Analyzing restaurant menus in view of consumer preferences

• US 8,903,708 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2012
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Derks, Patrick J., Desai, Atulkumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Lerner, Martin
• Application Number:
  US13/370,959
• Publication Number:
  US 20130211814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• Field of Search: 704/2, 704/3, 704/7, 704/8, 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/277, 705/2, 705/14.1, 705/15
• US Class Current: 704/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

A system and method are described for analyzing a menu. In one embodiment, a mobile device can obtain a digital version of a restaurant menu. A list of food criteria can be stored on the mobile device and tailored to a particular user of the mobile device. The restaurant menu can then be filtered using the stored list of food criteria to display a reduced version of the restaurant menu with items that conflict with the food criteria removed. In another embodiment, the digital version of the menu can be translated. For example, a destination language can be based on a language setting in the mobile device. A source language can either be entered by the user, determined automatically by comparing words in the menu itself against dictionaries in different languages, or by using geographic location of the restaurant.

Claims

1. A method of analyzing food items available at a restaurant, comprising:

storing a list of food criteria and a threshold number of menu items on a mobile device;

receiving menu data associated with the food items available at the restaurant;

filtering the menu data using the stored list of food criteria to a reduced set of food items;

when a count of the reduced set of food items is greater than or equal to the threshold number of menu items, displaying the filtered menu data as a reduced set of food items on the mobile device; and

otherwise, when the count of the reduced set of food items is less than the threshold number of menu items, directing a user to a different restaurant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of food criteria includes filter parameters based on dietary needs of a user.

3. The method of claim 1, further including translating the menu data into a language associated with the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 3, further including determining a destination language for the translation based on a language setting associated with the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 3, further including determining a source language based on a geographic location of the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the food criteria includes ingredients to which a user of the mobile device is allergic.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the menu data includes ingredients used in the food items.

8. The method of claim 7, further including automatically comparing the ingredients to which the user is allergic to the ingredients in the food items and if a match is found, excluding from the reduced set of food items, any food item containing a matching ingredient.

9. The method of claim 1, further including receiving the menu data from a kiosk when the mobile device is placed within a predetermined distance from the kiosk.

10. The method of claim 1, further including receiving one or more medical conditions and generating at least a portion of the list of food criteria based on the one or more medical conditions.

11. The method of claim 1, further including determining if the menu data satisfies a predetermined number of criteria through comparison with the list of food preferences, and, if so, receiving coupons associated with the restaurant.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein directing a user to a different restaurant comprises displaying a list of other suggested restaurants to the user.

13. A method of interpreting menu items, comprising:

receiving a list of menu items and menu ingredients associated with the menu items;

comparing the list of menu ingredients with a stored list of ingredients on a mobile device;

for a match between at least one of the menu ingredients and at least one of the stored list of ingredients, excluding a menu item containing the matched menu ingredient from a filtered list of menu items; and

when a count of the reduced set of food items is greater than or equal to a stored threshold number of menu items, displaying, the filtered list of menu items on the mobile device; and

otherwise, when the count of the reduced set of food items is less than the threshold number of menu items, directing a user to a different restaurant.

14. The method of claim 13, further including translating the menu items and menu ingredients for the filtered list of menu items into a different language.

15. The method of claim 13, further including receiving coupons associated with one or more items on the filtered list of menu items.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

17. The method of claim 13, further including sending the stored list of ingredients to a restaurant server and receiving at least one other suggested restaurant recommendation based on the stored list of ingredients.

18. The method of claim 13, further including receiving user input of ingredients that are problematic for the user and including such problematic ingredients on the stored list of ingredients.

19. The method of claim 13, further including receiving user input of medical conditions and automatically generating items on the stored list of ingredients based on the medical conditions.

20. A computer-readable storage device, not consisting of a signal, having instructions thereon to perform a method for interpreting a restaurant menu, the method comprising:

receiving user input associated with medical-related concerns with ingredients;

storing a list of ingredients on a mobile phone based on the received user input, the list of ingredients being problematic or undesirable ingredients for a user to consume;

storing a threshold number of menu items;

connecting the mobile phone to a restaurant network;

receiving a list of menu-item ingredients and associated menu items from the restaurant network;

comparing, on the mobile phone, the list of menu-item ingredients to the stored list of ingredients;

displaying menu items on the mobile phone associated with menu-item ingredients that do not match ingredients on the stored list so that a reduced list of menu items is displayed; and

directing a user to a different restaurant when a count of the reduced list of menu items is less than the threshold number of menu items.