Device for regulating eating by measuring potential

• US 20090253105A1
• Filed: 05/11/2007
• Published: 10/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Jacques Lepine
• Original Assignee: Jacques Lepine
• Inventors: Lepine, Jacques
• Application Number:
  US12/227,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20090253105A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/127
• CPC Class Codes: A47G 21/00 Table-ware crumb trays A47L13/52; table knives B26B

Abstract

A device for regulating eating by measuring food intake data during meals by means of cutlery equipped with a handle and a food gripping head and by pedagogically restoring these data to the user to alter the movements and/or kinetics of his or her body during mealtimes characterized in that the food gripping head is conductive and in contact with a data processing circuit comprising a potential sensor circuit, the gripping surface of the handle being insulated from the food gripping head.

Claims

1. A device for regulating eating by measuring food intake data during meals, by means of cutlery (1) equipped with a handle (10) and with a food gripping head (30) and by pedagogically restoring these data to the user to alter the movements and/or kinetics of his body during mealtimes characterized in that the food gripping head (30) is conductive and in contact (11) with a data processing circuit (12) comprising a potential sensor circuit (21) characteristic of the human body, the gripping surface of the handle (10) being insulated from the food gripping head (30).

2. The eating regulating device according to claim 1 characterized in that the piece of cutlery (1) is a fork or a spoon.

3. The eating regulating device according to claim 2 characterized in that the insulated surface of the handle also comprises the shoulder of the piece of cutlery in the immediate proximity of the tines of the fork or the bowl of the spoon.

4. The eating regulating device according to claim 1 characterized in that the electronic data processing circuit (12) comprises a sensor circuit integrating a capacitive circuit (21), a circuit for processing captured data (22) and a circuit for restoring processed data (23).

5. The eating regulating device according to claim 4 characterized in that the capacitive circuit (21) for measuring electric potential filters the characteristic potential of the human body by means of a circuit comprising a capacitance (31) and is adjusted to only filter the applied potential in a potential range specific to the human body, the processing circuit (22) comprises a chip (32) coupled to a timer (33), the processing circuit (22) processes data correlated with food intake acts and with their times during meals to provide a series of pedagogical restoration indicators that it sends to the restoring circuit, the restoring circuit (23) comprises an alarm (35) that restores food intake pedagogy to the user on the processed data.

6. The eating regulating device according to claim 5 characterized in that the restoring circuit (23) comprises a transmission device (34) whose function is to transmit and interface the processed data with another remote terminal, the transmission device (34) being either integrated into a USB key, or integrating a wireless dialogue technology of the radio wave type operating or not operating over a BLUETOOTH type protocol.

7. The eating regulating device according to claim 1 characterized in that the invention is provided with a cutlery handle (10) that comprises the electronic circuit, and two pieces of cutlery, including a fork (30a) and a spoon (30b), the lengths of the fork (30a) and the spoon (30b) being shorter than the length of a traditional fork or spoon inasmuch as they are in contact along their handle ends (42) with the contactor (11) inside and in the middle of the handle (10).

8. The eating regulating device according to claim 1 characterized in that the pieces of cutlery (30) are maintained inside the handle by means of an articulated connection (42) that allows the piece of cutlery to be pivoted from a meal position to a storage position, the cutlery heads (30) thus being removable so as to be able to be easily cleaned after the meal.