Recommending food items based on personal information and nutritional content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016140644-A1
Application number	US-201414548204-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 19, 2014
Priority date	Nov 19, 2014
Publication date	May 19, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention extends to systems, methods, and computer program products for recommending food items based on personal information and nutritional content. A registered customer has members in a customer group. The registered customer provides nutritional information for members of the group (e.g., family members) to a merchant computer system. The merchant computer system uses the nutritional information to recommend food items to the customer. As a customer shops, the merchant computer system compares the nutritional content of the shopping cart items with nutritional needs of the customer. Recommendations are furnished to the customer based on the shopping cart content and the nutritional needs of the customer.

First claim

1 . At a computer system, a method for recommending a food item to a registered customer comprising a group of one or more members, the method comprising:
accessing an indication of one or more food items in a shopping cart for the registered customer; accessing a customer nutritional profile for the registered customer, the customer nutritional profile derived from characteristics associated with the registered customer, the characteristics comprising:
customer characteristics applicable to the group of one or more members; and
for each of the one or more members within the group of one or more members, member characteristics applicable to the member;
calculating a cumulative nutritional content of the one or more food items from item nutritional profiles for each of the one or more food items; comparing the customer nutritional profile to the cumulative nutritional content to determine that purchase of the one or more food items fails to satisfy at least one nutritional requirement of the registered customer; identifying an additional food item that satisfies the at least one nutritional requirement based at least in part on the customer nutritional profile and a nutritional content of the additional food item; and recommending the additional food item to the registered customer for purchase.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the member characteristics comprise birthdate and gender.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the member characteristics applicable to each member of the group of one or more members comprise a member nutritional profile for each member of the group of one or more members based at least in part on medical information of the member.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the customer nutritional profile is based at least in part on the member nutritional profile for each member of the group of one or more members.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying is further based at least in part on a price of each of the one or more food items.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising updating the price of each of the one or more food items.

7 . At a portable electronic device, a method for receiving food item recommendation from a merchant, the method comprising:
receiving user input from a registered customer of the merchant, the user input selecting one or more food items for placement in a shopping cart of the merchant, the registered customer comprising one or more members and having a customer nutritional profile available to the merchant, the customer nutritional profile derived from characteristics associated with the registered customer, the characteristics comprising:
customer characteristics applicable to the one or more members; and
for each of the one or more members, member characteristics applicable to the member;
forwarding the selection of the one or more food items to a computer server of the merchant; and receiving a recommendation for an additional food item from the computer server, the recommended additional food item having been determined to satisfy at least one nutritional requirement not satisfied by the selection of the one or more food items, the recommended additional food item identified by comparing a cumulative nutritional content of the one or more food items to the customer nutritional profile, the cumulative nutritional content of the one or more food items calculated from an item nutritional profile for each of the one or more food items.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the member characteristics comprise age and gender.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the member characteristics comprise medical information.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the customer nutritional profile is based at least in part on member nutritional profiles of the one or more members.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the portable electronic device detects an identifier for each food item of the one or more food items in the shopping cart and sends the identifier to the merchant.

12 . At a merchant computer system, the merchant computer system comprising:
one or more processors; non-transitory system memory; and one or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions representing a food item recommendation module, the food item recommendation module configured to:
access an indication of one or more food items in a shopping cart for a registered customer of the merchant, the registered customer comprising a group of one or more members;
access a customer nutritional profile for the registered customer, the customer nutritional profile derived from characteristics associated with the registered customer, the characteristics comprising:
customer characteristics applicable to the group of one or more members; and
for each of the one or more members within the group of one or more members, member characteristics applicable to the member;

calculate a cumulative nutritional content of the one or more food items from item nutritional profiles for each of the one or more food items;
compare the customer nutritional profile to the cumulative nutritional content to determine that purchase of the one or more food items fails to satisfy at least one nutritional requirement of the registered customer;
identify an additional food item that satisfies the at least one nutritional requirement based at least in part on the customer nutritional profile and a nutritional content of the additional food item; and
recommend the additional food item to the registered customer for purchase.

13 . The merchant computer system of claim 12 , wherein the member characteristics comprise birthdate and gender.

14 . The merchant computer system of claim 12 , wherein the member characteristics applicable to each member of the group of one or more members comprise a member nutritional profile for each member of the group of one or more members based at least in part on medical information of the member.

15 . The merchant computer system of claim 14 , wherein the customer nutritional profile is based at least in part on the member nutritional profile for each member of the group of one or more members.

16 . The merchant computer system of claim 12 , wherein the identifying is further based at least in part on a price of each of the one or more food items.

17 . The method of claim 3 , wherein:
the medical information of the member comprises one or more diseases of the member.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the member characteristics comprise birthdate and gender; the member characteristics applicable to each member of the group of one or more members comprise a member nutritional profile for each member of the group of one or more members based at least in part on medical information of the member; the medical information of the member comprises one or more diseases of the member; the customer nutritional profile is based at least in part on the member nutritional profile for each member of the group of one or more members; the identifying is further based at least in part on a price of each of the one or more food items; and the method further comprising:
updating the price of each of the one or more food items.

19 . The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the medical information comprises one or more diseases.

20 . The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the member characteristics comprise age and gender; the member characteristics comprise medical information; the medical information comprises o

Assignees

• Wal Mart Stores Inc

Inventors

• Babu Narendra
• Kozhissery Ramesh
• Jain Rijul

Classifications

• G06Q30/0633

  Managing shopping lists, e.g. compiling or processing purchase lists (shipping orders G06Q10/083; order filling G06Q10/087) · CPC title

• G06Q30/0631 Primary

  Recommending goods or services · CPC title

• G16H20/60

  relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets · CPC title

• G16H10/60

  for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records · CPC title