Printed matter – With sliding leaf
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-20
2001-08-28
Wellington, A. L. (Department: 3722)
Printed matter
With sliding leaf
C283S115000, C283S048100, C235S08500R, C235S0610PK, C235S0610DP, C235S090000, C040S375000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279958
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to devices and methods used for calculating and evaluating a persons daily intake of food portions, but more particularly relates to a portable reusable self contained device having various indicia relating to different food groups thereon, and moveable pins which correspond to each of the food groups. Also, the device includes a unique housing that automatically resets the pins for the next day's use.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In today's society there is a growing concern regarding health related matters, and more particularly there is an increase of individuals who are highly concerned with maintaining a balanced healthy diet. Therefore, various diets and methods have been taught in the past which either assist an individual to lose weight, maintain one's present weight, or provide regulated food intake systems for recording one's daily consumption so as to maintain a well-balanced diet.
Unfortunately, these prior art food-regulating devices have many inherent drawbacks, such as most of these devices necessitate that the user must calculate and estimate their daily calorie intake along with accounting for their total servings from each of the food groups. This can be very time consuming and difficult to manage. Thus, these systems tend to always fail as the user becomes very frustrated when faced with estimating the calories contained in different food portions, as well as being responsible for counting and planning in advance for the meals to be consumed each day.
Although calorie counting has been approached in many ways, these systems all suffer with the same drawbacks. In addition to the counting problems associated within the prior art, they ineffectively deal with the requirement that dieter's maintain well-balanced meals consisting of all food groups in order to assure that no adverse effects will be experienced from the particular diet program being used. Also, prior art diet programs and systems are traditionally rigid and limited to specific food types and meals which can be consumed without jeopardizing the diet program. As a result, these prior art diet programs and systems are short-lived and fail to attain the desired results which the user wishes to achieve.
It is therefore contended by the applicants, that there is a real need for improvement within the field of diet control systems and methods, and most importantly there needs to be a simple system or device which is very convenient and usable on a daily basis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a food portion tabulator that is compact, portable, and very efficient for determining and calculating one's daily consumption of the various food groups. In fact, the device is so compact and portable that it is intended to be carried on one's person throughout the day, as it is specifically designed to be easily carried on one's key chain, within one's pocket or purse, or attached onto a wrist band, etc.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a food portion tabulator that is of simple construction, is economical to manufacture, and easily marketable.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a food portion tabulator that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and fun to use. Thus, the device is less likely to be bothersome, will encourage effective portion management, and will lead to a higher and longer success rate in a manner heretofore not taught within the known prior art.
A very important object of the present invention is to provide a food portion tabulator that is reusable on a daily basis. Thus, when one is finished with the device for that day, the device can be easily reset by manually sliding the device between a set position and a reset position.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a food portion tabulator and method of use which is unique and novel, and overcomes the inherent disadvantages and drawbacks within the known prior art.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent when taken into consideration with the following drawings, specification and claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4258249 (1981-03-01), Ahmann
patent: 4521675 (1985-06-01), Yakich
patent: 4750398 (1988-06-01), Rude et al.
patent: 5382165 (1995-01-01), Knox
patent: 5915854 (1999-06-01), Burke et al.
Mikkelsen Jeffrey N.
Santa Cruz Cathy D.
Henderson Mark T.
Wellington A. L.
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