Personalized Menu Generation via Ingredient Substitution

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Solution Overview

Problem

Restaurant menus can be overwhelming, leading to users overlooking options and struggling with allergies or preferences, resulting in suboptimal food choices due to the lack of efficient customization and substitution options in existing systems.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented method and system that categorizes menu item ingredients as substitutable or non-substitutable, compares them to user preferences, and automatically identifies substitutes to generate a personalized menu, allowing for customized meal settings and preferences such as allergies, likes, dislikes, and time constraints.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If a standard menu is provided with all available options, then the restaurant offers complete choices, but the user experiences overwhelming complexity and difficulty in making selections

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemenu customizationVSAvoidmenu complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The menu is segmented into multiple pages or sections based on user preferences, allergies, and dietary restrictions. Instead of presenting all items at once, the system divides the comprehensive menu into manageable segments that are relevant to each user, reducing cognitive overload while maintaining complete option availability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-filtering and personalizing menu content before presentation to the user. User preferences, allergies, and dietary restrictions are processed in advance to generate a customized menu view, eliminating the need for users to manually navigate through irrelevant or problematic items.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If users manually review all menu items to accommodate allergies and preferences, then complete information is considered, but significant time and energy are expended

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefood safetyVSAvoidordering time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs self-service by automatically filtering menu items based on user profiles containing allergy information, dietary restrictions, and preferences. This eliminates the need for users to manually check each item's ingredients, as the system autonomously ensures food safety and compatibility with user requirements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses feedback from user profiles and order history to continuously improve menu personalization. By learning from previous orders and user responses, the system refines its filtering algorithms to better predict safe and preferred items, reducing the time users need to spend verifying food safety with each order.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Adaptability or versatility

If substitution options are not pre-configured, then menu flexibility is maintained, but users cannot easily accommodate ingredient allergies or preferences

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveingredient substitutionVSAvoidordering ease

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

Substitution options are pre-configured and stored in the system before users place orders. Ingredient alternatives, allergen-free replacements, and dietary-appropriate substitutes are established in advance, allowing the system to automatically suggest or apply substitutions based on user profiles without requiring manual intervention during the ordering process.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

4Ease of operation

If the system automatically personalizes menus, then user preferences are optimized, but the system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveordering easeVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system achieves universality by using a single automated personalization engine that handles multiple functions: filtering by allergies, applying dietary restrictions, suggesting substitutions, and optimizing recommendations. This multi-functional approach consolidates complexity into one system rather than requiring separate mechanisms for each personalization task.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS11393052B2Generating a personalized menu for submitting a custom order

Publication Date: 2022.07.19 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

A computer-implemented method includes identifying a first menu item on a standard menu of an establishment. A first plurality of ingredients of the first menu item are determined. A first subset of the first plurality of ingredients of the first menu item are categorized into a substitutable category. A second subset of the first plurality of ingredients of the first menu item are categorized into a non-substitutable category. Each ingredient of the first menu item that is in the substitutable category is compared to user preferences. A substitutable ingredient of the substitutable category is excluded, based on the comparisons, where the substitutable ingredient is in the first menu item. An available substitute is automatically identified for the substitutable ingredient of the substitutable category. A personalized menu of menu items selected from the standard menu is generated, where the personalized menu includes the first menu item modified with the available substitute.