Processes and Systems Using and Producing Food Healthfulness Data Based on Food Metagroups

• US 20100055653A1
• Filed: 08/28/2009
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Weight Watchers International Incorporated (Artal Group SA), Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Weight Watchers International Incorporated (Artal Group SA)
• Inventors: Jacobsohn, Christine, Peetz, Julia, Gerwig, Ute, Miller-Kovach, Karen, Rost, Stephanie Lyn, Frye, Wanema, Kinirons, Maria, Halkuff, Dawn
• Application Number:
  US12/549,533
• Publication Number:
  US 20100055653A1
• 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: A23V 2002/00 Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/02 Food
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0092 Nutrition
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/02 with visual presentation of the material to be studied, e.g. using film strip
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

Processes for selecting and purchasing and/or consuming food are provided. In certain embodiments, healthfulness data representing a relative healthfulness of a candidate food is based on a selected procedure for processing nutritional data of foods in a food group comprising the candidate food. The respective food group is one of a plurality of food groups a within a particular metagroup of a plurality of metagroups, wherein each of the metagroups comprises a plurality of food groups. Each of the metagroups has a different procedure for processing the nutritional data of foods in its food groups. The relative healthfulness data is also based on respective comparison data for the corresponding food group. Related processes for producing food energy data and for producing a food product are provided. Related processes and systems for supplying food energy data to a requester and supplying meal plan data to a consumer are also provided.

Claims

1. A process for selecting and purchasing and/or consuming food, comprising, supplying at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data of a candidate food offered for sale or available for consumption;

obtaining healthfulness data representing a relative healthfulness of the candidate food based on its at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data, the healthfulness data for the candidate food being based on (a) a selected respective procedure for processing nutritional data of foods in a respective food group comprising the candidate food, the respective food group being one of a plurality of food groups of a respective metagroup of a plurality of metagroups, each of the metagroups comprising a plurality of food groups and having a different respective procedure for processing the nutritional data of foods in the food groups within such metagroup, and (b) selected respective comparison data for the corresponding food group, each of the food groups in each metagroup having different respective comparison data than the other food groups in such metagroup;

selecting the candidate food based on its healthfulness data; and

at least one of consuming the selected candidate food and purchasing the selected candidate food.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the selected respective procedure for processing nutritional data comprises producing a respective linear combination of a plurality of numerical data each representing a different nutritional characteristic of the candidate food.

3. The process of claim 2, wherein the selected respective procedure comprises producing a respective linear combination comprising data representing an energy density of the candidate food.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the healthfulness data for the candidate food is produced by comparing data produced by the selected respective procedure with the respective comparison data.

5. The process of claim 1, comprising obtaining meal plan data comprising data identifying candidate foods to be ingested over a given period based on the healthfulness data, and selecting the candidate food based on the meal plan data.

6. The process of claim 1, comprising consuming the selected candidate food.

7. The process of claim 1, comprising purchasing the selected candidate food.

8. A process for producing relative healthfulness data for a selected food within a corresponding food group comprising a plurality of different foods, the corresponding food group being one of a plurality of food groups each included in a respective one of a plurality of metagroups each including a plurality of food groups, comprising, in a data processing system, selecting a respective procedure for processing nutritional data of foods in the food groups of a respective metagroup including the corresponding food group, each of the metagroups having a different respective procedure for processing the nutritional data of foods in the food groups within such metagroup;

in the data processing system, selecting respective comparison data for the corresponding food group, each of the food groups in each metagroup having different respective comparison data than the other food groups in such metagroup; and

in the data processing system, obtaining relative healthfulness data for the selected food based on the respective procedure and the respective comparison data.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein the selected respective procedure for processing nutritional data comprises producing a respective linear combination of a plurality of numerical data each representing a different nutritional characteristic of the selected food.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the selected respective procedure comprises producing a respective linear combination comprising data representing an energy density of the selected food.

11. The process of claim 8, wherein the healthfulness data for the selected food is produced by comparing data produced by the respective procedure with the respective comparison data.

12. The process of claim 8, wherein selecting the respective procedure comprises accessing instructions for carrying out the respective procedure from storage of the data processing system and executing the instructions in a processor of the data processing system.

13. The process of claim 8, wherein selecting respective comparison data for the corresponding food group comprises accessing the respective comparison data from storage of the data processing system.

14. The process of claim 8, comprising storing the obtained relative healthfulness data in storage of the data processing system.

15. The process of claim 8, comprising storing the obtained relative healthfulness data in a database of existing relative healthfulness data to update it.

16. A process for providing data to a data requester representing healthfulness of a food relative to one or more other foods, comprising, receiving in a data processing system request data provided by the data requestor requesting healthfulness data for a selected food;

using a processor of the data processing system, obtaining relative healthfulness data representing a relative healthfulness of the selected food, the relative healthfulness data being based on (a) a selected respective procedure for processing nutritional data of foods in a respective food group comprising the selected food, the respective food group being one of a plurality of food groups of a respective metagroup of a plurality of metagroups, each of the metagroups comprising a plurality of food groups and having a different respective procedure for processing the nutritional data of foods in the food groups within such metagroup, and (b) selected respective comparison data for the corresponding food group, each of the food groups in each metagroup having different respective comparison data than the other food groups in such metagroup; and

at least one of (a) communicating the relative healthfulness data to a device for presentation to the data requester, and (b) presenting the relative healthfulness data to the data requester via a presentation device of the data processing system.

17. The process of claim 16, wherein the selected respective procedure for processing nutritional data comprises producing a respective linear combination of a plurality of numerical data each representing a different nutritional characteristic of the selected food.

18. The process of claim 17, wherein the selected respective procedure comprises producing a respective linear combination comprising data representing an energy density of the selected food.

19. The process of claim 16, wherein the healthfulness data for the selected food is produced by comparing data produced by the selected respective procedure with the respective comparison data.

20. The process of claim 16, comprising accessing instructions for carrying out the selected respective procedure from storage of the data processing system and executing the instructions in the processor of the data processing system.

21. The process of claim 16, comprising accessing the respective comparison data from storage of the data processing system.

22. The process of claim 16, comprising accessing the relative healthfulness data from storage of the data processing system.

23. A system for providing data to a data requester representing healthfulness of a selected food relative to one or more other foods, comprising, an input operative to receive request data provided by the data requester requesting healthfulness data for a selected food;

a processor coupled with the input to receive the request data provided by the data requester and configured to obtain relative healthfulness data representing a relative healthfulness of the selected food, the relative healthfulness data being based on (a) a selected respective procedure for processing nutritional data of foods in a respective food group comprising the selected food, the respective food group being one of a plurality of food groups of a respective metagroup of a plurality of metagroups, each of the metagroups comprising a plurality of food groups and having a different respective procedure for processing the nutritional data of foods in the food groups within such metagroup, and (b) selected respective comparison data for the corresponding food group, each of the food groups in each metagroup having different respective comparison data than the other food groups in such metagroup; and

at least one of (a) communications coupled with the processor to receive the relative healthfulness data therefrom and to communicate the relative healthfulness data to a device for presentation to the data requester, and (b) a presentation device coupled with the processor to receive the relative healthfulness data and operative to present the relative healthfulness data to the data requester.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor is configured to carry out the selected respective procedure by producing a respective linear combination of a plurality of numerical data each representing a different nutritional characteristic of the selected food.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor is configured to carry out the selected respective procedure by producing a respective linear combination comprising data representing an energy density of the selected food.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor is configured to produce the healthfulness data for the selected food by comparing data produced by the respective procedure with the respective comparison data.

27. The system of claim 23, comprising storage coupled with the processor and storing instructions for carrying out the selected respective procedure and wherein the processor is configured to access the instructions from the storage and execute the instructions.

28. The system of claim 23, comprising storage coupled with the processor and storing the respective comparison data and wherein the processor is configured to access the respective comparison data from the storage.

29. The system of claim 23, comprising storage coupled with the processor and storing the relative healthfulness data, and wherein the processor is configured to access the relative healthfulness data from the storage.

30. The system of claim 23, comprising communications coupled with the processor to receive the relative healthfulness data therefrom and to communicate the relative healthfulness data to a device for presentation to the data requester.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the communications is coupled to a network and is operative to communicate the relative healthfulness data to the data requester via the network.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the communications is operative to receive the data supplied by the data requester via the network.

33. The system of claim 23, comprising a presentation device coupled with the processor to receive the relative healthfulness data and operative to present the relative healthfulness data to the data requester.

34. A process for providing meal plan data to a consumer, comprising, receiving request data in a data processing system representing a request for a meal plan from a consumer;

in response to the request, obtaining meal plan data representing a plurality of predetermined food servings to be consumed by the consumer during a predetermined period based on relative healthfulness data for respective predetermined food servings, the relative healthfulness data being based on (a) a selected respective procedure for each of the predetermined food servings for processing nutritional data of foods in a respective food group comprising the same, the respective food group being one of a plurality of food groups of a respective metagroup of a plurality of metagroups, each of the metagroups comprising a plurality of food groups and having a different respective procedure for processing the nutritional data of foods in the food groups within such metagroup, and (b) selected respective comparison data for the corresponding food group, each of the food groups in each metagroup having different respective comparison data than the other food groups in such metagroup; and

at least one of (a) communicating the meal plan data to a device for presentation to the data requester, and (b) presenting the meal plan data to the data requester via a presentation device of the data processing system.

35. The process of claim 34, comprising obtaining the relative healthfulness data for the respective predetermined food servings based on (a) the selected respective procedure, and (b) the selected respective comparison data.

36. The process of claim 35, wherein the selected respective procedure for processing nutritional data comprises producing a respective linear combination of a plurality of numerical data each representing a different nutritional characteristic of at least one of the predetermined food servings.

37. The process of claim 35, wherein the selected respective procedure comprises producing a respective linear combination comprising data representing an energy density of at least one of the predetermined food servings.

38. The process of claim 35, wherein the healthfulness data for each of the predetermined food servings is produced by comparing data produced by the respective procedure with the selected respective comparison data.

39. The process of claim 35, comprising obtaining the relative healthfulness data of the at least one of the respective predetermined food servings by accessing the relative healthfulness data from a storage of the data processing system.

40. The process of claim 34, comprising obtaining the meal plan data by accessing the meal plan data from a storage of the data processing system.

41. The process of claim 34, comprising communicating the meal plan data to a device for presentation to the data requester.

42. The process of claim 34, comprising presenting the meal plan data to the data requester via a presentation device of the data processing system.

43. A system for providing meal plan data to a consumer, comprising, an input operative to receive request data representing a request for a meal plan from the consumer;

a processor coupled with the input to receive the request data and configured to obtain relative healthfulness data for each of a plurality of predetermined food servings, the relative healthfulness data being based on (a) a selected respective procedure for each of the predetermined food servings for processing nutritional data of foods in a respective food group comprising the same, the respective food group being one of a plurality of food groups of a respective metagroup of a plurality of metagroups, each of the metagroups comprising a plurality of food groups and having a different respective procedure for processing the nutritional data of foods in the food groups within such metagroup, and (b) selected respective comparison data for the corresponding food group, each of the food groups in each metagroup having different respective comparison data than the other food groups in such metagroup, and to obtain meal plan data representing a plurality of predetermined food servings to be consumed by the consumer during a predetermined period based on the relative healthfulness data; and

at least one of (a) communications coupled with the processor to receive the meal plan data therefrom and to communicate the meal plan data to a device for presentation to the consumer, and (b) a presentation device coupled with the processor to receive the meal plan data and operative to present the meal plan data to the consumer.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the processor is configured to obtain the relative healthfulness data based on (a) the selected respective procedure, and (b) the selected respective comparison data.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the processor is configured to carry out the selected respective procedure for processing nutritional data by producing a respective linear combination of a plurality of numerical data each representing a different nutritional characteristic of at least one of the predetermined food servings.

46. The system of claim 44, wherein the processor is configured to carry out the selected respective procedure by producing a respective linear combination comprising data representing an energy density of at least one of the predetermined food servings.

47. The system of claim 44, wherein the processor is configured to obtain the relative healthfulness data for each of the plurality of predetermined food servings by comparing data produced by the respective procedure with the selected respective comparison data.

48. The system of claim 43, comprising storage coupled with the processor and storing the relative healthfulness data, and wherein the processor is configured to access the relative healthfulness data for at least one of the plurality of predetermined food servings from the storage and to produce the meal plan data based on the relative healthfulness data.

49. The system of claim 43, comprising storage coupled with the processor and storing the meal plan data, and wherein the processor is configured to access the meal plan data from the storage.

50. The system of claim 43, comprising communications coupled with the processor to receive the meal plan data therefrom and to communicate the meal plan data to a device for presentation to the consumer.

51. The system of claim 43, comprising a presentation device coupled with the processor to receive the meal plan data and operative to present the meal plan data to the consumer.

52. A process for producing a food product having relative healthfulness data associated therewith, comprising, obtaining a food product, supplying at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data of the food product;

obtaining healthfulness data representing a relative healthfulness of the food product based on its at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data, the healthfulness data for the food product being based on (a) a selected respective procedure for processing nutritional data of foods in a respective food group comprising the food product, the respective food group being one of a plurality of food groups of a respective metagroup of a plurality of metagroups, each of the metagroups comprising a plurality of food groups and having a different respective procedure for processing the nutritional data of foods in the food groups within such metagroup, and (b) selected respective comparison data for the corresponding food group, each of the food groups in each metagroup having different respective comparison data than the other food groups in such metagroup; and

associating the healthfulness data with the food product.

53. The process of claim 52, wherein obtaining the food product comprises producing the food product.

54. The process of claim 52, wherein the healthfulness data is associated with the food product by including the healthfulness data on a substrate associated with the food product.

55. The process of claim 54, wherein the substrate comprises a label accompanying the food product.

56. The process of claim 54, wherein the substrate comprises packaging of the food product.