Mobile Food Recommendation via Short-Range Data Push
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers with specific dietary needs or goals face difficulties in identifying suitable food items due to small and obscure nutritional labels, which can contain unfamiliar ingredients and deceptive information regarding serving sizes.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that utilize short-range communication protocols to push food item data to a user's mobile device, allowing filtering based on pre-defined dietary restrictions and preferences, thereby recommending compatible food items without manual scanning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If consumers manually read nutritional labels to identify suitable food items, then they can obtain information about ingredients and nutritional content, but the labels are small, obscure and difficult to read, causing loss of time and difficulty in understanding
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobile device as an intermediary between the consumer and the nutritional information. The device receives data from sensors (e.g., scanning barcodes or reading NFC tags) and presents processed, easy-to-understand nutritional information, eliminating the need for consumers to directly interpret small, obscure labels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical action of manually reading and interpreting physical labels with an automated electronic system. The mobile device automatically captures nutritional data through scanning or wireless communication and processes it, substituting the manual mechanical process of label reading with an automated digital system.
2Loss of information
If nutritional labels contain detailed ingredient lists and nutritional information, then consumers can understand food composition, but the information becomes obscure and difficult to decipher due to small label size and unfamiliar ingredients
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves nutritional information from a two-dimensional physical label on the product packaging to a digital display on a mobile device. This dimensional transition allows the same information to be presented in a larger, more accessible format with enhanced readability and additional processing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device acts as an intermediary that retrieves nutritional information from various sources (packaging sensors, databases) and presents it in an user-friendly format. This intermediary process transforms obscure label information into clear, actionable nutritional data that consumers can easily understand.
3Adaptability or versatility
If consumers rely on traditional nutritional labels to meet dietary objectives, then they can identify food items, but they encounter significant inconvenience and costs due to the difficulty of deciphering label information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the mobile device provides real-time information about how food items align with the consumer's dietary objectives. The system continuously monitors nutritional intake and offers guidance, enabling consumers to make informed decisions that meet their nutritional goals while shopping or dining.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables consumers to independently assess nutritional information and make dietary decisions without relying on obscure labels or external assistance. The mobile device provides all necessary nutritional data and analysis, allowing consumers to self-serve their nutritional information needs and make autonomous dietary choices.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and apparatus for recommending a food item are disclosed. For example, the method receives one or more food item data communications over a short range communications protocol that are pushed to a mobile endpoint device, filters the one or more food item data communications in accordance with a food item filter pre-defined by a user to identify an acceptable food item to recommend to the user and recommends the acceptable food item to the user.