Patent ID: 7953873

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for a network-based service, comprising: receiving information from a user about the user's food preferences, wherein the information comprises at least one of food allergies, health conditions, or personal preferences; determining, from the received information, a plurality of ingredients, wherein each ingredient is either a preferred ingredient or an ingredient to be avoided for the user; receiving information indicating a restaurant of interest to the user; determining a plurality of menu items available at the restaurant of interest that are acceptable to the user based on the determined plurality of ingredients in the plurality of menu items; assigning, by a computer, a priority order to each of a plurality of categories that the plurality of menu items belong to, wherein the plurality of categories comprises menu items with ingredients to be avoided, menu items with preferred ingredients, and menu items with ingredients that are disliked; sorting, by the computer, the plurality of menu items in each of the plurality of categories, wherein the order of sorting is based on the assigned priority order of the category; ranking, by the computer, the plurality of menu items based on each menu item's sorted position in each category and the priority order of the categories; and presenting to the user the ranked menu items.