MONITORING FOOD PRODUCTS

• US 20160034907A1
• Filed: 07/30/2014
• Published: 02/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: WORRALL, John David, JONES, Brian R., STEPNIEWICZ, Peter, GRAY, Jo, FRANCUS, David A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,477,962 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/022 for recording
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 3/04 in respect of time
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products to improve food safety in a food and beverage supply chain. Embodiments disclosed herein utilize prepared product tags to continuously monitor food and beverage temperatures. The temperatures and other associated data may be wirelessly transmitted to centralized locations for aggregation and storage. Mobile devices may directly communicate with the product tags to receive the temperature data. A host of management applications may utilize the data in order to ensure that safety rules and guidelines are met, while also providing valuable business insight.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a computer processor; and

a memory containing a program which when executed by the processor performs an operation comprising;

receiving transmissions from each of a plurality of receiver devices, wherein the transmissions comprise;

(i) a unique identifier of a product tag, of a plurality of product tags, (ii) a temperature of a food product the product tag is monitoring, (iii) a timestamp of the temperature of the food product, and (iv) a location of the food product, wherein each of the plurality of product tags reads, by a temperature sensor of the product tag, the temperature of the food product the respective product tag is monitoring, wherein each of the plurality of product tags wirelessly transmits the temperature, the timestamp, and the unique identifier by a wireless data transmitter of the product tag;

storing the received data; and

upon determining, based on at least one of the temperature, the timestamp, and a duration of time, that a rule related to a first food product has been violated, generating an indication that the rule has been violated for the first food product.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of product tags are, in respective instances:

(i) attached to a food product vessel, (ii) incorporated in a food product vessel, and (iii) incorporated in a food product service utensil.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein a display device communicably coupled to each product tag located in a food service location, wherein the display device is configured to output one or more attributes of the food product.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the rule is based on at least one of:

(i) a recipe of a prepared food product, (ii) a safety guideline for storing unprepared food products, (iii) a safety guideline for storing prepared food products, (iv) a shelf life of the food product, and (v) a quality of a served food product, wherein the rule related to the first food product is dynamically selected based on at least one of;

(i) a state of the food product, and (ii) a stage in a lifecycle of the food product.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the product tags are configured to transmit the data according to predefined time intervals, wherein the location comprises at least one of:

(i) a storage location, (ii) a preparation location, and (iii) a service location.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the temperature sensor comprises a probe sensor configured to read the temperature of the food product and an ambient sensor configured to read a temperature of the air surrounding the food product.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein a scale is configured to weigh a prepared food product prior to service to customers and subsequent to service to customers, wherein the weights are used by the computing system to determine an amount of waste for the prepared food product.

8. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code comprising;

computer-readable program code configured to receive, at predefined timing intervals and from each of a plurality of product tags, data describing attributes of a respective food product each product tag is configured to monitor, wherein the attributes comprise a temperature of the food product, a time corresponding to the temperature, and a unique identifier of the respective product tag, wherein each of the plurality of product tags comprises a wireless data transmitter, the unique identifier, and a temperature sensor; and

computer-readable program code configured to, upon determining, based on at least one of the temperature, the timestamp, and a duration of time, that a rule related to a first food product has been violated, generate an indication that the rule has been violated for the first food product.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the product tag is, in respective instances:

(i) attached to a food product vessel, (ii) incorporated in a food product vessel, and (iii) incorporated in a food product service utensil.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein each product tag in a food service location is communicably coupled to a display device, wherein the display device is configured to output information related to the food product the at least one product tag is configured to monitor.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the rule is based on at least one of:

(i) a recipe of a prepared food product, (ii) a safety guideline for storing unprepared food products, (iii) a safety guideline for storing prepared food products, (iv) a shelf life of the food product, and (v) a quality of a served food product, wherein the rule related to the first food product is dynamically selected based on at least one of;

(i) a state of the food product, and (ii) a stage in a lifecycle of the food product.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the product tags are configured to transmit the data according to predefined time intervals, wherein the location comprises at least one of:

(i) a storage location, (ii) a preparation location, and (iii) a service location.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein a receiver device is configured to:

receive the data from the product tag; and

transmit the temperature, the unique identifier, the timestamp, and the location of the food product to a computing system for aggregation and storage.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the temperature sensor comprises a probe sensor configured to read the temperature of the food product and an ambient sensor configured to read a temperature of the air surrounding the food product.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the product tag is, in respective instances:

(i) attached to a food product vessel, (ii) incorporated in a food product vessel, and (iii) incorporated in a food product service utensil.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein each product tag in a food service location is communicably coupled to a display device, wherein the display device is configured to output information related to the food product the at least one product tag is configured to monitor.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the rule is based on at least one of:

(i) a recipe of a prepared food product, (ii) a safety guideline for storing unprepared food products, (iii) a safety guideline for storing prepared food products, (iv) a shelf life of the food product, and (v) a quality of a served food product, wherein the rule related to the first food product is dynamically selected based on at least one of;

(i) a state of the food product, and (ii) a stage in a lifecycle of the food product.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the product tags are configured to transmit the data according to predefined time intervals, wherein the location comprises at least one of:

(i) a storage location, (ii) a preparation location, and (iii) a service location, wherein the temperature sensor comprises a probe sensor configured to read the temperature of the food product and an ambient sensor configured to read a temperature of the air surrounding the food product.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein a receiver device is configured to:

receive the data from the product tag; and

transmit the temperature, the unique identifier, the timestamp, and the location of the food product to a computing system for aggregation and storage.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving, at predefined timing intervals and from each of a plurality of product tags, data describing attributes of a respective food product each product tag is configured to monitor, wherein the attributes comprise a temperature of the food product, a time corresponding to the temperature, and a unique identifier of the respective product tag, wherein each of the plurality of product tags comprises a wireless data transmitter, the unique identifier, and a temperature sensor; and

upon determining, based on at least one of the temperature, the timestamp, and a duration of time, that a rule related to a first food product has been violated, generating an indication that the rule has been violated for the first food product.