based on any menu.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an ingredient information search system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a user terminal in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a server in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a carrier terminal according to the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the ingredient information search system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6A is a diagram showing an example of a format of discarded food material information in the first embodiment, and FIG. 6B is a diagram showing a specific example of discarded food material information in the first embodiment. FIG. 7A is a diagram showing an example of a format of menu information in the first embodiment, and FIG. 7B is a diagram showing a specific example of the menu information in the first embodiment. FIG. 8A is a diagram showing an example of displaying search results in the first embodiment, and FIG. 8B is a diagram showing an example of a case where the search results shown in FIG. 8A are rearranged and displayed. 9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating examples of hardware configurations of a user terminal, a server, and a carrier terminal in the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a user terminal in the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a server in the second embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the ingredient information search system according to the second embodiment. FIG. 13A is a diagram showing an example of a format of nutrient information in the second embodiment, and FIG. 13B is a diagram showing a specific example of nutrient information in the second embodiment. FIG. 14A is a diagram showing an example of displaying search results in the second embodiment, and FIG. 14B is a diagram showing an example of a case where the search results shown in FIG. 14A are rearranged and displayed. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a user terminal in embodiment 3. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a server in the third embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the ingredient information search system according to the third embodiment. FIG. 18A is a diagram showing an example of a format of pairing information in the third embodiment, and FIG. 18B is a diagram showing a specific example of the pairing information in the third embodiment. FIG. 19A is a diagram showing an example of displaying search results in the third embodiment, and FIG. 19B is a diagram showing an example of a case where the search results shown in FIG. 19A are rearranged and displayed. A figure showing an example of the configuration of a user terminal in embodiment 4. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a server configuration in the fourth embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the ingredient information search system according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 23A is a diagram showing an example of displaying search results in embodiment 4, and FIG. 23B is a diagram showing an example of the case where the search results shown in FIG. 23A are rearranged and displayed. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of displaying search results in embodiment 5.

The following describes the embodiment in detail with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1.
Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 1. The ingredient information search system 1 includes a user terminal 2, a server 3, and a business operator terminal 5, for example, as shown in Fig. 1 .

In the first embodiment, the user terminal 2, the server 3, and the business terminal 5 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via the network NW. The following describes in detail each of the above components constituting the ingredient information search system 1 according to the first embodiment.

<User Terminal 2>
The user terminal 2 is a terminal used by a user Y. The user terminal 2 is, for example, a mobile terminal (such as a smartphone) and a PC (Personal Computer).

The user terminal 2 accepts a menu designation from the user Y via a predetermined search screen displayed on a display unit such as a display. The user terminal 2 transmits information indicating the menu accepted from the user Y to the server 3 via the network NW. The user terminal 2 also receives search results from the server 3 via the network NW, generates a screen indicating the search results based on the received search results (hereinafter also referred to as the "search result display screen"), and displays the generated search result display screen on the display unit.

Next, an example of the configuration of the user terminal 2 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the user terminal 2 includes a menu designation receiving unit 21, a menu information transmitting unit 22, a search result receiving unit 23, a display control unit 24, a recording unit 25, and a display unit 26.

The menu specification receiving unit 21 receives a specification of an arbitrary menu from user Y via a predetermined search screen displayed on a display unit 26 such as a display.

Specifically, the menu designation receiving unit 21 receives, for example, a designation of a menu that user Y wants to eat. Here, a "menu" refers to food or drink that is prepared by processing multiple ingredients, such as curry, stew, and miso soup.

The menu information transmission unit 22 transmits information indicating the menu accepted by the menu specification acceptance unit 21 (hereinafter also simply referred to as "menu information") to the server 3 via the network NW.

The search result receiving unit 23 receives the search results sent from the search result output unit 34 of the server 3 (described later) via the network NW.

In response to an instruction from user Y, the display control unit 24 causes the display unit 26 to display a predetermined search screen for user Y to specify a menu. The display control unit 24 also generates a search result display screen based on the search results received by the search result receiving unit 23, and causes the display unit 26 to display the generated search result display screen.

The recording unit 25 records the menu information received by the menu specification receiving unit 21 in association with the search results received by the search result receiving unit 23. The recording unit 25 is configured, for example, by a hard disc drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), etc.

The display unit 26 is configured, for example, by a display. The display unit 26 displays the above-mentioned search screen and search result display screen under the control of the display control unit 24.

In the above description, the display control unit 24 and the display unit 26 constitute a notification unit that notifies the user Y of the search results by the server 3. In addition, in the above description, an example in which the recording unit 25 and the display unit 26 are provided in the user terminal 2 has been described, but the recording unit 25 and the display unit 26 are not limited to this, and may be provided outside the user terminal 2.

<Server 3>
The server 3 executes a predetermined search based on the menu information acquired from the user terminal 2 via the network NW, and transmits the search results to the user terminal 2 via the network NW. Note that the search based on the menu information specifically refers to searching for ingredients that can be used to prepare the menu indicated by the menu information among the discarded ingredients. In other words, the server 3 constitutes the ingredient information search device according to the first embodiment.

Specifically, when the server 3 acquires the menu information from the user terminal 2, it identifies the ingredients to be used to prepare the menu indicated by the menu information. The ingredients are identified based on cooking ingredient information that is, for example, information previously recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit and that associates an arbitrary menu with the ingredients to be used to prepare the menu.

Next, the server 3 searches for the identified ingredients from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information previously recorded in the discarded ingredient information recording unit. The discarded ingredient information is information indicating discarded ingredients, and is information recorded in the discarded ingredient information recording unit by businesses such as supermarkets and convenience stores using the business terminal 5 described below. Note that here, "discarded ingredients" refers to ingredients such as ingredients that are discarded because they have expired or are close to their expiration date, ingredients that do not meet standards and cannot be sold, and surplus ingredients. The server 3 then transmits the results of the search, i.e., the results of searching for ingredients to be used to prepare the menu indicated by the menu information from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information, to the user terminal 2 via the network NW.

Next, an example of the configuration of the server 3 will be described with reference to FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the server 3 includes a menu information acquisition unit 31, an ingredient identification unit 32, a search execution unit 33, a search result output unit 34, a discard ingredient information acquisition unit 35, a cooking ingredient information recording unit 36, and a discard ingredient information recording unit 37.

The menu information acquisition unit 31 acquires the menu information transmitted by the menu information transmission unit 22 of the user terminal 2.

The ingredient identification unit 32 identifies cooking ingredients that are ingredients used to prepare the menu indicated by the menu information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit 31. For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 identifies cooking ingredients based on cooking ingredient information that is recorded in advance in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36 and that associates an arbitrary menu with ingredients used to prepare the menu.

The search execution unit 33 searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35. The discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35 records the acquired discarded ingredient information in the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37, as described below. In this case, the search execution unit 33 searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information previously recorded in the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37.

The search result output unit 34 outputs the search results by the search execution unit 33. For example, the search result output unit 34 transmits the search results by the search execution unit 33 to the user terminal 2 via the network NW.

The discarded foodstuff information acquisition unit 35 acquires discarded foodstuff information transmitted via the network NW from the discarded foodstuff information transmission unit 52 of the business operator terminal 5 described below. The discarded foodstuff information acquisition unit 35 records the acquired discarded foodstuff information in the discarded foodstuff information recording unit 37.

The cooking ingredient information recording unit 36 records cooking ingredient information. As described above, cooking ingredient information is information that associates a menu with ingredients used to cook the menu. The cooking ingredient information is created in advance by an administrator of the ingredient information search system 1, and is recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36.

The discarded food information recording unit 37 records the discarded food information acquired by the discarded food information acquisition unit 35.

The discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35, cooking ingredient information recording unit 36, and discarded ingredient information recording unit 37 are configured, for example, by a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), etc.

In the above description, an example has been described in which the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35, cooking ingredient information recording unit 36, and discarded ingredient information recording unit 37 are provided in the server 3, but the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35, cooking ingredient information recording unit 36, and discarded ingredient information recording unit 37 are not limited to this, and may be provided outside the server 3.

<Business operator terminal 5>
The business operator terminal 5 is a terminal used by business operators such as supermarkets and convenience stores that sell food ingredients. The business operator terminal 5 is composed of, for example, a mobile terminal (such as a smartphone) and a PC (Personal Computer).

The business operator terminal 5 receives discarded food ingredient information from the business operator via a specified reception screen displayed on a display unit such as a display. The business operator terminal 5 transmits the discarded food ingredient information received from the business operator to the server 3 via the network NW. The discarded food ingredient information transmitted to the server 3 is recorded in the discarded food ingredient information recording unit 37 of the server 3.

Next, an example of the configuration of the business operator terminal 5 will be described with reference to FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, the business operator terminal 5 includes a discarded foodstuff information receiving unit 51, a discarded foodstuff information transmitting unit 52, a recording unit 53, a display control unit 54, and a display unit 55.

The discarded food information receiving unit 51 receives discarded food information from the business via a specified reception screen displayed on a display unit 55 such as a display.

The discarded food information transmission unit 52 transmits the discarded food information received by the discarded food information reception unit 51 to the server 3 via the network NW.

The recording unit 53 records the discarded food information received by the discarded food information receiving unit 51. The recording unit 53 is configured, for example, by a hard disc drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD).

The display control unit 54, in response to instructions from the business operator, causes the display unit 55 to display a specified reception screen for the business operator to input discarded food ingredient information.

The display unit 55 displays the above-mentioned reception screen under the control of the display control unit 54.

In the above description, an example has been described in which the recording unit 53 and the display unit 55 are provided in the business operator terminal 5, but the recording unit 53 and the display unit 55 are not limited to this, and may be provided outside the business operator terminal 5.

Next, an example of the operation of the ingredient information search system 1 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

First, the business uses the business terminal 5 owned by the business operator to display a predetermined reception screen on the display unit 55 and inputs waste food information from this reception screen. At this time, the waste food information reception unit 51 receives the waste food information input by the business operator via the reception screen displayed on the display unit 55 (step ST001).

Next, the discarded food ingredient information transmission unit 52 transmits the discarded food ingredient information received by the discarded food ingredient information reception unit 51 to the server 3 via the network NW (step ST002).

Next, the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit 35 of the server 3 acquires the discarded food ingredient information transmitted from the discarded food ingredient information transmission unit 52 of the business operator terminal 5 via the network NW (step ST003).

Next, the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit 35 of the server 3 records the acquired discarded food ingredient information in the discarded food ingredient information recording unit 37 (step ST004).

For the sake of simplicity, an example has been described in which each of the processes from receiving the discarded food ingredient information by the discarded food ingredient information receiving unit 51 of the business operator terminal 5 (step ST001) to recording the discarded food ingredient information by the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit 35 of the server 3 (step ST004) is performed once, but the processes from step ST001 to step ST004 may be performed multiple times at any timing.

Here, an example of discarded food information recorded in the discarded food information recording unit 37 will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of discarded food ingredient information recorded in the discarded food ingredient information recording unit 37. Figure 6A is a diagram showing an example of the data items and data format constituting the discarded food ingredient information recorded in the discarded food ingredient information recording unit 37, and Figure 6B is a diagram showing a specific example of the discarded food ingredient information.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the discarded food information includes data items such as name, registered business, price, category, registration date, expiration date, quantity, and notes.

The name is the name of the discarded food ingredient, and the data format is text format (shown as "NNN" in Figure 6A).

The registered business is the identification information (e.g., name) of the business that sent the discarded food material information indicating the discarded food material to server 3, and the data format is text format.

The price is the price of the discarded food ingredient in question, and the data format is a number (shown as "￥9999" in Figure 6A).

The category is information indicating the processing state of the discarded food ingredient, and the data format is text format. Examples of categories include "unprocessed," "semi-processed," and "processed." "Unprocessed" indicates food ingredients that have not been processed in any way. "Semi-processed" indicates food ingredients that have been processed (prepared) in some way, such as pre-cut food ingredients or pre-seasoned food ingredients. "Processed" indicates food ingredients (food) that have been processed so that they can be served as a menu item, such as bento boxes or retort foods.

The registration date is information indicating the date on which the discarded food material information indicating the discarded food material was recorded (registered) in the discarded food material information recording unit 37, and the data format is a date format (shown as "YYYY/MM/DD" in FIG. 6A).

The expiration date is information that indicates the expiration date of the discarded food ingredient, and the data format is year/month/date.

The quantity is information indicating the quantity of the discarded food ingredient, and the data format is a number. For example, the quantity is displayed per bag for food ingredients sold in bags, and per piece for food ingredients sold loose.

The notes are any information other than the above about the discarded food ingredient, and the data format is text format. For example, the notes display the names of ingredients contained in the contents of a discarded semi-processed food ingredient, such as cut vegetables.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6B, "carrots" are discarded food ingredients registered by a business "XX supermarket", with a price of 200 yen, a category of "unprocessed", a registration date of "2022/10/01", a best-by date of "2022/10/05", and a quantity of 3 (bags).

In addition, "potatoes" are discarded food ingredients registered by the business "XX Store", with a price of 250 yen, a category of "unprocessed", a registration date of "2022/10/01", a best-by date of "2022/10/06", and a quantity of 5 (bags).

The "cut vegetables" are discarded food ingredients registered by the business "XX Supermarket", with a price of 400 yen, a category of "semi-processed", a registration date of "2022/10/02", a best-by date of "2022/10/04", and a quantity of 2 (bags). The cut vegetables contain carrots, onions, and cabbage.

The "Curry Bento" is a discarded food ingredient registered by the business "XX Store", with a price of 600 yen, a category of "Processed", a registration date of "2022/10/04", a best-by date of "2022/10/05", and a quantity of 4 (pieces).

Note that the contents of the discarded food information shown here are merely examples, and contents other than those described above may also be recorded as discarded food information.

Next, the menu specification receiving unit 21 of the user terminal 2 receives a specification of an arbitrary menu from the user Y via a predetermined search screen displayed on the display unit 26 such as a display (step ST005). For example, the menu specification receiving unit 21 receives a specification of the menu "curry" as the menu that the user Y wants to eat.

Next, the menu information transmission unit 22 of the user terminal 2 transmits information (menu information) indicating the menu accepted by the menu specification acceptance unit 21 to the server 3 via the network NW (step ST006). For example, the menu information transmission unit 22 transmits menu information indicating "curry" to the server 3 via the network NW. Note that the menu information indicating "curry" may be information consisting of the character string "curry", for example, or may be information consisting of an identifier indicating "curry" (for example, a menu ID).

Next, the menu information acquisition unit 31 of the server 3 acquires the menu information transmitted by the menu information transmission unit 22 of the user terminal 2 (step ST007). For example, the menu information acquisition unit 31 acquires menu information indicating "curry."

Next, the ingredient identification unit 32 of the server 3 identifies cooking ingredients that are ingredients used to prepare the menu indicated by the menu information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit 31 (step ST008). For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 performs this identification based on cooking ingredient information that is recorded in advance in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36 and that associates an arbitrary menu with ingredients used to prepare the menu.

Here, an example of cooking ingredient information recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36 is explained with reference to FIG. 7.

Figure 7 is a diagram showing an example of cooking ingredient information recorded in cooking ingredient information recording unit 36. Figure 7A is a diagram showing an example of the data items and data format constituting cooking ingredient information recorded in cooking ingredient information recording unit 36, and Figure 7B is a diagram showing a specific example of the cooking ingredient information.

As shown in FIG. 7A, the cooking ingredient information includes data items such as the menu name and ingredient n (n=1, 2, 3, etc.).

The menu name is the name of the menu, and the data format is text format (shown as "NNN" in Figure 7A).

Ingredient n is the name of the ingredient used to prepare the menu displayed in the menu name, and the data format is text format.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the menu item "curry" is shown to use ingredients such as "carrots," "potatoes," "onions," "pork," and "curry roux" as ingredients for cooking.

As shown in FIG. 7B, the menu item "Miso Soup" is prepared using ingredients such as "Tofu," "Green Onion," "Fried Tofu," "Wakame Seaweed," and "Miso."

Note that the cooking ingredient information shown here is merely an example, and other information may be recorded as cooking ingredient information.

The ingredient identification unit 32 of the server 3 searches the cooking ingredient information recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36 using the menu indicated by the menu information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit 31 as a search key, and identifies the ingredients used to cook the menu. For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 searches the cooking ingredient information recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36 using "curry", which is the menu indicated by the menu information, as a search key, and identifies ingredients such as "carrots", "potatoes", "onions", "pork", and "curry roux" as ingredients used to cook "curry".

Next, the search execution unit 33 of the server 3 searches for the ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredient information recorded in advance in the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37, which indicates the discarded ingredient information recorded as ingredients to be discarded (step ST009).

For example, the search execution unit 33 searches the discarded food ingredient information previously recorded in the discarded food ingredient information recording unit 37 using ingredients such as "carrots," "potatoes," "onions," "pork," and "curry roux" identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 as search keys, and if the ingredients used as search keys are included in the discarded food ingredient information, the search execution unit 33 acquires information about the ingredients. For example, if the discarded food ingredient information is as shown in FIG. 6B, the search execution unit 33 acquires information about "carrots" and "potatoes" because "carrots" and "potatoes" are included in the discarded food ingredient information.

In addition, at this time, the search execution unit 33 may search not only the item of the name of the ingredient contained in the discarded ingredient information, but also, for example, the "Notes" item. For example, if the discarded ingredient information is as shown in FIG. 6B, the search execution unit 33 may obtain information about the "cut vegetables" since the "Notes" item for "cut vegetables" includes "carrots" and "onions." In this way, the search execution unit 33 can obtain information about "cut vegetables" in the "semi-processed" category, in addition to "carrots" and the like in the "unprocessed" category, as ingredients that may be used in cooking curry.

At this time, the search execution unit 33 may perform a search using not only the ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32, but also the name of the menu item itself as a search key. For example, the search execution unit 33 may perform a search using the name of the menu item "curry" as a search key. At this time, if the discarded ingredient information is as shown in FIG. 6B, the search execution unit 33 obtains an item related to "curry bento," which has a partial match in name. This allows the search execution unit 33 to obtain information related to "curry bento," which is in the "processed" category, in addition to "carrots," etc., which are in the "unprocessed" category, as ingredients that may be used to cook curry.

Next, the search result output unit 34 of the server 3 transmits the search results by the search execution unit 33 to the user terminal 2 via the network NW (step ST010). For example, in the above example, the search result output unit 34 transmits information regarding "carrots," "potatoes," "cut vegetables," and "curry lunch box" obtained from the discarded food ingredient information to the user terminal 2 as the search results by the search execution unit 33.

Next, the search result receiving unit 23 of the user terminal 2 receives the search results transmitted from the search result output unit 34 of the server 3 via the network NW (step ST011). For example, in the above example, the search result receiving unit 23 receives information related to "carrots," "potatoes," "cut vegetables," and "curry lunch box" as search results.

Next, the display control unit 24 of the user terminal 2 generates a search result display screen based on the search results received by the search result receiving unit 23, and displays the generated search result display screen on the display unit 26 (step ST012).

Here, an example of a search result display screen generated by the display control unit 24 will be described with reference to FIG. 8. For example, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen as shown in FIG. 8A. This search result display screen includes, for example, a menu name display area 801, a search result display area 802, and a display condition specification area 803.

This search result display screen is also used as the search screen where user Y specifies a menu in step ST005 described above, and also includes a menu specification area 804. User Y inputs a menu specification in this menu specification area 804.

For example, in the example of FIG. 8A, the name of the menu item specified by user Y, "curry," is displayed in the menu item name display area 801.

Furthermore, the search result display area 802 displays the search results received by the search result receiving unit 23. For example, in the above example, the search result display area 802 displays an image of "cut vegetables" in the "semi-processed" category, an image of "carrots" in the "unprocessed" category, an image of "potatoes" in the "unprocessed" category, and an image of "curry bento" in the "processed" category.

In addition, when user Y selects an image of a discarded food ingredient in the search result display area 802 by double-clicking or the like, the screen may transition to a details screen that displays detailed information about the discarded food ingredient (e.g., the name and address of the business that registered the discarded food ingredient, the expiration date, and the quantity). In addition, user Y may be able to purchase the discarded food ingredient from the details screen.

Furthermore, when user Y purchases the discarded food ingredient from the detailed screen, the control unit (not shown) of server 3 preferably subtracts the quantity included in the discarded food ingredient information recorded in discarded food ingredient information recording unit 37 by the quantity purchased by user Y. Furthermore, the control unit preferably deletes discarded food ingredients whose quantity becomes zero as a result of the subtraction from the discarded food ingredient information recorded in discarded food ingredient information recording unit 37.

The image of each ingredient may be an image that is actually taken by the business that registers each ingredient as a discarded ingredient and photographs the ingredient with a camera. In this case, when the business registers the discarded ingredient information, the business registers the discarded ingredient information by including information showing the photographed image of the ingredient in the discarded ingredient information, and the search execution unit 33 of the server 3 acquires the information showing the image when searching. This allows user Y to see the actual condition of the discarded ingredient and decide whether or not to purchase it.

The image of each ingredient may be a sample image of each ingredient that is pre-recorded in the recording unit 25 of the user terminal 2. In this case, for example, user Y may download a sample image of each ingredient from the server 3 in advance and record the downloaded sample image in the recording unit 25 of the user terminal 2.

The display control unit 24 may also generate a search result display screen that displays the category of each ingredient (e.g., "semi-processed") along with the image of each ingredient, as shown in FIG. 8A, for example. This allows user Y to easily understand the category (processing state) of each discarded ingredient.

In addition, in the display condition specification area 803, user Y can specify either "sort" or "narrow" based on category as the display condition for the search results.

For example, as shown in FIG. 8B, user Y specifies the display order in the "Sort" column as "1" for "Semi-processed," "2" for "Unprocessed," and "3" for "Processed." At this time, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen that groups the images of each ingredient by category, as shown in FIG. 8B, and displays the images of ingredients with "Semi-processed" at the top, followed by "Unprocessed," and "Processed" at the bottom. This allows user Y to grasp each ingredient by category, and allows images of the desired category to be displayed in an easy-to-view position, improving convenience.

Although not shown here, user Y can select the category he or she wishes to display in the "Filter" field. For example, when user Y checks the "Semi-processed" field in the "Filter" field, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen on which only images of "semi-processed" ingredients are displayed. This allows user Y to display only images of the desired category, improving convenience.

Although not shown here, in the display condition specification area 803, user Y may be able to specify sorting based on the expiration date of the discarded ingredients or sorting based on the quantity as a display condition for the search results.

For example, user Y may specify as a display condition for the search results that discarded ingredients be sorted in ascending order of their expiration date (earliest expiration date first). This makes it easier for user Y, who wishes to proactively contribute to reducing food waste, to purchase discarded ingredients that are displayed higher, i.e., discarded ingredients with an earlier expiration date.

For example, user Y may specify that the search results be displayed in a display condition such that discarded ingredients are sorted in descending order of quantity. This makes it easier for user Y, who wants to actively contribute to reducing food waste, to purchase discarded ingredients with larger quantities remaining.

In the above description, an example has been described in which the display control unit 24 and the display unit 26 of the user terminal 2 constitute a notification unit that notifies the user Y of the search results by the server 3. However, the notification unit is not limited to this, and may be constituted, for example, by a voice information generation unit (not shown) that converts the search results by the server 3 into voice information, and a voice output unit (not shown) such as a speaker that outputs the voice information.

In the above description, an example has been described in which the ingredient identification unit 32, when identifying ingredients to be used to prepare the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit 31, identifies ingredients based on ingredient information previously recorded in the ingredient information recording unit 36. However, the ingredient identification unit 32 may identify ingredients by a method other than the above.

For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 may identify ingredients to be cooked using a machine learning model that has been trained in advance by machine learning. In this case, this machine learning model may be a model that has been trained to output information indicating ingredients to be used to cook an arbitrary menu item in response to input of information indicating the menu item. In this case, the ingredient identification unit 32 inputs the menu information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit 31 into the machine learning model, and identifies ingredients to be cooked based on the information indicating ingredients output from the machine learning model.

In the above explanation, the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit 35 of the server 3 acquires discarded food ingredient information transmitted from the discarded food ingredient information transmission unit 52 of the business operator terminal 5 via the network NW. However, the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit 35 may acquire discarded food ingredient information by a method other than the above. For example, an administrator of the food ingredient information search system 1 may import discarded food ingredient information that has been saved in advance as a file into the server 3, and the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit 35 of the server 3 may read and acquire the imported discarded food ingredient information.

Next, an example of a hardware configuration of the user terminal 2 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
Each function of the menu designation receiving unit 21, the menu information transmitting unit 22, the search result receiving unit 23, and the display control unit 24 in the user terminal 2 is realized by a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be dedicated hardware as shown in Fig. 9A, or may be a CPU (also called a Central Processing Unit, a processing unit, an arithmetic unit, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, a processor, or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor)) 62 that executes a program stored in a memory 63 as shown in Fig. 9B.

When the processing circuit is a dedicated hardware, the processing circuit 61 is, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a combination of these. The functions of each of the menu designation receiving unit 21, the menu information transmitting unit 22, the search result receiving unit 23, and the display control unit 24 may be realized by the processing circuit 61 individually, or the functions of each unit may be realized by the processing circuit 61 collectively.

When the processing circuit is a CPU 62, the functions of the menu specification acceptance unit 21, the menu information transmission unit 22, the search result reception unit 23, and the display control unit 24 are realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software and firmware are written as programs and stored in the memory 63. The processing circuit realizes the functions of each unit by reading and executing the programs stored in the memory 63. That is, the user terminal 2 has a memory for storing a program that, when executed by the processing circuit, results in the execution of steps ST005, ST006, ST011, and ST012 shown in FIG. 5. It can also be said that these programs cause a computer to execute the procedures and methods of the menu specification acceptance unit 21, the menu information transmission unit 22, the search result reception unit 23, and the display control unit 24. Here, examples of memory 63 include non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as RAM (RAM access memory), ROM (ROM read only memory), flash memory, EPROM (erasable programmable ROM), EEPROM (electrically EPROM), magnetic disk, flexible disk, optical disk, compact disk, mini disk, DVD (digital versatile disk), etc.

The functions of the menu specification acceptance unit 21, the menu information transmission unit 22, the search result reception unit 23, and the display control unit 24 may be partially realized by dedicated hardware and partially realized by software or firmware. For example, the functions of the menu specification acceptance unit 21 may be realized by a processing circuit as dedicated hardware, and the functions of the menu information transmission unit 22, the search result reception unit 23, and the display control unit 24 may be realized by the processing circuit reading and executing a program stored in the memory 63.

In this way, the processing circuitry can realize each of the above-mentioned functions through hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of these.

Next, a description will be given of an example of a hardware configuration of the server 3 according to embodiment 1. The example of the hardware configuration of the server 3 according to embodiment 1 is the same as that shown in FIG.
That is, the functions of the menu information acquisition unit 31, ingredient identification unit 32, search execution unit 33, search result output unit 34, and discard ingredient information acquisition unit 35 in the server 3 are realized by a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be dedicated hardware as shown in Fig. 9A, or may be a CPU (also called a Central Processing Unit, central processing unit, processing unit, arithmetic unit, microprocessor, microcomputer, processor, or DSP (Digital Signal Processor)) 62 that executes a program stored in a memory 63 as shown in Fig. 9B.

When the processing circuit is a dedicated hardware, the processing circuit 61 is, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a combination of these. The functions of each of the menu information acquisition unit 31, the ingredient identification unit 32, the search execution unit 33, the search result output unit 34, and the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35 may be realized individually by the processing circuit 61, or the functions of each unit may be realized collectively by the processing circuit 61.

When the processing circuit is a CPU 62, the functions of the menu information acquisition unit 31, ingredient identification unit 32, search execution unit 33, search result output unit 34, and waste ingredient information acquisition unit 35 are realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software and firmware are written as programs and stored in memory 63. The processing circuit realizes the functions of each unit by reading and executing the programs stored in memory 63. That is, the server 3 has a memory for storing a program that, when executed by the processing circuit, results in the execution of steps ST003, ST004, and ST007 to ST010 shown in FIG. 5. It can also be said that these programs cause a computer to execute the procedures and methods of the menu information acquisition unit 31, ingredient identification unit 32, search execution unit 33, search result output unit 34, and waste ingredient information acquisition unit 35. Here, examples of memory 63 include non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as RAM (RAM access memory), ROM (read only memory), flash memory, EPROM (erasable programmable ROM), EEPROM (electrically EPROM), magnetic disk, flexible disk, optical disk, compact disk, mini disk, DVD (digital versatile disk), etc.

The functions of the menu information acquisition unit 31, the ingredient identification unit 32, the search execution unit 33, the search result output unit 34, and the discard ingredient information acquisition unit 35 may be partially realized by dedicated hardware and partially realized by software or firmware. For example, the menu information acquisition unit 31 may be realized by a processing circuit as dedicated hardware, and the ingredient identification unit 32, the search execution unit 33, the search result output unit 34, and the discard ingredient information acquisition unit 35 may be realized by the processing circuit reading and executing a program stored in the memory 63.

In this way, the processing circuitry can realize each of the above-mentioned functions through hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of these.

Next, a description will be given of an example of a hardware configuration of the operator terminal 5 according to embodiment 1. The example of the hardware configuration of the operator terminal 5 according to embodiment 1 is the same as that shown in FIG.
That is, the functions of the waste food material information receiving unit 51, waste food material information transmitting unit 52, and display control unit 54 in the business operator terminal 5 are realized by a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be dedicated hardware as shown in Fig. 9A, or may be a CPU (also called a Central Processing Unit, a processing unit, an arithmetic unit, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, a processor, or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor)) 62 that executes a program stored in a memory 63 as shown in Fig. 9B.

When the processing circuit is a dedicated hardware, the processing circuit 61 is, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a combination of these. The functions of each of the waste food information receiving unit 51, the waste food information transmitting unit 52, and the display control unit 54 may be realized by the processing circuit 61 individually, or the functions of each unit may be realized collectively by the processing circuit 61.

When the processing circuit is a CPU 62, the functions of the waste food information receiving unit 51, waste food information transmitting unit 52 and display control unit 54 are realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software and firmware are written as programs and stored in memory 63. The processing circuit realizes the functions of each unit by reading and executing the programs stored in memory 63. In other words, the business terminal 5 has a memory for storing a program that, when executed by the processing circuit, results in the execution of steps ST001 to ST002 shown in Figure 5, for example. It can also be said that these programs cause a computer to execute the procedures and methods of the waste food information receiving unit 51, waste food information transmitting unit 52 and display control unit 54. Here, examples of memory 63 include non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as RAM (RAM access memory), ROM (read only memory), flash memory, EPROM (erasable programmable ROM), EEPROM (electrically EPROM), magnetic disk, flexible disk, optical disk, compact disk, mini disk, DVD (digital versatile disk), etc.

The functions of the waste food information receiving unit 51, the waste food information transmitting unit 52, and the display control unit 54 may be partially realized by dedicated hardware and partially realized by software or firmware. For example, the waste food information receiving unit 51 may be realized by a processing circuit as dedicated hardware, and the waste food information transmitting unit 52 and the display control unit 54 may be realized by the processing circuit reading and executing a program stored in the memory 63.

In this way, the processing circuitry can realize each of the above-mentioned functions through hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of these.

As described above, according to this embodiment 1, the ingredient information search system 1 includes a user terminal 2 and a server 3. The user terminal 2 includes a menu specification receiving unit 21 that receives a specification of an arbitrary menu from the user Y, and a notification unit that notifies the user Y of the search results by the server 3. The server 3 includes a menu information acquisition unit 31 that acquires information indicating the menu accepted by the menu specification receiving unit 21, an ingredient identification unit 32 that identifies cooking ingredients that are ingredients used to cook the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit 31, a discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35 that acquires information indicating discarded ingredients, and a search execution unit 33 that searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35. As a result, the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 1 makes it possible to search for discarded ingredients based on an arbitrary menu.

In particular, the ingredient information search system 1 according to the first embodiment allows user Y to search for discarded ingredients based on the menu that he or she wants to eat. In this case, it is assumed that user Y will be sufficiently motivated to purchase the discarded ingredients found as a result of the search, and will likely purchase the discarded ingredients. Therefore, the ingredient information search system 1 according to the first embodiment is expected to increase the likelihood that discarded ingredients will be purchased compared to conventional systems, resulting in a reduction in food waste.

The ingredient identification unit 32 identifies ingredients based on ingredient information that is recorded in advance in the ingredient information recording unit 36 and that associates a menu with ingredients used to prepare the menu. This allows the ingredient information search system 1 according to the first embodiment to identify ingredients with high accuracy.

The discarded food ingredient information also includes information indicating the processing state of the discarded food ingredients, whether unprocessed, semi-processed, or processed, and the search results by the search execution unit 33 include information indicating the processing state of the discarded food ingredients. As a result, in the food ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 1, user Y can understand the processing state of the discarded food ingredients.

The food ingredient information search system 1 also includes a display control unit 24 that generates a screen showing the search results output by the search result output unit 34 and causes the generated screen to be displayed on the display unit 26, and the display control unit 24 is capable of generating a screen in which the search results are sorted or narrowed down based on information showing the processing state of the discarded food ingredients. This improves the convenience of user Y in the food ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 1.

Embodiment 2.
In the first embodiment, a food ingredient information search system configured to be able to search for discarded food ingredients based on any menu has been described. In the second embodiment, a food ingredient information search system configured to be able to search for discarded food ingredients based on any nutrient in addition to any menu will be described.

Figure 10 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a user terminal 2 in a food ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 2. The user terminal 2 in embodiment 2 is obtained by adding a nutrient designation receiving unit 27 and a nutrient information transmitting unit 28 to the user terminal 2 in embodiment 1 shown in Figure 2. The other configuration of the user terminal 2 in embodiment 2 is the same as that of the user terminal 2 in embodiment 1 shown in Figure 2, so the same reference numerals are used and the description thereof is omitted.

The nutrient designation receiving unit 27 receives a designation of an arbitrary nutrient from the user Y via a predetermined search screen displayed on the display unit 26 such as a display. Specifically, the nutrient designation receiving unit 27 receives, for example, a designation of a nutrient that the user Y wants to take.

The nutrient information transmission unit 28 transmits information indicating the nutrients accepted by the nutrient designation acceptance unit 27 (hereinafter also simply referred to as "nutrient information") to the server 3 via the network NW.

Figure 11 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the server 3 in the ingredient information search system 1 according to the second embodiment. The server 3 in the second embodiment is obtained by adding a nutrient information acquisition unit 38 and a nutrient information recording unit 39 to the server 3 in the first embodiment shown in Figure 3. The other configuration of the server 3 in the second embodiment is the same as that of the server 3 in the first embodiment shown in Figure 3, so the same reference numerals are used and the description thereof is omitted.

The nutrient information acquisition unit 38 acquires the nutrient information transmitted by the nutrient information transmission unit 28 of the user terminal 2.

The nutrient information recording unit 39 records nutrient information. Nutrient information is information that associates any nutrient with ingredients that contain that nutrient. The nutrient information is created in advance by an administrator of the ingredient information search system 1, and is recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39. The administrator of the ingredient information search system 1 can create the nutrient information by referring to information in the "Food Component Ranking" in the "Food Component Database" that is widely available to the public by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

The food ingredient identification unit 32 identifies nutrient-containing food ingredients that contain the nutrients indicated by the nutrient information acquired by the nutrient information acquisition unit 38. For example, the food ingredient identification unit 32 identifies the nutrient-containing food ingredients based on the nutrient information previously recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39.

The search execution unit 33 searches for the nutrient-containing ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information previously recorded in the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37.

Next, an example of the operation of the ingredient information search system 1 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 12. Note that the example of the operation from steps ST021 to ST024 is the same as steps ST001 to ST004 in the example of the operation of the ingredient information search system 1 according to the first embodiment, so a repeated description will be omitted.

In step ST025, the nutrient designation receiving unit 27 of the user terminal 2 receives a designation of an arbitrary nutrient from the user Y via a predetermined search screen displayed on the display unit 26 such as a display (step ST025). For example, the nutrient designation receiving unit 27 receives a designation of the nutrient "vitamin A" as a nutrient that the user Y wants to take or a nutrient that the user Y is deficient in.

Next, the nutrient information transmission unit 28 of the user terminal 2 transmits information indicating the nutrients (nutrient information) accepted by the nutrient designation acceptance unit 27 to the server 3 via the network NW (step ST026). For example, the nutrient information transmission unit 28 transmits nutrient information indicating "vitamin A" to the server 3 via the network NW.

Next, the nutrient information acquisition unit 38 of the server 3 acquires the nutrient information transmitted by the nutrient information transmission unit 28 of the user terminal 2 (step ST027). For example, the nutrient information acquisition unit 38 acquires nutrient information indicating "vitamin A."

Next, the ingredient identification unit 32 of the server 3 identifies nutrient-containing ingredients that contain the nutrients indicated by the nutrient information acquired by the nutrient information acquisition unit 38 (step ST028). For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 performs this identification based on nutrient information previously recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39, which associates a given nutrient with an ingredient that contains that nutrient.

Here, an example of nutrient information recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39 is explained with reference to FIG. 13.

Figure 13 is a diagram showing an example of nutrient information recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39. Figure 13A is a diagram showing an example of the data items and data format constituting the nutrient information recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39, and Figure 13B is a diagram showing a specific example of the nutrient information.

As shown in FIG. 13A, the nutrient information includes data items such as the nutrient name and ingredient n (n=1, 2, 3, etc.).

The nutrient name is the name of the nutrient, and the data format is text format (shown as "NNN" in Figure 13A).

Ingredient n is the name of the ingredient (nutrient-containing ingredient) that contains the nutrient displayed in the nutrient name, and the data format is text format.

For example, as shown in FIG. 13B, the nutrient "vitamin A" is shown to be contained in food ingredients such as "pork," "chicken," "shiso," "carrot," and "molokheiya."

As shown in Figure 13B, the nutrient "vitamin C" is found in food ingredients such as "green peppers," "yuzu," "broccoli," "ginger," and "lemon."

Note that the nutrient information shown here is merely an example, and content other than the above may be recorded as nutrient information.

The ingredient identification unit 32 of the server 3 searches the nutrient information recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39 using the nutrient indicated in the nutrient information acquired by the nutrient information acquisition unit 38 as a search key, and identifies ingredients containing the nutrient.

For example, the food ingredient identification unit 32 searches for nutrient information recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39 using "vitamin A," a nutrient indicated by the nutrient information, as a search key, and identifies food ingredients such as "pork," "chicken," "shiso," "carrot," and "molokheiya" as food ingredients that contain "vitamin A" (nutrient-containing food ingredients).

Next, the search execution unit 33 of the server 3 searches for the nutrient-containing ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information recorded in the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37 (step ST029). The following operational example from step ST029 to step ST032 is the same as steps ST009 to ST012 in the operational example of the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 1, and therefore will not be described again.

Here, an example of a search result display screen generated by the display control unit 24 will be described with reference to FIG. 14. For example, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen as shown in FIG. 14A.

This search result display screen, like the search result display screen shown in FIG. 8A, is configured to include a menu name display area 801, a search result display area 802, a display condition specification area 803, and a menu specification area 804. In the second embodiment, the name of the nutrient specified by user Y is displayed in the menu name display area 801. In the second embodiment, user Y can input a nutrient specification in the menu specification area 804.

For example, in the example of FIG. 14A, the name of the nutrient specified by user Y, "Vitamin A," is displayed in the menu name display area 801. Also, the search result display area 802 displays the search results received by the search result receiving unit 23, i.e., information indicating discarded ingredients that contain Vitamin A. For example, in the above example, if the discarded ingredient information includes ingredients such as "pork," "chicken," "shiso," "carrot," and "molokheiya," images of these discarded ingredients are displayed.

In addition, in the display condition specification area 803, as in the first embodiment, user Y can specify either "sort" or "narrow" based on category as the display condition of the search results. For example, as shown in FIG. 14B, user Y specifies the display order "1" for "semi-processed", "2" for "unprocessed", and "3" for "processed" in the "sort" column. At this time, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen that groups the images of each ingredient by category, as shown in FIG. 14B, and displays the images of ingredients with "semi-processed" at the top, "unprocessed" next, and "processed" at the bottom. This allows user Y to grasp each ingredient by category and display the images of the desired category in an easy-to-view position, improving convenience.

Although not shown here, user Y can select the category he or she wishes to display in the "Filter" field. For example, when user Y checks the "Semi-processed" field in the "Filter" field, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen on which only images of "semi-processed" ingredients are displayed. This allows user Y to display only images of the desired category, improving convenience.

In the above description, the food ingredient identification unit 32 identifies food ingredients containing nutrients indicated by the nutrient information acquired by the nutrient information acquisition unit 38 based on the nutrient information previously recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39. However, the nutrient information recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39 does not necessarily define all food ingredients containing a certain nutrient. For example, it may not be widely known that a certain discarded food ingredient A contains a certain nutrient a, and only the business operator who discards the discarded food ingredient A as a discarded food ingredient knows that the discarded food ingredient A contains nutrient a. In that case, when the business operator transmits the discarded food ingredient information related to the discarded food ingredient A to the server 3, the business operator may also transmit information indicating that the discarded food ingredient A contains nutrient a. Then, when the server 3 receives the information, it is sufficient to reflect the information in the nutrient information recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39.

Also, in the above description, an example has been described in which the nutrient designation receiving unit 27 receives nutrient designations from user Y via a predetermined search screen displayed on the display unit 26 such as a display. However, the nutrient designation receiving unit 27 may receive nutrient designations in a manner other than the above. For example, the nutrient designation receiving unit 27 may be configured to be linked to a health care application that user Y uses daily, and may receive, from the application, designations of nutrients that user Y is particularly deficient in, which are calculated by the application.

The nutrient designation receiving unit 27 may also be configured to be capable of linking with dietary management software that user Y uses daily, and may receive from the software the designation of nutrients that user Y is particularly deficient in, calculated based on user Y's daily dietary data and behavioral data. In this way, by receiving the designation of nutrients from a specific application or software, user Y does not need to designate nutrients himself, improving convenience.

In the above description, an example has been described in which the ingredient identification unit 32 identifies nutrient-containing ingredients based on nutrient information previously recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39 when identifying nutrient-containing ingredients that contain nutrients indicated by the nutrient information acquired by the nutrient information acquisition unit 38. However, the ingredient identification unit 32 may identify nutrient-containing ingredients using a method other than the above.

For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 may identify ingredients that contain nutrients using a machine learning model that has been trained in advance by machine learning. In this case, this machine learning model may be a model that has been trained to output information indicating ingredients that contain a given nutrient in response to the input of information indicating the nutrient. In this case, the ingredient identification unit 32 may input the nutrient information acquired by the nutrient information acquisition unit 38 into the machine learning model, and identify ingredients that contain nutrients based on the information indicating ingredients output from the machine learning model.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the user terminal 2 includes a nutrient designation receiving unit 27 that receives the designation of an arbitrary nutrient from the user Y, the server 3 includes a nutrient information acquiring unit 38 that acquires information indicating the nutrient received by the nutrient designation receiving unit 27, the ingredient identification unit 32 identifies nutrient-containing ingredients that are ingredients containing the nutrient indicated by the information acquired by the nutrient information acquiring unit 38, and the search execution unit 33 searches for the nutrient-containing ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquiring unit 35. In this way, the ingredient information search system 1 according to the second embodiment has the effect of the first embodiment, and can search for discarded ingredients based on arbitrary nutrients (for example, nutrients that the user Y wants to take, or nutrients that the user Y is lacking).

The ingredient identification unit 32 identifies nutrient-containing ingredients based on nutrient information previously recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39, which associates a given nutrient with an ingredient that contains that nutrient. This allows the ingredient information search system 1 according to the second embodiment to accurately identify nutrient-containing ingredients.

Embodiment 3.
In the first embodiment, a food ingredient information search system configured to be able to search for discarded food ingredients based on any menu has been described. In the third embodiment, a food ingredient information search system configured to be able to search for discarded food ingredients based on the compatibility between any ingredients in addition to any menu will be described.

Fig. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a user terminal 2 in a food ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 3. The user terminal 2 in embodiment 3 is obtained by adding a pairing designation receiving unit 29 and a pairing designation information transmitting unit 30 to the user terminal 2 in embodiment 1 shown in Fig. 2. The other configuration of the user terminal 2 in embodiment 3 is the same as that of the user terminal 2 in embodiment 1 shown in Fig. 2, so the same reference numerals are used and the description thereof is omitted.

The pairing designation receiving unit 29 receives from the user Y a designation of an arbitrary ingredient and an instruction to search for ingredients that go well with the ingredient via a predetermined search screen displayed on the display unit 26 such as a display. Hereinafter, these designations and instructions are collectively referred to as "pairing designations."

The pairing designation information transmission unit 30 transmits information indicating the pairing designation accepted by the pairing designation acceptance unit 29 (hereinafter also referred to as "pairing designation information") to the server 3 via the network NW.

Figure 16 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the server 3 in the ingredient information search system 1 according to the third embodiment. The server 3 in the third embodiment is obtained by adding a pairing designation information acquisition unit 40 and a pairing information recording unit 41 to the server 3 in the first embodiment shown in Figure 3. The other configuration of the server 3 in the third embodiment is the same as that of the server 3 in the first embodiment shown in Figure 3, so the same reference numerals are used and the description thereof is omitted.

The pairing specification information acquisition unit 40 acquires the pairing specification information transmitted by the pairing specification information transmission unit 30 of the user terminal 2.

The pairing information recording unit 41 records pairing information. Pairing information is information that associates a given ingredient with an ingredient that goes well with that ingredient. Pairing information is created in advance by an administrator of the ingredient information search system 1, for example, based on "food pairing theory," and is recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41.

The food pairing theory is a branch of food science that has attracted worldwide attention, and it is a theory that posits that the compatibility of volatile compounds (flavors) contained in ingredients (or foods) is a major factor in determining deliciousness. Administrators of the ingredient information search system 1 can create pairing information by referring to the combinations of compatible ingredients (food pairings) proposed in the food pairing theory.

The ingredient identification unit 32 identifies compatible ingredients that are compatible with the ingredient indicated by the information acquired by the pairing specification information acquisition unit 40. For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 identifies compatible ingredients based on pairing information previously recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41. In this case, compatible ingredients refer to ingredients that are proposed in the above-mentioned food pairing theory to be compatible with the ingredient indicated by the information acquired by the pairing specification information acquisition unit 40.

The search execution unit 33 searches for the compatible ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information recorded by the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37.

Next, an example of the operation of the ingredient information search system 1 according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 17. Note that the example of the operation from steps ST041 to ST044 is the same as steps ST001 to ST004 in the example of the operation of the ingredient information search system 1 according to the first embodiment, so a repeated description will be omitted.

In step ST045, the pairing designation receiving unit 29 of the user terminal 2 receives a pairing designation from the user Y via a predetermined search screen displayed on the display unit 26 such as a display (step ST045). For example, the pairing designation receiving unit 29 receives from the user Y a designation of "red wine" as an arbitrary ingredient and an instruction to search for ingredients that go well with the "red wine."

Next, the pairing designation information transmission unit 30 of the user terminal 2 transmits information indicating the pairing designation accepted by the pairing designation acceptance unit 29 (pairing designation information) to the server 3 via the network NW (step ST046). For example, the pairing designation information transmission unit 30 transmits information indicating the designation of "red wine" as an arbitrary ingredient and an instruction to search for ingredients that go well with the "red wine" to the server 3 via the network NW.

Next, the pairing specification information acquisition unit 40 of the server 3 acquires the pairing specification information transmitted by the pairing specification information transmission unit 30 of the user terminal 2 (step ST047).

Next, the ingredient identification unit 32 of the server 3 identifies ingredients that go well with the ingredient indicated by the pairing designation information acquired by the pairing designation information acquisition unit 40 (step ST048). For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 performs this identification based on pairing information previously recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41, which associates an ingredient with an ingredient that goes well with the ingredient.

Here, an example of pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41 is described with reference to FIG. 18.

Fig. 18 is a diagram showing an example of pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41. Fig. 18A is a diagram showing an example of data items and data formats constituting the pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41, and Fig. 18B is a diagram showing a specific example of the pairing information.

As shown in FIG. 18A, the pairing information includes data items such as the ingredient name and ingredient n (n=1, 2, 3, etc.).

The ingredient name is the name of the ingredient, and the data format is text format (shown as "NNN" in Figure 18A).

Ingredient n is the name of an ingredient that goes well with the ingredient displayed in the ingredient name, and the data format is text format.

For example, as shown in FIG. 18B, the food ingredient "red wine" is shown to go well with food ingredients such as "cheese," "chocolate," "steak," "motsu stew," and "grilled fish."

As shown in FIG. 18B, the food ingredient "natto" is shown to go well with food ingredients such as "myoga," "soy sauce," "ginger," "green onion," and "white rice."

Note that the pairing information shown here is merely an example, and other information may be recorded as pairing information.

The ingredient identification unit 32 of the server 3 searches the pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41 using the ingredient indicated in the pairing designation information acquired by the pairing designation information acquisition unit 40 as a search key, and identifies ingredients that go well with the ingredient.

For example, the food ingredient identification unit 32 searches the pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41 using the food ingredient "red wine" indicated in the pairing designation information as a search key, and identifies food ingredients such as "cheese," "chocolate," "steak," "motsu stew," and "grilled fish" as ingredients that go well with "red wine."

Next, the search execution unit 33 of the server 3 searches for the compatible ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information previously recorded in the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37 (step ST049). The following operational example from step ST049 to step ST052 is the same as steps ST009 to ST012 in the operational example of the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 1, so a repeated explanation will be omitted.

Here, an example of a search result display screen generated by the display control unit 24 will be described with reference to FIG. 19. For example, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen as shown in FIG. 19A.

This search result display screen, like the search result display screen shown in FIG. 8A, is configured to include a menu name display area 801, a search result display area 802, a display condition specification area 803, and a menu specification area 804. In the third embodiment, the names of ingredients specified by user Y as pairing specification information are displayed in the menu name display area 801. In the third embodiment, user Y can input, in the menu specification area 804, the specification of the ingredients for which he/she wishes to search by pairing.

For example, in the example of FIG. 19A, the name of the ingredient specified by user Y as pairing specification information, "red wine," is displayed in the menu name display area 801.

In addition, the search result display area 802 displays the search results received by the search result receiving unit 23. For example, in the above example, if the discarded food information includes ingredients such as "cheese," "chocolate," "steak," "motsu stew," and "grilled fish," images of these discarded ingredients are displayed in the search result display area 802. In addition, as shown in FIG. 19A, text information such as "food pairing," which means ingredients that go well with "red wine," may be added to these images.

In addition, in the display condition specification area 803, as in the first embodiment, user Y can specify either "sort" or "narrow" based on category as the display condition of the search results. For example, as shown in FIG. 19B, user Y specifies the display order "1" for "semi-processed", "2" for "unprocessed", and "3" for "processed" in the "sort" column. At this time, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen that groups the images of each ingredient by category, as shown in FIG. 19B, and displays the images of ingredients with "semi-processed" at the top, "unprocessed" next, and "processed" at the bottom. This allows user Y to grasp each ingredient by category and display the images of the desired category in an easy-to-view position, improving convenience.

Although not shown here, user Y can select the category he or she wishes to display in the "Filter" field. For example, when user Y checks the "Semi-processed" field in the "Filter" field, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen on which only images of "semi-processed" ingredients are displayed. This allows user Y to display only images of the desired category, improving convenience.

In the above description, an example was described in which user Y specified an arbitrary ingredient (e.g., red wine) as the pairing specification information, but user Y may specify, without specifying a specific ingredient, that the pairing specification information is to search for discarded ingredients that go well together among the discarded ingredients included in the discarded ingredient information.

In this case, the pairing designation receiving unit 29 of the user terminal 2 receives, as a pairing designation, an instruction from the user Y to search for a combination of discarded ingredients that are compatible with each other, which is indicated by the discarded ingredient information recorded in the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37. In addition, the pairing designation information transmitting unit 30 of the user terminal 2 transmits information indicating the pairing designation to the server 3.

The pairing specification information acquisition unit 40 of the server 3 acquires information indicating the above search instruction sent from the pairing specification information transmission unit 30 of the user terminal 2.

Then, the search execution unit 33 of the server 3 compares the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information recorded in the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37 with the ingredients included in the pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41, and confirms whether the combination of discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information is included in the combination of ingredients associated in the pairing information as compatible ingredients. Then, if the search execution unit 33 confirms that the former is included in the latter, it searches for that combination of discarded ingredients from the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information. This allows user Y to search for combinations of discarded ingredients that are compatible with each other. User Y can also discover combinations of ingredients that he or she would not normally use as combinations of discarded ingredients.

In the above description, the ingredient identification unit 32 identifies compatible ingredients based on pairing information previously recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41 when identifying compatible ingredients that are compatible with the ingredient indicated by the information acquired by the pairing designation information acquisition unit 40. However, the ingredient identification unit 32 may identify compatible ingredients using a method other than the above.

For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 may identify compatible ingredients using a machine learning model that has been trained in advance by machine learning. In this case, this machine learning model may be a model that has been trained based on food pairing theory and that has been trained to output information indicating ingredients that go well with an ingredient in response to input of information indicating the ingredient. In this case, the ingredient identification unit 32 inputs information indicating ingredients acquired by the pairing specification information acquisition unit 40 into the machine learning model, and identifies compatible ingredients based on the information indicating ingredients output from the machine learning model.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, the user terminal 2 includes a pairing specification receiving unit 29 that receives information indicating an arbitrary ingredient and an instruction to search for ingredients that go well with the ingredient from the user Y, the server 3 includes a pairing specification information acquiring unit 40 that acquires the information indicating an arbitrary ingredient and the instruction to search for ingredients that go well with the ingredient received by the pairing specification receiving unit 29, the ingredient identification unit 32 identifies compatible ingredients that go well with the ingredient indicated by the information acquired by the pairing specification information acquiring unit 40, and the search execution unit 33 searches for the compatible ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquiring unit 35. In this way, the ingredient information search system 1 according to the third embodiment has the same effect as the first embodiment, and in addition, the user Y can search among discarded ingredients for ingredients that go well with the food specified by the user.

The ingredient identification unit 32 identifies compatible ingredients based on pairing information previously recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41, which associates an ingredient with an ingredient that goes well with the ingredient. This allows the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 3 to accurately identify compatible ingredients.

Furthermore, the pairing designation receiving unit 29 receives a search instruction from user Y for a combination of discarded ingredients that go well together, and the search execution unit 33 searches for a combination of discarded ingredients that go well together from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35 in response to the search instruction received by the pairing designation receiving unit 29. In this way, in the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 3, user Y can search for a combination of discarded ingredients that go well together. Furthermore, user Y can discover a combination of ingredients that he or she would not normally use as a combination of discarded ingredients.

The search execution unit 33 also compares the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35 with the ingredients included in the pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41, and if the combination of discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35 is included in the combination of ingredients associated in the pairing information recording unit 41 as compatible ingredients, the search execution unit 33 searches for the combination of discarded ingredients as a compatible combination of discarded ingredients. This allows the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 3 to accurately search for compatible combinations of discarded ingredients.

The pairing information is generated based on food pairing theory. This allows the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 3 to maintain the reliability of search results.

Embodiment 4.
In the first embodiment, an ingredient information search system configured to be able to search for discarded ingredients based on an arbitrary menu has been described. In the fourth embodiment, an ingredient information search system configured to be able to search for discarded ingredients based on an arbitrary menu, as well as to identify a menu that can be cooked from ingredients that user Y has already purchased (owned), will be described.

Figure 20 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a user terminal 2 in an ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 4. The user terminal 2 in embodiment 4 is obtained by adding an ingredient stock information acquisition unit 71 and an ingredient stock information transmission unit 72 to the user terminal 2 in embodiment 1 shown in Figure 2. The other components of the user terminal 2 in embodiment 4 are the same as those of the user terminal 2 in embodiment 1 shown in Figure 2, so the same reference numerals are used and the description thereof is omitted.

The inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 acquires information indicating inventory ingredients, which are ingredients held in stock by user Y (hereinafter, also referred to simply as "inventory ingredient information").

There are various possible methods for the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 to acquire inventory ingredient information. For example, the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 may acquire inventory ingredient information entered by user Y via a specified inventory ingredient input screen displayed on the display unit 26 of the user terminal 2.

The inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 may also be configured to be able to communicate with, for example, a camera installed in a refrigerator in user Y's home. In this case, the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 may acquire, for example, an image of the inside of the refrigerator captured by the camera from the camera, and perform a predetermined image analysis on the acquired image to identify ingredients (inventory ingredients) inside the refrigerator and acquire information indicating the identified inventory ingredients.

The inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 may also be configured to be able to communicate with a device capable of reading receipts for ingredients purchased by user Y, for example. In this case, the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 may identify ingredients (inventory ingredients) inside the refrigerator by, for example, performing a predetermined image analysis on an image of the receipt read by the device, and acquire information indicating the identified inventory ingredients.

The stock ingredient information acquisition unit 71 may be configured to be able to communicate with a server installed in a store where user Y purchased ingredients, for example. In this case, the stock ingredient information acquisition unit 71 may acquire information on ingredients purchased by user Y from the server, generate stock ingredient information based on the acquired information, and acquire the generated information.

The inventory ingredient information transmission unit 72 transmits the inventory ingredient information acquired by the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 to the server 3 via the network NW.

Figure 21 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the server 3 in the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 4. The server 3 in embodiment 4 is obtained by adding an ingredient stock information acquisition unit 42 and a menu specification unit 43 to the server 3 in embodiment 1 shown in Figure 3. The other configuration of the server 3 in embodiment 4 is the same as that of the server 3 in embodiment 1 shown in Figure 3, so the same reference numerals are used and the description thereof is omitted.

The inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 42 acquires the inventory ingredient information transmitted by the inventory ingredient information transmission unit 72 of the user terminal 2.

The menu identification unit 43 identifies a menu that can be cooked from the ingredients in stock indicated by the information acquired by the ingredient information acquisition unit 42. For example, the menu identification unit 43 performs this identification based on the ingredient information recorded in the ingredient information recording unit 36.

The ingredient identification unit 32 identifies missing ingredients, which are ingredients that are not included in the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the stock ingredient information acquisition unit 42, among the ingredients used to prepare the menu identified by the menu identification unit 43. For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 performs this identification based on the cooking ingredient information recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36.

The search execution unit 33 searches for the missing ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information recorded by the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37.

Next, an example of the operation of the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 4 will be described with reference to FIG. 22. Note that the example of the operation from steps ST061 to ST064 is the same as steps ST001 to ST004 in the example of the operation of the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 1, so a repeated description will be omitted.

In step ST065, the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 of the user terminal 2 acquires inventory ingredient information, for example, in response to an instruction from user Y (step ST065). For example, the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 acquires "pork" and "onion" as inventory ingredient information. In other words, user Y has already purchased "pork" and "onion" at this point.

Next, the inventory ingredient information transmission unit 72 of the user terminal 2 transmits the inventory ingredient information acquired by the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 to the server 3 via the network NW (step ST066). For example, the inventory ingredient information transmission unit 72 transmits information indicating "pork" and "onion" as inventory ingredient information to the server 3 via the network NW.

Next, the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 42 of the server 3 acquires the inventory ingredient information transmitted by the inventory ingredient information transmission unit 72 of the user terminal 2 (step ST067). For example, the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 42 acquires information indicating "pork" and "onion" as inventory ingredient information.

Next, the menu identification unit 43 of the server 3 identifies a menu that can be cooked from the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the stock ingredient information acquisition unit 42, based on the cooking ingredient information recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36 (step ST068). For example, the menu identification unit 43 searches for a menu in which the ingredients acquired as the stock ingredient information are included in the cooking ingredient information recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36.

For example, in the above example, the "pork" and "onion" acquired as the stock ingredient information are included in the menu item "curry" included in the cooking ingredient information. Therefore, the menu item identification unit 43 identifies "curry" as a menu item that can be cooked from the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the stock ingredient information acquisition unit 42.

Next, the ingredient identification unit 32 of the server 3 identifies ingredients that are not present in the inventory ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 42, among the ingredients used to prepare the menu identified by the menu identification unit 43, based on the cooking ingredient information recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36 (step ST069).

For example, in the above example, the ingredient identification unit 32 determines that, of the ingredients "carrots," "potatoes," "onions," "pork," and "curry roux" used to prepare the menu identified by the menu identification unit 43, "carrots," "potatoes," and "curry roux" do not exist in the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the stock ingredient information acquisition unit 42. Therefore, the ingredient identification unit 32 determines that, of the ingredients used to prepare the menu identified by the menu identification unit 43, "carrots," "potatoes," and "curry roux" do not exist in the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the stock ingredient information acquisition unit 42.

Next, the search execution unit 33 of the server 3 searches for the ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the discarded ingredient information previously recorded in the discarded ingredient information recording unit 37 (step ST070). Hereinafter, the operation example from step ST070 to step ST073 is the same as steps ST009 to ST012 in the operation example of the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 1, so a repeated explanation will be omitted.

Here, an example of a search result display screen generated by the display control unit 24 will be described with reference to FIG. 23. For example, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen as shown in FIG. 23A.

In addition, like the search result display screen shown in FIG. 8A, this search result display screen is configured to include a menu name display area 801, a search result display area 802, a display condition specification area 803, and a menu specification area 804.

In the fourth embodiment, the message "Match with ingredients in stock" is displayed in the menu name display area 801. In the fourth embodiment, user Y can input in the menu designation area 804 that he or she would like to identify a menu that can be prepared from ingredients in stock and search for discarded ingredients that can be used to prepare the menu.

For example, in the example of FIG. 23A, the message "Match with ingredients in stock" is displayed in the menu name display area 801.

In addition, the search result display area 802 displays the search results received by the search result receiving unit 23. For example, in the above example, if the discarded food ingredient information includes ingredients such as "carrots," "potatoes," and "curry roux," images of "carrots," "potatoes," and "curry roux" are displayed as ingredients that can be used to cook "curry" but are not included in the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the stock ingredient information acquiring unit 42. At this time, the search result display area 802 may also display a message indicating that the menu item identified as a cookable menu item is "curry."

In addition, in the display condition specification area 803, as in the first embodiment, user Y can specify either "sort" or "narrow" based on category as the display condition of the search results. For example, as shown in FIG. 23B, user Y specifies the display order "1" for "semi-processed", "2" for "unprocessed", and "3" for "processed" in the "sort" column. At this time, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen that groups the images of each ingredient by category, as shown in FIG. 23B, and displays the images of ingredients with "semi-processed" at the top, "unprocessed" next, and "processed" at the bottom. This allows user Y to grasp each ingredient by category and display the images of the desired category in an easy-to-view position, improving convenience.

Although not shown here, user Y can select the category he or she wishes to display in the "Filter" field. For example, when user Y checks the "Semi-processed" field in the "Filter" field, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen on which only images of "semi-processed" ingredients are displayed. This allows user Y to display only images of the desired category, improving convenience.

In the above description, an example has been described in which the menu identification unit 43, when identifying a menu that can be cooked from the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the stock ingredient information acquisition unit 42, identifies the menu that can be cooked based on the cooking ingredient information previously recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36. However, the menu identification unit 43 may identify the menu that can be cooked using a method other than the above.

For example, the menu identification unit 43 may identify cookable menu items using a machine learning model that has been trained in advance by machine learning. In this case, this machine learning model may be a model that has been trained to output information indicating a menu item that can be cooked from an ingredient in response to input of information indicating an ingredient. In this case, the menu identification unit 43 inputs information indicating the ingredients in stock acquired by the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 42 into the machine learning model, and identifies the cookable menu item based on the information indicating the menu item output from the machine learning model.

In the above description, an example was described in which the ingredient identification unit 32 identifies missing ingredients, which are ingredients used to cook the menu identified by the menu identification unit 43 but are not included in the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the stock ingredient information acquisition unit 42, based on cooking ingredient information previously recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36. However, the ingredient identification unit 32 may identify a cookable menu using a method other than the above.

For example, the ingredient identification unit 32 may identify the missing ingredients using a machine learning model that has been trained in advance by machine learning. In this case, this machine learning model may be a model that has been trained to output information indicating the ingredients used to prepare an arbitrary menu item in response to the input of information indicating the menu item. In this case, the ingredient identification unit 32 inputs information indicating the menu item identified by the menu identification unit 43 into the machine learning model, and identifies the missing ingredients by subtracting the ingredients in stock from the ingredients indicated by the information output from the machine learning model.

As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, the user terminal 2 includes an inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71 that acquires information on inventory ingredients already owned by the user Y, the server 3 includes an inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 42 that acquires information on inventory ingredients acquired by the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 71, and a menu identification unit 43 that identifies a menu that can be cooked from the inventory ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 42. The ingredient identification unit 32 identifies missing ingredients that are not included in the inventory ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the inventory ingredient information acquisition unit 42 among the ingredients used to cook the menu identified by the menu identification unit 43, and the search execution unit 33 searches for the missing ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit 32 from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit 35. In this way, the ingredient information search system 1 according to the fourth embodiment has the effect of identifying a menu that can be cooked from ingredients already owned by the user Y, and searching for ingredients that are used to cook the menu but are in short supply to the user Y from among the discarded ingredients.

The menu identification unit 43 identifies a menu that can be cooked based on cooking ingredient information previously recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36, which associates a menu with ingredients used to cook the menu, and the ingredient identification unit 32 identifies ingredients that are lacking based on the cooking ingredient information recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36. As a result, the ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 4 can accurately identify the above-mentioned cookable menu and ingredients that are lacking.

Embodiment 5.
In the first embodiment, a food ingredient information search system configured to be able to search for discarded food ingredients based on an arbitrary menu has been described. In the fifth embodiment, a food ingredient information search system configured to be able to simultaneously perform a search based on an arbitrary menu as described in the first embodiment and a search based on pairing information as described in the third embodiment will be described.

In the fifth embodiment, when user Y selects an arbitrary menu, this menu is directly designated as pairing information. Then, the search execution unit 33 of the server 3 simultaneously executes a search for discarded ingredients based on the arbitrary menu as described in the first embodiment, and a search for discarded ingredients based on the pairing information as described in the third embodiment.

In this case, an example of a search result display screen generated by the display control unit 24 will be described with reference to FIG. 24.

For example, the display control unit 24 generates a search result display screen as shown in FIG. 24. This search result display screen is configured by combining the search result display screen in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 8A and the search result display screen in the third embodiment shown in FIG. 19A.

In other words, in the example of FIG. 24, "Miso Soup", which is the name of the menu item specified by user Y, is displayed in the menu item name display area 801. Furthermore, the search result display area 802 displays the search results received by the search result receiving unit 23. At this time, in addition to images of discarded ingredients used to prepare "Miso Soup", images of discarded ingredients that go well with "Miso Soup" are also displayed in the search result display area 802. Note that the latter images may be supplemented with text information such as "food pairing", which means ingredients that go well with "Miso Soup", as shown in FIG. 24.

In addition, in the display condition specification area 803, user Y can specify either "sorting" or "narrowing" based on food pairings as a display condition for search results, in addition to category.

In the example of FIG. 24, the search result display screen also includes a history display area 2401. This history display area 2401 displays, for example, images of discarded food ingredients purchased by user Y within a specified period of time in the past (e.g., within the past week), or images of discarded food ingredients eaten by user Y within a specified period of time in the past.

To further explain the configuration of the user terminal 2 in this case, the user terminal 2 is equipped with a recording control unit (not shown) that records in the recording unit 25 of the user terminal 2 a purchase history indicating the history of discarded food ingredients that user Y purchased based on the search results displayed on the search result display screen, or a meal history indicating the history of when user Y ate the discarded food ingredients that he or she purchased.

Then, the display control unit 24 identifies the waste ingredients purchased by user Y within a specified period of time in the past, or the waste ingredients eaten by user Y within a specified period of time in the past, based on the purchase history or meal history recorded in the recording unit 25, and generates a search result display screen in which information indicating the identified waste ingredients is displayed together with the search results. At this time, the information (e.g., images) indicating the waste ingredients purchased by user Y within a specified period of time in the past, or the information (e.g., images) indicating the waste ingredients eaten by user Y within a specified period of time in the past, is displayed in the history display area 2401. This allows user Y to easily check the waste ingredients that he or she has purchased or eaten within a specified period of time in the past. User Y can also use this as a reference when deciding whether or not to purchase the waste ingredients displayed as search results.

The display control unit 24 may generate a search result display screen in which the larger the information (e.g., an image) showing a discarded food ingredient is displayed, the more frequently the discarded food ingredient is purchased or eaten by user Y within the specified period. This allows user Y to easily grasp which discarded food ingredients he or she has purchased or eaten frequently.

As described above, according to this embodiment 5, the user terminal 2 includes a recording control unit that records in the recording unit 25 a purchase history indicating a history of discarded ingredients purchased by user Y based on the search results displayed on the search result display screen, or a meal history indicating a history of eating the discarded ingredients purchased by user Y, and the display control unit 24 identifies discarded ingredients purchased by user Y within a specified period of time in the past or discarded ingredients eaten by user Y based on the purchase history or meal history recorded in the recording unit 25, and generates a search result display screen in which information indicating the identified discarded ingredients is displayed together with the search results by the search execution unit 33. As a result, in the food ingredient information search system 1 according to embodiment 5, in addition to the effects of embodiment 1, user Y can easily check discarded ingredients that he or she has purchased or eaten within a specified period of time in the past. Furthermore, user Y can use this as a reference when deciding whether or not to purchase discarded ingredients displayed as search results.

The display control unit 24 also generates a search result display screen in which the larger the information about a discarded food ingredient is displayed, the more frequently the discarded food ingredient has been purchased or eaten by user Y within the specified period. This allows user Y to easily understand which discarded food ingredients have been purchased or eaten frequently.

Although the preferred embodiments have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions can be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the claims.

For example, the cooking ingredient information recorded in the cooking ingredient information recording unit 36, the nutrient information recorded in the nutrient information recording unit 39, and the pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit 41 may all be updated at any time by an administrator of the ingredient information search system 1, etc.

Moreover, the above-mentioned first to fifth embodiments can be combined selectively as appropriate. For example, the above-mentioned first to third embodiments can be combined to configure an ingredient information search system that can simultaneously perform searches for discarded ingredients based on any menu, searches for discarded ingredients based on any nutrients, and searches for discarded ingredients based on pairing information. Furthermore, the above-mentioned configuration can be combined with the above-mentioned fourth embodiment to configure an ingredient information search system that, in addition to the above searches, can identify menus that can be cooked from ingredients that user Y has already purchased (owned), and search for discarded ingredients based on the identified menus.

Various aspects of this disclosure are summarized below as appendices.

(Appendix 1)
A food ingredient information search system including a user terminal and a server,
The user terminal,
a menu designation receiving unit that receives designation of an arbitrary menu from a user;
a notification unit that notifies the user of a search result by the server,
The server,
a menu information acquiring unit that acquires information indicating the menu accepted by the menu designation accepting unit;
an ingredient specification unit that specifies ingredients to be used for cooking the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit;
A waste food material information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating waste food materials;
a search execution unit that searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit;
A food information search system equipped with
(Appendix 2)
The food ingredient identification unit is
The ingredient information search system according to claim 1, characterized in that the ingredient is identified based on ingredient information recorded in advance in a cooking ingredient information recording unit, the ingredient information associating an arbitrary menu with ingredients used to cook the menu.
(Appendix 3)
The user terminal,
A nutrient designation receiving unit is provided for receiving designation of any nutrient from a user,
The server,
a nutrient information acquiring unit that acquires information indicating the nutrients accepted by the nutrient designation accepting unit,
The ingredient identification unit identifies a nutrient-containing ingredient that is an ingredient that contains the nutrient indicated by the information acquired by the nutrient information acquisition unit,
The food ingredient information retrieval system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the search execution unit searches for the nutrient-containing food ingredients identified by the food ingredient identification unit from among the discarded food ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit.
(Appendix 4)
The food ingredient identification unit is
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 3, further comprising: a food ingredient information storage section that stores information on a food ingredient that contains a nutrient and stores the nutrient information in a storage section;
(Appendix 5)
The user terminal,
a pairing specification receiving unit that receives information indicating an arbitrary ingredient and an instruction to search for ingredients that go well with the ingredient from a user;
The server,
A pairing designation information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating an arbitrary ingredient accepted by the pairing designation acceptance unit and information indicating a search instruction for ingredients that go well with the arbitrary ingredient,
The food ingredient identification unit is
Identifying ingredients that are compatible with the ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the pairing designation information acquisition unit;
The food ingredient information retrieval system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the search execution unit searches for the compatible ingredients identified by the food ingredient identification unit from among the discarded food ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit.
(Appendix 6)
The food ingredient identification unit is
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 5, further comprising: a pairing information storage unit that stores in advance pairing information that associates an ingredient with an ingredient that goes well with the ingredient, and the ingredient information search unit stores the pairing information that associates an ingredient with an ingredient that goes well with the ingredient.
(Appendix 7)
The pairing designation receiving unit
receiving an instruction from a user to search for a combination of the discarded ingredients that are compatible with each other;
The search execution unit,
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 6, further comprising: a search unit that searches for a combination of compatible discarded food ingredients from among the discarded food ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit in response to the search instruction received by the pairing designation receiving unit.
(Appendix 8)
The search execution unit,
comparing the discarded food ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit with food ingredients included in the pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit;
the food ingredient information search system according to claim 7, wherein when a combination of discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit is included in a combination of ingredients associated in the pairing information as being compatible with each other, the combination of discarded ingredients is searched for as a combination of discarded ingredients that are compatible with each other.
(Appendix 9)
The pairing information includes
The food ingredient information search system according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that it is generated based on food pairing theory.
(Appendix 10)
The user terminal,
A first stock ingredient information acquisition unit that acquires information on stock ingredients already held by a user,
The server,
a second inventory information acquisition unit that acquires the information on inventory ingredients acquired by the first inventory information acquisition unit;
a menu specification unit that specifies a menu that can be cooked from the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the second stock ingredient information acquisition unit,
The food ingredient identification unit is
Identifying missing ingredients, which are ingredients not included in the inventory ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the second inventory ingredient information acquisition unit, among ingredients used to prepare the menu identified by the menu identification unit;
The search execution unit,
The food ingredient information retrieval system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising: searching for the missing food ingredients identified by the food ingredient identification unit from among the discarded food ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit.
(Appendix 11)
The menu specification unit is
Identifying the menu that can be cooked based on cooking ingredient information that is recorded in advance in a cooking ingredient information recording unit, the cooking ingredient information associating an arbitrary menu with ingredients used to cook the menu, and
The food ingredient identification unit is
The ingredient information retrieval system according to claim 10, further comprising: identifying the missing ingredient based on the ingredient information recorded in the ingredient information recording unit.
(Appendix 12)
The information indicating the waste food materials includes information indicating a processing state of the waste food materials, the information indicating whether the waste food materials are unprocessed, semi-processed, or processed,
The food ingredient information search system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the search results by the search execution unit include information indicating the processing state of the discarded food ingredients.
(Appendix 13)
The user terminal,
a display control unit that generates a screen showing a search result by the search execution unit and displays the generated screen on a display unit;
The display control unit is
The food material information search system according to claim 12, further comprising: a screen that can generate a screen in which the search results are sorted or narrowed down based on the information indicating the processing state of the discarded food materials.
(Appendix 14)
The user terminal,
a record control unit that records in a record unit a purchase history indicating a history of discarded food ingredients purchased by a user based on the search result displayed on the screen, or a meal history indicating a history of eating the discarded food ingredients purchased by the user,
The display control unit is
Identifying discarded food ingredients purchased by the user or discarded food ingredients eaten by the user within a predetermined period of time in the past based on the purchase history or meal history recorded in the recording unit;
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 13, further comprising: generating the screen on which information indicating the identified discarded food ingredients is displayed together with the search results by the search execution unit.
(Appendix 15)
The display control unit is
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 14, wherein the screen is generated so that the larger the information about a discarded food ingredient is, the more frequently the discarded food ingredient has been purchased or eaten by the user within the specified period.
(Appendix 16)
a menu information acquisition unit for acquiring information indicating an arbitrary menu;
an ingredient specification unit that specifies ingredients to be used for cooking the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit;
A waste food material information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating waste food materials;
a search execution unit that searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit;
A food ingredient information search device comprising:
(Appendix 17)
A method for searching ingredient information by an ingredient information search system including a user terminal and a server,
A menu designation receiving unit of the user terminal receiving a designation of an arbitrary menu from a user;
A menu information acquisition unit of the server acquires information indicating the menu accepted by the menu designation acceptance unit;
A step in which an ingredient specification unit of the server specifies ingredients to be used for cooking the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit;
A step in which a discarded food material information acquisition unit of the server acquires information indicating discarded food materials;
A search execution unit of the server searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit;
a notification unit of the user terminal notifying the user of a search result by the server;
The food ingredient information search method has the following features.

This disclosure makes it possible to search for discarded ingredients based on any menu, making it suitable for use in an ingredient information search system.

1 Food ingredient information search system, 2 User terminal, 3 Server, 5 Business operator terminal, 21 Menu designation reception unit, 22 Menu information transmission unit, 23 Search result reception unit, 24 Display control unit, 25 Recording unit, 26 Display unit, 27 Nutrient designation reception unit, 28 Nutrient information transmission unit, 29 Pairing designation reception unit, 30 Pairing designation information transmission unit, 31 Menu information acquisition unit, 32 Food ingredient identification unit, 33 Search execution unit, 34 Search result output unit, 35 Discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit, 36 Cooking food ingredient information recording unit, 37 Discarded food ingredient information recording unit, 38 Nutrient information acquisition unit, 39 Nutrient information recording unit, 40 Pairing designation information acquisition unit, 41 Pairing information recording unit, 42 Stocked food ingredient information acquisition unit (second stocked food ingredient information acquisition unit), 43 Menu identification unit, 51 Discarded food ingredient information reception unit, 52 Discarded food ingredient information transmission unit, 53 Recording unit, 54 Display control unit, 55 Display unit, 61 Processing circuit, 62 CPU, 63 memory, 71 Stock ingredient information acquisition unit (first stock ingredient information acquisition unit), 72 Stock ingredient information transmission unit, 801 Menu name display area, 802 Search result display area, 803 Display condition specification area, 804 Menu specification area, 2401 History display area, NW Network, Y User.

The food ingredient information search system according to the present disclosure is an ingredient information search system including a user terminal and a server, the user terminal including a menu designation receiving unit that receives designation of an arbitrary menu from a user and a notification unit that notifies the user of a search result by the server, the server including a menu information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating the menu accepted by the menu designation receiving unit, an ingredient identification unit that identifies cooking ingredients that are ingredients used to cook the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit, a waste ingredient information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating waste ingredients, and a search execution unit that searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the waste ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the waste ingredient information acquisition unit. The user terminal includes a nutrient designation receiving unit that receives designation of an arbitrary nutrient from the user, the server includes a nutrient information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating the nutrient accepted by the nutrient designation receiving unit, the ingredient identification unit identifies nutrient-containing ingredients that are ingredients containing the nutrient indicated by the information acquired by the nutrient information acquisition unit, and the search execution unit searches for the nutrient-containing ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the waste ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the waste ingredient information acquisition unit .

Claims (17)

A food ingredient information search system including a user terminal and a server,
The user terminal,
a menu designation receiving unit that receives designation of an arbitrary menu from a user;
a notification unit that notifies the user of a search result by the server,
The server,
a menu information acquiring unit that acquires information indicating the menu accepted by the menu designation accepting unit;
an ingredient specification unit that specifies ingredients to be used for cooking the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit;
A waste food material information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating waste food materials;
a search execution unit that searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit;
A food information search system equipped with The food ingredient identification unit is
The ingredient information search system according to claim 1, characterized in that the cooking ingredients are identified based on cooking ingredient information previously recorded in a cooking ingredient information recording unit, the cooking ingredient information associating an arbitrary menu with ingredients used to cook the menu. The user terminal,
A nutrient designation receiving unit is provided for receiving designation of any nutrient from a user,
The server,
a nutrient information acquiring unit that acquires information indicating the nutrients accepted by the nutrient designation accepting unit,
The ingredient identification unit identifies a nutrient-containing ingredient that is an ingredient that contains the nutrient indicated by the information acquired by the nutrient information acquisition unit,
3. The food ingredient information search system according to claim 1, wherein the search execution unit searches for the nutrient-containing food ingredients identified by the food ingredient identification unit from among the discarded food ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit. The food ingredient identification unit is
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 3, characterized in that the food ingredients containing a nutrient are identified based on nutrient information previously recorded in a nutrient information recording unit, the nutrient information associating a given nutrient with a food ingredient containing the given nutrient. The user terminal,
a pairing specification receiving unit that receives information indicating an arbitrary ingredient and an instruction to search for ingredients that go well with the ingredient from a user;
The server,
A pairing designation information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating an arbitrary ingredient accepted by the pairing designation acceptance unit and information indicating a search instruction for ingredients that go well with the arbitrary ingredient,
The food ingredient identification unit is
Identifying ingredients that are compatible with the ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the pairing designation information acquisition unit;
3. The ingredient information search system according to claim 1, wherein the search execution unit searches for the compatible ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit. The food ingredient identification unit is
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 5, characterized in that the food ingredients that go well together are identified based on pairing information that is recorded in advance in a pairing information recording unit, the pairing information associating an ingredient with an ingredient that goes well with the ingredient. The pairing designation receiving unit
receiving an instruction from a user to search for a combination of the discarded ingredients that are compatible with each other;
The search execution unit,
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 6, characterized in that, in response to the search instruction received by the pairing designation receiving unit, a search is performed for a combination of discarded food ingredients that are compatible with each other from among the discarded food ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded food ingredient information acquiring unit. The search execution unit,
comparing the discarded food ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded food ingredient information acquisition unit with food ingredients included in the pairing information recorded in the pairing information recording unit;
The ingredient information search system according to claim 7, characterized in that when a combination of discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit is included in a combination of ingredients associated in the pairing information as being compatible with each other, the combination of discarded ingredients is searched for as a combination of discarded ingredients that are compatible with each other. The pairing information includes
9. The food ingredient information retrieval system according to claim 6, wherein the food ingredient information retrieval system is generated based on food pairing theory. The user terminal,
A first stock ingredient information acquisition unit that acquires information on stock ingredients already held by a user,
The server,
a second inventory information acquisition unit that acquires the information on inventory ingredients acquired by the first inventory information acquisition unit;
a menu specification unit that specifies a menu that can be cooked from the stock ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the second stock ingredient information acquisition unit,
The food ingredient identification unit is
Identifying missing ingredients, which are ingredients not included in the inventory ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the second inventory ingredient information acquisition unit, among ingredients used to prepare the menu identified by the menu identification unit;
The search execution unit,
3. The ingredient information search system according to claim 1, wherein the missing ingredient identified by the ingredient identification unit is searched for among discarded ingredient indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit. The menu specification unit is
Identifying the menu that can be cooked based on cooking ingredient information that is recorded in advance in a cooking ingredient information recording unit, the cooking ingredient information associating an arbitrary menu with ingredients used to cook the menu, and
The food ingredient identification unit is
The ingredient information retrieval system according to claim 10, wherein the ingredient in shortage is identified based on the ingredient information recorded in the ingredient information recording unit. The information indicating the waste food materials includes information indicating a processing state of the waste food materials, the information indicating whether the waste food materials are unprocessed, semi-processed, or processed,
3. The food material information search system according to claim 1, wherein the search results by the search execution unit include information indicating a processing state of the discarded food materials. The user terminal,
a display control unit that generates a screen showing a search result by the search execution unit and displays the generated screen on a display unit;
The display control unit is
The food material information search system according to claim 12, characterized in that a screen can be generated in which the search results are sorted or narrowed down based on the information indicating the processing state of the discarded food materials. The user terminal,
a record control unit that records in a record unit a purchase history indicating a history of discarded food ingredients purchased by a user based on the search result displayed on the screen, or a meal history indicating a history of eating the discarded food ingredients purchased by the user,
The display control unit is
Identifying discarded food ingredients purchased by the user or discarded food ingredients eaten by the user within a predetermined period of time in the past based on the purchase history or meal history recorded in the recording unit;
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 13, characterized in that the screen is generated so that information indicating the identified discarded food ingredients is displayed together with the search results by the search execution unit. The display control unit is
The food ingredient information search system according to claim 14, characterized in that the screen is generated so that the larger the information about a discarded food ingredient that the user has purchased or eaten within the specified period, the larger the information about the discarded food ingredient. a menu information acquisition unit for acquiring information indicating an arbitrary menu;
an ingredient specification unit that specifies ingredients to be used for cooking the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquisition unit;
A waste food material information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating waste food materials;
a search execution unit that searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit;
A food ingredient information search device comprising: A method for searching ingredient information by an ingredient information search system including a user terminal and a server,
A menu designation receiving unit of the user terminal receiving a designation of an arbitrary menu from a user;
A menu information acquisition unit of the server acquires information indicating the menu accepted by the menu designation acceptance unit;
A step in which an ingredient specifying unit of the server specifies ingredients to be used for cooking the menu indicated by the information acquired by the menu information acquiring unit;
A step in which a discarded food material information acquisition unit of the server acquires information indicating discarded food materials;
A search execution unit of the server searches for the cooking ingredients identified by the ingredient identification unit from among the discarded ingredients indicated by the information acquired by the discarded ingredient information acquisition unit;
a notification unit of the user terminal notifying the user of a search result by the server;
The food ingredient information search method has the following features.

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