Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable
electronic calorie consumption guide used to keep track of
calories consumed. According to an aspect of the invention,
the guide is further used to keep track of calories expended
and provide a difference between the calories consumed and
the calories expended.
~ACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Over the last few years people have become more and
more concerned with respect to personal health. In
particular, there has been great emphasis placed on diet and
15 calorie consumption. For example, the Canada Food Guide
indicates the net number of calories that one should
consume, i.e. calories intaken relative to calories expended
for an individual's specified size and body weight. The
Canada Food Guide also shows calorie and nutritional values
for foods identified in the guide.
The normal method of tracking net calorie intake is
to refer to a written guide such as the Canada Food Guide
for each food type consumed and for each activity that one
25 partakes in. One then makes a written logue which shows the
total number of calories consumed minus the total number of
calories expended to arrive at a net calorie intake.
Optimally this net calorie intake should equal or at least
approximate the figure shown in the Guide for the particular
30 persons size and weight.
As will be appreciated, the standard calorie
control methods are both tedious and time consuming.
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SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention provides an electronic
calorie consumption guide specifically designed to quickly
and easily identify the calories that one consumes over a
specified period. According to an aspect of the present
invention, the guide can be further used to not only show
calories consumed but to also show calories expended and
therefore provide a net calorie intake.
In particular, the electronic calorie consumption
guide of the present invention comprises a food information
reference containing calorie values for different foods
input in the food information reference, access means for
accessing the food information reference to identify
individual calorie values for foods consumed, an accumulator
for adding all the individual calorie values identified to
arrive at the total calorie value and a visual display for
displaying the total calorie value.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the
electronic calorie consumption guide further includes a
calorie expended reference which identifies calorie
expenditures and a differentiator for differentiating or
showing the difference between calories consumed and
calories expended.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above as well as other advantages and features
of the present invention will be described in greater detail
according to the preferred embodiments of the present
invention in which:
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Figure 1 is a perspective view of an electronic
calorie consumption guide according to a preferred
embodiment of the present invention;
Figures 2 and 3 are plan views showing the
operation of the calorie consumption guide of Figure ~;
Figure 4 is a schematic view showing the internal
construction of the preferred embodiment arrangement of
Figures 1 through 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION ACCORDING TO THE PREFERRED
EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION-
Figures 1 through 3 show an electronic calorie
consumption guide generally indicated at 1. The guide
comprises first and second housing sections hingedly -
connected to one another to open and close the guide. The
first housing section 3 includes different inputs for
accessing the electronic operation of the guide while a
2û second housing section 19 is primarily in the form of two
visual displays 21 and 23. In very broad terms, the inputs
are used to display calories consumed and food values,
calories expended through different activities and net
calories or the difference between the total calories
consumed and the total calories expended. This is done in a
fashion which is described below in detail.
Housing section 3 includes a full alpha input area
generally indicated at 5. It also includes a numeric input
generally indicated at 7, and an activity input generally
indicated at 9. Also provided are an on/off button 13, a
total button 15 and a reset button 17.
Referring to Figure 4, the internal construction of
the guide comprises a food information reference including a
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memory containing information as to calories and food groups
for specific foods stored in the memory. The access to the
food information reference is achieved by using a
combination of input buttons 5 and 7. The output from the
food information reference goes directly to visual display
21.
The guide further includes a calorie expenditure
reference which is accessed by a combination of input
buttons 7 and 9. The output from the calorie expenditure
reference goes to visual display 23.
Both the food information reference and the calorie
expenditure reference also have outputs to a differentiator
which is accessed by total button 15. The output from the
differentiator goes to visual display 21.
The calorie expenditure reference much like the
food information reference contains information as to the
20 number of calories expended for various different
activities. For example, activity buttons 9 as represented
by the pictures on these buttons indicate different
activities such as tennis, golf, running, walking, badminton
and bicycling. As will be appreciated, many other
25 activities could also be included in the activity input.
The operation of the electronic food guide is
extremely simple. By way of example, Figure 2 shows that if
a person were to eat one plum, he or she would then enter
30 the numeric value 1 and through the use of the alpha keys or
buttons, simply spell the word plum. This information as
both numerically and alphabetically input appears on visual
display 21. The food information reference automatically
produces the value of 100 calories and information regarding
35 one fruit group or lF from its memory as stored in
association with the calorie value for 1 plum.
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Over the period of one day, everthing that one
consumes is entered and accumulated by the food information
reference to give a total food group and a total number of
calories consumed. Again, by way of example, if one were to
eat a hot dog after eating the plum, he or she would simply
enter "1 hot dog". This would then show up on display 21 as
1 hot dog, lM (standing for 1 meat group) and show both the
calorie value of the hot dog as well as the calorie value
for the earlier plum, i.e. a total calorie value.
On the calorie expenditure side of things, one
simply enters the appropriate activity and the amount of the
activity. This information accesses the calorie expenditure
reference which then retrieves from its memory the number of
15 calories expended which are then displayed on display 23.
Again, by way of example, Figure 3 shows that running 3
miles is entered using the appropriate numeric button, the
appropriate activity button and by spelling the word miles
by using the alpha input. This automatically appears on
20 display 23 as does the calorie expenditure of 600 calories
associated with running three miles.
As will be seen from Figure 4, the food information
reference and the calorie expenditure reference in addition
25 to outputing to their respective visual displays also output
to the differentiator. If one wishes to then determine what
his or her total food group intake has been, as well as the -
net calorie value for a particular time period, he or she
simply pushes the total button 15. Figure 1 indicates that
30 over the period of a day, an in~ividual has consumed one
fruit group, indicated by the designation lF, one grain
group indicated by the designation lG, one dairy group
indicated by the designation lD and two meat groups
indicated by the designation 2M. In addition, the total
35 button lndlcates thet the total celories remaining, i.e. the
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calories consumed minus the calories expended is 1800
calories which may or may not be inappropriate depending
upon the particular individual involved. As earlier
mentioned, one has an optimum net calorie value that he or
she is looking for depending upon size and weight of the
individual. The electronic calorie consumption guide of the
present invention quickly and easily assists the individual
in determining whether or not they are close to that
calories value.
In order to reset the guide for another time frame,
one simply pushes the reset button which sets the guide back
to a new day start or zero position.
Although various preferred embodiments of the
invention have been described in detail, it will be
appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations may
be made without departing from the spirit of the invention
or the scope of the appended claims. For example, the
description above pertains to specific types of inputs and
specific visual display areas. It is to be understood that
the invention is not limited to these inputs and these
displays nor is it limited to the particular internal
;~ circuitry shown in the drawings.
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