Abstract:
A system for making product purchases utilizing a website. The website is connected to an electronic network wherein the website has a controller and a database that contains information on recipes, products and a consumer&#39;s pantry. A remote computer is also provided in the system and is connected to the electronic network and keeps track of updated pantry information based upon consumption and purchase of products over time.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to a system for making product purchases. More specifically this invention relates to a system that utilizes an electronic network to help individuals purchase food products and plan meals. 
         [0002]    For many years individuals have struggled with obtaining the correct amount of food in their homes and coming up with grocery lists for meals that are going to be prepared on an everyday basis. Specifically, oftentimes individuals do not have time to sit down and think about the type of meals they want during the week, the ingredients that will be needed to prepare these desired meals and to determine whether or not the individual already has ingredients for those meals. Additionally individuals do not have time to see whether or not those food products have expired. 
         [0003]    As a result of the lack of time needed to prepare a list of desired meals, ingredients and knowledge as to what food products an individual has many problems arise. These include not preparing a list of meals and eating out for meals on many occasions which cannot only be extremely expensive but additionally unhealthy. Other problems arise in that ingredients can be forgotten making the meal unsavory. Additionally individuals have a tendency to not realize that they don&#39;t have a certain ingredient that needs to be purchased or that they are low on an ingredient or food product that needs to be purchased to make a meal. This leaves the individual on the night that the meal is to be prepared left to either running to the store to pick up this ingredient or alternatively preparing a different meal which can include ordering take-out or delivery. Another problem exists in that oftentimes individuals do not believe they have a desired ingredient or food product when in fact they do have that food product. As a result an individual can end up with an overabundance of a certain food product or ingredient. This not only causes additional space and storage facilities to be taken but additionally in the case where a food product can expire and needs to be thrown out can cost the individual money that over time can become considerable. Therefore a need in the art exists for a product or system that allows an individual to quickly put together meal plans wherein the ingredients are easily accessible and the amount of ingredients and food product that need to be purchased is known. 
         [0004]    Therefore a principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved system for making product purchases that reduces the time needed to make these purchases. 
         [0005]    Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for making product purchases that minimizes the cost and waste when making purchases. 
         [0006]    These and other objects, features or advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the specification and claims. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    A system for making product purchases. The system includes a website that is connected to an electronic network wherein the website has a controller and a database containing information on recipes, products and a consumer&#39;s pantry. The system also includes a remote computer connected to the electronic network where the consumer pantry information in the website database is updated based upon consumption and purchase of a product. In this manner an individual can easily make meal choices and know the exact amount of food product that needs to be purchased when going to a store. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a system for making product purchase; and 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart of a method used for making product purchases using the system of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0010]    The system and method  10  include a website  12  that is accessible over an electronic network. The website  12  is connected to a controller  14  having a database  16 . The information contained on the database  16  falls into three primary areas or topics. The first topic area is recipes  18  which, as an example, includes files such as costs of ingredients pulled from a grocer or supplier&#39;s database, cooking time, preparation time, preparation difficulty, and recipe type. Recipe types would include information such as food type (i.e., beef, chicken, pork, fish, vegetable, fruit) meal types (i.e., breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, or snack) menu type(i.e., Italian, Mexican, French, American, Chinese, etc.) dish type (i.e., appetizer, salad, entree, side, or dessert) and nutritional type (i.e., low calorie, low fat, high protein, low sodium, or diabetic). The nutritional type could be determined by the ingredients nutritional value. For example, based on all of the ingredients nutritional information, the system could determine any requested nutritional value per serving. For instance, how much sodium per serving, etc. Certain recipe types may be selected as favorites and family recipes may be added to the database  16 . 
         [0011]    The second topic area is store product information  20 . The information for store products  20 , as an example, includes fields such as product identification number (UPC or other ID), store name, brand name, product name, location of product in store, nutritional information of product, product size, price, and green ratings may be cross referenced with a third party provider of such information. For instance, a third party may have given a green rating of 6 to a box of Wheat Thins on a scale of 1-10. Therefore, the UPC for that particular box of Wheat Thins relates directly to the green value of that same UPC determined by a third party. Preferably, this information is supplied to the database and periodically updated from information that is maintained within a store database  22  at a plurality of grocery stores  24  via a link on the electronic network. Alternatively, this information is manually input into the website database  16 . 
         [0012]    The third topic area for database  16  is information related to a consumer&#39;s pantry  26 , refrigerator, freezer or other food product storage area. The information for the consumer&#39;s pantry  26 , as an example, includes a UPC or UPC equivalent, product name, brand name, quantity, and expiration date and any other information that can be gathered by cross referencing the UPC. Consumer pantry information  26  is related to items not yet consumed at the consumer&#39;s home  28 . This information may initially be inputted by a consumer  30  by accessing the website  12  via a computer  32 , or electronically by the use of a scanner or RFID technology as will be explained. Consumer pantry information  26  is periodically updated either manually or electronically by the consumer  30  as products are purchased at the grocery store  24  or disposed of at the consumer&#39;s home  28 . A consumer  30  may be required to update pantry information  26  prior to planning meals. The pantry information  26  is used for many purposes such as determining the dollar value of the food inventory or determining the amount consumed or disposed of over a selected period of time. 
         [0013]    The consumer  30 , as previously mentioned initially, may access the website  12  via a computer  32  and manually input information related to products in the consumer&#39;s pantry  26 . Alternatively, the consumer uses a bar code scanner  34  to scan and record each item in the pantry and then uploads or inputs the recorded information to the website database  16  via the computer  32 . Another option is to use radio-frequency identification technology (RFID) to track products in the consumer&#39;s pantry. In this embodiment, each product is given an RFID tag  36  or a chipless RFID tag that transmits a signal to a receiver  38 . In this instance, the information is uploaded or input from the receiver  38  to the website database  16  via the computer  32 , or the computer  32  is set up to receive the signal and automatically updates the database website  16  via the electronic network. This can be done wirelessly or by interfacing a low voltage cable directly to the device. 
         [0014]    As the consumer  30  consumes or disposes of product, the consumer&#39;s pantry information  26  is updated. This is done manually by inputting information into the website database  16  using a computer  32  connected via an electronic network. Alternatively, as the consumer  30  uses a product, they scan the bar code with the scanner  34  and then subsequently they download information on used products to the website database  16  via the computer  32 . In another embodiment, the product having the RFID tag  36  is removed from the area where a signal is detected (detection zone  40 ) by the receiver  38  and the website database  16  is subsequently updated either automatically via the computer  32  over the electronic network or by uploading the updated information from the receiver  38  to the computer  32  and then transmitting via the electronic network. The consumer&#39;s pantry information  26 , upon the acquisition of product, is updated in a similar manner—either inputting information manually through the use of a bar code scanner  34 , or through the presence of an RFID tag  36  within a detection zone  40 . 
         [0015]    Alternatively, the consumer&#39;s pantry information  26  is updated at the grocery store  24  at the time of purchase. Any means of identifying the customer as compared to the consumer&#39;s pantry information  26  may be used. In one example, the consumer  30  provides a personal access code in an input device  42  at the store  24  or by scanning the magnetic strip of an access code card  44 . Once entered, as product is scanned by the clerk at the store  24 , updated information is automatically transmitted from a store controller  46  to the website database  16  via an electronic network. In another example, as product is scanned by the store clerk, updated information is recorded on the access code card  44  or other memory device. Once the purchase is completed, the consumer  26  downloads the updated information from card  44  to computer  32  and then transmits the updated information from the computer  32  to the website database  16  via the electronic network. 
         [0016]    In operation, the consumer  30  accesses the website  12  via computer  32 . To plan menus and develop a grocery list, the consumer selects criteria  47  available on the website. An example of one criteria that a consumer may select is food in the pantry  48 . By selecting this criteria, the controller  14  is prompted to compare items in the consumer&#39;s pantry information  26  with recipes that include products in the consumer&#39;s pantry from the database  16  to select recipes. Another example of a criteria  46  is budget  50 . By selecting budget  50  as a criteria  47 , the consumer  30  identifies a dollar amount the consumer  30  wishes to spend over a specific time period. The consumer may set a dollar amount for each meal or for a specific time period, such as a day, week, or month. Upon selecting budget criteria, the controller  14  is prompted to compare the cost of ingredients with recipes in the database  16  to select recipes that meet the budget criteria to select recipes. 
         [0017]    Another example of a criteria  47 , is consumer preferences  52 . Consumer preferences include cooking time, preparation time, preparation difficulty, recipe type, and store name. Upon selecting a consumer preference criteria  52 , the controller compares the various selected preferences with various recipes  18  in the database  16  to select recipes that meet the selected preferences. The consumer  30  may also prioritize multiple criteria selections and/or request only recipes that have all the selected criteria or select a specific number of recipes that have the most selected criteria items. 
         [0018]    Once the controller  14  has selected recipes based upon the consumer&#39;s criteria  47 , a list of the recipes are displayed on the website  12 . The consumer  30  then selects desired recipes. Either the consumer  30  will select a desired number of recipes, or the consumer will select and schedule recipes for certain days and time periods. 
         [0019]    Once the consumer  30  has completed the selection of recipes, the controller  14  is prompted to formulate and display  54  a shopping list of the ingredients and quantity of each recipe from the database  16  that is displayed on the website  12 . On example of the display  54  organizes the products by store name and location of product in the store, and lists the products by brand name, quantity, and price. The display  54  may be printed by the consumer  30  or downloaded to a hand-held electronic device  56 , submitted to an online grocery store delivery system or the like. 
         [0020]    As an example, a consumer  30  has 2 ounces of peanut butter in their fridge (i.e., the jar of peanut butter purchased 3 weeks ago for $2.50 has 10 ounces). The consumer estimates the remaining amount during an inventory update exercise and determines they have ¼ of a jar left. The controller  14  then calculates the estimated amount of peanut butter remaining and its value of $0.63. The recipe  18  calls for peanut butter, strawberry jelly and 2 slices of bread per serving. The controller  14  asks how many people the consumer is trying to feed and the consumer  30  inputs  4 . The controller  14  asks if the consumer  30  would like to prepare more than one meal, which may optimize the spending and leftover food. Consumer  30  inputs: no. Consumer updates bread quantity by 2 slices. 
         [0021]    The controller  14  then calculates that only 6 ounces of peanut butter is required, 8 ounces of strawberry jelly and 6 slices of bread. The controller  14  may suggest an alternative of grape jelly due to it being on sale and specific bread that may be more appealing due to a special sale or advises that a coupon is available which can be printed by the consumer  30 . Based on the inputted information that has been compared to information in the database the controller  14  selects and displays on the website  12  the following display  54 . 
       Option  1 : 
       [0000]    
       
         Jiff Peanut Butter—Total amount of Jar 12 Ounces $3.50 
         Smuckers Jelly—Strawberry—14 ounces $5.50 
         Brand Y bread—approximately 15 slices of bread—$3.50 
         Total Cost of this purchase—$12.50 
         Cost per serving for items purchased: $3.125 
         Estimate value of remaining product after preparation and consumption: 
         Jelly—$2.35 
         Peanut Butter—(used existing first)—$1.75 
         Bread—(used existing first)—$1.63 
         Total Remainder that you will have yet to consume: $5.73. 
       
     
       Option  2 : 
       [0000]    
       
         Generic Peanut Butter—Total Amount of Jar 10 Ounces $3.25 
         Generic Jelly—Strawberry—10 ounces $4.50 
         Brand Y bread—approximately 12 slices of bread—$3.00 
         Total Cost of this purchase—410.75 
         Cost per serving for items purchased: $2.6875 
         Estimate value of remaining product after preparation and consumption: 
         Jelly—$0.90 
         Peanut Butter—(used existing first)—$1.30 
         Bread—(used existing first)—$1.50 
         Total Remainder that you will have yet to consume: $3.70 
       
     
         [0042]    The controller  14  would also recommend purchasing a larger quantity at a better price and recommend other recipes that would help consume items in home inventory, thus reducing the amount that can go to waste. 
         [0043]    The consumer  30  then goes to the store  24  with the list and selects products. As the consumer  30  checks out, the consumer&#39;s pantry information  26  is updated as previously described. Also, as the consumer  30  uses or disposes of product, the consumer pantry information  26  is updated as previously described. The controller  14  periodically checks the quantities and expiration dates of products in the consumer&#39;s pantry information  26  and sends notices either by e-mail or posting on the website  12  that the consumer is running low on an item or that an expiration date is nearing. The consumer, through the website  12 , can set parameters for how often and how far in advance parameters are given. 
         [0044]    The grocer  24  also uses the information in the database  16 . The grocer  24  access the website  12  through a computer  32  connected to an electronic network through a secured portal. The grocer selects from a menu of reports  58 , which prompt the controller  14  to gather information from the database  16  and then organize and display  60  the information. Examples of reports include individual and group buying patterns that identify product purchased, frequency of visits, day of week, and time of day; individual and group pantry information that identify quantity and expiration dates, and consumer preferences that identify both individual and group criteria that is selected. From these reports, which are printable and downloadable, the grocer prepares promotional pieces  62  that are sent to the consumer  30  either through posting on the website, through an e-mail, or conventional mail. Based on parameters set by the grocer  24 , the controller  14  is prompted to send promotional notices  62  to the consumer  30 . For example, if the consumer is running low on milk, the controller  14  detects this and sends a notice to the consumer  30  that milk is on sale. If the consumer had demonstrated a preference for Mexican food, the controller  14  is prompted to send a promotional notice  62  advertising new Mexican food products. In setting the parameters, the grocer  24  selects the triggering information, the content of the promotional piece  62 , and the frequency. 
         [0045]    Accordingly, a system and method have been described that, at the very least, meet the stated objectives.