Food steganography

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016262437-A1
Application number	US-201615155828-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 16, 2016
Priority date	Aug 27, 2013
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for calculating a food additive. A first method includes identifying chemical compounds of an averse food ingredient, identifying chemical compounds of a flavorful food ingredient and calculating a set of chemical compounds for the food additive such that an olfactory perception of a mixture of the averse food ingredient, the flavorful food ingredient and the food additive is the same as an olfactory perception of only the flavorful food ingredient. A first device includes a database storing information identifying chemical compounds of an averse food ingredient and identifying chemical compounds of a flavorful food ingredient, and a processor for calculating a food additive such that an olfactory perception of flavors of a mixture of the averse food ingredient, the flavorful food ingredient and the food additive is the same as an olfactory perception of only the flavorful food ingredient.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
identifying a first set of chemical compounds contained in an averse food ingredient; identifying a second set of chemical compounds contained in a flavorful food ingredient, different from the averse food ingredient; formulating a new, third set of chemical compounds, different from the first set of chemical compounds and the second set of chemical compounds, by selecting individual chemical compounds to combine in the third set of chemical compounds and by selecting defined quantities for each of the individual chemical compounds, wherein when the individual chemical compounds are mixed in the defined quantities, they produce a food additive such that an olfactory perception of a mixture of the averse food ingredient, the flavorful food ingredient and the food additive is the same as an olfactory perception of only the flavorful food ingredient.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the formulating comprises:
minimizing a difference between a vector projection of the mixture of the averse food ingredient, the flavorful food ingredient, and the food additive in a perceptual space with a vector projection of the flavorful food in the perceptual space.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the minimizing the difference comprises normalizing a solution to a vector representation of an olfactory white in the perceptual space.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the perceptual space comprises a multidimensional space where each dimension is associated with a different olfactory or flavor perceptual descriptor.

5 . The method of claim 2 , the perceptual space comprises a multidimensional space where at least one dimension is associated with at least two different olfactory or flavor perceptual descriptors.

6 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the formulating comprises determining a set of physicochemical properties for the food additive, where the determining the set of physicochemical properties for the food additive is based upon at least one correlation between the perceptual space and a physicochemical space.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the formulating comprises:
calculating a set of physicochemical properties for the food additive such that the olfactory perception of the mixture of the averse food ingredient, the flavorful food ingredient, and the food additive is the same as the olfactory perception of only the flavorful food ingredient.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the individual chemical compounds are selected such that, when the individual chemical compounds are combined in the defined quantities, the food additive comprises the set of physicochemical properties that is calculated for the food additive.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the first set of chemical compounds of the averse food ingredient comprises sensing chemical compounds in the averse food ingredient by gas chromatography, and wherein the identifying the second set of chemical compounds of the flavorful food ingredient comprises sensing chemical compounds in the flavorful food by gas chromatography.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the individual chemical compounds in the third set of chemical compounds are selected based at least in part upon an availability of one or more of the individual chemical compounds in the third set of chemical compounds or such that a cost of the third set of chemical compounds is minimized.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a first set of physicochemical properties of the first set of chemical compounds of the averse food ingredient; and determining a second set of physicochemical properties of the second set of chemical compounds of the flavorful food ingredient.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining the first set of physicochemical properties of the first set of chemical compounds of the averse food ingredient comprises performing a database lookup to match the first set of chemical compounds of the averse food ingredient with their respective physicochemical properties, and wherein the determining the second set of physicochemical properties of the second set of chemical compounds of the flavorful food ingredient comprises performing a database lookup to match the second set of chemical compounds of the flavorful food ingredient with their respective physicochemical properties.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining a first set of vectors in a physicochemical space based upon the first set of physicochemical properties of the first set of chemical compounds of the averse food ingredient; and determining a second set of vectors in the physicochemical space based upon the second set of physicochemical properties of the second set of chemical compounds of the flavorful food ingredient.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the physicochemical space comprises a multidimensional space where each dimensions is associated with a different physicochemical property.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the physicochemical space comprises a normed multidimensional space where at least one dimension is associated with at least two different physicochemical properties.

16 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
calculating a first vector projection associated with the mixture of the averse food ingredient, the flavorful food ingredient, and the food additive in a perceptual space, wherein the calculating the first vector projection is based on the first set of vectors in the physicochemical space and the second set of vectors in the physicochemical space; and calculating a second vector projection associated with the flavorful food in the perceptual space, wherein the second vector projection is based on the second set of vectors in the physicochemical space.

17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining the individual chemical compounds in the third set of chemical compounds in the defined quantities; and mixing the individual chemical compounds in the defined quantities to produce the food additive in a form that is suitable for human consumption.

18 . A method, comprising:
identifying a first set of chemical compounds contained in an averse food ingredient; identifying a second set of chemical compounds contained in a flavorful food ingredient; determining a first set of physicochemical properties of the first set of chemical compounds of the averse food ingredient; determining a second set of physicochemical properties of the second set of chemical compounds of the flavorful food ingredient; calculating a third set of target physicochemical properties for a food additive such that an olfactory perception of a mixture of the averse food ingredient, the flavorful food ingredient, and the food additive is the same as an olfactory perception of only the flavorful food ingredient; and formulating the food additive by selecting individual chemical compounds to include in a new, third set of chemical compounds, different from the first set of chemical compounds and the second set of chemical compounds, and by selecting defined quantities in which to mix the individual chemical compounds in the third set of chemical compounds, wherein when the individual chemical compounds are mixed in the defined quantities, they produce a food additive whose physicochemical properties match the third set of target physicochemical properties.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the calculating the third set of target physicochemical propertie

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Varshney Kush R
• Varshney Lav R

Classifications

• A23V2002/00

  Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs · CPC title

• A23L1/30 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• G01N30/8651

  Recording, data aquisition, archiving and storage · CPC title

• G01N33/0001 Primary

  by organoleptic means · CPC title

• A23L33/10

  using additives (addition of substantially indigestible substances A23L33/21) · CPC title