Patent Description:
From patent documents <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT> and <CIT>, among other documents related with cooking appliance, systems and methods are known for processing and preparing foods by means of receiving control instructions comprising preparations parameters for a recipe from remote computing devices via an intermediate server such as a cloud computer server.

Besides, from document <CIT> it is known a food processor, in particular a mixing device, which can cooperate with a weighting device, in which information on body-specific parameters of a user will be forwarded directly to the food processor.

<CIT> relates to information management systems for a home appliance, and more particularly, to an information management system for embodying communication between a home appliance and a wireless terminal and between the home appliance and an external service business operator server possible for providing information a user requires quickly and remote management of the home appliance.

None of the current documents found in the state of the art, however, teach or suggest, a method, and a system, planned to for each of a plurality of users, handling remote control of a cooking appliance of each user to provide a customized diet, in which said customized diet is created/prepared by a cloud computer server based on physiological parameters acquired of the users by one or more measuring devices.

The present invention relates to a method according to independent claim <NUM> and to a system according to independent claim <NUM>. To that end, embodiments of the present invention provide according to a first aspect a method for handling remote control of a cooking appliance to provide a customized diet. The method comprises storing by a cloud computer server one or more recipes including some food preparation parameters for one or more cooking appliances having a communication unit providing interconnection with the cloud computer server via a communications network.

Unlike the know proposals in the field, in the proposed method, the cloud computer server further comprises: receiving, via said communications network, one or more parameters of a plurality of users acquired by at least one measuring device such as a fitness sensor wearable device, a weighting device/scale, a glucose sensor, a pressure sensor, a thermometer, etc.; creating, a customized diet plan for each of said plurality of users based on the received one or more parameters and the stored recipes; receiving, identification data (such as a serial number or an identification number) of a particular cooking appliance of a given user of said plurality of users via said communication network; and transmitting, control instructions comprising a recipe, as a part of the diet plan, to an information interface integrated in said particular cooking appliance of said given user or in a communications terminal of said given user.

According to the proposed method, the one or more parameters may include: glucose level, blood pressure, weight, body mass index, temperature, burnt calories, heartbeat, among others.

According to an embodiment, the identification data of said particular cooking appliance is sent by the user communications terminal during a login operation of the user in the cooking appliance. Preferably, the login operation is executed by a software application installed in the user communications terminal.

Alternatively, according to another embodiment, the identification data of said particular cooking appliance is sent by the communication unit of the cooking appliance upon the user having performed a login operation in the cooking appliance.

According to the invention, the cloud computer server also compares the one or more parameters it has received with a threshold (or thresholds) and further adapts the customized diet plan depending on the result of said comparison.

According to another embodiment, the cloud computer server when the one or more parameters are above the threshold (or thresholds) also includes a warning for the user to indicate a non-healthy state of the latter. Preferably, this is done at the same time of the transmission of the control instructions; however it can also be done later.

Other embodiments of the invention that are disclosed herein include a system configured to perform the method embodiment steps and operations summarized above and disclosed in detail below.

The above and other advantages and characteristics will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of embodiments with reference to the attached drawings, which must be taken by way of illustration, not limitation, wherein:.

<FIG> illustrates an embodiment of a system for handling remote control of a cooking appliance to provide a customized diet. According to this embodiment, the system, as may be seen in the figure, comprises different cooking appliances <NUM> for processing and preparing foods by cooking, a cloud computer server <NUM>, several measuring devices <NUM> and a user communications terminal <NUM> (only one has been illustrated for simplicity of the figure, however the system may comprise more than one. Preferably the system comprises one user communications terminal <NUM> such as a smartphone, a PDA, a tablet computer or a personal computer, among others, associated to each cooking appliance <NUM>). The different arrows shown in the figure illustrate the different communication links each element can establish with the other elements of the system, preferably, via wireless communication through a communications network, such as a wide area network; however other types of networks are also possible, such as a medium area network, or combinations of different types or network.

The cloud computer server <NUM> (i.e. a computer server located in a cloud computing infrastructure, or part thereof, or even a plurality of computing entities cooperating with one another), is configured to store recipes including food preparation parameters for said different cooking appliances <NUM> of a plurality of users. The recipes preferably have associated its nutritional content. It should be noted that although in <FIG> only two cooking appliances <NUM> have been illustrated, the cloud computer server <NUM> can store recipes for a greater number of cooking appliances <NUM>.

Preferably, the cloud computer server <NUM> receives said recipes for each different cooking appliance <NUM> from a specific software application ('App'), which can be installed in a user communications terminal <NUM> or alternatively in a dedicated computing device included in the cooking appliance <NUM> as taught in <CIT> patent application of the same inventors of present patent application.

According to the proposed invention, the measuring devices <NUM> may comprise: a fitness sensor wearable device, a weighting device, a glucose sensor, a pressure sensor, a thermometer, among other devices capable of measuring a physiological parameter of a user. According to the particular embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the measuring devices <NUM> include a weighting device, a thermometer and a fitness wearable device. In alternative embodiments, in this case not illustrated, the different types of measuring devices <NUM> may be all of a same type, e.g. only fitness sensor wearable devices or glucose sensors. Even, only one measuring device <NUM> can be used by present invention.

A measuring device <NUM> forwards the acquired parameter(s) directly to the cloud computer server <NUM>, for example via WiFi or <NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM> technology, or via a user communications terminal <NUM>. In this latter case, preferably, the connection between the measuring device <NUM> with the user communications terminal <NUM> is performed via Bluetooth or infrared technology whereas the connection of the user communications terminal <NUM> with the cloud computer server <NUM> is performed, preferably, via a WiFi or <NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM> technology.

Each cooking appliance <NUM> comprises a communication unit configured to provide interconnection with the cloud computer server <NUM>. Said communication unit may also be configured to provide interconnection with its associated user communications terminal <NUM>. Alternatively, each cooking appliance <NUM> may comprise two independent communication units to independently provide the interconnection to the cloud computer server <NUM> and to its associated user communications terminal <NUM>.

In addition, the cooking appliances <NUM> preferably also comprise a base structure <NUM> on which a support for holding a container <NUM> containing foods to be processed is assembled, a driving unit to operate a stirring device or a cutting device contained inside said container <NUM>, a heating unit to heat the container <NUM> and a control device for controlling said driving and heating units. The control device and the communication unit(s) are operatively connected in order the control device control the driving and heating units based on control instructions received from the cloud computer server <NUM>. The cooking appliances <NUM> preferably also include a display unit <NUM>, not limitative as in alternatives embodiments, not illustrated, the cooking appliance <NUM> can be devoid of a display unit as taught in <CIT> patent application of the same inventors of present patent application.

With reference to <FIG>, therein it is illustrated a first embodiment of the proposed method. The method starts, at step <NUM>, by the cloud computer server <NUM> storing in a memory thereof one or more recipes including food preparation parameters for one or more cooking appliances <NUM>. Then, at step <NUM>, the cloud computer server <NUM> receives, via the communications network, one or more parameters of a plurality of users acquired by at least one measuring device <NUM>, for instance the glucose level, the blood pressure, the weight, the body mass index, the temperature, or the heartbeat. Once the cloud computer server <NUM> has received the one or more parameters the cloud computer server <NUM> creates, step <NUM>, a customized diet plan for each of the users using the stored recipes. The cloud computer server <NUM> preferably also stores the customized diet plan it has created. Then, at step <NUM>, the cloud computer server <NUM> receives identification data (such as a serial number or an identification number) of a particular cooking appliance <NUM> of a given user of the plurality of users via the communication network (Besides, or alternatively, it can receive identification information of the given user such as a nickname or a username). Finally, at step <NUM>, the cloud computer server <NUM> transmits control instructions comprising a recipe, as a part of the diet plan, to an information interface (for example a display unit) integrated in said particular cooking appliance <NUM> of said given user or in a communications terminal <NUM> of said given user.

According to the invention, the cloud computer server <NUM> also compares the parameter(s) it has received with a given threshold. For instance, if the parameter received is the blood pressure the cloud computer server <NUM> compares it with a normal resting blood pressure threshold, which for an adult is approximately <NUM> mmHg systolic, and <NUM> mmHg diastolic, abbreviated "<NUM>/<NUM> mmHg". Another example could be the burnt calories. If the parameter received is the burnt calories of a user(s) the cloud computer server <NUM> compares it with daily calorie requirement of the user(s), which generally is about <NUM> calories per day for women and <NUM> calories per day for men. Consequently, the cloud computer server <NUM> can adapt the customized diet plan depending on the result of said comparison. Moreover, in case the value of the received parameter(s) is above the threshold, the cloud computer server <NUM> may also provide a warning for the user to indicate a non-healthy state of the latter as part of the transmission of the control instructions.

The proposed invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.

As used herein, computer program products comprising computer-readable media including all forms of computer-readable medium except, to the extent that such media is deemed to be non-statutory, transitory propagating signals.

Claim 1:
A method for handling remote control of a cooking appliance to provide a customized diet, the method comprising:
storing, by a cloud computer server (<NUM>), one or more recipes including at least some food preparation parameters for one or more cooking appliances (<NUM>), wherein said one or more cooking appliances (<NUM>) comprise a communication unit providing interconnection via a communications network;
receiving, by the cloud computer server (<NUM>), via said communications network, one or more parameters of a plurality of users acquired by at least one measuring device (<NUM>), said one or more parameters including at least one of a glucose level, a blood pressure level, a weight, a body mass index, a temperature, and/or a heartbeat;
creating, by the cloud computer server (<NUM>), a customized diet plan for each of said plurality of users based on the received one or more parameters and the stored recipes;
comparing, by the cloud computer server (<NUM>), the received one or more parameters with at least one given threshold and adapting the customized diet plan depending on the result of said comparison;
receiving, by the cloud computer server (<NUM>), identification data of a particular cooking appliance (<NUM>) of a given user of said plurality of users via said communications network; and
transmitting, by the cloud computer server (<NUM>), control instructions comprising a recipe, as a part of the customized diet plan, to an information interface integrated in said particular cooking appliance (<NUM>) of said given user or integrated in a communications terminal (<NUM>) of said given user.