Food printing additive layering substrate structure ingestible material preparation system and method

• US 10,239,256 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2015
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Holman, Paul, Levien, Royce A., Malamud, Mark A., Stephenson, Neal, Young, Christopher Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Kennedy, Timothy
• Application Number:
  US14/750,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20160021925A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 5/00 Preparation or treatment of foods or foodstuffs, in general; Food or foodstuffs obtained thereby; Materials therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A23P 20/00 Coating of foodstuffs; Coatings therefor; Making laminated, multi-layered, stuffed or hollow foodstuffs
• CPC Class Codes: A23P 20/20 Making of laminated, multi-layered, stuffed or hollow foodstuffs, e.g. by wrapping in preformed edible dough sheets or in edible food containers
• CPC Class Codes: A23P 2020/253 Coating food items by printing onto them; Printing layers of food products
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/20 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 30/00 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/02 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes

Abstract

A computationally implemented system and method that is designed to, but is not limited to: electronically directing control of at least partial treatment of the one or more portions of the one or more ingestible substrate structures according to the treatment instructional information regarding the one or more subsequent ingestible substrate structure directed energy operations including directing energy to treat at least in part the one or more portions of the one or more ingestible substrate structures to form at least in part the one or more selected ingestible products subsequent to and based at least in part upon the electronically receiving the user status information and the electronically receiving the selection information. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an ingestible product preparation machine including at least one injection treatment assembly configured for one or more liquid injection operations and including at least one food printing assembly;

at least one microprocessor coupled with the ingestible product preparation machine; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium including at least one or more operations which, when executed by the at least one microprocessor, cause the at least one microprocessor to perform one or more operations including at least;

receiving at least some identifying data related to a user and one or more food selections selected from a menu of food items by the user;

directing one or more applied forces via one or more objects onto one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections;

printing, using the at least one food printing assembly, one or more layers of food material onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections;

injecting, using the at least one injection treatment assembly, one or more liquid materials proximate to at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on at least one indication of one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data; and

directing at least some heat to steam at least in part at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions using the one or more liquid materials.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein injecting, using the at least one injection treatment assembly, one or more liquid materials proximate to at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on at least one indication of one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data comprises:

injecting, via one or more needle-based injections, the one or more liquid materials proximate to the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the at least one indication of the one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein injecting, using the at least one injection treatment assembly, one or more liquid materials proximate to at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on at least one indication of one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data comprises:

injecting, via one or more jet-based injections, the one or more liquid materials proximate to the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the at least one indication of the one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein injecting, via one or more jet-based injections, the one or more liquid materials proximate to the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the at least one indication of the one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data comprises:

controlling one or more pressurized air jets of the at least one injection treatment assembly of the ingestible product preparation machine to inject the one or more liquid materials proximate to the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the at least one indication of the one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained it association with the at least some identifying data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein printing, using the at least one food printing assembly, one or more layers of food material onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections comprises:

flowing one or more fluids through one or more ducts to treat at least in part one or more portions of the one or more ingestible substrate portions.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein flowing one or more fluids through one or more ducts to treat at least in part one or more portions of the one or more ingestible substrate portions comprises:

flowing the one or more fluids through the one or more ducts, the one or more ducts at least one of (a) having one or more dissolvable surfaces, (b) configured with one or more matrices, (c) having tubular duct arrangements, or (d) being internally located within the one or more ingestible substrate portions, to treat at least in part the one or more portions of the one or more ingestible substrate portions.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein directing one or more applied forces via one or more objects onto one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections comprises:

directing the one or more applied forces via the one or more objects to form the one or more ingestible substrate portions including at least one or more wafer portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein injecting, using the at least one injection treatment assembly, one or more liquid materials proximate to at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on at least one indication of one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data comprises:

injecting the one or more liquid materials through one or more externally positioned ducts adjacent to the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the at least one indication of the one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein directing at least some heat to steam at least in part at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions using the one or more liquid materials comprises:

directing at least some acoustic energy to heat, using the acoustic energy, the one or more liquid materials proximate to the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving at least some identifying data related to a user and one or more food selections selected from a menu of food items by the user comprises:

receiving the one or more user preferences of the user for a type of preparation of one or more ingestible products prepared by the ingestible product preparation machine using the one or more ingestible substrate portions and the one or more layers of food material.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein injecting, using the at least one injection treatment assembly, one or more liquid materials proximate to at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on at least one indication of one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data comprises:

injecting, using the at least one injection treatment assembly, the one or more liquid materials into the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the at least one indication of the one or more user preferences of the user for steaming.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein directing at least some heat to steam at least in part at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions using the one or more liquid materials comprises:

controlling movement of at least one movable energy emitter of the ingestible product preparation machine to focus the at least some heat on the one or more liquid materials proximate to the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions to steam at least in part the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions using the one or more liquid materials.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein directing at least some heat to steam at least in part at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions using the one or more liquid materials comprises:

directing the at least some heat to create at least some adiabatic steam for steaming at least in part the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions using the one or more liquid materials.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein injecting, using the at least one injection treatment assembly, one or more liquid materials proximate to at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on at least one indication of one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data comprises:

causing one or more injection probes configured to pierce the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions to be inserted into the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions; and

causing the one or more liquid materials to flow through the one or more injection probes into the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions for use in steaming an ingestible product made with the at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions for the user.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein printing, using the at least one food printing assembly, one or more layers of food material onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections comprises:

printing the one or more layers of food material onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions including at least leaving one or more channels within the one or more layers of food material for receiving the one or more liquid materials in one or more subsequent operations of injection of the one or more liquid materials.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein directing one or more applied forces via one or more objects onto one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections comprises:

directing one or more applied forces through one or more contact objects onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein directing one or more applied forces through one or more contact objects onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections comprises:

directing one or more applied forces through one or more projection surfaces as the one or more contact objects onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein directing one or more applied forces through one or more projection surfaces as the one or more contact objects onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections comprises:

directing one or more applied forces through the one or more projection surfaces onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions to create one or more channels in the one or more ingestible substrate portions for receiving the one or more liquid materials in one or more subsequent operations of injection of the one or more liquid materials based at least in part on the one or more food selections.

10. A system, comprising:

at least one processing device; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium including at least one or more instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the at least one processing device to perform one or more operations including at least;

receiving at least some identifying data related to a user and one or more food selections selected from a menu of food items by the user;

directing one or more applied forces via one or more objects onto one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections;

printing, using at least one food printing assembly of an ingestible product preparation machine coupled to the at least one processing device, one or more layers of food material onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections;

injecting, using at least one injection treatment assembly of the ingestible product preparation machine coupled to the at least one processing device, one or more liquid materials proximate to at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on at least one indication of one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data; and

directing at least some heat to steam at least in part at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions using the one or more liquid materials.

14. A system, comprising:

at least one processing device; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium including at least one or more instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the at least one processing device to perform one or more operations including at least;

receiving at least some identifying data related to a user and one or more food selections selected from a menu of food items by the user;

directing one or more applied forces via one or more objects onto one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections;

printing, using at least one food printing assembly, one or more layers of food material onto the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on the one or more food selections;

injecting, using at least one injection treatment assembly, one or more liquid materials proximate to at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions based at least in part on at least one indication of one or more user preferences of the user for steaming obtained in association with the at least some identifying data; and

directing at least some heat to steam at least in part at least one of the one or more layers of food material or the one or more ingestible substrate portions using the one or more liquid materials.