International Business Machines Corporation
PRODUCT DISCOVERY VIA CONNECTED KITCHEN

Abstract:

Product discovery is enhanced by allowing a user in a connected kitchen to share their food consumption habits with friends and trusted companies. Smart devices installed in the kitchen sense the food being prepared, such as a camera which automatically records an image of a food item, and image recognition is performed to identify the item. A cloud server has contact information for individuals associated with the user such as designated friends or social groups, and also has promotional information for available sales offers regarding food-related products. The server generates a food product recommendation based on the dish being prepared by the user and based on the sales offers, and sends a notification to the friends identifying the user, the dish and a particular sales offer. The system rewards users based on their influence, gleaned from the number of such offers that are accepted by the friends.