Electronic agenda with weight management function

[0001] The invention relates to a weight management system comprising logging means for logging past food intake events and past energy expenditure events, storage means for storing the past food intake events and the past energy expenditure events,

[0002] a processor for, based on the past food intake events and the past energy expenditure events, planning at least one future food intake event or at least one future energy expenditure event and an output for presenting the at least one future food intake event and/or the at least one future energy expenditure event.

[0003] The invention further relates to a travel planner, which may be used in the weight management system.

[0004] The invention further relates to a method for managing weight.

[0005] The invention further relates to a computer program product for performing said method.

[0006] Such a weight management system is, for example, known from European patent application EP1473655 A1. EP 1473655 A1 describes a method and a device for weight management of humans. The user's initial weight and target weight are received via a user interface, then food intake amount and exercise instructions to be represented via the user interface if the device are generated on the basis of the difference between the user's initial weight and his target weight. In addition, the actual user's energy expenditure, food intake amount and weight are received via the user interface. The food intake amount and/or exercise instructions are modified on the basis of the change in the user's weight. In an embodiment receives information defining the user's workload and takes the workload into account when generating his energy expenditure.

[0007] It is a problem of the system according to EP 1473655 A1, that people often have difficulties with following the exercise and food intake amount instructions. On busy days, people have little time for exercising and preparing healthy meals. By not following the instructions, the chance of realizing the target weight is considerably reduced. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a weight management system, which provides instructions for a user, which are easier to be followed.

[0008] According to the invention this object is achieved by providing a system as described in the opening paragraph, which system further comprises means for receiving agenda entries, and wherein the agenda entries are stored in the storage means, and the processor is arranged to, based on the past food intake events, the past energy expenditure events and the agenda entries, schedule at least one future food intake event or at least one future energy expenditure event and to add the future food intake event or the at least one future energy expenditure event to the storage means as one of the agenda entries.

[0009] The system combines a user's normal agenda with a weight management system. When, future energy expenditure events and future food intake events are planned, the user's agenda entries are taken into account. As a result, the planned events will not conflict with a user's normal agenda and it will be much easier for the user to follow the suggestions of food intake events and energy expenditure events as planned by the weight management system.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment of the weight management system according to the invention, the logging of past food intake events comprises logging an amount of received metabolic energy, the logging of past energy expenditure events comprises logging an amount of expended metabolic energy, and the processor is operative to schedule the at least one future food intake event and the at least one future energy expenditure event in such a way as to balance a difference between the received and the expended metabolic energy according to a predetermined balancing criterion.

[0011] With ‘received metabolic energy’, all energy is denoted which can be used for the metabolic processes in an organism. Metabolic processes are all energy consuming processes in the cells of living organisms. The energy consumption on the cellular level leads to all biological and behavioral processes, like growing, breathing, walking, thinking, writing, etc. The ‘received metabolic energy’ will generally come from food and drinks. With ‘expended metabolic energy’, the energy used by the organism is denoted. Standard measures for metabolic energy are Joules or Calories. Eating a 100 grams candy bar may, for example, result in 483 Kcal of received metabolic energy. An half hour walk may, for example, result in 160 Kcal of expended metabolic energy.

[0012] The difference between the received and the expended metabolic energy indicates whether the user is likely to gain or lose weight. When a user wants to stabilize his/hers weight, the difference should be approximately zero. When a user wants to lose weight, slightly more metabolic energy should be expended than received. In this embodiment, the processor monitors the difference by adding all amounts of metabolic energy, received during the logged food intake events and subtracting all amounts of metabolic energy, expended during the logged energy expenditure events. Then, the processor schedules future events, for balancing the difference. Predetermined balancing criterions are used for performing the balancing. For example, the relative difference between intake and expenditure over a given period must be smaller than a predetermined maximum relative difference.

[0013] In a further embodiment of the weight management system according to the invention, two successive agenda entries comprise respective geographical locations and the processor is operative to generate a travel advice for traveling between the respective geographical locations of the successive agenda entries, the travel advice comprising at least one tip on a means of conveyance to be used.

[0014] This embodiment has the advantage that it provides for the possibility to integrate the planning of energy expenditure events with entries in a user's agenda. Some means of conveyance may be used for expending energy, while other means of conveyance may be used for fast traveling. When, for example, walking or cycling between two locations, the user expends significant amounts of energy. On a busy day, the weight management system may suggest walking and cycling between locations instead of planning separate physical exercise activities.

[0015] The tip on the means of conveyance to be used may be determined based on the distance between the respective geographical locations, on an amount of available time between the successive agenda entries and on an amount of metabolic energy needed for use of the means of conveyance.

[0016] When more time is available between two agenda entries, and the geographical locations are not far from each other, relatively slow, but energy demanding, means of conveyance, such as walking or cycling, may be suggested. When less time is available between two agenda entries and the geographical location are further away from each other, faster means of conveyance, such as trains or cars are suggested. When, for example, a user has two appointments at two different locations which are 4 miles apart from each other and the user has half an hour of time for traveling between these two locations, then he may be advised to go by bike. If, however, the time between the two appointments is only fifteen minutes, the use of a car, bus or taxi may be suggested. When a car or bus is used, the corresponding energy expenditure will be very low.

[0017] Alternatively or additionally, the tip on the means of conveyance to be used may be determined based on the past and/or future food intake events and the past and/or future energy expenditure events.

[0018] This allows for suggesting more energy demanding means of conveyance when the weight management system detects a period of (threatening) energy surplus and suggesting less energy demanding means of conveyance when the weight management system detects a period of (threatening) energy deficit. When, for example, the user has already performed several physical exercise activities in the last few days, the system may suggest taking the bus. When a dinner party is planned for the evening, the system may suggest using a bike instead.

[0019] According to another aspect of the invention a travel planner is provided, comprising a module for receiving food intake information and/or energy expenditure information and two geographical locations, and a module for generating a travel advice for traveling between the geographical locations, the travel advice comprising at least one tip on a means of conveyance to be used, wherein the tip on the means of conveyance to be used is determined based on the received food intake information and/or energy expenditure information, on the two geographical locations and on an amount of metabolic energy needed for use of the means of conveyance.

[0020] The travel planner may, e.g., be used in the weight management system according to the invention or may use output data of a conventional weight management system.

[0021] These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

[0027] FIG. 1 schematically shows a weight management system 10 according to the invention. The system comprises an input device 11, such as a keyboard, a touch screen, a mouse, a track ball or another type of pointing device for enabling a user to input data concerning food intake events, energy expenditure events and agenda entries. Alternatively, the system 10 may use a microphone and speech recognition software for receiving user input. The user may use the input device 11, for example, for logging when, and what he drinks and eats, what activities he has performed in a certain period, or for entering a time, location and description of appointments and activities he has planned to do in the future. Part of the input data may be received from an electronic agenda, a food intake logging system or an activity logging system. Many known systems and devices for logging or measuring food intake and activities could be used for providing the input. For example, a heart rate measurement device may provide accurate information about the amount of energy a user expends in a given time period. A bike computer may be used for accurately measuring distance and speed for a user traveling by bike. The distance and speed may be used for calculating an amount of expended energy.

[0028] The system 10 further comprises storage means 12 for storing all input data. Optionally, the input data is converted by the processor 13 for enabling storage in a format that is usable for the system. For example, a description of a consumed meal may be converted to a set of nutritional values.

[0029] The processor 13 is also operative to send the stored agenda entries to the display 14 or another output device for enabling the user to view the activities he has planned to do. Thereupon, the user may decide to change, add or remove agenda entries, using the input device 11. Electronic agenda's providing the functionality of viewing and editing agenda entries are well known and are often provided as software for a PDA or mobile phone.

[0030] According to the current invention, the processor 13 uses the input data to schedule new agenda entries for planning future food intake events and future energy expenditure events. When scheduling the weight-management related items the processor 13 takes the already planned activities on that day into account. The system 10 may, for example, plan eating pasta before heavy exercise, or plan a smaller than usual breakfast when a big lunch meeting is scheduled.

[0031] Optionally, when planning food intake events, the system 10 takes the time to buy and prepare dinner into account, and checks whether there is sufficient time to do so. The activity of doing the shopping may be separated in time from the activities of preparing and eating. On busy days, the system 10 may propose simple recipes or healthy take-away dinners. In the event that the user already has the required ingredients at home, or decides to eat at another time, he may edit, add or remove the agenda entries relating to the food intake event.

[0032] The food that is selected by the system 10 is selected based on the input data. The system 10 compares the logged food intake of the user to the logged energy expending events. Preferably the system 10 also uses a user profile in which preferences of the user are stored. To a user who exercises a lot and has no weight problems, most suggestions will mainly be based on the preferences. Overweight users will generally be suggested to eat healthy food, which is low on calories. Preferably, amounts of received and expended metabolic energy are monitored and the processor 13 schedules the future food intake events and the future energy expenditure events in such a way as to balance a difference between the received and the expended metabolic energy. This will allow the system 10 to control the user's weight. When a user wants to stabilize his/hers weight, the difference should be approximately zero. When a user wants to lose weight, slightly more metabolic energy should be expended than received.

[0033] Alternatively, the received metabolic energy and a user's weight are monitored and the expended metabolic energy is calculated there from, using a model that simulates changes in body composition as a result of energy intake and expenditure. Similarly, the received metabolic energy may be calculated from the expended metabolic energy and the user's weight. However, accurately measuring the expended energy is somewhat more difficult than accurately measuring food intake and user weight.

[0034] The scheduled activities are also influenced by other agenda entries. Activity planning may take into account that a user needs relax hours. The system 10 may avoid planning heavy exercise late at night if a user has to wake up very early next morning. Before a business meeting, the system does not plan heavy exercise (e.g. cycling trip), since the resulting sweat could give a bad impression. The system may detect special periods that may induce change into the weight management process. As the last week of the year is well known as a week with lots of food and little exercise, the system 10 may plan less food and more activities in the weeks just before and after this period.

[0035] Known food intake logging and activity logging systems may be used for logging the relevant events. Optionally, the events which are planned by the system 10 are automatically logged when the time on which they are planned has come. The user may correct the logged event if he has not, or not exactly, acted in accordance with the plan. Based on past entries, the system learns user preferences in activities and food, and extracts patterns. These preferences can be used as suggestions in future planning. In this way, the user does not have to manually plan these activities.

[0036] Preferably, the system takes the user's activity limitations and disabilities into account. To this end, the system 10 enables the user to enter disabilities, or learns the limitations automatically. For example, if a user has a bad knee the system should not suggest long walks.

[0037] FIG. 2, schematically shows a weight management system 10 according to the invention, with a coupling 16 to remote services 15. The coupling 16 may be realized wired or wireless via, e.g., Bluetooth, GSM, WAP, USB, ADSL, infrared, and/or Internet. The remote services 15 may, for example, provide software updates or additional weight management or agenda related services. A remote server may comprise a large database with information on food intake events and energy expenditure events, which information may be used for logging these events or for further processing of the logged events.

[0038] An example of such a remote service 15 is a travel planner, like provided on the Internet at http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk. Such travel planners can recommend routes from one location to another, using, e.g. public transport, walking and/or cycling and calculate an expected amount of time, needed for the trip. According to an aspect of the invention, two successive agenda entries comprise a location where the event of the agenda entry will occur. The respective locations are sent to a central travel-planning server, which returns information about the recommended route. The information about the recommended route may comprise departure and arrival times, means of conveyance, line numbers of buses, names of subway station, prices of train tickets and much more. Preferably a mix of different means of conveyance is suggested for optimizing time, distance or costs of the trip.

[0039] According to the invention, the route is also optimized for weight management and agenda planning. For weight management the amount of energy expended during following a planned route is important. Walking or cycling costs more energy than going by bus and will therefore, in general, be healthier. However, circumstances may occur, which make it more preferable to take a bus or go by car. For example, walking or cycling may take more time than available between the two successive agenda entries. Walking or cycling may cost too much energy, if some other physical exercise has already been planned on the same day. Some distances may be too long for a person. The maximum walking and cycling distance is, preferably, user specific. The system may take physical limitations into account. Via contact with an online weather service, it may be known that there is a high probability of rain at the time of travel, which makes it unpleasant to walk or cycle. In a preferred embodiment, the average walking or cycling speed is used to estimate the transition times from place to place. These average speeds may, for example, be provided by a user or obtained from a GPS unit or bike computer.

[0040] In an alternative embodiment, the travel planner may be part of the device that also comprises the processor 13, but that would require a large storage capacity for storing all information, needed for the travel planner. Such an embodiment would preferably still have some connection to an external service for updating the information whereon the travel advice is based.

[0041] In Table 1 an exemplary presentation of agenda entries for one day is shown. The table comprises agenda entries provided by the user as well as agenda entries generated by the system. The system has selected the car for going to work in the morning, because of a meeting at a conference center that is too far away from the office to reach by bike. At 13.00, the system has planned a short walk, in order to balance the energy consumption with the energy expenditure for that day. The net energy intake (intake—expenditure) for a day does not have to be 0 every day. The system can also try to balance the energy intake and expenditure over longer periods. For overweight persons, the net energy intake over a longer period should be negative.

[0042]

TABLE 1
system
generated	start	end	description	energy
yes	7.00	7.30	breakfast	+200
yes	8.00	8.20	car to work	0
no	11.00	13.00	meeting at work	0
no	11.45	12.15	lunch	+200
yes	13.00	13.15	short walk	−100
yes	14.45	15.30	car to conference center	0
no	15.30	17.00	meeting at conference center	0
yes	17.00	17.50	car home	0
yes	18.30	19.30	dinner	+500
yes	19.15	19.30	bike to basketball	−100
no	19.45	21.15	basketball	−600
yes	21.30	21.45	bike home	−100
			TOTAL	0

[0043] FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of a method according to the invention. The method comprises an input step 31 for storing past food intake events 35, past energy expenditure events 36 and agenda entries 37. The input may be received via one or more user interfaces or via, e.g., food logging devices, electronic agenda's, heart rate monitors or bike computers. Then in a scheduling step 32 at least one future food intake event or at least one future energy expenditure event is scheduled, based on the input received at the input step 31. As described above with respect to the system according to the invention, the future food intake and energy expenditure events are placed in a user's normal agenda. The integration of a weight management system and a user's normal agenda results in food intake and energy expenditure advice that can easily be followed without interfering too much in someone's other activities. When a travel planner as described above is also used for the scheduling of the future events, then it might even be possible to live a healthy life without losing much leisure time to exercising. After the scheduling 32, a step of storing 33 the at least one future food intake event or the at least one future energy expenditure event as one of the agenda entries is performed. Then, in a presentation step 34 the agenda entries are presented to the user 83. The presentation is preferably realized, using a display. The user 38 may then follow or not follow the advice and provide information about his or hers actual behavior to the system again in input step 31.

[0044] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a travel planner 40 according to the invention. The invention comprises an input module 41 for receiving food intake information and/or energy expenditure information and two geographical locations. The food intake information may, e.g., comprise an amount of calories consumed during the last week. The energy expenditure information may, e.g., comprise an amount of calories expended during the last week. The information may also comprise logged food intake or energy expenditure events. The travel planner 40 further comprises a module for generating a travel advice for traveling between the geographical locations, the travel advice comprising at least one tip on a means of conveyance to be used. The tip on the means of conveyance to be used is determined based on the received food intake information and/or energy expenditure information and the two geographical locations. In general, the probability of walking or cycling being advised is larger when the distance between the two locations is smaller and for persons who consume more calories than they expend. Table 2 shows a table with information that may be used by the travel planner 40 to choose which means of conveyance to recommend. It is to be noted that many other information may be taken into account when selecting a means of conveyance.

[0045]

	TABLE 2
			energy expenditure
	means	average speed	per mile
	walking	**	***
	walking uphill	*	*****
	walking downhill	**	***
	walking fast	***	*****
	cycling	****	***
	cycling uphill	***	******
	cycling downhill	*****	*
	cycling fast	*****	*****
	bus	(use bus schedule)	0
	car in city	********	*
	car on highway	*************	*
	train	(use train schedule)	0

[0046] It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. Use of the verb “comprise” and its conjugations does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those stated in a claim. The article “a” or “an” preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The invention may be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements, and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the device claim enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.