Patent Publication Number: US-2006020483-A1

Title: System for providing a specific recipe satisfying a specific customer preference and related method

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a system for providing a specific recipe, its related method, and a personal storage medium for recording specific customer preference data. More particularly, the present invention discloses a system and related method that provides a specific recipe satisfying specific personal flavor preferences of the customer, and a personal storage medium for recording the specific customer preference data.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Generally, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, fast food restaurants, ice cream shops and the like only provide “standard” foods, such as coffee, ice cream, cocktails, hamburgers, sandwiches, toast, pizza, etc., but are unable to customize food for different customers. However, customers have their own flavor preferences; for example, some people like coffee with crushed ice, but others prefer coffee without ice; some people prefer their toast dark, but others like their toast light. For these special customers, it is not easy to find food to their satisfaction.  
      Of course, if the customer becomes a regular customer, the shop can remember his or her personal preferences; otherwise the customer always I needs to explain his or her personal preferences. Furthermore, when shops offer “customized” food, it can be difficult for them to calculate the price.  
      Therefore, it is desirable to provide a system for providing a specific recipe satisfying a specific customer preference, and related method, to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      A main objective of the present invention is to provide a system for providing a specific recipe that satisfies a specific customer personal preference, which includes a reading device and a displaying device. The reading device is used for reading customer preference data. The displaying device is used for displaying the customer preference data to produce the specific recipe according to the customer preference data.  
      In an embodiment of the present invention, the specific recipe is coffee, ice cream, a cocktail, a hamburger, a sandwich, toast, or pizza.  
      In an embodiment of the present invention, the customer preference data comprises at least two ingredients of the specific recipe satisfying a specific customer preference; amounts for the at least two ingredients; and a production method for the specific recipe satisfying the specific customer preference.  
      In an embodiment of the present invention, the system of the present invention further comprises a calculating device for calculating a price according to the ingredients, amounts and production method of the specific recipe satisfying the specific customer preference.  
      In an embodiment of the present invention, the customer preference data is stored in a personal storage medium (which is a smart card, an IC card or a stored-value card) or a database.  
      Moreover, the present invention also provides a method for providing a specific recipe satisfying a specific customer preference, the method comprising: obtaining customer preference data; recording the customer preference data; displaying the customer preference data; and producing the specific recipe according to the customer preference data.  
      In an embodiment of the present invention, the method of the present invention further comprises: obtaining primary ingredient data for the specific recipe; obtaining amount data for the primary ingredient data; obtaining production method data for the specific recipe; and providing a preference menu for the specific customer.  
      In an embodiment of the present invention, the preference menu comprises: a plurality of options for the primary ingredients for the specific recipe; a plurality of options for amounts for the primary ingredients; and a plurality of options for the production method for the specific recipe.  
      In an embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises: calculating a price according to the ingredients, amounts and production method of the specific recipe satisfying the specific customer preference.  
      Furthermore, the present invention uses a personal storage medium such as a smart card, an IC card, a stored-value card or a PDA mobile phone to store the customer preference data.  
      Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a system structure drawing of an embodiment according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a schematic drawing of a system for reading customer preference data from a database according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing of a system for reading customer preference data from a personal storage medium according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a schematic drawing of the customer preference data according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a schematic drawing of making Bloody Marys  50 A and  50 B respectively satisfying customer A and customer B personal preferences.  
       FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an embodiment according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  is a flowchart for a step shown in  FIG. 6 .  
       FIG. 8  shows a preference menu of an embodiment according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a system structure drawing of an embodiment according to the present invention. In the embodiment, a system  10  for providing a specific recipe comprises a reading device  100 , a displaying device  102 , and a calculating device  104 . The reading device  100 , the displaying device  102 , and the calculating device  104  are all electrically connected to each other, and by using this structure the present invention can quickly provide the specific recipe that satisfies a specific customer personal preference.  
      In the present invention, recipe indicates food composed of at least two ingredients, especially food that can be quickly made when knowing the amounts of the ingredients and production methods. For example, cocktails are one of the recipes of the present invention, which are made of “alcohol” and “beverages”; the present invention may also be used for other recipe types, such as coffee, ice cream, hamburgers, sandwiches, toast or pizza.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 2  to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 2  is a schematic drawing of a system for reading customer personal preference data from a database according to the present invention.  FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing of the system for reading customer personal preference data from a personal storage medium according to the present invention.  FIG. 4  is a schematic drawing of customer personal preference data according to the present invention.  
      As shown in  FIG. 2 , the system  10  of the present invention is electrically connected to a database  20 , and the database  20  has customer preference data  40  as shown in  FIG. 4 . Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the system  10  is electrically connected to a personal storage medium  30 , and the personal storage medium  30  has the customer preference data  40  as shown in  FIG. 4 . The personal storage medium  30  may be a smart card, an IC card or a stored-value card.  
      As shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , in an embodiment, the reading device  100  reads the customer preference data  40 , the displaying device  102  displays the customer preference data  40  for a subsequent production process, and the calculating device  104  calculates a price according to the customer preference data  40 .  
      As shown in  FIG. 4 , the customer preference data  40  has: at least two ingredients  400  of the specific recipe, amounts  402  for the at least two ingredients, and a production method  404  for the specific recipe.  
      The system  10  of the present invention can be used for restaurants, coffee shops, bars, fast food restaurants, ice cream shops, etc., and can be used to provide coffee, ice cream, cocktails, hamburgers, sandwiches, toast, pizza, etc. In this manner, shops can always make food for customers according to the customer preference data  40 .  
      Please refer to  FIG. 5 .  FIG. 5  is a schematic drawing of making Bloody Marys  50 A and  50 B that respectively satisfies customer A and customer B personal preferences according to customer preference data  40 A for customer A and customer preference data  40 B for customer B.  
      As shown in  FIG. 5 , customer A wants 15 ml of lemon juice added to his or her Bloody Mary, 1 ml of chilly sauce, and sour chilly sauce, in addition to vodka and tomato juice; customer B wants his or her Bloody Mary with a little pepper and salt. Usually, a restaurant or bar only provides a “standard” cocktail, but not a “customized” cocktail for different customers. Customer A and customer B will have to spend a lot of time to explain their personal preferences so that the restaurant or bar can make their particular cocktails. Additionally, even if the restaurant or bar can make the cocktails according to customer A&#39;s request and customer B&#39;s request, it is still a problem to calculate the price.  
      The system  10  of the present invention can solve the above-mentioned problem. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the customer preference data  40 A for customer A, and the customer preference data  40 B for customer B, are separately stored in personal storage media  30 A and  30 B (such as a smart card, an IC card or a stored-value card); the reading device  100  reads the customer preference data  40 A and  40 B from the personal storage media  30 A and  30 B, the displaying device  102  displays the customer preference data  40 A and  40 B for reference when making Bloody Mary  50 A for customer A and Bloody Mary  50 B for customer B according to the customer preference data  40 A and  40 B, and the calculating device  104  calculates a price according to the ingredients, amounts and production method for the Bloody Marys  50 A and  50 B.  
      Therefore, customer A and customer B only need to input their requests once, and the system  10  can help to make the same “customized” cocktail every time. Similarly, the system  10  can be used for making coffee, ice cream, cocktails, hamburgers, sandwiches, toast, pizza, etc., or other recipes.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 6 .  FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an embodiment according to the present invention. First, in step  60 , the customer preference data  40  shown in  FIG. 4  is provided for the system  10 . In step  61 , the system  10  records the customer preference data  40  in the database  20  shown in  FIG. 2  or in the personal storage medium  30  (such as a smart card, an IC card, a stored-value card, or a mobile phone) shown in  FIG. 3 . When a customer wants food according to his or her personal preference, the system  10  performs step  62  to display the customer preference data  40  stored in the database  20  or in the personal storage medium  30 ; and in step  63 , customized food or drink can be made according to the customer preference data  40 . Finally, the system  10  performs step  64  to calculate a price according to the ingredients, amounts and production method of the specific recipe.  
      In an embodiment, the customer preference data  40  obtained in step  60  can be obtained by providing samples for the customer, and then recording different customer preference data or by the customer voluntarily providing the data  40 . Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 7 , the customer preference data  40  obtained in step  60  can be replaced by the following steps:  
      Step  601 : obtaining the primary ingredients data for the recipe. For example, the primary ingredients of the above-mentioned Bloody Mary are: vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, chilly sauce, sour chilly sauce, pepper, salt, a lemon slice, a celery stick, and ice.  
      Step  602 : obtaining amount data for the primary ingredients. For example, the amount data for the primary ingredients of the above-mentioned Bloody Mary are: vodka: 20˜50 ml, tomato juice: 20˜50 ml, lemon juice: 0˜20 ml, chilly sauce: 0˜2 ml, sour chilly sauce: 0˜2 ml, pepper: 0 or a dash, salt: 0 or a dash, lemon slices: 1˜2; celery sticks: 1˜2, and ice: 0˜3 cubes.  
      Step  603 : obtaining production method data. For example, the production method data for the primary ingredients of the above-mentioned Bloody Mary is: direct pouring or stirring.  
      Step  604 : providing a customer preference menu  80  as shown in  FIG. 8 , which provides a plurality of options for the primary ingredients of the specific recipe, amounts for the primary ingredients and production method data for the customer to obtain the customer preference data  40 .  
      Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.