Weight management system with simple data input

• US 7,769,635 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Bodlaender, Maarten Peter, Goris, Annelies, Simons-Nikolova, Mariana, Schneider, Olivier
• Primary Examiner(s): Frenel; Vanel
• Application Number:
  US12/066,675
• Publication Number:
  US 20080255955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,433 Days
• Field of Search: 705/21, 705 14- 15, 235/462.46, 434/127, 707/1
• US Class Current: 705/21
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4146 for controlling caloric intake, e.g. diet control
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3735 using a digital network
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3742 using a mobile telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

A weight management system comprises a cash register (CRS), a user client (UC) and a weight management module (WM), coupled via a wide area network (WAN). A user has a personal card (PC) with a code, the code identifying the user to the cash register and being related to a user ID. The cash register system (CRS) is arranged for sending, when the user pays the food item, corresponding food intake information and the user ID to the weight management module (WM). The weight management module (WM) comprises a food information system, a calorie intake component and a calorie balance component. The food information system stores a respective calorie content for a plurality of food items. The calorie intake component is coupled to the food information system and calculates an amount of calories taken by the user based on the received food intake information.

Claims

1. A weight management system comprising:

a personal card with a code, the code identifying a user to a cash register and being related to a user ID

a cash register, a user client and a weight management module, coupled via a wide area network, the cash register being coupled to the weight management module via the wide area network for sending, when the user pays a food item, corresponding food intake information and the user ID to a weight management module, the user client being arranged for obtaining a calorie balance from the weight management module and comprising output means for providing the calorie balance to the user, and the weight management module comprising;

a food information system for storing respective calorie content for a plurality of food items,

a calorie intake component, coupled to the food information system, for calculating an amount of calories taken by the user based on the received food intake information, and

a calorie balance component, coupled to the calorie intake component, for calculating a calorie balance for the user, based on the amount of calories taken by the user.

2. The weight management system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a further personal card with a further code, the further code identifying a user to an activity registration device and being related to the user ID

the activity registration device being coupled to the weight management module via the wide area network and being arranged for registering a performance of an activity sending the corresponding activity information and the user ID to the weight management module, the weight management module further comprising;

an activity information system for storing a respective calorie expense for a plurality of activities,

a calorie expenditure component, coupled to the activity information system, for calculating an amount of calories expended by the user based on the received activity information, and wherein

the calorie balance component is further coupled to the calorie expenditure component and is arranged for calculating the calorie balance further based on the amount of calories expended by the user.

3. The weight management system according to claim 2, wherein the user provides food intake information and activity information and sends the food intake information and the activity information to the weight management module.

4. The weight management system according to claim 2, wherein the activity information is formatted according to a uniform weight management system format.

5. The weight management system according to claim 2, wherein the calorie expenditure component comprises a converter which converts the activity information to a uniform weight management system format.

6. An activity registration device for use in the weight management system according to claim 2, comprising:

a registration device which, when the user performs an activity, registers the performance; and

a communication device which sends corresponding activity information and the user ID to the weight management module.

7. The weight management system according to claim 1, wherein the user client provides food intake information and sends the food intake information to the weight management module.

8. The weight management system according to claim 1, wherein the food intake information is formatted according to a uniform weight management system format.

9. The weight management system according to claim 1, wherein the calorie intake component comprises a converter which converts the food intake information to a uniform weight management system format.

10. The weight management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the food information system comprises a calorie content for a plurality of food ingredients, the weight management system further comprising a calorie source group client, coupled to the food information system for calculating the food intake information for a new food item, based on a list of ingredients of the new food item.

11. The weight management system according to claim 1, wherein the code is the user ID.

12. The weight management system according to claim 1, wherein the code is one of a credit card number, a bank account number and a member registration number, and wherein the weight management system further comprises a database for relating the code to the user ID.

13. The weight management system according to claim 1, wherein the personal card is a smart card.

14. The weight management system according to claim 1, wherein

the food information system further stores at least one respective nutritional value other than the calorie content for the plurality of food items,

the calorie intake component further calculates a total amount of the at least one nutritional value taken by the user, and

the weight management module further comprises a nutritional value monitor which monitors a nutritional value balance for the user, based on the amount of the at least one nutritional value taken by the user,

the user client obtains the nutritional value balance from the weight management module and the output means provides the nutritional value balance to the user.

15. A personal card for use in the weight management system according to claim 1, comprising the user ID and at least one of a credit card number, a bank account number and a member registration number.

16. A weight management system comprising:

a cash register system which reads user IDs from personal cards, food identifications which identify food items purchased, and credit card information and which includes an output for outputting the user IDs, food identifications, and credit card information to a wide area network;

a weight management module connected to the wide area network which receives the user IDs and food identifications from the cash register system, the weight management module including;

a food information system which stores at least calorie content of the food items identified by the food identifications, a calorie intake component which calculates an amount of calories taken by the user based on the calorie contents from the food information system of the food items output by the cash register system with the ID of a selected user, and a calorie balance component which compares the calculated amount of calories taken with a calorie budget and calculates a calorie balance based on the comparison; and

a plurality of wireless user client devices each associated with a corresponding user ID and connected with the wide area network, each user client device including a display on which an output of the calorie balance component is displayed.

17. The weight management system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the food items include restaurant menu food items and calories for each menu food item are stored in a restaurant data base which is connected with the wide area network and wherein the food information system accesses the restaurant database to retrieve calorie contents for the restaurant menu food items.

18. The weight management system as claimed in claim 16, further including at least one piece of exercise equipment connected with a personal card reader which reads user IDs from the personal cards and communicates the personal IDs and exercise activity information via the wide area network to the weight management module, the weight management module further including:

an activity information system which stores calorie expense amounts for each of a plurality of exercise activities;

a calorie expenditure component which calculates an amount of calories expended by the user associated with a corresponding user ID based on the received activity information and the calorie expense information from the activity information system; and

the calorie balance component generating the calorie balance based on the comparison and the amount of calories expended by the identified user.

19. A weight management system comprising:

a cash register system which reads user IDs from personal cards and food identifications which identify food items purchased by users identified by one of the user IDs carried on one of the personal cards presented at a time of purchase, the cash register system being connected with a wide area network for outputting identifications of food items and corresponding user IDs; and

at least one processor connected with the wide area network and programmed to perform the steps of;

storing respective calorie content amounts for each of a plurality of food items identified by the food identifications;

calculating an amount of calories taken in by a corresponding user in each purchase from the cash register system based on the calorie content of the food items identified by the cash register system and the corresponding user ID output by the cash register system;

calculating a calorie balance for the corresponding user based on the calorie content amount, any prior calorie balance for the corresponding user, and a calorie budget for the corresponding user calculated by the calorie balance component, each user client device including a display on which the calorie balance calculated by the calorie balance component for the corresponding user ID is calculated;

transmitting the calorie balance via the wide area network for the corresponding user ID; and

a plurality of wireless user client devices each associated with a corresponding user ID and connected with the wide area network to receive the calorie balance associated with the corresponding user ID, each user client device including a display on which the calculated calorie balance corresponding to the user ID of the user client device is displayed.