Health tracking system with verification of nutrition information

Abstract

A health tracking system includes a plurality of health tracking devices in communication with a host server. In one embodiment, a method of operating the system comprises: receiving data relating to consumables from user devices; storing the data as data records; grouping the data records into groups based on a description string of each; determining an individual score to associate to each data record; and applying an identifier to one of the data records in each group, the one of the data records comprising a one associated with a high score relative to the remaining ones of the data records in the group.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of operating a health tracking system comprising:
 receiving a plurality of data relating to a respective plurality of consumables from a plurality of health tracking devices;   storing the plurality of data as a plurality of data records in a database, each of the plurality of data records comprising at least a description string;   grouping the plurality of data records into a plurality of groups based at least on the description string of each, each of the plurality of groups comprising at least one of the plurality of data records;   determining an individual score to associate to individual ones of the plurality of data records in each of the plurality of groups; and   applying an identifier to one of the plurality of data records for each of the plurality of groups, the one of the plurality of data records comprising a one data record associated with a high score relative to remaining ones of the plurality of data records in a particular one of the plurality of groups.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving a search request associated with one of the plurality of consumables from one of the plurality of health tracking devices; 
 returning a set of data records from the database in response to the search request, the set of data records including the one data record associated with the high score; and 
 displaying the set of data records on the one of the plurality of health tracking devices; and 
 displaying a marker that the identifier has been applied to the one data record associated with the high score. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of data records are first data records, the method further comprising storing second data records from a verified source in the database, and applying the identifier to the second data records. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising normalizing the description string of each data record prior to grouping the plurality of data records. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein grouping the plurality of data records comprises clustering the plurality of data records using a cluster analysis algorithm. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the one data record associated with a high score is a verified data record. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the verified data record is associated with a highest score for the particular one of the plurality of groups such that only one verified data record is identified for the particular one of the plurality of groups. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein each data record includes nutrition data, the method further comprising aggregating nutrition data for the verified data record based on the nutrition data for other data records included in a same group as the verified data record. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the nutrition data aggregated for the verified data record is an average of nutrition data of the other data records included in the same group as the verified data record. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising performing a validation check on the verified data record, the validation check determining whether the verified data record follows at least one validation rule. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising demoting the verified data record to a non-verified data record if the verified data record does not follow the at least one validation rule. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the verified data record is a first verified data record for a first group of the plurality of groups, the method further comprising identifying duplicate verified data records, the duplicate verified data records including a second verified data record for a second group of the plurality of groups. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising deduplicating the identified duplicate verified data records, wherein deduplicating the identified duplicate verified food items includes merging the first group and the second group into a combined group and identifying a single verified data record for the combined group. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising deduplicating the identified duplicate verified data records, wherein deduplicating the identified duplicate verified data records includes comparing the first verified data record and the second verified data record and demoting the second verified data record to a non-verified data record. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transient computer readable medium containing instructions for identifying verified ones of a plurality of user created data records relating to consumable items in a database by:
 receiving the plurality of user created data records from a plurality of user devices;   storing the plurality of user created data records in the database, each of the plurality of user created data records including at least a description string;   placing each of the plurality of user created data records into one of a plurality of groups based at least in part on the description string associated thereto such that individual ones of the plurality of user created data records having description strings which are determined to be similar are placed in a same one of said plurality of groups;   assigning an individual score to individual ones of the plurality of user created data records in each of the plurality of groups, the individual scores being based at least in part on one or more of: a popularity of the individual ones of the plurality of user created data records and a similarity of the individual ones of the plurality of user created data records to other ones of the plurality of user created data records in a group to which the individual one is assigned;   identifying one of the plurality of user created data records within a first one of the plurality of groups having a high score relative to other ones of the plurality of user created data records in the first one of the plurality of groups.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transient computer readable medium of  claim 15  further containing instructions for identifying verified ones of a plurality of user created data records relating to consumable items in a database by:
 aggregating nutrition data for the one of the plurality of user created data records based on nutrition data for other data records included in a same group as the one of the plurality of user created data records. 
 
     
     
         17 . The non-transient computer readable medium of  claim 15  further containing instructions for identifying verified ones of a plurality of user created data records relating to consumable items in a database by:
 performing a validation check on the one of the plurality of user created data records, the validation check determining whether the one of the plurality of user created data records follows at least one validation rule. 
 
     
     
         18 . A health tracking system comprising:
 an interface configured to receive a plurality of nutritional data relating to consumables from a plurality of health tracking devices;   a database configured to store the plurality of nutritional data relating to consumables as a plurality of data records, each of the plurality of data records including a description string; and   a data processing system configured to:
 (i) group the plurality of data records into a plurality of groups based on the description strings thereof; 
 (ii) apply a score each of said plurality of data records in each of said plurality of groups; and 
 (iii) identify a reliable data record within each of the plurality of groups, the reliable data record comprising that one of the plurality of data records in a particular one of the plurality of groups associated with a high score. 
   
     
     
         19 . The health tracking system of  claim 18  wherein the data processing system is further configured to aggregate nutrition data for the one of the plurality of data records based on nutrition data for other data records included in a same group as the one of the plurality of data records. 
     
     
         20 . The health tracking system of  claim 18  wherein the data processing system is further configured to perform a validation check on the one of the plurality of data records, the validation check determining whether the one of the plurality of data records follows at least one validation rule.