Systems and methods for using a smart refrigerator to implement accountability measures associated with intake objectives

• US 10,431,115 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2016
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: MasterCard International InCorporation (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Staveley, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Egloff, Peter R
• Application Number:
  US15/240,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20180053440A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0092 Nutrition
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets

Abstract

A smart refrigerator including a processor, a memory, and a user interface is described herein. The smart refrigerator is configured to receive user input of a nutritional objective from a user via the user interface, and receive user input of a grocery order including a plurality of grocery items via the user interface. The smart refrigerator is also configured to retrieve nutritional information associated with the plurality of grocery items, and compile a nutritional profile for the user from the retrieved nutritional information. The smart refrigerator is further configured to compare the nutritional profile to the nutritional objective to determine whether the user has met the nutritional objective, and release, when the user has met the nutritional objective, a reward to the user.

Claims

1. A smart refrigerator comprising:

a plurality of walls enclosing a refrigerated section;

a memory;

a user interface; and

a processor in communication with said memory and said user interface, said processor programmed to;

obtain from a user via the user interface a first set of rules that define a nutritional objective as a function of a grocery order and an interval of time for the grocery order;

display, on the user interface, a grocery ordering platform;

obtain, through the grocery ordering platform, user input of the grocery order having a plurality of grocery items;

retrieve, while obtaining the user input of the grocery order, nutritional information associated with the plurality of grocery items;

generate a temporary nutritional profile for the user based on the retrieved nutritional information for all of the plurality of grocery items and an existing nutritional profile representing one or more previous grocery orders within the interval of time;

determine whether the user is likely to meet the nutritional objective by evaluating the temporary nutritional profile against the first set of rules;

identify, based on the determining, at least one candidate grocery item of the plurality of grocery items that reduces the likelihood the user will meet the nutritional objective;

visually highlight, on the grocery ordering platform, the at least one candidate grocery item;

receive, through the grocery ordering platform, user input removing the at least one candidate grocery item from the grocery order;

transmit the grocery order to a grocery merchant;

update the existing nutritional profile for the user based on the transmitted grocery order;

determine the user has met the nutritional objective by evaluating the updated nutritional profile against the first set of rules; and

produce, based on the determining, a user-defined reward to the user.

2. The smart refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the user-defined reward includes access to one or more grocery items having associated nutritional information that does not meet the nutritional objective.

3. The smart refrigerator of claim 2, wherein said processor is further programmed to make the user-defined reward accessible to the user via the user interface.

4. The smart refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the user-defined reward includes an amount of money to purchase one or more grocery items having associated nutritional information that does not meet the nutritional objective.

5. The smart refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the user-defined reward includes access to an amount of reward funds.

6. The smart refrigerator of claim 5, wherein the reward funds are accessible for a predetermined period of time.

7. The smart refrigerator of claim 5, wherein the amount is predetermined by the user.

8. The smart refrigerator of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to receive user input from the user of the user-defined reward via the user interface.

9. The smart refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the user is a first user, and wherein said processor is further programmed to:

identify a plurality of users including the first user with the same nutritional objective;

compare nutritional profiles associated with respective users of the plurality of users; and

produce the user-defined reward upon determining that the nutritional profile of the first user best meets the nutritional objective.

20. The smart refrigerator of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to transmit an instruction to a financial institution associated with a financial account of the user to cause the financial institution to provide the user-defined reward to the user.

10. A method for implementing accountability measures associated with nutritional objectives, said method performed using an intake tracking and reward (ITR) computing device including a plurality of walls enclosing a refrigerated section, a memory, a user interface, and a processor in communication with the memory and the user interface, said method comprising:

obtaining from a user via the user interface a first set of rules that define a nutritional objective as a function of a grocery order and an interval of time for the grocery order;

displaying, on the user interface, a grocery ordering platform;

obtaining, through the grocery ordering platform, user input of the grocery order having a plurality of grocery items;

retrieving, while obtaining the user input of the grocery order, nutritional information associated with the plurality of grocery items;

generating a temporary nutritional profile for the user based on the retrieved nutritional information for all of the plurality of grocery items and an existing nutritional profile representing one or more previous grocery orders within the interval of time;

determining whether the user is likely to meet the nutritional objective by evaluating the temporary nutritional profile against the first set of rules;

identifying, based on the determining, at least one candidate grocery item of the plurality of grocery items that reduces the likelihood the user will meet the nutritional objective;

visually highlighting, on the grocery ordering platform, the at least one candidate grocery item;

receiving, through the grocery ordering platform, user input removing the at least one candidate grocery item from the grocery order;

transmitting the grocery order to a grocery merchant;

updating the existing nutritional profile for the user based on the transmitted grocery order;

determining the user has met the nutritional objective by evaluating the existing nutritional profile against the first set of rules; and

producing, based on the determining, a user-defined reward to the user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein releasing a user-defined reward to the user comprises releasing the reward including access to one or more grocery items having associated nutritional information that does not meet the nutritional objective.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising making the user-defined reward accessible to the user via the user interface.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein releasing a user-defined reward to the user comprises releasing the reward including an amount of money to purchase one or more grocery items having associated nutritional information that does not meet the nutritional objective.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein releasing a user-defined reward to the user comprises releasing the user-defined reward including an amount of reward funds, wherein the reward funds are accessible for a predetermined amount of time and the amount is predetermined by the user.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the user is a first user, said method further comprising:

identifying a plurality of users including the first user with the same nutritional objective;

comparing nutritional profiles associated with respective users of the plurality of users; and

producing the reward upon determining that the nutritional profile of the first user best meets the nutritional objective.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by an intake tracking and rewards (ITR) computing device including a plurality of walls enclosing a refrigerated section and at least one processor coupled to a memory and a user interface, the computer-executable instructions cause the ITR computing device to:

obtain from a user via the user interface a first set of rules that define a nutritional objective as a function of a grocery order and an interval of time for the grocery order;

display, on the user interface, a grocery ordering platform;

obtain, through the grocery ordering platform, user input of the grocery order having a plurality of grocery items;

retrieve, while obtaining the user input of the grocery order, nutritional information associated with the plurality of grocery items;

generate a temporary nutritional profile for the user based on the retrieved nutritional information for all of the plurality of grocery items and an existing nutritional profile representing one or more previous grocery orders within the interval of time;

determine whether the user is likely to meet the nutritional objective by evaluating the temporary nutritional profile against the first set of rules;

identify, based on the determining, at least one candidate grocery item of the plurality of grocery items that reduces the likelihood the user will meet the nutritional objective;

visually highlight, on the grocery ordering platform, the at least one candidate grocery item;

receive, through the grocery ordering platform, user input removing the at least one candidate grocery item from the grocery order;

transmit the grocery order to a grocery merchant;

update the existing nutritional profile for the user based on the transmitted grocery order;

determine the user has met the nutritional objective by evaluating the updated nutritional profile against the first set of rules; and

produce, based on the determining, a user-defined reward to the user.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage claim 16, wherein the user-defined reward includes access to one or more grocery items having associated nutritional information that does not meet the nutritional objective.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage claim 16, wherein the user-defined reward includes an amount of money to purchase one or more grocery items having associated nutritional information that does not meet the nutritional objective.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage claim 16, wherein the user-defined reward includes an amount of reward funds, wherein the reward funds are accessible for a predetermined amount of time and the amount is predetermined by the user.