Willpower Watch (TM) -- A Wearable Food Consumption Monitor

• US 20130336519A1
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Published: 12/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medibotics, LLC
• Original Assignee: Robert A. Connor
• Inventors: Connor, Robert A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,042,596 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/68 Food, e.g. fruit or vegetables
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/142 using hand-held instruments; Constructional details of the instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

This invention is a wearable, automatic, and tamper-resistant device and method for monitoring and measuring food consumption and caloric intake. It can help people to manage their energy balance and weight. It can be embodied as: (a) one or more automatic-imaging members that are worn on a person from which these members collectively and automatically take pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth and pictures of a reachable food source when the person eats; (b) a tamper-resisting mechanism which detects and responds if the operation of the one or more automatic-imaging members is impaired; and (c) an image-analyzing member which automatically analyzes pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth and pictures of the reachable food source in order to estimate the types and quantities of food that are consumed by the person.

Claims

1. A tamper-resistant device that automatically monitors caloric intake comprising:

one or more automatic-imaging members that are worn on one or more locations on a person from which these members;

collectively and automatically take pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth when the person eats and pictures of a reachable food source when the person eats;

wherein a reachable food source is a food source that the person can reach by moving their arm; and

wherein food can include liquid nourishment as well as solid food;

a tamper-resisting mechanism which detects and responds if the operation of the one or more automatic-imaging members is impaired; and

an image-analyzing member which automatically analyzes pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth and pictures of the reachable food source in order to estimate the types and quantities of food that are consumed by the person.

2. The device in claim 1 wherein one or more automatic-imaging members collectively and automatically take pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth and pictures of a reachable food source, when the person eats, without the need for human intervention, when the person eats, to activate picture taking.

3. The device in claim 1 wherein one or more automatic-imaging members take pictures continually.

4. The device in claim 1 wherein one or more automatic-imaging members are automatically activated to take pictures when a person eats based on a sensor selected from the group consisting of:

accelerometer, inclinometer, motion sensor, sound sensor, smell sensor, blood pressure sensor, heart rate sensor, EEG sensor, ECG sensor, EMG sensor, electrochemical sensor, gastric activity sensor, GPS sensor, location sensor, image sensor, optical sensor, piezoelectric sensor, respiration sensor, strain gauge, electrogoniometer, chewing sensor, swallow sensor, temperature sensor, and pressure sensor.

5. The device in claim 1 wherein the fields of vision from one or more automatic-imaging members collectively and automatically encompass the person'"'"'s mouth and a reachable food source, when the person eats, without the need for human intervention, when the person eats, to manually aim an imaging member toward the person'"'"'s mouth or toward the reachable food source.

6. The device in claim 1:

wherein the fields of vision from one or more automatic-imaging members are moved as the person moves their arm when the person eats; and

wherein this movement causes the fields of vision from one or more automatic-imaging members to collectively and automatically encompass the person'"'"'s mouth and a reachable food source, when the person eats, without the need for human intervention, when the person eats, to manually aim an imaging member toward the person'"'"'s mouth or toward the reachable food source.

7. The device in claim 1:

wherein one or more automatic-imaging members are worn on one or more body members selected from the group consisting of the person'"'"'s wrist, hand, arm, and finger;

wherein the fields of vision from one or more automatic-imaging members are moved as the person moves their arm when the person eats; and

wherein this movement causes the fields of vision from one or more automatic-imaging members to collectively and automatically encompass the person'"'"'s mouth and a reachable food source, when the person eats, without the need for human intervention, when the person eats, to manually aim an imaging member toward the person'"'"'s mouth or toward the reachable food source.

8. The device in claim 1 comprising at least two automatic-imaging members worn on a person'"'"'s body, wherein the field of vision from a first automatic-imaging member automatically encompasses the person'"'"'s mouth as the person eats, and wherein the field of vision from a second automatic-imaging member automatically encompasses a reachable food source as the person eats.

9. The device in claim 1 comprising at least two automatic-imaging members worn on a person'"'"'s body:

wherein a first automatic-imaging member is worn on a body member selected from the group consisting of the person'"'"'s wrist, hand, lower arm, and finger;

wherein the field of vision from the first automatic-imaging member automatically encompasses the person'"'"'s mouth as the person eats;

wherein a second automatic-imaging member is worn on a body member selected from the group consisting of the person'"'"'s neck, head, torso, and upper arm; and

wherein the field of vision from the second automatic-imaging member automatically encompasses a reachable food source as the person eats.

10. The device in claim 1 wherein a tamper-resisting member comprises a sensor that detects and responds if an automatic-imaging member is removed from the person'"'"'s body, wherein this sensor is selected from the group consisting of:

accelerometer, inclinometer, motion sensor, pedometer, sound sensor, smell sensor, blood pressure sensor, heart rate sensor, EEG sensor, ECG sensor, EMG sensor, electrochemical sensor, gastric activity sensor, GPS sensor, location sensor, image sensor, optical sensor, piezoelectric sensor, respiration sensor, strain gauge, electrogoniometer, chewing sensor, swallow sensor, temperature sensor, and pressure sensor.

11. The device in claim 1 wherein a tamper-resisting member comprises a sensor that detects and responds if the line of sight from one or more automatic-imaging members to the person'"'"'s mouth or to a food source is impaired when a person is probably eating based on a sensor, wherein this sensor is selected from the group consisting of:

accelerometer, inclinometer, motion sensor, pedometer, sound sensor, smell sensor, blood pressure sensor, heart rate sensor, EEG sensor, ECG sensor, EMG sensor, electrochemical sensor, gastric activity sensor, GPS sensor, location sensor, image sensor, optical sensor, piezoelectric sensor, respiration sensor, strain gauge, electrogoniometer, chewing sensor, swallow sensor, temperature sensor, and pressure sensor.

12. The device in claim 1 wherein a tamper-resisting member monitors a person'"'"'s mouth using face recognition methods and responds if the line of sight from an automatic-imaging member to the person'"'"'s mouth is impaired when a person is probably eating based on a sensor, wherein this sensor is selected from the group consisting of:

accelerometer, inclinometer, motion sensor, pedometer, sound sensor, smell sensor, blood pressure sensor, heart rate sensor, EEG sensor, ECG sensor, EMG sensor, electrochemical sensor, gastric activity sensor, GPS sensor, location sensor, image sensor, optical sensor, piezoelectric sensor, respiration sensor, strain gauge, electrogoniometer, chewing sensor, swallow sensor, temperature sensor, and pressure sensor.

13. The device in claim 1 wherein the image-analyzing member uses one or more methods selected from the group consisting of:

pattern recognition or identification;

human motion recognition or identification;

face recognition or identification;

gesture recognition or identification;

food recognition or identification;

word recognition or identification;

logo recognition or identification;

bar code recognition or identification; and

3D modeling.

14. The device in claim 1 wherein the image-analyzing member analyzes one or more factors selected from the group consisting of:

number of reachable food sources;

types of reachable food sources;

changes in the volume of food at a reachable food source;

number of times that the person brings food to their mouth;

sizes of portions of food that the person brings to their mouth;

number of chewing movements;

frequency of speed of chewing movements; and

number of swallowing movements.

15. The device in claim 1 wherein the image-analyzing member provides an initial estimate of the types and quantities of food consumed by the person and this initial estimate is then refined by human interaction and/or evaluation.

16. The device in claim 1 wherein one or more food sources are selected from the group consisting of:

food on a plate, food in a bowl, food in a glass, food in a cup, food in a bottle, food in a can, food in a package, food in a container, food in a wrapper, food in a bag, food in a box, food on a table, food on a counter, food on a shelf, and food in a refrigerator.

17. The device in claim 1 wherein estimates of the types and quantities of food consumed are used to estimate human caloric intake and wherein these estimates of human caloric intake are used in combination with estimates of human caloric expenditure as part of an overall system for human energy balance and human weight management.

18. The device in claim 1 wherein the tamper-resisting member detects and responds if the person'"'"'s actual weight gain or loss is inconsistent with the predicted weight gain or loss predicted by the combination of the estimated caloric intake and the estimated caloric expenditure.

19. A tamper-resistant device that automatically monitors caloric intake comprising:

one or more automatic-imaging members that are worn on one or more locations on a person from which these members;

collectively and automatically take pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth when the person eats and take pictures of a reachable food source when the person eats;

wherein a reachable food source is a food source that the person can reach by moving their arm;

wherein food can include liquid nourishment as well as solid food;

wherein one or more automatic-imaging members collectively and automatically take pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth and pictures of a reachable food source, when the person eats, without the need for human intervention, when the person eats, to activate picture taking; and

wherein the fields of vision from one or more automatic-imaging members collectively and automatically encompass the person'"'"'s mouth and a reachable food source, when the person eats, without the need for human intervention, when the person eats, to manually aim an imaging member toward the person'"'"'s mouth or toward the reachable food source;

a tamper-resisting mechanism which detects and responds if the operation of the one or more automatic-imaging members is impaired;

wherein a tamper-resisting member comprises a sensor that detects and responds if the line of sight from one or more automatic-imaging members to the person'"'"'s mouth or to a food source is impaired when a person is probably eating based on a sensor, wherein this sensor is selected from the group consisting of;

accelerometer, inclinometer, motion sensor, pedometer, sound sensor, smell sensor, blood pressure sensor, heart rate sensor, EEG sensor, ECG sensor, EMG sensor, electrochemical sensor, gastric activity sensor, GPS sensor, location sensor, image sensor, optical sensor, piezoelectric sensor, respiration sensor, strain gauge, electrogoniometer, chewing sensor, swallow sensor, temperature sensor, and pressure sensor; and

an image-analyzing member which automatically analyzes pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth and pictures of the reachable food source in order to estimate not just what food is at the reachable food source, but the types and quantities of food that are actually consumed by the person; and

wherein the image-analyzing member uses one or more methods selected from the group consisting of;

pattern recognition or identification;

human motion recognition or identification;

face recognition or identification;

gesture recognition or identification;

food recognition or identification;

word recognition or identification;

logo recognition or identification;

bar code recognition or identification; and

3D modeling.

20. A tamper-resistant method for automatically monitoring caloric intake comprising:

having a person wear one or more automatic-imaging members at one or more locations on the person from which these members;

collectively and automatically take pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth when the person eats and pictures of a reachable food source when the person eats;

wherein a reachable food source is a food source that the person can reach by moving their arm; and

wherein food can include liquid nourishment as well as solid food;

detecting and responding if the operation of the one or more automatic-imaging members is impaired; and

automatically analyzing pictures of the person'"'"'s mouth and pictures of the reachable food source in order to estimate the types and quantities of food that are consumed by the person.