FOOD INTAKE CONTROLLING DEVICES AND METHODS

• US 20160140869A1
• Filed: 11/19/2014
• Published: 05/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: NAKAYAMA, Koichi, KUWAHARA, Noriaki, MIYASATO, Tsutomu, KADOBAYASHI, Rieko, MITSUNAGA, Noriaki
• Granted Patent: US 9,881,518 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/02 Food
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/68 Food, e.g. fruit or vegetables
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0092 Nutrition
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/00 ICT specially adapted for therapies or health-improving plans, e.g. for handling prescriptions, for steering therapy or for monitoring patient compliance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets

Abstract

Technologies are generally described for controlling food intake. Example devices/systems described herein may include an image sensor, a dietary information identifier, a dietary management unit, and an image display unit. The image sensor may capture an image of a dish or a menu. The dietary information identifier may identify the dish or menu from the image and provide meal dietary information based on the identified dish or menu. The dietary management unit may store personal dietary information and determine combined dietary information based on the personal dietary information and the meal dietary information. The image display unit may process the captured image based on the combined dietary information in such a manner that a part of the captured image is hidden on an image display unit or a part of color or text information of the captured image is changed on the image display unit.

Claims

1. A food intake controlling device comprising:

an image sensor configured to capture an image of at least one of a dish or a menu;

a dietary information identifier configured to identify the at least one of the dish or the menu from the image and provide meal dietary information based on the identified at least one of the dish or the menu;

a dietary management unit configured to store personal dietary information and to determine combined dietary information based on the personal dietary information and the meal dietary information; and

an image display unit configured to process the captured image to display the processed imaged based on the combined dietary information.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising an accelerometer configured to detect at least one of an arm movement or a head movement,

wherein the dietary information identifier is further configured to identify the at least one of the dish or the menu from the captured image based on the detected at least one of the arm movement or the head movement.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) sensor configured to detect a location of the device,

wherein the dietary information identifier is further configured to identify the at least one of the dish or the menu from the captured image based on the location of the device.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the dietary information identifier is further configured to identify the at least one of the dish or the menu from the captured image based on color or text information of the captured image.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the image display unit is further configured to, when a dietary parameter of the combined dietary information exceeds a parameter allowance value, process the captured image such that at least a part of the captured image is hidden on the image display unit.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the image display unit is further configured to, when a dietary parameter of the combined dietary information exceeds a parameter allowance value, process the captured image such that at least part of color or text information of the captured image is changed on the image display unit.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the meal dietary information includes a meal calorie value.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the personal dietary information includes a personal calorie value,

wherein the dietary management unit is further configured to determine a combined calorie value by adding the meal calorie value to the personal calorie value.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the personal dietary information includes a personal calorie value,

wherein the dietary management unit is further configured to update the personal calorie value based on an activity calorie value.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the dietary management unit is configured to receive an activity signal from an activity sensor, and to determine an activity calorie value from the activity signal.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the image display unit is further configured to, when the combined calorie value exceeds a personal calorie allowance value, process the captured image such that at least a hidden part of the captured image is reconstructed on the image display unit based on the activity calorie value.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is at least one of smartglasses, a tablet computer, or a smartphone.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the dietary information identifier is further configured to transmit, to an external cloud server, the identified at least one of the dish or the menu;

and receive, from the external cloud server, the meal dietary information that is generated based on the identified at least one of the dish or the menu.

14. A method to control food intake, the method comprising:

capturing, by an image sensor, an image of at least one of a dish or a menu;

generating meal dietary information based on the at least one of the dish or the menu in the captured image;

determining, based on the generated meal dietary information, combined dietary information based on the meal dietary information and personal dietary information related to previous meals; and

processing, by an image display unit, the captured image to display the processed imaged based on the combined personal dietary information.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting, by an accelerometer, at least one of an arm movement or a head movement; and

identifying the at least one of the dish or the menu from the captured image based on the detected at least one of the arm movement or the head movement.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting, by a GPS sensor, a location of the device; and

identifying the at least one of the dish or the menu from the captured image based on the detected location of the device.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

identifying the at least one of the dish or the menu from the captured image based on color or text information of the captured image.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein processing the image comprises, when a dietary parameter of the combined dietary information exceeds a parameter allowance value, processing the captured image by the image display unit such that at least a part of the captured image is hidden on the image display unit.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein processing the image comprises, when a dietary parameter of the combined dietary information exceeds a parameter allowance value, processing the captured image by the image display unit such that at least part of color or text of the captured image is changed on the image display unit.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the meal dietary information includes a meal calorie value and the personal dietary information includes a personal calorie value, and

wherein determining the combined dietary information comprises adding the personal calorie value to the meal calorie value.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the meal dietary information includes a meal calorie value and the personal dietary information includes a personal calorie value, further including:

updating the personal calorie value based on an activity calorie value that is determined based on an activity signal from an activity sensor.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein processing the image comprises, when the combined calorie value exceeds a personal calorie allowance value, further processing the captured image by the image display unit such that at least a hidden part of the captured image is reconstructed on the image display unit based on the activity calorie value.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting the at least one of the dish or the menu to an external cloud server; and

receiving, from the external cloud server, the meal dietary information that is generated based on the at least one of the dish or the menu.

24-34. -34. (canceled)