Method and apparatus for automated selection and organization of products including menus

In an automated maid system including a computer, an apparatus for creating a food preference vector, the preference vector comprising a plurality of fields that represent specific user preferences, the apparatus comprising:

• (A) means for asking a pre-determined question eliciting information about the user's preference for a food with a specific characteristic;
• (B) means for storing a user response to the question in a field in the preference vector corresponding to the specific characteristic;
• (C) means for accessing a recipe for a menu with characteristics;
• (D) means for determining the suitability of the menu based on a comparison of characteristics of the recipe for the menu with user preferences obtained from the food preference vector, wherein the means for determining the suitability of the menu further comprises means for assigning a suitability weight to the menu based on a comparison of the characteristics of the recipe for the menu with the user preferences;
• means for identifying a last time the menu was used;
• and means for modifying the suitability weight based on the identified time of last use;
• (E) means for recommending the menu to the user if the menu is found to be suitable;
• and
• (F) updating the user food preference vector based on user satisfaction of the recommended menu.

A computer-implemented method for recommending recipes catered to a particular user's preferences, the method comprising:

• creating a user preference vector having a plurality of fields, each field corresponding to an objectively measurable characteristic associated with food;
• asking a pre-determined question for measuring the user's food preferences;
• storing a preference value in the user preference vector for at least a portion of the objectively measurable characteristics based on a user response to the question;
• retrieving a recipe from a menu recommendation database, the recipe being associated with a plurality of recipe characteristic values associated with the objectively measurable characteristics in the user preference vector;
• comparing the recipe characteristic values with the preference values in the user preference vector;
• assigning a suitability weight to the recipe based on the comparison;
• identifying a last time the recipe was used;
• modifying the suitability weight based on the identified time of last use;
• selecting the recipe as a recommended recipe based on the suitability weight;
• and
• displaying the recommended recipe on a user display.

A computer-implemented method for recommending recipes catered to a particular user's preferences, the method comprising:

• creating a user preference vector having a plurality of fields, each field corresponding to an objectively measurable food characteristic;
• asking a pre-determined question eliciting a user rating of one of the objectively measurable food characteristics, the user rating indicating a degree of preference for the food characteristic;
• storing the user rating in the corresponding field of the user preference vector;
• retrieving a recipe from a menu recommendation database, the recipe being associated with a plurality of recipe characteristic values associated with the objectively measurable food characteristics in the user preference vector;
• comparing the recipe characteristic values with the user ratings in the user preference vector;
• assigning a suitability weight to the recipe based on the comparison;
• identifying a last time the recipe was used;
• modifying the suitability weight based on the identified time of last use;
• selecting the recipe as a recommended recipe based on the suitability weight;
• and
• displaying the recommended recipe on the user display.

A computer system for recommending recipes catered to a particular user's preferences, the system comprising:

• means for storing a user preference vector having a plurality of fields, each field corresponding to an objectively measurable characteristic associated with food;
• a display for presenting to the user a pre-determined question designed to measure the user's food preferences;
• a user input for receiving a user response to the pre-determined question presented on the display, wherein the user response is used to store a preference value in the user preference vector for at least a portion of the objectively measurable characteristics;
• a menu recommendation database for storing a plurality of recipes, each recipe being associated with a plurality of recipe characteristic values associated with the objectively measurable characteristics;
• a choice subsystem including logic for retrieving one of the recipes from the menu recommendation database, for comparing the recipe characteristic values with the preference values in the user preference vector, for assigning a suitability weight to the recipe based on the comparison, for identifying a last time the recipe was used, for modifying the suitability weight based on the identified time of last use, for selecting the recipe as a recommended recipe based on the suitability weight, and for displaying the recommended recipe on a user display.