PORTABLE TERMINAL, CALORIE ESTIMATION METHOD, AND CALORIE ESTIMATION PROGRAM

• US 20120135384A1
• Filed: 11/28/2011
• Published: 05/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: NAKAO, Koji
• Application Number:
  US13/305,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20120135384A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/127
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 33/30 Dietetic or nutritional methods, e.g. for losing weight A23L33/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0092 Nutrition

Abstract

A portable terminal including: an imaging portion; a storage portion configured to store a database in which a plurality of foods and the calories thereof are associated with the shapes of containers and with the colors of the foods; a container detection portion configured to detect, from an image taken of a food slantwise at a predetermined angle to a horizontal direction, a container on which the food is placed; a container shape classification portion configured to classify the shape of the container detected by the container detection portion; a color detection portion configured to detect the container having been detected by the container detection portion; and a food estimation portion configured to estimate the food and the calories thereof from the database.

Claims

1. A portable terminal comprising:

an imaging portion configured to acquire an image of food to be calorically estimated;

a stored database of a plurality of foods and calories of each of the foods in the database, the foods in the database each being associated with shapes of containers and colors of the foods;

a container detection portion configured to detect, based on an image of the food to be calorically estimated taken slantwise at an angle to a horizontal direction, a container on which the food to be calorically estimated is placed;

a container shape classification portion configured to classify a shape of the container detected by the container detection portion;

a color detection portion configured to detect, as the color of the food to be calorically estimated, the color of an area of the container on which the food to be calorically estimated is considered to be placed; and

a food estimation portion configured to estimate the food to be calorically estimated and the calories of the food to be calorically estimated from the database, using the shape of the container detected by the container detection portion and the color of the food detected by the color detection portion.

2. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the container shape classification portion detects a maximum width and a maximum length of the container detected by the container detection portion in order to classify the shape of the container based on a ratio of the width to the length.

3. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein the container shape classification portion detects a center point at which the width and the length intersect, and classifies the shape of the container according to a ratio of an upper segment to a lower segment, wherein the upper segment is an entire portion of the maximum length above the center point and the lower segment is an entire portion of the maximum length below the center point.

4. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the database also associates the foods and the calories with container colors, wherein the color detection portion further detects the color of an area considered to be the container, and wherein the food estimation portion estimates the food to be calorically estimated and the calories from the database using the container color.

5. The portable terminal according to claim 4, wherein the container shape classification portion detects a center point at which intersect the width and the length of the container detected by the container detection portion, and wherein the color detection portion detects a color component of a predetermined inner area around the center point as the color of the food, and a color component of a predetermined outer area outside the predetermined inner area on said container as the color of said container.

6. The portable terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display control portion configured to display a list of food names from the database for selection by a user to identify one of the food names representing the food to be calorically estimated which is contained in the container; and

a learning portion configured such that when one of the food names is selected from said list, the learning portion adds to the database the food corresponding to the selected food name and the calories of the selected food name in association with the container shape selected by the user and the color of the food.

7. A calorie estimation method comprising:

detecting a container on which food is placed using an image of the food taken slantwise at an angle to a horizontal direction;

classifying a shape of the detected container;

detecting a color of the food on the container by detecting the color of an area of the detected container on which the food is considered to be placed; and

estimating the food on the container and the calories of the food on the container using a database of foods associated with container shapes and food colors, the foods in the database each having an associated amount of calories, the estimating of the food on the container being based on a comparison of the classified shape of the detected container and the detected color of the food on the container.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the classifying of the shape of the detected container comprises detecting whether the image includes a plurality of straight line components, and classifying the container as a rectangular plate when the image includes a plurality of straight line components.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the classifying of the shape of the detected container comprises detecting a maximum width and a maximum length of the detected container.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the classifying of the container comprises determining whether a ratio of the maximum length to the maximum width is larger than an aspect ratio threshold.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the classifying of the container comprises classifying the container as a first type of container if a ratio of the maximum length to the maximum width is larger than an aspect ratio threshold, and classifying the container as a second type of container if the ratio of the maximum length to the maximum width is smaller than the aspect ratio threshold.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the classifying of the container shape comprises detecting a center point at which the maximum length and the maximum width intersect, and wherein the classifying of the container comprises classifying the shape of the container according to a ratio of an upper segment to a lower segment, wherein the upper segment is an entire portion of the maximum length above the center point and the lower segment is an entire portion of the maximum length below the center point

13. The method according to claim 7, further comprising detecting a color of an area considered to be the container, and wherein the estimating of the food includes comparing the detected color of the area considered to be the container, and comparing the detected color of the area considered to be the container with container colors in the database associated with the foods in the database.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the classifying of the container shape comprises detecting a center point at which the maximum length and the maximum width intersect, wherein the detecting of the color of the food comprises detecting a color of a predetermined inner area around the center point as the color of the food, and detecting a color of a predetermined outer area outside the predetermined inner area as the color of the area considered to be the container.

15. The method according to claim 7, wherein the classifying of the container shape comprises detecting a center point at which the maximum length and the maximum width intersect, and wherein the detecting of the color of the food comprises detecting a color of a predetermined inner area around the center point as the color of the food.

16. The method according to claim 7, further comprising displaying a list of individually selectable food names from the database, and adding to the database the food corresponding to a selected one of the food names and the calories of the selected food name in association with the container shape selected by the user and the color of the food.

17. A non-transitory calorie estimation program stored in a computer readable medium for causing a computer to execute a procedure comprising:

detecting, from an image of food taken slantwise at an angle to a horizontal direction, a container on which the food is located;

classifying a shape of the detected container;

detecting, as a color of the food on the container, the color of an area of the detected container on which the food is considered to be placed; and

estimating the food and calories of the food by comparing the classified shape of the container and the detected color of the food to a database in which is stored a plurality of foods and the calories of the foods, with each of the foods stored in the database and the calories of the foods stored in the database being associated with shapes of containers and colors of foods.

18. The non-transitory calorie estimation program according to claim 17, wherein the classifying of the shape of the detected container comprises detecting a maximum width and a maximum length of the detected container, and determining whether a ratio of the maximum length to the maximum width is larger than an aspect ratio threshold.

19. The non-transitory calorie estimation program according to claim 18, wherein the classifying of the container shape comprises detecting a center point at which the maximum length and the maximum width intersect, and wherein the classifying of the container comprises classifying the shape of the container according to a ratio of an upper segment to a lower segment, wherein the upper segment is an entire portion of the maximum length above the center point and the lower segment is an entire portion of the maximum length below the center point

20. The non-transitory calorie estimation program according to claim 18, wherein the classifying of the container shape comprises detecting a center point at which the maximum length and the maximum width intersect, and wherein the detecting of the color of the food comprises detecting a color of a predetermined inner area around the center point as the color of the food.