Generating policy driven meal plans

• US 8,226,414 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2006
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bodin, William Kress, Masterson, Michael Lee, Watt, Stephen James
• Primary Examiner(s): MOSSER, KATHLEEN MICHELE
• Application Number:
  US11/467,190
• Publication Number:
  US 20080052001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,160 Days
• Field of Search: 434/127, 128/921, 705 26- 28
• US Class Current: 434/127
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/921 Diet management

Abstract

A method and computer usable program product for generating meal plans based on a set of nutritional policies. The process determines nutritional requirements specified by a set of nutritional policies in response to receiving a request for a set of meal plans for a set of users. The set of nutritional policies correspond to the set of users. The process identifies a set of potential meal plans in response to determining the nutritional requirements specified by the set of nutritional policies. Each potential meal plan in the set of potential meal plans satisfies all nutritional requirements for the set of nutritional policies. The process generates a listing of ingredients required by the selected meal plan that is unavailable in a current inventory in an amount required by the selected meal plan, in response to receiving a selection of a potential meal plan to form a selected meal plan.

Claims

1. A method for generating meal plans, the method comprising the steps of:

responsive to receiving a request for a set of meal plans for a plurality of users, determining, by a processing unit, nutritional requirements specified by a set of nutritional policies, wherein a nutritional policy in the set of nutritional policies specifies the nutritional requirements for a user in the plurality of users;

identifying, by a processing unit, a plurality of potential meal plans in response to determining the nutritional requirements specified by the set of nutritional policies, wherein each potential meal plan in the plurality of potential meal plans satisfies all nutritional requirements for each user in the plurality of users;

responsive to receiving a selection of a potential meal plan to form a selected meal plan, determining, by a processing unit, a listing of ingredients required by the selected meal plan;

for each ingredient in the listing of ingredients;

determining, by a processing unit and utilizing an item identifier, a quantity of the ingredient in a set of storage units by subtracting a known empty mass of a container of the ingredient from a mass of an item, wherein the mass of the item includes the mass of the ingredient, and wherein the ingredient is one of a plurality of ingredients located on a mass sensor shelf in the set of storage units, and wherein the mass of the ingredient is determined by receiving mass sensor data from a plurality of mass sensors in the mass sensor shelf and associating the mass sensor data from a portion of the plurality of mass sensors with the container of the ingredient based on a surface of the container that is resting on the mass sensor shelf;

locating, by a processing unit, the container of the ingredient on the mass sensor shelf by triangulating location data received from two or more item identifier sensors in the set of storage units to form a location of the ingredient on the mass sensor shelf;

receiving, by a processing unit, the mass sensor data for the item at the location of the container of the ingredient on the mass sensor shelf;

determining, by a processing unit, the mass of the item based on the mass sensor data; and

generating, by a processing unit, a listing of ingredients required by the selected meal plan that is unavailable in a current inventory in an amount required by the selected meal plan based on the quantity determined for each ingredient in the listing ingredients in the set of storage units.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

responsive to receiving a selection for meal plans to be prepared from the current inventory, displaying, by a processing unit, a set of suggested meal plans from the plurality of potential meal plans, wherein all ingredients required to prepare each suggested meal plan in the set of suggested meal plans are available in the current inventory of the set of storage units.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of:

receiving, by a processing unit, a selection of a recommended meal plan to form a selected meal plan, wherein a recipe and nutritional information associated with selected meal plan is displayed.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the current inventory is an inventory of items available in the set of storage units, and wherein each storage unit in the set of storage units is selected from a group consisting of a refrigeration unit, a pantry, a cupboard, a set of shelves, and a cabinet.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

displaying, by a processing unit, the plurality of potential meal plans for selection by a user.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

displaying, by a processing unit, a recipe and nutritional information associated with the selected meal plan.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

ordering, by a processing unit, all ingredients from the listing of ingredients required by the selected meal plan from a food delivery service provider for delivery to a user.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the ingredients from the listing of ingredients are ordered in an amount specified by the selected meal plan.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of potential meals are identified from a plurality of updateable meal plans.

10. A computer program product for generating meal plans, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

first instructions to determine nutritional requirements specified by a set of nutritional policies in response to receiving a request for meal plans for a plurality of users, wherein a nutritional policy in the set of nutritional policies specifies the nutritional requirements for a user in the plurality of users;

second instructions to identify a plurality of potential meal plans in response to determining the nutritional requirements specified by the set of nutritional policies, wherein each potential meal plan in the plurality of potential meal plans satisfies all nutritional requirements for each user in the plurality of users;

third instructions to determine, responsive to receiving a selection of a potential meal plan to form a selected meal plan, a listing of ingredients required by the selected meal plan;

fourth instructions to, for each ingredient in the listing of ingredients;

determine, utilizing an item identifier, a quantity of the ingredient in a set of storage units by subtracting a known empty mass of a container of the ingredient from a mass of an item, wherein the mass of the item includes the mass of the ingredient, and wherein the ingredient is one of a plurality of ingredients located on a mass sensor shelf in the set of storage units, and wherein the mass of the ingredient is determined by receiving mass sensor data from a plurality of mass sensors in the mass sensor shelf and associating the mass sensor data from a portion of the plurality of mass sensors with a container of the ingredient based on a surface of the container that is resting on the mass sensor shelf;

locate the container of the ingredient on the mass sensor shelf by triangulating location data received from two or more item identifier sensors in the set of storage units to form a location of the ingredient on the mass sensor shelf;

receive mass sensor data for the item at the location of the container of the ingredient on the mass sensor shelf; and

determine the mass of the item based on the mass sensor data; and

fifth instructions to generate a listing of ingredients required by the selected meal plan that is unavailable in a current inventory in an amount required by the selected meal plan based on the quantity determined for each ingredient in the listing ingredients in the set of storage units;

wherein the first instructions, the second instructions, the third instructions, the fourth instructions, and the fifth instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium.