Pressure-Sensitive Food Scale for Automated Meal Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals find it cumbersome to track the nutritional attributes of food ingredients during meal preparation, making it difficult to manage diet plans and food inventory efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A pressure-sensitive device that measures the weight and footprint of food items, integrating with a computing device to identify the food items from a library, allowing for automated tracking of meal preparation steps and nutritional data without the need for manual measurement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual measurement and tracking of each ingredient is performed, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic self-tracking of ingredients during meal preparation. The computing device automatically detects when ingredients are added to containers, identifies them through image recognition or barcode scanning, and records their nutritional information without requiring manual intervention from the user.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical measurement processes (weighing, measuring cups) with automated computational systems. The computing device uses computer vision, image processing, and database lookups to automatically determine ingredient quantities and nutritional content, eliminating the need for physical measurement tools and manual calculation.
2Measurement precision
If manual measurement and tracking of each ingredient is performed, then measurement precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic self-tracking of ingredients during meal preparation. The computing device automatically detects when ingredients are added to containers, identifies them through image recognition or barcode scanning, and records their nutritional information without requiring manual intervention from the user.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical measurement processes (weighing, measuring cups) with automated computational systems. The computing device uses computer vision, image processing, and database lookups to automatically determine ingredient quantities and nutritional content, eliminating the need for physical measurement tools and manual calculation.
3Ease of operation
If automated tracking system is implemented, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The computing device performs multiple functions: it captures images of ingredients, processes visual data to identify items, scans barcodes, looks up nutritional information in databases, calculates quantities, and tracks meal composition. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate devices into a single universal system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a computing device as an intermediary between the user and the meal preparation process. This intermediary automatically handles the complex tasks of ingredient identification, measurement, and nutritional tracking, shielding the user from complexity while providing accurate data.
4Measurement precision
If weight measurement is used to determine ingredient quantities, then measurement precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical measurement processes (weighing, measuring cups) with automated computational systems. The computing device uses computer vision, image processing, and database lookups to automatically determine ingredient quantities and nutritional content, eliminating the need for physical measurement tools and manual calculation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Minimizes user overhead in meal preparation and tracking, making the process more efficient by automatically measuring ingredients and converting weights to quantities, thus simplifying diet management and inventory control.
Implementation Method 1
A pressure-sensitive device may be constructed from a pressure-sensitive pad (for measuring a footprint of a food item) layered over a food scale (for measuring the weight of the food item)
Implementation Method 2
A pressure-sensitive pad may more specifically measure the footprint shape (i.e., an outline of the footprint), a footprint pressure distribution (i.e., a two-dimensional array of pressure measurements within the footprint) and/or a footprint location
Implementation Method 3
weight may be determined by the pressure-sensitive device by integrating a footprint pressure distribution of the food item over the footprint of the food item
Data Source
AI summary
A pressure-sensitive device and a computing device are configured to register various steps of a meal lifecycle, including one or more of food purchasing, meal preparation, the serving and consumption of a meal, use of leftovers, management of food inventory, the transferring of a food item from one container to another, the transferring of a food item into a container, the transferring of a portion of a food item into a container. A food item may be automatically identified based on a weight and footprint of the food item. In some instances, a database associates a food item with multiple footprints such that a food item may be identified regardless of its orientation on the pressure-sensitive device.