Selection information system and method for ingestible product preparation system and method

• US 9,785,985 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2011
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Holman, Paul, Levien, Royce A., Malamud, Mark A., Stephenson, Neal, Young, Christopher Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEIN, ALLEN C
• Application Number:
  US13/317,978
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054382A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,171 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0064 for processing of food articles cooking vessels A47J37/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0078 Food articles which need to be processed for dispensing in a hot or cooked condition, e.g. popcorn, nuts
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/001 Interfacing with vending machines using mobile or wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/006 Details of the software used for the vending machines
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/009 User recognition or proximity detection
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

A computationally implemented system and method that is designed to, but is not limited to: electronically receiving user status information regarding a particular individual living being including living being identification associated with the particular individual living being to at least in part electronically generate, based at least in part upon the user status information, one or more selection menus electronically identifying at least in part one or more candidate ingestible products, the electronically generated one or more selection menus to be electronically outputted to provide, via electronically enabled input in response thereto, selection opportunity of the one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being prior to selection of at least one candidate ingestible product as at least one selected ingestible products via the electronically enabled input in response to the electronically outputted one or more selection menus.

Claims

1. A vending machine, comprising:

at least one production machine;

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being;

circuitry for obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being;

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being;

circuitry for outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens;

circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens; and

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the selected one or more ingestible products.

2. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for obtaining, via at least one camera component, at least some refuse information related to the at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products.

3. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for obtaining at least some refuse information via at least one user input of the at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being.

4. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein the at least one production machine comprises:

at least one ingestible product preparation subsystem effected in the vending machine.

5. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via at least one cell phone swipe.

6. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via Internet communication.

7. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being, including at least receiving the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being at least partially via identification information inputted directly through a memory card into a receiving slot to the vending machine.

8. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via at least one medication history.

9. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via at least one prescription serial number.

10. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via at least one computer video file.

11. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via at least one bar code.

12. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being provided by at least one remote user via at least one communication link coupling the vending machine with at least one remote system used by the at least one remote user.

13. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus in at least one graphical form.

14. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus in at least one audio form.

15. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus in at least one hierarchical form.

16. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus in at least one video presentation form.

17. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being, the particular individual living being including at least a particular individual human being.

18. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via at least one electronic iris scan.

19. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via at least one electronically captured fingerprint image.

20. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via at least one RFID tag.

21. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being via at least one fob.

22. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products to be inhaled.

23. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products to be ingested transdermally.

24. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products to be used in sandwich form.

25. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products to be used as a deposited material.

26. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for generating one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products to be used as at least one of a main entré

e, a dessert, a liquid drink, an emulsion, a snack, or a meal.

27. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more touch screens of the vending machine.

28. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine touch screens.

29. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens and via at least one electronic paper printer.

30. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one selection of one or more ingestible products via at least one electronic identification card.

31. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one selection of one or more ingestible products via at least one credit card swipe.

32. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one selection of one or more ingestible products via at least one bar code communication.

33. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one selection of one or more ingestible products via at least one electronic network.

34. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one selection of one or more ingestible products via at least one wireless input.

35. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one selection of one or more ingestible products via at least one gesture recognition.

36. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one selection of one or more ingestible products via at least one electronic keypad entry.

37. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one selection of one or more ingestible products via at least one encrypted input.

38. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products at least partially via at least one computer network communication.

39. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the selected one or more ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for obtaining at least one temperature profile associated with the particular individual living being at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being; and

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the selected one or more ingestible products according to the at least one temperature profile associated with the particular individual living being at least partially via heating control of an enclosure containing ingredients to be used for preparation of the selected one or more ingestible products.

40. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products at least partially via portion size control of an amount of the substance to be used in preparation of the one or more selected ingestible products.

41. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products at least partially via control of radiation emitted within an enclosure containing ingredients to be used for preparation of the one or more selected ingestible products.

42. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products at least partially via control of infrared radiation emitted within an enclosure containing ingredients to be used for preparation of the one or more selected ingestible products.

43. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products at least partially via control of an outlet of an ingredient container holding an ingredient used for preparation of the one or more selected ingestible products.

44. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products at least partially via control of mixing of at least some of the ingredients used to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products before thermal treatment of the ingredients.

45. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products at least partially via control of thermal treatment of ingredients used to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products, the thermal treatment including heating, cooling, or a combination thereof of the ingredients.

46. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the one or more selected ingestible products at least partially via excluding ingredients from being included in the preparation of the one or more selected ingestible products.

47. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the selected one or more ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the selected one or more ingestible products at least partially via peltier cooling control of an enclosure containing ingredients to be used for preparation of the one or more selected ingestible products.

48. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one quantity of refuse associated with the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being.

49. The vending machine of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for dispensing the prepared one or more ingestible products.

50. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products response to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises

circuitry for receiving, via at least one touch screen component of the one or more vending machine electronic display screens, at least one selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens.

51. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for providing at least one scroll bar via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens in association with outputting the generated one or more selection menus.

52. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens comprises:

circuitry for outputting at least a first content and at least a second content of the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens; and

circuitry for providing at least one scroll bar in association with outputting the at least a first content and the at least a second content of the generated one or more selection menus, the at least one scroll bar operable to modify the at least a first content and the at least a second content of the generated one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens.

53. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one number of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being.

54. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein circuitry for obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being comprises:

circuitry for obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one count of the at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being.

55. The vending machine of claim 49, wherein circuitry for dispensing the prepared one or more ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for dispensing the prepared one or more ingestible products, the dispensing the prepared one or more ingestible products within the vicinity of the outputting the generated one or more selection menus as within an interior of a dispensing machine housing, including at least depositing the prepared one or more ingestible products in a dispensing area accessible to the particular individual living being through a front face of the vending machine.

56. The vending machine of claim 49, wherein circuitry for dispensing the prepared one or more ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for dispensing the prepared one or more ingestible products in accordance with one or more dispensing options selected by the particular individual living being responsive to the outputted one or more selection menus, the selected one or more dispensing options selected by the particular individual living being in addition to selection of the one or more ingestible products.

57. The vending machine of claim 49, wherein circuitry for dispensing the prepared one or more ingestible products comprises:

circuitry for dispensing the prepared one or more ingestible products in accordance with one or more location options selected by the particular individual living being responsive to the outputted one or more selection menus, the selected one or more location options selected by the particular individual living being in addition to selection of the one or more ingestible products.

58. A vending machine, comprising:

at least one production machine;

at least one processing device; and

one or more instructions which, when executed on the at least one processing device, cause the at least one processing device to perform one or more operations including at least;

receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being;

obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being;

generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being;

outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens;

receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens; and

directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the selected one or more ingestible products.

59. A method for a vending machine, comprising:

providing at least one production machine;

receiving at least one identification associated with a particular individual living being;

obtaining at least some preference information, including at least some refuse information, related to at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the at least some refuse information collected through at least some passive user input including at least one analysis of at least one quantity of wrappers containing one or more products associated with at least one past selection by the particular individual living being;

generating one or more selection menus at least partially based on the at least one identification associated with the particular individual living being and the at least some preference information related to the at least one past selection by the particular individual living being, the generated one or more selection menus including at least one or more candidate ingestible products subject to ingestion by the particular individual living being;

outputting the generated one or more selection menus via one or more vending machine electronic display screens;

receiving a selection of one or more ingestible products responsive to the one or more selection menus output via the one or more vending machine electronic display screens; and

directing control of the at least one production machine to prepare the selected one or more ingestible products.