Electronically readable dietary tag and reader

Abstract

The present invention relates to a programmable tag that is encoded with information associated with ingestible substances, a system for producing such a tag, and a reader for capturing and decoding the tag. Predetermined profiles and predetermined coding schemes are used to encode such information to form the tag and to decode and extract such information in accordance with the present invention.

Therefore, we claim: 
     
         1 . A system for coding nutritional information associated with ingestible substances, comprising:
 a first database storing dietary products along with nutritional fields and values for each nutritional field in association with each dietary product;   a second database storing more than one predetermined profile, each predetermined profile indicating a different subset of the nutritional fields and an order for the subset of nutritional fields; and   a computer coupled to the first database and the second database and configured to generate a nutritional tag comprising coded information representing a subset of the values for each dietary product based upon one of the predetermined profiles.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a mobile tag reading system, comprising:
 a tag capture device for receiving the coded information; 
 a decoder for identifying the predetermined profile used to encode the coded information and for decoding the coded information based on the predetermined profile to generate the subset of values for the dietary product for each of nutritional field associated with the value decoded. 
   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the predetermined profiles include the units of measurement associated with the nutritional fields. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the coded information does not include a designation for the nutritional field or for the unit of measurement associated with the nutritional field. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the dietary products include known ingredients and the predetermined profiles comprise an order of the ingredients, and wherein the nutritional tag includes coded information representing the existence of one or more ingredients based on the predetermined profile used to encode the coded information. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the dietary products include known ingredients and the predetermined profiles comprise an order of the ingredients, and wherein the nutritional tag includes coded information representing the absence of one or more ingredients based on the predetermined profile used to encode the coded information. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the tag capture device scans the nutritional tag. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the computer is configured to transmit the coded information and the tag capture device is configured to acquire the coded information wirelessly from the computer. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a tag capture device configured to select an electronically displayed nutritional tag and to decode the coded information encoded in the acquired nutritional tag based on the predetermined profile used to encode the coded information. 
     
     
         10 . A method for coding nutritional information associated with ingestible substances, comprising the steps:
 storing dietary products along with nutritional fields and values for each nutritional field in association with each dietary product in a first database;   storing more than one predetermined profile in a second database, each predetermined profile indicating a different subset of the nutritional fields and an order for the subset of nutritional fields; and   generating a nutritional tag comprising coded information representing a subset of the values for each dietary product based upon one of the predetermined profiles.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the predetermined profiles include the units of measurement associated with the nutritional fields. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the coded information does not include a designation for the nutritional field or for the unit of measurement associated with the nutritional field. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the dietary products include known ingredients and the predetermined profiles comprise an order of the ingredients, and wherein the nutritional tag includes coded information representing the existence of one or more ingredients based on the predetermined profile used to encode the coded information. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the dietary products include known ingredients and the predetermined profiles comprise an order of the ingredients, and wherein the nutritional tag includes coded information representing the absence of one or more ingredients based on the predetermined profile used to encode the coded information. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising the steps of:
 displaying the nutritional tag;   scanning the displayed nutritional tag;   identifying the predetermined profile used to encode the coded information included in the scanned nutrition tag; and   decoding the coded information contained in the scanned nutritional tag based on the predetermined profile to generate the subset of values for the dietary product for each of nutritional field associated with the value decoded.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising the steps of:
 displaying the nutritional tag in electronic form;   selecting the displayed nutritional tag;   identifying the predetermined profile used to encode the coded information included in the selected nutrition tag; and   decoding the coded information contained in the selected nutritional tag based on the predetermined profile to generate the subset of values for the dietary product for each of nutritional field associated with the value decoded.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising the steps of:
 transmitting the coded information contained in the nutritional tag;   acquiring the transmitted coded information;   identifying the predetermined profile used to encode the acquired coded information; and   decoding the acquired coded information based on the predetermined profile to generate the subset of values for the dietary product for each of nutritional field associated with the value decoded.   
     
     
         18 . A system for coding information associated with ingestible substances, comprising:
 at least one predetermined profile wherein each predetermined profile includes a plurality of attributes related to ingestible substances and the order of the attributes; and   a substance database storing ingestible substance designations for each ingestible substance along with the attributes associated with the corresponding ingestible substance; and   a computer coupled the substance database and configured to generate an encoded tag comprising coded information related to the attributes associated with each ingestible substance.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the attributes are food allergens, ingredients, or drug directives. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the coded information represents at least one of the absence or presence of each attribute.