Smart Pantry Management Using Sensor-Based Consumption Tracking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Households face challenges in tracking and managing food items, leading to uncertainty about what food is available, what needs to be purchased, and whether items are expiring, resulting in redundant purchases and inefficient meal planning.

Innovation Solution

A smart pantry system that uses sensors and computing devices to create a data store of food items, including their quantities and expiration dates, and provides recipe recommendations and notifications based on consumption data, allowing users to track and manage their food inventory effectively.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If households store large quantities of food items, then food availability is improved, but tracking and monitoring difficulty increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefood quantityVSAvoidtracking difficulty

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables automatic tracking of food items through sensors that detect presence, quantity, and expiration dates without requiring manual user input. The smart pantry management system self-monitors the food inventory and automatically updates the data store, eliminating the need for users to manually track each food item while maintaining accurate records of large quantities stored.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Loss of information

If manual tracking of food items is implemented, then awareness of food status is improved, but time consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefood status awarenessVSAvoidtracking time

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system replaces manual mechanical tracking methods with automated sensor-based detection. Sensors continuously monitor food items and automatically update the data store with current status information including quantity, expiration dates, and inventory levels. This eliminates the time-consuming manual tracking process while maintaining complete awareness of food status.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Loss of substance

If shopping confidence is increased through better tracking, then redundant purchases are reduced, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveredundant purchasesVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of substanceVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The smart pantry management system performs multiple functions through a single integrated platform: it tracks food inventory, monitors expiration dates, generates shopping lists, and provides recipe recommendations. By consolidating these diverse functions into one universal system, the patent reduces redundant purchases through accurate tracking while avoiding the complexity of multiple separate tracking tools.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS10592860B2System for smart pantry management using consumption data

Publication Date: 2020.03.17 PERFECT COMPANY

AI summary

A smart pantry system is able to build a data store of the food items that a user or household has on hand, and maintain the data store in light of corroborated point of consumption (POC) data. The data store may also include information about those food items, such as names of food items, brands of food items, number of units of food items, quantity of food items, expiration dates, dates that food items were purchased, nutrition information, etc. The system may also leverage the data store to provide recipe recommendations and/or notifications to a user.