System and Method for Automated Meal Recommendations
First Claim
1. An automated method of recommending a meal, the method comprising:
- identifying a plurality of meal descriptors, wherein each meal descriptor describes an aspect of a meal;
characterizing each of a plurality of meals, wherein said characterizing comprises assigning values for the meal descriptors;
storing the characterizations;
storing a user'"'"'s preferences regarding at least one of the meal descriptors;
cross-referencing the meal characterizations with the user'"'"'s preferences to identify one or more meals satisfying the user'"'"'s preferences; and
transmitting to the user a recommendation of a subset of the one or more meals.
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Abstract
A system and method are provided for making automatic meal recommendations. A user rates his likes and dislikes regarding various factors/characterizations of food, and identifies any dietary restrictions (e.g., avoid sodium, allergic to peanuts). Illustrative factors include types of cuisine (e.g., Italian), type of food (e.g., seafood, vegetarian), method of preparation (e.g., broiled), specific foods or food components (e.g., hamburger, mustard), etc. A user rating of 1 indicates a “like,” −1 indicates a “dislike.” Some number of preconfigured meals (including snacks) is characterized similarly. A characterization may comprise a 1 for factors that the meal contains or matches, and 0 for factors it does not match. For each factor, a meal'"'"'s value is multiplied by the user'"'"'s value, and the products for each factor are added to produce a rank for that meal for the user. Any number of meals may be recommended.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An automated method of recommending a meal, the method comprising:
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identifying a plurality of meal descriptors, wherein each meal descriptor describes an aspect of a meal; characterizing each of a plurality of meals, wherein said characterizing comprises assigning values for the meal descriptors; storing the characterizations; storing a user'"'"'s preferences regarding at least one of the meal descriptors; cross-referencing the meal characterizations with the user'"'"'s preferences to identify one or more meals satisfying the user'"'"'s preferences; and transmitting to the user a recommendation of a subset of the one or more meals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of recommending a meal, the method comprising:
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identifying a plurality of meal descriptors, wherein each meal descriptor describes an aspect of a meal; characterizing each of a plurality of meals, wherein said characterizing comprises assigning values for the meal descriptors; storing the characterizations; storing a user'"'"'s preferences regarding at least one of the meal descriptors; cross-referencing the meal characterizations with the user'"'"'s preferences to identify one or more meals satisfying the user'"'"'s preferences; and transmitting to the user a recommendation of a subset of the one or more meals.
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13. An apparatus for recommending a meal to a user, the apparatus comprising:
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a communication module configured to communicate with one or more communication devices operated by the user; a first data storage configured to store characterizations of a plurality of meals created based on one or more food factors; and a processor configured to; generate a characterization of the user based on his likes and dislikes of the food factors; and recommend one or more of the plurality of meals based on the characterizations of the meals and the characterization of the user. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification