Digital recipe library and network with food image recognition services

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and machine readable media for implementing a service for sharing and providing information about food and recipes, and in certain embodiments, including a step of automatically identifying dishes present in photos stored on a mobile device. Automatic identification of dishes in images may be used to populate a food and recipe database, suggest restaurants serving similar food, estimate nutritional content in a user's diet, populate a shopping list, and provide other food-related services.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for providing a service, comprising:
 sending a first request from a client device, to a server, for a first user interface displaying information concerning a first dish object, the first dish object having an image of a dish;   responsive to the first request, receiving the first user interface having a collection of one or more restaurants that are determined, based on the approximate geographic location of the client device, to be geographically local to the client device, wherein each respective restaurant is associated with at least one respective similar dish that is similar to the dish in the first dish object;   presenting the first user interface at the client device, wherein the first user interface comprises an information panel that provides an indication of the one or more restaurants and a first set of controls to initiate a respective request for a second user interface concerning a selected restaurant of the one or more restaurants;   responsive to selection of a control of the first set of controls, presenting the second user interface, wherein the second user interface comprises information concerning the selected restaurant and a second control to initiate submission of a second request concerning the selected restaurant.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second request is a request for a reservation at the selected restaurant. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second request is a request for a delivery of the respective similar dish. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information sufficient to identify the approximate geographic location of the client device comprises a latitude and a longitude. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a restaurant is local to the client device if the restaurant is located within 25 miles of the approximate geographic location of the client device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the indication of the one or more restaurants presents the one or more restaurants ordered in accordance with ratings for the respective restaurants. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first user interface provides a control for filtering the indication of the one or more restaurants according to a distance category or a price category. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a respective dish is similar to the dish in the first dish object based on a determination that a majority of ingredients are the same. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first dish object is further associated with a description inferred based on an analysis of the image, and a respective dish is similar to the dish in the first dish object based on a determination that its description corresponds to that of the respective dish. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the respective similar dishes were associated with a respective restaurant based on geographical information associated with header information of a respective image associated with the respective similar dish. 
     
     
         11 . A device comprising a processor, a storage device communicatively coupled to the processor, and a set of instructions on the storage device that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
 send a first request from the device to a server, for a first user interface displaying information concerning a first dish object, the first dish object having an image of a dish;   provide, to the server, information sufficient to identify an approximate geographic location of the device;   responsive to the first request, receive the first user interface having a collection of one or more restaurants that are determined, based on the approximate geographic location of the device, to be geographically local to the device, wherein each respective restaurant is associated with at least one respective similar dish that is similar to the dish in the first dish object;   present the first user interface at the device, wherein the first user interface comprises an information panel that provides an indication of the one or more restaurants and a first set of controls to initiate a respective request for a second user interface concerning a selected restaurant of the one or more restaurants;   responsive to selection of a control of the first set of controls, present the second user interface, wherein the second user interface comprises information concerning the selected restaurant and a second control to initiate submission of a second request concerning the selected restaurant.   
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the second request is a request for a reservation at the selected restaurant. 
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the second request is a request for a delivery of a selected dish corresponding to the dish in the first dish object. 
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the information sufficient to identify the approximate geographic location of the device comprises a latitude and a longitude. 
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein a restaurant is local to the device if the restaurant is located within 25 miles of the approximate geographic location of the device. 
     
     
         16 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the indication of the one or more restaurants presents the one or more restaurants ordered in accordance with ratings for the respective restaurants. 
     
     
         17 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the first user interface provides a control for filtering the indication of the one or more restaurants according to a distance category or a price category. 
     
     
         18 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein a respective dish is similar to the dish in the first dish object based on a determination that a majority of ingredients are the same. 
     
     
         19 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the first dish object is further associated with an analysis of the image, and a respective dish is similar to the dish in the first dish object based on a determination that its description is the same as that of the respective dish. 
     
     
         20 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the respective similar dishes were associated with a respective restaurant based on geographical information associated with header information of a respective image associated with the respective similar dish.