Wearable Camera Food Tracking via Hand Gesture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies for tracking food consumption are often cumbersome and socially awkward, requiring users to pull out their cellphone or wear camera-enabled smart glasses to monitor their eating habits.
Innovation Solution
A wearable device, such as a finger ring or smart watch, equipped with a motion sensor and a camera on its ventral side, which is activated when the user waves their hand over food, allowing for automatic tracking of food types and quantities using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a camera-enabled smart glass or cellphone is used to track food consumption, then food tracking capability is achieved, but social awkwardness and user comfort deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical/cellular system (cellphone, smart glasses with cameras) with an optical system (infrared sensors, light detectors) that can detect food-related activities without visual recording. This substitution maintains automation capability while eliminating the social awkwardness associated with visible camera equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces infrared sensors and light detectors as intermediary devices that detect food consumption indirectly through light absorption by food items, rather than directly imaging the user or their actions. This intermediary approach enables automated tracking while maintaining user discretion and social comfort.
2Ease of operation
If a wearable device with ventral camera is used, then discreet tracking is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple functions (food detection, activity tracking, communication) into a single wearable device platform. The ventral camera and infrared sensors share the same device housing and processing unit, allowing discreet operation while managing complexity through functional integration rather than separate devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent places the camera specifically on the ventral side of the wearable device, orienting it to point downward toward food items during natural hand movements. This localized positioning enables discreet tracking without requiring the entire device to be redesigned, managing complexity through targeted component placement.
3Extent of automation
If hand motion triggering is implemented, then automatic activation is achieved, but false activation from normal movements increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses motion sensors to detect hand movements and provides feedback to the camera activation system. By analyzing the characteristics of detected motions (amplitude, frequency, pattern), the system can distinguish between intentional food-scanning gestures and normal hand movements, reducing false activation while maintaining automatic operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic activation thresholds and motion pattern recognition that adapt to different usage contexts. The system learns and adjusts to the user's natural hand movements over time, enabling reliable automatic activation while filtering out false triggers from everyday gestures.
Data Source
AI summary
A person's food consumption can be automatically tracked by a finger ring or smart watch with a motion sensor and a camera on its ventral portion. The camera is activated to record images when the device is waved over food. The images are analyzed to identify food types and quantities. A system for tracking food consumption can include a finger ring with a camera which is worn on a person's dominant arm and a smart watch worn on the person's non-dominant arm, wherein images recorded by the camera are displayed by the smart watch.