WO2014108923A1

WO2014108923A1 - Method and system for suggesting at least one edible item to one or more customers

Info

Publication number: WO2014108923A1
Application number: PCT/IN2014/000026
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kiran TEWARI
Original assignee: Tewari Kiran
Priority date: 2013-01-14
Filing date: 2014-01-13
Publication date: 2014-07-17
Also published as: WO2014108923A9

Abstract

The present invention provides for method and system for suggesting at least one edible item to one or more customers. The method steps includes receiving personal and medical information associated with customer(s), fetching diet history of the customer(s) from a repository, wherein the repository automatically stores diet information of the one or more customers during every edible item transaction, determining nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time based on the personal and medical information, and diet history of the customer by comparing with a predefined recommended diet, and suggesting at least one edible item fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time among a plurality of edible items made available by one or more vendors. The present invention enables the customers to follow healthy diet while avoiding the intake of unsuitable food.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SUGGESTING AT LEAST ONE EDIBLE ITEM TO ONE OR MORE CUSTOMERS RELATED APPLICATION

Benefit is claimed to Indian Provisional Application No. 1 18/MUM/2013 titled"SYSTEM AND METHOD OF RECORDING AND MONITORING DIETARY INTAKE" by Mrs. TEWARI, Kiran, filed on 14^thJanuary 2013, which is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference for allpurposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to diet management. More particularly, it relates to method and system for suggesting at least one edible item to customer(s) by determining nutritional requirement of a customer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the increased awareness of physical illnesses generating due to sedentary jobs, people are attracted towards healthier lifestyles and practices. People have become more and more aware of the healthier food items, regular exercises and hygiene, their intake is regulated and more interested people undergoing diet control either have the food intakes recorded, or follow a pre-calculated diet plan.

The amount of nutrients in the diet is usually calculated by the standard method of adding the nutritive value of ingredients, also taking into account the retention and yield factors. The quantity of food intake is measured by precisely matching the quantities of food intake with the requirement of the

l body. By taking into account the physical parameters like age, height, weight, sex etc., the nutrient requirement of the body is found out for a person.

The above mentioned method for dietary nutrition calculation is currently used widely in the community. Based on the above mentioned calculation, meals are referred by dietitian to consumers mentioned all the things to eat daily. Even after the detailed analysis of consumer's diet patterns and suggestions of what to eat and what not to eat, consumers mostly experience the problem of understanding the upper and lower limit of nutrition intake. The measurement of food consumed is mostly an estimate. It is difficult to exactly calculate the nutrition content of consumed food item. In case of purchasing food products outside, the nutritive values mentioned at the back of any packed consumable product do not give the entire picture of the nutritive value, in terms of all the vital nutrients required by our body. Moreover, it is difficult for the consumer to track all the food items consumed from various sources like cafeteria, food courts etc., to measure the quantity of food consumed, and the' reduction / increase in the nutritive value of the food product because of cooking processes.

Various organizations attempting to provide healthy life style to their employees are also facing problem since the measurement of food consumed is mostly based on estimation of estimation of calories/nutrition consumedin a given period of time.

Therefore, there is a requirement of such a method which can accurately analyze the ingredients of the food consumed and suggest the dietary intake for individuals in real time while also taking into account health related issues such as allergies. SUMMARY OF THE; INVENTION

i

The present invention provides for method. and system for suggesting at least- one edible item to one or more customers.

In one aspect of the present invention, a computer implemented method for suggesting at least one edible item to one or more customers, including steps of receiving personal and medical information associated with the one or more customers, fetching diet history of the one or more customers from a repository, wherein the repository automatically stores diet information of the one or more customers during every edible item transaction, determining nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time based on the personal and medical information, and diet history of the customer by comparing with a predefined recommended diet, and suggesting at least one edible item fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time among a plurality of edible items made available by one or more vendors.

In another aspect of; the present invention, a diet managing device, including a memory, and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor is configured to perform the steps of receiving personal and medical information associated with the one or more customers, fetching diet history of the one or more customers from a repository, wherein the repository automatically stores diet information of the one or more customers during every edible item transaction, determining nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time based on the personal and medical information, and diet history of the customer by comparing with a predefined recommended diet, and suggesting at least one edible item fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time among a plurality of edible items made available by one or more vendors.

Other features of the embodiments will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a flow chart depicting method steps for suggesting at least one edible item to one or more customers, according one embodiment.

Figure 2 is flow chart depicting method steps for alerting and suggesting a customer in case of a wrongly placed order which contains ingredients are not recommended to the customer due to health reasons, according to one embodiment.

Figure 3 is block level diagram of a diet managing device for alerting and suggesting at least one edible item to one or more customers, according one embodiment. Figure 4 is depicting an environment in which the diet managing device operates, according to one embodiment.

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to method and system for suggesting at least one edible item to one or more customers. In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the ; scope of the present invention. The following detailed , description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

Throughout the document, the terms 'person', 'customer' and 'employee' are used interchangeably in the context of the invention. Likewise the term 'his' includes 'her' also.

The eating pattern of a person/ customer depend a lot on his daily routine, availability of food items near residence, place of birth, age, likes, occasions etc., it becomes very difficult for the person/customer to keep a track of what is consumed and in how much amount. The canteens, food stalls and food courts available near the workplace of a person acquire more than 5 meals of a consumer per week. It may be considered as maximum possible nutrition data collection source for a consumer from a place. Hence the proposed method is implemented in such places. However, the application of same method is not limited to food courts / cafeterias. Similar system for capturing and recording nutrition can also be installed in restaurants, food chains, shopping malls, schools, food courts and other food consumption places.

Figure 1 is a flow chart providing a method 100 for suggesting at least one edible item to one . or more customers in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The method 100 includes a plurality of steps from 102 to 1 4. In step 102, a service provider receives personal and medical information of one or more customers associated with one or more organizations. The service provider enables the customers to create separate accounts with it through login IDs and passwords which is accessible through various modes of wired or wireless communication including internet. The personal and medical information is provided either by the customers or by the organization with which the customer is affiliated with or by both. The personal and medical information associated with the individual customers is stored in a repository, which functions as a central database maintained at a server.

The personal information associated with the customer includes age, height, weight, gender, physical activities undertaken if any.

The medical information associated with the customer includes information about the bodily aliments such as heart disease, blood pressure, diabetes etc., any treatment Undergoing, medicines taken, list of chemicals/ingredients to which the customer is allergic, restrictions for consumptions of edible items in light of the medical information.

In an alternate embodiment, the service provider provides a separate data recording device to the customers so that they can easily provide the personal and medical information associated with them and update the repository as and when required.

In an alternate embodiment, the service provider enables the customers to download a dedicated app (application/software) to their mobiles, tabs or personal computers] etc. so that they can easily provide the personal and medical information associated with them and update the repository as and when required. In step 104, a diet managing device fetches diet history of the one or more customers from the repository, wherein the repository automatically stores diet information of the one or more customers during every edible item transaction. The service provider enables vendors' devices at point of sales (POS) for food products such as in restaurants, food chains, shopping malls, schools, food courts and other food consumption places to provide diet history of the customers to the repository. Further, the existing POS are upgraded by installation of dedicated softwares and communicatively coupled to the server. The diet history includes the purchases made by the individual customers over a period of time. Further, the vendor's device also sends a list of food items made available at POS and ingredients used in the preparation of the food items. The nutritive value of the food items is calculated by the diet managing device. Further, the nutritive value of the food items can also be provided by vendors directly. In an alternate embodiment, the service provider provides the vending devices at POS for generating the diet history of individual customers and sending the diet history to the server.

Further, the customer is identified at the POS either by his/her employee ID, swiping his diet recording device at POS, by disclosing an unique identification number assigned to the customer by the service provider.For example, when a customer approaches a POS for placing an order to food the vendor's devices identifies the customer through his ID and when the order is finally placed itsends the list of purchase (forming diet history) to the repository maintained at the server. In step 106, the diet history, personal and medical information of the customer is displayed to the customer. It is displayed on the screen of the diet recording device provided by the service provider. Alternatively, the customers can also view his diet history, personal and medical information on a computing deviceis screen when he logs in his account created with the service provider. This helps the customer in easily monitoring his dietary intake in an easy way on a regular basis.

In step 108, nutritional requirement of the one or more customers is determined in real time based on the continuously updated personal and medical information, and diet history of the customer by comparing with a predefined recommended diet. For example, the diet managing device decides possible amount of calories that can be consumed on a particular day by the customer based on his fitness regime, metabolic rate, calories consumed on a previous day. In this way the diet managing device also takes into account the capability of customer to burn the calories on a given day.

In step 110, edible item(s), having its nutritive value and ingredients shared with the service provider, available at the vendor's shop, fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the customer for the next meal in a day is suggested. The suggestion is based on the determined nutritional requirement of the customer. The suggestions also takes into account the food/calories already consumed by the customer on that very day. Further, the service provider can send the suggestion with respect to the edible item to the customer in various alternate ways such as sending message to the diet recording device, sending sms to mobile associated with the customer, emailing, sending message/email to the customer's account create with service provider. In an alternate embodiment (not shown in the figure), the edible item(s), having its nutritive value and ingredients shared with the service provider, available at the vendor's shop, fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the customer for next day is suggested.

In another embodiment (not shown in the figure), the edible item(s), having its nutritive value and ingredients shared with the service provider, available at the vendor's shop, fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the customer is suggested at the time of purchase. For example, when the customer identifies himself to the POS, then he receives the suggestion for edible products available at that particular POS of the vendor.

In step 1 12, the customer places order the POS based on the food suggestions received by him from the service provider.

In step 114, once the order is confirmed by the vendor, the customer proceeds with payment.

The present invention provides an easy way for the customers to remain aligned with their nutritional requirement by eating right food at right time Figure 2 is a flow chart providing a method 200 for alerting and suggesting at least one edible item to one or more customers at the time of purchase in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment takes into account the medical information including information about the bodily aliments such as heart disease, blood pressure, diabetes etc., any treatment undergoing, medicines taken, list of chemicals/ingredients to which the customer is allergic, restrictions for consumptions of edible items in light of the medical information and prevents the customer from accidently placing wrong order for some edible item not suitable for him. The method 200 includes a plurality of steps from 202 to 220. The method steps 202 to 208 are performed in the similar manner as that of method steps 102 to 108 of Figure. 1.

In step 210, the customer places order for edible item at the vendor's POS based on menu displaying all types of edible items.

In step 212, the order for edible item placed at the POS is shared instantly with the diet managing device where it is checked that whether the order placed for edible item(s) contains ingredients which are not recommended for the customer due to various health reasons enlisted supra. For example, if the customer is allergic to pea nuts but he has placed order for a cake having pea nuts as one of its ingredients. This will be considered as a wrong order with respect to that particular customer.

In step 214, alert is sent to the customer in real time if a wrong edible item is selected by the customer while placing the order. For example, if it checks out that the order placed is wrong order and does fall under restricted edible items due to health reasons, then the customer will receive alert message instantly from diet managing device. The alert message informs the customer about the wrong choice made by him in order to stop him from finalizing the order and proceeding with payment. Further, the alert message can be in the form of sms to the customer's mobile or hand held device. Alternatively, the alert message can also be sent to the diet recording device associated with the customer. For example, if the customer places an order for a cake having pea nuts as one of its ingredients, where the customer is allergic to pea nuts, then the customer receives alert sms on his mobile that the cake contains pea nut as allergen which is not suitable for his consumption. Further to this, in step 216, list of edible item(s) fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the customer is suggestedto the customer in real time. For example, if the customer has placed a wrong order, then after receiving the alert message he also receives a list of food items available at the POS at that time not falling under the restrictive list. The message containing a list of suitable food items is sent in real time to the mobile or hand held device associated with the customer. Alternatively, the message containing a list of suitable food items can also be sent to the diet recording device associated with the customer, s In step 218, the customer makes suitable changes in the previous order so as to include suitable food items.

In step 220, the customer confirms the changed order and makes payment.

Further in step 212, if it checks out that the order placed is a correct order and does not fall under restricted edible items due to health reasons, then the customer will not receive any alert from diet managing device and proceeds with the payment.

Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating a diet managing device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The diet managing device is configured to suggest edible item(s) fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the customer(s) in real time among a plurality of edible items made available by vendor(s) at the POS.

The diet managing device 06 includes a processor 304, a memory 302 coupled to the processor 304, and a communication unit 308 communicatively coupled to vendor's device 320 and customer's device 322. The processor 304, as used herein, means any type of computational circuit, such as, but not limited to, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a complex instruction set computing microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing microprocessor, a very long instruction word microprocessor, an explicitly parallel instruction computing microprocessor, a digital signal processor, or any other type of processing circuit.

The memory 302 includes a plurality of modules stored in the form of executable program whichinstructs the processor 304 to perform the method steps illustrated in Figure 1 and 2. The memory 302 has following modules: data receiving module 310, data fetching module 312, nutritional requirement identification module 314, diet suggestion module 316, and alerting module 318. Computer memory elements may include any suitable memory device(s) for storing data and executable program, such as read only memory, random access memory, erasable programmable read only memory, electrically erasable programmable read only memory, hard drive, removable media drive for handling memory cards and the like. Embodiments of the present subject matter may be implemented in conjunction with program modules, including functions, procedures, data structures, and application programs, for performing tasks, or defining abstract data types or low-level hardware contexts. Executable program stored on any of the above-mentioned storage media may be executable by the processor 304.

The data receiving module 310 instructs the processor 304 to receive the personal and medical information associated with the customer(s).

The data fetching module 312 instructs the processor 304 to fetch diet history of the customer(s) from the repository, wherein the repository automatically stores diet information of the one or more customers during every edible item transaction.

The nutritional requirement identification module 314 instructs the processor 304 to determining nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time based on the personal and medical information, and diet history of the customer by comparing with a predefined recommended diet.

The alerting module 316 instructs the processor to send an alert in real time to the one or more customers if a wrong edible item is selected by the customer at the time of purchase based on the personal and medical information and diet history of the customer.

The suggestion module 318 instructs the processor 304 to suggest edible item(s) fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the customer(s) in real time among a plurality of edible items made available by vendor(s).

Figure 4depicts an environment in which the diet managing device operates in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It provides for a server 402 including repository 404 and diet managing device 300 communicatively coupled with the vendors' device(s) 320 at the POS and customers' device(s) 322. The personal and medical information, and diet history associated with the customer(s) are stored, updated and maintained in the repository 404. The data stored in repository 404 is used by the diet management device 300 to suggest edible item(s) fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the customer(s) in real time among a plurality of edible items made available by vendor(s) at the POS.

In another embodiment, the diet management device 300 sends alert message in real time to the customer(s) if a wrong edible item is selected by the customer at the time of purchase and subsequently suggests suitable edible item(s) among a plurality of edible items made available by vendor(s) at the POS based on the medical information of the customer.

The present embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments; it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the various embodiments. Furthermore, the various devices, modules, selectors, estimators, and the like described herein may be enabled and operated using hardware circuitry, for example, complementary metal oxide semiconductor based logic circuitry, firmware, software and/or any combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software embodied in a machine readable medium.

Claims

A computer implemented method for suggesting at least one edible item to one or more customers, comprising: receiving personal and medical information associated with the one or more customers; fetching diet history of the one or more customers from a repository, wherein the repository automatically stores diet information of the one or more customers during every edible item transaction; determining nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time based on the personal and medical information, and diet history of the customer by comparing with a predefined recommended diet; and suggesting at least one edible item fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time among a plurality of edible items made available by one or more vendors.

The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprises capturing identification details of the one or more customers to receive the personal and medical information and to fetch the diet history.

The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprises sending an alert in real time to -the one or more customers if a wrong edible item is selected by the customer at the time of purchase based on the personal and medical information and diet history of the customer!¹

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one edible item is suggested at the time of purchase.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein personal and medical information associated with the one or more customers is stored in the repository.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the personal information includes age, height, weight, gender or combination thereof.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the medical information includes restrictions for consumptions of one or more edible items.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the suggestion in real time of the at least one edible item is made to the one or more vendors, one or more customers or both.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the alert in real time is sent to one or more computing devices associated with the one or more customers.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the alert in real time is sent to a computing device of the one or more vendors. 1 1. A diet managing device, comprising: a memory; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor is configured to perform the steps of: receiving personal and medical information associated with the one or more customers; fetching diet history of the one or more customers from a repository, wherein the repository automatically stores diet information of the one or more customers during every edible item transaction; determining nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time based on the personal and medical information, and diet history of the customer by comparing with a predefined recommended diet; and suggesting at least one edible item fulfilling the nutritional requirement of the one or more customers in real time among a plurality of edible items made available by one or more vendors.

12. The device as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to capture identification details of the one or more customers to receive the personal and medical information and to fetch the diet history.

13. The device as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to send an alert in real time to the one or more customers if a wrong edible item is selected by the customer at the time of purchase based on the personal and medical information and diet history of the customer.

14. The device as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein the at least one edible item is suggested at the time of purchase.

15. The device as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein personal and medical information associated with the one or more customers is stored in the repository.

16. The device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the personal information includes age, height, weight, gender or combination thereof.

17. The device as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein the medical information includes restrictions for consumptions of one or more edible items.

18. The device as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein the suggestion in real time of the at least^' one edible item is made to the one or more vendors, one or more customers or both.

19. The device as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein the alert in real time is sent to one or more computing devices associated with the one or more customers.

20. The device as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein the alert in real time is sent to a computing device of the one or more vendors.