Apple patents food tracker that asks quick questions when it is unsure
Apple describes a system that uses sensors to detect when you are eating and guesses what food you are consuming. If the system is unsure between two options, it asks you to confirm the correct one using a simple gesture, voice command, or gaze. The goal is to make this confirmation quick and unobtrusive so it does not interrupt your meal.
In the filing’s own words
Various implementations disclosed herein use user input received approximately around the time of food consumption to confirm and/or revise food predictions, e.g., regarding type of food, volume, etc. One or more food characteristics determinations may be associated with uncertainty. User input is implicitly or explicitly requested to resolve at least some of such ambiguities and uncertainties approximately around the time of food consumption. The user feedback experience may be configured to be easy and unobtrusive by presenting limited options in limited circumstances and using easy and intuitive input mechanisms. As examples, such feedback may involve a user using gaze input, a voice command, or a hand gesture to quickly identify whether an uncertain item is of one type or another type, e.g., mashed potatoes or ice-cream. In some implementations, the obtrusiveness/burden of requiring live input for every food determination is avoided or reduced by only asking about some items.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: at an electronic device having a processor: obtaining sensor data from one or more sensors in a physical environment, the sensor data associated with a time period during which food consumption by a user occurs; determining, based on the sensor data, that the food consumption involves a food that could be either a first food type or a second food type; in response to determining that the food consumption involves the food that could be either the first food type or the second food type, presenting content requesting user input identifying whether the food was of the first food type or the second food type; and receiving input identifying whether the food was of the first food type or the second food type.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- User Feedback During Food Tracking
- Publication number
- US20260311842A1
- Application number
- 19715109
- Filed
- Jun 22, 2026
- Published
- Oct 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G16H 20/60 Physics & computingG06F 3/011 Physics & computingG06T 19/006 Physics & computingMore from Apple in Health & body
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.