Meal supporting system

Abstract

To provide a meal supporting system capable of urging a person to chew up to the proper number of times for every bite.SOLUTION: A meal support system comprises: a weight measurement part which measures the weight of a food; chewing action recording means which records chewing actions of a user who eats a meal; a storage part which stores a table defining the target number of times of chewing per unit weight; a control part which calculates the target number of times of chewing for each bite based upon weight information for each bite estimated from the measured value of the weight measurement part and the table, and also calculates the number of times of chewing based upon the information that the chewing action recording means records; and an output part which gives, for each bite, notice of a progress state of the current number of times of chewing to the target number of times of chewing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a meal support system.

Background Art

[0002] There has been proposed a system that detects actions during a meal, particularly the number of chewing times, by measuring means such as a microphone or a camera, and encourages the user to chew, thereby promoting a healthy diet. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a "meal support device comprising an acquisition unit that acquires chewing data related to chewing from a measurement device that measures the body movement during chewing, a comparison unit that compares the chewing data acquired by the acquisition unit and predetermined threshold data, and a generation unit that generates proposal information related to a meal based on the result of comparison by the comparison unit" (Claim 1). Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique of "inputting voice data obtained by collecting the sound during the user's meal and weight data obtained by measuring the weight change of the food during the meal, extracting a section in which the chewing sound is recorded from the voice data, and further extracting a section during the chewing motion from the weight change of the weight data to calculate the number of chewing times" (Summary of the solution).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Patent Document 1 also discloses notifying the user of the target value of the number of chewing times. However, since the target value is determined based on the user's age, gender, weight, etc., depending on the amount of food to be chewed, it cannot be said to be an accurate target value, and it does not always provide appropriate advice. Also, Patent Document 2 discloses transmitting an alert when the required number of chewing times is not reached, but there is no mention of how to determine the required number of chewing times.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a meal support system that can encourage chewing up to a more appropriate number of times for each mouthful.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The meal support system of the present invention is made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and includes a weight measurement unit that measures the weight of food, a chewing motion recording means that records the chewing motion of the user during a meal, a storage unit that stores a table defining the target number of chewing times per unit weight, a weight information per mouthful estimated from the measured value of the weight measurement unit, and the table, based on which, calculates the target number of chewing times per mouthful, and a control unit that calculates the number of chewing times based on the information recorded by the chewing motion recording means, and an output unit that notifies, for each mouthful, the progress of the current number of chewing times with respect to the target number of chewing times.

Effects of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, it becomes possible to provide a meal support system that can encourage chewing up to a more appropriate number of times for each mouthful.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0008]

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Figure 10

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to two examples.

Example

[0010] Example 1 is an example in which a tray is used to measure the weight of each mouthful. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the meal support system according to Example 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the meal support system of Example 1 is composed of a tray T100 and a processing device R100. A plurality of containers 100 such as plates and utensils for accommodating food (dishes) are placed on the tabletop tray T100. Further, although not shown in FIG. 1, the tray T100 incorporates a weight measurement unit T1, an arithmetic unit T2, and a communication unit T3. Details of each part will be described later with reference to FIG. 2.

[0011] The processing device R100 is arranged, for example, to face the user (eater) with the food in between, and includes a user imaging unit R1, a food imaging unit R2, and an output unit R5. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the processing device R100 also incorporates a communication unit R3, a control unit R4, a food database R6, and a meal data storage unit R7.

[0012] The user imaging unit R1 is, for example, a camera that acquires an image of the user during a meal. The food imaging unit R2 is a sensor such as an RGB sensor capable of measuring distance in addition to a camera, for example, and is arranged to look down on the food from an oblique top, and acquires an image of the food arranged on the tray T100 in front of the user. In FIG. 1, the user imaging unit R1 and the food imaging unit R2 are separately mounted, but one imaging unit that also serves as the user imaging unit R1 and the food imaging unit R2 may be mounted. In that case, the imaging unit is provided with a lens having a wide angle of view to acquire a wide range of images, or has a rotation function that faces upward when imaging the user and faces downward when imaging the food.

[0013] The output unit R5 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display, for example, and presents various information to the user during a meal. Also, the output unit R5 may notify the user of information by outputting sound or vibration. In FIG. 1, the processing device R100 is configured to include the output unit R5, but the output unit R5 may be separate from the processing device R100. In that case, a terminal device communicatively connected to the processing device R100, such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal, functions as the output unit R5.

[0014] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the meal support system according to the first embodiment. As described above, the meal support system is composed of the tray T100 and the processing device R100.

[0015] As shown in FIG. 2, the tray T100 has a weight measurement unit T1, an arithmetic unit T2, and a communication unit T3.

[0016] The weight measurement unit T1 measures the force applied to the top surface of the tray T100 in real time (for each mouthful). Since the weight measurement unit T1 can measure the weights of the container 100 and the food placed on the tray T100, it is possible to estimate the weight of the food consumed based on the difference (decrease amount) of the measured values. In addition, the weight measurement unit T1 can also measure changes in the load transmitted to the tray T100 via the container 100 when the user grips or cuts the food with eating utensils such as chopsticks.

[0017] The arithmetic unit T2 is a small computer such as a microcomputer, and performs operations such as noise processing on the measurement values obtained by the weight measurement unit T1. The communication unit T3 transfers the weight information calculated by the arithmetic unit T2 to the processing device R100 connected by wired or wireless communication. When the communication method is wired, each part of the tray T100 operates by power supply from the processing device R100. On the other hand, when the communication method is wireless such as wireless LAN or Bluetooth (registered trademark), the tray T100 further incorporates a battery.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 2, the processing device R100 includes a user imaging unit R1, a food imaging unit R2, a communication unit R3, a control unit R4, and an output unit R5. The processing device R100 further includes a food database R6 and a meal data storage unit R7 as storage units.

[0019] The user imaging unit R1 captures an image particularly near the user's face in order to record the chewing motion of the user during a meal, and transmits the acquired image to the control unit R4. The food imaging unit R2 captures images of not only the entire tray T100 but also the user's hand (finger) and eating utensils close to the food, and transmits the acquired images to the control unit R4. The communication unit R3 receives the weight information from the communication unit T3 of the tray T100 and transmits it to the control unit R4. The food database R6 stores a table or the like that defines the target number of chewing times (appropriate number of chewing times) per unit weight for each type of food.

[0020] The control unit R4 performs time-series analysis on the image information received from the user imaging unit R1, and calculates the number of chewing times of the user, the interval between chews, the interval between bites, etc. Further, the control unit R4 identifies the relationship between the positions and types of the foods arranged on the tray T100 based on the image information received from the food imaging unit R2 before the start of the meal, and stores it in the food database R6 as food arrangement information. Note that in facilities such as stores and cafeterias, the positions and types of foods may be determined in advance. In that case, the food arrangement information may be stored in the food database R6 without using the information from the food imaging unit R2. Furthermore, the control unit R4 detects the ingestion target position for each bite from the image information received from the food imaging unit R2 during the meal, and identifies the type of the food to be ingested for each bite by comparing the detected ingestion target position with the food arrangement information. Also, the control unit R4 calculates the target number of chewing times for each bite based on the type of food identified for each bite, the weight information for each bite estimated from the measured value of the weighing unit T1, and the table stored in the food database R6.

[0021] The meal data storage unit R7 stores the above-mentioned information calculated by the control unit R4, for example, the actual number of chewing times, the target number of chewing times, the type of food, etc. for each bite, or stores the time from the start to the end of the meal, the interval time, the weight of the food, etc.

[0022] The output unit R5 displays the progress of the current number of chewing times with respect to the target number of chewing times for each bite. Also, the output unit R5 may display nutrients such as calories, salt, and lipids of the food currently being eaten, or may display advice to eat slowly when the pace of ingestion is fast. Furthermore, as the output mode of the output unit R5, not only displays of characters, numbers, graphs, etc., but also music with a tempo according to the chewing interval, or animations such as a pendulum or a character that moves according to the chewing interval may be used. The music and animations serve to guide the user's chewing motion and are effective in developing the habit of chewing.

[0023] FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining coordinates used for calculating the number of chewing times and estimating eating. The control unit R4 detects, by an object detector, features of the user's face, specifically, the nose coordinates P1, the jaw coordinates P2, the upper lip coordinates P3, and the lower lip coordinates P4 from the image information received from the user imaging unit R1. Further, the control unit R4 also detects the tip coordinates P10 to P13 of the fingers (index finger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger) of the user who holds the eating utensil from the image information during eating. In FIG. 3, an example in which chopsticks are used as the eating utensil is shown, but the eating utensil may be a cutlery such as a spoon or a fork.

[0024] Next, a method for calculating the number of chewing times will be described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a graph showing the time-series change in the distance between the nose and the jaw during one mouthful of chewing. L1 (the darker one of the upper waveforms) is the distance between the nose coordinates P1 and the jaw coordinates P2 during chewing. One set of peaks and valleys in the waveform means one chewing motion. The peak means the state where the upper teeth and the lower teeth are moving apart, and the valley means the state where the upper teeth and the lower teeth are approaching. L2 (the lighter one of the upper waveforms) is obtained by applying a low-pass filter to L1, and L3 is obtained by subtracting L2 from L1. Here, since the positions of the nose and the jaw change depending on the user's posture and the like, by calculating the difference between L1 and L2, only the variation component based on the intermediate position of the upper teeth and the lower teeth during the chewing motion is extracted as L3. Then, by regarding the zero-crossing point of this L3 (for example, the moment when the waveform changes from positive to negative) as chewing, it becomes possible to count the number of chewing times.

[0025] In this embodiment, the number of chewing times is calculated by focusing on the time-series change in the nose coordinates P1 and the jaw coordinates P2, but the coordinates used for the calculation are not limited to this. For example, the number of chewing times may be calculated by focusing on the time-series change in the distance between the first coordinate, which is the coordinate of a predetermined part (for example, the eyes) above the user's mouth, and the second coordinate, which is the coordinate of a predetermined part (for example, the lower lip) below the user's mouth.

[0026] Next, the method for estimating eating will be described based on FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the estimation process of eating. In this embodiment, it is determined that eating has occurred (food has been put into the mouth) when two conditions, that the mouth is open and that the mouth and hand are close when the mouth is open, are satisfied.

[0027] First, the control unit R4 recognizes, by means of an object detector, the nose coordinates P1, jaw coordinates P2, upper lip coordinates P3, lower lip coordinates P4, and fingertip coordinates P10 to P13 as the features of the user's face and hand from the image information during a meal received from the user imaging unit R1 (step S501). Next, the control unit R4 detects the distance L10 between the upper lip coordinates P3 and the lower lip coordinates P4 (step S502). Then, the control unit R4 determines whether the distance L10 is greater than a predetermined threshold value (first predetermined value) (step S503). If it is determined that the distance L10 is less than or equal to the first predetermined value, it is considered that the mouth is not open, and the process returns to step S502.

[0028] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S503 that the distance L10 is greater than the first predetermined value, the control unit R4 detects the distance L11 between the fingertip coordinates P10 of the user's index finger and the upper lip coordinates P3 (step S504). Then, the control unit R4 determines whether the distance L11 is less than a predetermined threshold value (second threshold value) (step S505). If it is determined that the distance L11 is greater than or equal to the second predetermined value, it is considered that the hand (finger) is away from the mouth, and the process returns to step S502. In this case, even though the mouth is open, since the hand (finger) is away from the mouth, there is a possibility that conversation or the like, rather than eating, has occurred.

[0029] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S505 that the distance L11 is less than the second predetermined value, the control unit R4 estimates that eating has occurred (step S506).

[0030] In this embodiment, the distance L11 between the tip coordinate P10 of the index finger and the upper lip coordinate P3 is used to determine whether the hand (finger) is close to the mouth. However, the coordinates used for the determination are not limited to this. For example, instead of the tip coordinate P10 of the index finger, the average value of the tip coordinates P10 to P13 from the index finger to the little finger, the tip coordinate of the eating utensil, etc. may be used. Also, instead of the upper lip coordinate P3, the coordinate in the middle of the upper lip coordinate P3 and the lower lip coordinate P4 may be used. Note that if only the lower lip coordinate P4 is used for the determination, there is a possibility of misjudgment when the user touches the chin, etc., so it is desirable to use the upper lip coordinate P3.

[0031] In this way, by setting the condition that the hand is close to the mouth when the mouth is open for the estimation of eating, it is possible to exclude the actions where the mouth is open due to factors other than chewing, such as conversations during meals, and the estimation accuracy of eating is improved.

[0032] FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the overall processing in the meal support system according to the first embodiment. First, the control unit R4 extracts an image of the food on the tray T100 from the image information acquired by the food imaging unit R2 before the start of the meal using an object detector, and selects the food in the food database R6 that is closest to the image. Then, the control unit R4 stores the type of the selected food and the position of the food on the tray T100 in the food database R6 as food arrangement information (step S601).

[0033] Next, the control unit R4 monitors the weight information received from the tray T100 and determines whether the weight change exceeds a predetermined threshold value (the third predetermined value) (step S602). If it is determined that the weight change is equal to or less than the third threshold value, it is regarded that the eating action has not started, and the determination in step S602 is repeated every time a predetermined time elapses.

[0034] On the other hand, when it is determined in step S602 that the weight change exceeds the third predetermined value, it can be considered that the user is trying to grasp the food with the eating utensil and a load is applied to the food. Therefore, the control unit R4 detects the position of the food grasped by the eating utensil (the eating target position) for eating from the image information acquired by the food imaging unit R2, and identifies the type of the food to be eaten by comparing the position with the food arrangement information (step S603). Next, the control unit R4 determines whether or not one mouthful of food has been eaten (the food has been put into the mouth) (step S604). The method for estimating eating is as described above with reference to FIG. 5. If it is not estimated as eating, the process returns to step S602 to continue monitoring the weight information.

[0035] On the other hand, when it is estimated in step S604 that one mouthful of food has been eaten, the control unit R4 performs time-series analysis on the image information received from the user imaging unit R1 and calculates the number of chewing times for that one mouthful (step S605). The method for calculating the number of chewing times is as described above with reference to FIG. 3. Also, in step S605, the control unit R5 receives the weight information at this time from the tray T100, and estimates the difference (decrease) from the weight before that one mouthful (at the previous eating time) as the weight of one mouthful of the food to be eaten.

[0036] Next, the control unit R4 calculates the target number of chewing times for that one mouthful based on the type of the identified food, the food weight estimated from the measured value of the weight measuring unit T1, and the table stored in the food database R6 (step S606).

[0037] Thereafter, the output unit R5 displays together the currently calculated number of chewing times for one mouthful in step S605 and the currently calculated target number of chewing times for one mouthful in step S606. FIG. 7 is an example of the screen displayed by the output unit R5. As shown in FIG. 7, since the progress of the currently calculated number of chewing times with respect to the target number of chewing times is displayed in real time, it is possible to effectively prompt the user to chew.

[0038] Next, the control unit R4 determines whether the meal is continuing (step S608). If it is determined that the meal is continuing, the process returns to step S602. If it is determined that the meal is not continuing, the process ends. For example, when there is no change in the measured value of the weighing unit T1 of the tray T100 for a predetermined time, or when there is no change in the image information of the user imaging unit R1 for a predetermined time, it can be regarded that the meal has ended.

[0039] According to the present embodiment as described above, it is possible to prompt the user to chew up to a more appropriate number of times for each mouthful. Also, the number of chewing times can be recorded and shown to the user the changes in the number of chewing times over a relatively long period such as once a week or once a month.

Embodiment

[0040] Embodiment 2 is an example of using a dining utensil to measure the weight for each mouthful. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the meal support system according to Embodiment 2. As shown in FIG. 8, the meal support system of Embodiment 2 is composed of a processing device R100 and a dining utensil C100. Since the processing device R100 of Embodiment 2 is basically the same as the processing device R100 of Embodiment 1, the description thereof is omitted.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 8, the dining utensil C100 is composed of a head portion CT1 (bowl) that supports food and a handle portion CT2 (handle) that is gripped by the user's fingers. Here, a spoon is taken as an example to explain the dining utensil, but the dining utensil may be other than a spoon.

[0042] A weighing unit C1 such as a strain gauge is built in the connection part between the head portion CT1 and the handle portion CT2, and the force applied to the head portion CT1 can be measured. The weighing unit C1 in Embodiment 2 measures the weight of one mouthful of food supported by the head portion CT1, or measures the load when the head portion CT1 pierces or cuts the food contained in the container 100. Also, the handle portion CT2 incorporates an arithmetic unit C2, a communication unit C3, a battery C4, and a notification unit C5, which will be described later.

[0043] Figure 9 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the meal support system according to Example 2. As described above, the meal support system is composed of a meal utensil C100 and a processing device R100. Since the processing device R100 of Example 2 is basically the same as the processing device R100 of Example 1, the description thereof is omitted.

[0044] As shown in Figure 9, the meal utensil C100 includes a weight measurement unit C1, a calculation unit C2, a communication unit C3, a battery C4, and a notification unit C5.

[0045] The weight measurement unit C1 measures the force applied to the head unit CT1 in real time (for each mouthful). Also, the weight measurement unit T1 can measure the change in the load transmitted to the head unit CT1 when the user grips or cuts food with the meal utensil C100.

[0046] The calculation unit C2 is a small computer such as a microcomputer, and performs calculations such as applying noise processing to the measurement values obtained by the weight measurement unit C1. The communication unit C3 transfers the weight information calculated by the calculation unit C2 to the processing device R100 by wireless communication. The battery C4 drives the weight measurement unit C1, the calculation unit C2, the communication unit C3, and the notification unit C5. The notification unit C5 is, for example, a speaker or a vibration motor, and gives a direct notification for promoting chewing by generating sounds or vibrations linked to the user's chewing.

[0047] Figure 10 is a flowchart showing the overall processing in the meal support system according to Example 2. First, in the same manner as step S601 in Example 1 (Figure 6), the control unit R4 grasps the type and position of the food from the image information acquired by the food imaging unit R2 before the start of the meal, and stores it in the food database R6 as food arrangement information (step S1001).

[0048] Next, the control unit R4 monitors the measured value of the weight measurement unit C1, that is, the weight information applied to the head unit CT1, and determines whether the weight change exceeds a predetermined threshold value (the third predetermined value) (step S1002). If it is determined that the weight change is equal to or less than the third threshold value, it is considered that the eating operation has not started, and the determination in step S1002 is repeated every time a predetermined time elapses.

[0049] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1002 that the weight change exceeds the third predetermined value, it can be considered that the user is trying to grasp food with the eating utensil C100. Therefore, the control unit R4 detects the eating target position from the image information acquired by the food imaging unit R2 and collates the position with the food placement information in the same manner as in step S603 of the first embodiment, thereby identifying the type of food to be eaten (step S1003). However, in step S1003 of this embodiment, buffering of the weight information applied to the head unit CT1 is also started. The buffered weight information is used in step S1005 described later. The buffering is performed at a cycle of about 10 Hz, and weight information of about 2 seconds at most is retained. Next, the control unit R4 determines whether there has been one mouthful of eating in the same manner as in step S604 of the first embodiment (step S1004). If it is not estimated that eating has occurred, the process returns to step S1002 to continue monitoring the weight information.

[0050] On the other hand, if it is estimated in step S1004 that there has been one mouthful of eating, the control unit R4 calculates the number of chewing times of that one mouthful from the image information received from the user imaging unit R1 in the same manner as in step S605 of the first embodiment (step S1005). However, in step S1005 of this embodiment, the control unit R5 estimates the weight of one mouthful of the food to be eaten as the weight information buffered Tk seconds before the time when eating is estimated from the buffered weight information. This is because at the time when eating is estimated, that is, when the eating utensil C100 contacts the user's mouth, not only the weight of one mouthful of food but also the force from the mouth is applied to the head unit CT1.

[0051] Next, the control unit R4 calculates the target number of chewing times per mouthful based on the specified food type, the food weight estimated from the measured value of the weighing unit C1, and the table stored in the food database R6 (step S1006).

[0052] Thereafter, the control unit R4 displays the current number of chewing times per mouthful and the current target number of chewing times per mouthful together in the same manner as step S607 in the first embodiment (step S1007). At this time, the notification unit C5 of the eating utensil C100 may directly notify the user by generating sound or vibration.

[0053] Next, the control unit R4 determines whether the meal is continuing in the same manner as step S608 in the first embodiment (step S1008). If it is determined that the meal is continuing, the process returns to step S1002. If it is determined that the meal is not continuing, the process ends.

[0054] Also according to this embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. If the measured value of the weighing unit C1 is clearly an abnormal value such as a negative value or a large value exceeding 100 grams, the average of the target number of chewing times in the last 5 times may be output, or a fixed target number of chewing times of 30 times may be simply output.

[0055] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiments, the user imaging unit R1 is used as the chewing motion recording means, but a microphone that records the sound when the user chews may be used. In that case, the number of chewing times of the user is calculated by time series analysis of the sound.

Explanation of reference numerals

[0056] R1… User imaging unit, R2… Food imaging unit, R5… Output unit, R100… Processing device, T100… Tray, P1… Nose coordinates, P2… Jaw coordinates, P3… Upper lip coordinates, P4… Lower lip coordinates, P10… Tip coordinates (index finger), P11… Tip coordinates (middle finger), P12… Tip coordinates (ring finger), P13… Tip coordinates (little finger), C100… Eating utensil, CT1… Head part, CT2… Handle part, 100… Container

Claims

1. A weight measurement unit that measures the weight of food, Chewing motion recording means for recording the chewing motion of the user during a meal, A storage unit that stores a table defining the target number of chewing times per unit weight, Based on the weight information per bite estimated from the measurement value of the weight measurement unit and the table, calculates the target number of chewing times per bite, and based on the information recorded by the chewing motion recording means, a control unit that calculates the number of chewing times, An output unit that notifies, for each bite, the progress of the current number of chewing times with respect to the target number of chewing times, A meal support system comprising the above.

2. In the meal support system according to Claim 1, The chewing motion recording means is a user imaging unit that images the user during a meal, The control unit detects, from the image information acquired from the user imaging unit, a first coordinate that is the coordinate of a predetermined part above the user's mouth and a second coordinate that is the coordinate of a predetermined part below the user's mouth, and calculates the current number of chewing times based on the time-series change in the distance between the first coordinate and the second coordinate. A meal support system characterized by this.

3. In the meal support system according to Claim 2, The first coordinate is the nose coordinate, and the second coordinate is the jaw coordinate. A meal support system characterized by this.

4. In the meal support system according to Claim 2, The control unit detects the upper lip coordinate, lower lip coordinate, and finger coordinate or eating utensil coordinate of the user from the image information acquired from the user imaging unit, and when the distance between the upper lip coordinate and the lower lip coordinate is greater than a first predetermined value and the distance between the finger coordinate or the eating utensil coordinate and the position of the user's mouth is less than a second predetermined value, it is estimated that food has been put into the mouth. A meal support system characterized by this.

5. In the meal support system according to Claim 4, As the position of the user's mouth, the upper lip coordinate, or the coordinate in the middle of the upper lip coordinate and the lower lip coordinate, is used. A meal support system characterized by this.

6. In the meal support system according to Claim 1, The weight measurement unit is provided on a tray on which food is placed. A meal support system characterized by this.

7. In the meal support system according to Claim 1, The weight measurement unit is provided on an eating utensil. A meal support system characterized by this.

8. In the meal support system according to Claim 1, The food intake support system further includes a food imaging unit that images the food arranged in front of the user. The storage unit stores the relationship between the position and type of the food as food arrangement information. The control unit detects a food intake target position from the image captured by the food imaging unit, and identifies the type of the food to be taken by collating the food intake target position with the food arrangement information.

9. In the food intake support system according to claim 8, The storage unit stores the different tables for each type of the food. The control unit calculates the target chewing times based on the table corresponding to the type of the food to be taken.

10. In the food intake support system according to claim 8, The chewing motion recording means is a user imaging unit that images the user during a meal, The user imaging unit also serves as the food imaging unit.

Images