TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of electrically operated aerosol generation systems that form an aerosol from an aerosol-forming precursor and deliver said aerosol to a user. In particular, the disclosure relates to authentication of a consumable comprising said precursor with a device body of said system.

BACKGROUND

Aerosol generation systems comprise a consumable with a storage portion for storing an aerosol-forming precursor. The precursor may comprise a liquid. A heating system may be formed of one or more electrically activated heating elements, which are arranged to heat said precursor to generate the aerosol. The consumable may include the heating system. The aerosol is released into a flow path extending between an inlet and outlet of the system. The outlet may be arranged as a mouthpiece, which a user inhales through for delivery of the aerosol to the user. The consumable may include the mouthpiece. The consumable may dock with a device body, which includes, inter alia, control circuitiy and a power supply to implement generation of the aerosol from the consumable.

A supplier (including a product vendor or manufacturer) of such an aerosol generation system may wish to control the usage of particular consumables therewith. Reasons for said control include, inter alia, product safety, reputation, and tracking of supply and usage of the consumable.

As a first example, the supplier may wish to ensure that the precursor comprises constituents that are safe for a user to inhale or that the precursor meets a particular quality standard so a high reputation for the product is maintained/developed. As a second example, the supplier may wish to ensure that the physical construction of the consumable is acceptable for use, e.g. the mouthpiece if integrated therewith has a geometric configuration for ergonomic usage or acceptable delivery of the aerosol.

As a third example, the supplier may wish to ensure correct interoperability of the consumable with the device body. E.g. for a consumable integrating the heating system, it is desirable to ensure the heating system is compatible with the control circuitry of the device body, as use of incompatible consumables may for example be dangerous and/or effect the ability of the supplier of providing warranty for the device body.

As a fourth example, for systems wherein the amount of precursor processed is monitored, it may be desirable to have consumables with known amounts of precursor so that the total amount of precursor processed over a given time period can be determined. Related to this example, it may also be desirable to monitor the usage of particular consumable types so that when a stock of a user is exhausted, or nearly exhausted, the user can be notified, or automatic dispatch of new consumables is implemented.

It is desirable to implement control of the usage of the consumable with the device body in a cost-effective manner, particularly without increasing significantly the unit cost of the consumable. This is because during the lifecycle of the device body, a consumer will purchase and expend many consumables.

In spite of the effort already invested in the development of aerosol generation systems further improvements are desirable.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides an aerosol generation system comprising: a consumable for an aerosol generation device and an aerosol generation device body. The consumable comprises an aerosol generating precursor and an information carrying medium storing information. The information may include an encrypted first portion and a corresponding second portion without encryption.“Corresponding” may refer to the same information but without a cryptographic rule applied. The device body includes electrical circuitry to: obtain from said information carrying medium said information; decrypt the first portion; determine the consumable as authentic if the decrypted first portion corresponds to the second portion. An aerosol generation system with a consumable including an information carrying medium storing information that includes a duplicate encrypted portion and a portion without encryption, and with the device body implementing an authentication process by decrypting the encrypted portion and comparing it to the portion without encryption, may permit cost-effective authentication, in particular, when compared to an arrangement where the consumable includes memory and a processor to provide a response to a challenge issued by circuitry of the device body. The system of the present disclosure obviates a processor and memoiy to store a cryptographic algorithm (e.g. a secret key) and therefore permits a lower unit cost for the consumable. Moreover, a lower capacity memoiy may be implemented with the present disclosure, since in embodiments, the enciypted information of the consumable may be 50-170 or 50-100 bits, whereas the mentioned cryptographic algorithm may be 256 bits or more, excluding additional memory for its execution. Moreover, the system of the present disclosure may be more secure since the ciyptographic algorithm is not stored on the consumable, and it is therefore harder to obtain a decipher. Moreover, the authentication process may consume less of the device body’s limited power resources since an additional processor of the consumable does not require operating. The latter is particularly relevant since experimental testing has shown surprisingly a user may play with the aerosol generation system by removing and re-attaching a consumable prior to its depletion for sport or entertainment, thus triggering multiple authentication sequences throughout the usage of the consumable.

As used herein "encryption", "enciphering" and "encoding" may refer to conversion of a plain-text message to a secure message, while "decryption", "deciphering" and "decoding" may refer to the inverse of this process.

In embodiments, the information, which may include all or part of the first/second portion, may be associated with the operation of the consumable with the system.

By including the information associated with the operation of the consumable with the system (e.g. one or more of: the device body; peripheral device; other remote computing device), the information may be transferred from the consumable to the device body for combinational authentication and for calibration of the device body for use with the consumable. Moreover, since the deciypted information is compared, the comparison process additionally acts as an integrity check for the information associated with the operation of the consumable with the system. In embodiments, all or part of the information associated with the operation of the consumable which is encoded on the consumable may be encrypted as the first portion. It will be understood that there need only be sufficient bytes encrypted to enable a comparison, e.g. 10-30 bytes. The memory usage of the first portion may therefore be minimised thus reducing the memory capacity and potential cost of the memory of the consumable. In embodiments, all or part of the decrypted first portion are compared to the second portion.

In embodiments, the electrical circuitiy is configured to enable operation of a heating system of an atomizer with the precursor of an authenticated consumable. An authenticated consumable may be determined if all or part of the decrypted first portion is identical to the second portion (e.g. corresponding addresses match each other). Enabling may include the circuitry of the device body to determine a trigger and apply electrical energy to a heating system. The trigger may include one or more of: a flow sensor of a flow path providing a signal processable to determine a threshold flow from a user inhale; actuation of a vaping button. With such an implementation, the precursor of only authenticated consumables can be processed to an aerosol. In embodiments, the operation is at least partially based on the information, e.g. the decrypted first portion and/or the second portion.

The information associated with the operation of the consumable may be processed to calibrate the device body for use with the consumable, e.g. by the circuitry controlling the heating system to maintain the heating system optimal target temperature, or a resistance based temperature calculation of the heating system may be based on an encoded series resistance of the one or more of the heater elements. The information associated with the operation of the consumable may be processed to determine usage of the particular consumable, e.g. for monitoring stock at a user location and when stock is determined as low, triggering a notification or a reordering process.

In embodiments, for a consumable that is determined as not authenticated, the electrical circuitiy is configured to prevent operation of a heating system (e.g. no electrical energy is supplied to the heating system) of an atomizer with the precursor of the consumable or to enable usage of said heating system with said precursor at a predetermined operating temperature, which may be stored on the circuitry (e.g. a data storage thereof) of the device body. The safe operating temperature may be a temperature less (e.g. a low temperature) than an optimal temperature encoded by a consumable (e.g. the consumable which is not authenticated or a consumable designed to be authenticated with the system). An optimal temperature encoded by the consumable may be 180-320 degrees C. A low temperature (e.g. less than 130 degrees C) can be set for consumables that are not authenticated to reduce the risk of overheating the heating system. This is because an electrically resistive heating element would be of unknown performance since it is not specified by the supplier.

In embodiments, the circuitry is configured to provide via a user interface a notification that the consumable is not authenticated. By providing a notification, a user can determine conveniently whether the consumable will operate correctly as part of the system. The user interface may be arranged on one or more of: the device body; the consumable; an electronic peripheral device. The notification may be one or more or: audible; haptic; visual.

In embodiments, the consumable and the device body comprise a docking interface for docking of the consumable with the device body. The electrical circuitry may determine docking at the docking interface and trigger authentication of the consumable. By triggering the authentication process upon determination of docking, each time the consumable is removed, an authentication process is triggered. Thus, an authenticated consumable cannot be quickly removed and a counterfeit consumable reattached. The authentication process may be initiated with a database query to retrieve the information from the information carrying medium of the consumable.

In embodiments, the electrical circuitiy implements a detection circuit to determine docking. The detection circuit may be arranged to be interrupted to determine docking or removal of a consumable. In embodiments, the detection circuit extends through a docked consumable, wherein docking is determined by a closed circuit. The detection circuit may supply electrical energy from a power supply of the device body to the information carrying medium of the consumable. With such an implementation as part of detection, electrical energy is conveniently supplied to the information carrying medium when arranged as electronic data storage ready for performing the authentication process. In other embodiments, the docking is determined by a mechanically actuated switch arranged on the device body, said switch actuated to close or open the detection circuit upon docking or removal of the consumable.

In embodiments, the consumable includes a heating system (e.g. one or more electrically resistive heating elements), the information of the information carrying medium of the consumable including information (e.g. the first and/or second portion or another portion) based on the an electrical property of the heating system (e.g. an encoded resistance in Ohms, capacitance or inductance), wherein the electrical circuitiy is configured to authenticate a consumable by: measuring the electrical property of the heating system by the application of electrical energy therethrough; comparing the measured electrical property to the information based on the electrical property. A consumable may be authenticated if the measured electrical property corresponds to the information based on the electrical property.

In embodiments, the electrical circuitry of the device body includes one or more processors and/or an electronic data storage to implement any of the steps described herein.

In embodiments, the data storage of the device body includes a cryptographic algorithm to decrypt the first portion. As used herein,“cryptographic algorithm” may refer to an algorithm to implement the aforementioned encryption and/or decryption process/rule. Example implementations include symmetric cryptographic algorithms, including block cyphers. Specific example implementations include the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) and variants thereof. The cryptographic algorithm may be referred to as a secret key, e.g. when implementing AES.

In embodiments, the electrical circuitiy implements electronic data storage. The data storage is configured to store a plurality of ciyptographic algorithms. The information of the information carrying medium of the consumable comprises an identifier to identify one of said cryptographic algorithms for decryption of the first portion. The electrical circuitiy is configured to identify a cryptographic algorithm for decryption of the first portion based on the identifier and to decrypt the first portion with the identified ciyptographic algorithm. The identifier may be encoded with the first and/or second portion (e.g. as a hardware version) or another portion of the information carrying medium. By implementing a means to identify the particular cryptographic algorithm for decryption the system can be implemented in a secure manner. E.g., multiple cryptographic algorithms can be implemented on the device body, such that the correct one is selected based on the identifier (e.g. via a lookup table or other database implementation). The cryptographic algorithm may be the same algorithm used to encrypt the first portion or another cryptographic algorithm related thereto.

In embodiments, the aerosol generation device includes a communication interface to receive a cryptographic algorithm or information to generate a cryptographic algorithm. The data storage of the circuitiy of the device body is configured to store said received algorithm. The circuitiy may thereby update the stored cryptographic algorithms, e.g. by periodic software update. The device body can therefore change the stored cryptographic algorithms to enhance security, e.g. in the event one or more of the current algorithms become known. The identifier can be changed to correspond to the ciyptographic algorithm.

In embodiments, the electrical circuitiy implements electronic data storage. The data storage is configured to store a plurality of ciyptographic algorithms. The consumable includes a heating system having one or more electrically resistive heating elements. The electrical circuitry is configured to: measure an electrical property (e.g. the electrical resistance, inductance or capacitance) of the heating system by the application of electrical energy therethrough (e.g. by applying a known electrical current through the heating system and measuring the electrical potential over the heating system). The circuitiy is configured to select a cryptographic algorithm to decrypt the first portion based on the measured electrical property. The circuity is configured to decrypt the first portion as discussed in the preceding embodiments with the selected cryptographic algorithm.

The present disclosure provides an aerosol generation system comprising: a consumable for an aerosol generation device and an aerosol generation device body. The consumable comprises an aerosol generating precursor, a heating system having one or more electrically resistive heating elements and an information carrying medium storing information. The information may be based on an electrical property of the heating system (e.g. the electrical resistance, inductance or capacitance). The device body includes electrical circuitry. The electrical circuitiy is configured to: measure the electrical property of the heating system by the application of electrical energy therethrough; determine the consumable as authentic if the measured electrical property corresponds to the information based on the electrical property.“Correspond” may refer to an exact correspondence in values or a correspondence within an acceptable threshold to account for measurement variation.

The present disclosure provides a consumable for use with an aerosol generation system, e.g. the device body as described herein. The consumable comprises a storage portion for storage of an aerosol generating precursor. The consumable comprises an information carrying medium storing information. The information of the information carrying medium comprises an enciypted first portion and a corresponding second portion without encryption. The consumable is authenticable by determining a correspondence of least part of the decrypted first portion to the second portion. The consumable may be implemented in accordance to any preceding embodiment or another embodiment disclosed herein. The present disclosure includes use of the consumable for the aerosol generation system (e.g. with the device body) as disclosed in any preceding embodiment or another embodiment disclosed herein.

The present disclosure provides an aerosol generation device body including electrical circuitiy to: obtain from said information carrying medium said information; decrypt the first portion; determine the consumable as authentic if the decrypted first portion corresponds to the second portion. The device body may be implemented in accordance to any preceding embodiment or another embodiment disclosed herein.

The present disclosure provides a method of authenticating a consumable comprising an aerosol generating precursor, the method comprising: reading information comprising an encrypted first portion and a corresponding second portion without encryption (e.g. reading by control of a code reader or a database query); determining the consumable as authentic if the decrypted first portion corresponds to the second portion. The method may be implemented in accordance to any preceding embodiment or another embodiment disclosed herein. The present disclosure includes a computer program or electrical circuitiy to perform said method and a computer readable medium comprising the computer program.

The preceding summaiy is provided for purposes of summarizing some embodiments to provide a basic understanding of aspects of the subject matter described herein. Accordingly, the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Moreover, the above and/or proceeding embodiments may be combined in any suitable combination to provide further embodiments. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Aspects, features and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of embodiments in reference to the appended drawings in which like numerals denote like elements. Figure l is a block system diagram showing embodiment componentiy of an aerosol generation system.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing embodiment componentry of aerosol generation apparatus of the system of figure 1.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the system of figure 1.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a consumable and device body of the system of figure 1.

Figures 5-6 are flow diagrams showing embodiment processes implemented by the system of figure 1.

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a consumable and device body of the system of figure 1.

Figures 8-10 are flow diagrams showing embodiment processes implemented by the system of figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Before describing several embodiments of aerosol generation system, it is to be understood that the system is not limited to the details of construction or process steps set forth in the following description. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the system is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways.

The present disclosure may be better understood in view of the following explanations:

As used herein, the term“aerosol generation apparatus” or“apparatus” may include smoking apparatus to deliver an aerosol to a user, including an aerosol for smoking, by means of an aerosol generating unit (e.g. a heater or atomiser which generates a vapour which condenses into an aerosol before deliveiy to an outlet of the apparatus at, for example, a mouthpiece, for inhalation by a user). An aerosol for smoking may refer to an aerosol with particle sizes of 0.5-7 microns. The particle size may be less than 10 or 7 microns. The apparatus may be portable.“Portable” may refer to the apparatus being for use when held by a user. The apparatus may be adapted to generate a variable amount of aerosol, e.g. by activating an atomizer for a variable amount of time (as opposed to a metered dose of aerosol), which can be controlled by a trigger. The trigger may be user activated, such as a vaping button and/or inhalation sensor. The inhalation sensor may be sensitive to the strength of inhalation as well as the duration of inhalation so as to enable more or less vapour to be provided based on the strength of inhalation (so as to mimic the effect of smoking a conventional combustible smoking article such as a cigarette, cigar or pipe, etc.). The apparatus may include a temperature regulation control such as for example a Proportional, Integral, Differential (PID) controller to quickly drive the temperature of the heater and/or the heated aerosol generating substance (aerosol pre-cursor) to a specified target temperature and thereafter to maintain the temperature at the target temperature regardless of the amount of substrate pre-cursor) available at the aerosol generating unit and regardless of the strength with which a user inhales.

As used herein, the term“aerosol generation system” or“system” may include the apparatus and optionally other circuitiy/compon entry associated with the function of the apparatus, e.g. a peripheral device and/or other remote computing device.

As used herein, the term "aerosol" may include a suspension of precursor as one or more of a: solid particles; liquid droplets; gas. Said suspension may be in a gas including air. Aerosol herein may generally refer to/include a vapour. Aerosol may include one or more components of the precursor.

As used herein, the term “aerosol-forming precursor” or “precursor” or “aerosol-forming substance” or“substance” may refer to one or more of a: liquid; solid; gel; other substance. The precursor may be processable by an atomizer of the apparatus to form an aerosol as defined herein. The precursor may comprise one or more of: nicotine; caffeine or other active component. The active component may be carried with a carrier, which may be a liquid. The carrier may include propylene glycol or glycerine. A flavouring may also be present. The flavouring may include Ethylvanillin (vanilla), menthol, Isoamyl acetate (banana oil) or similar.

As used herein, the term "electrical circuitry" or “electric circuitry” or “circuitry” or“control circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include one or more of the following or other suitable hardware or software components: an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC); electronic/ electrical circuit (e.g. passive components, which may include combinations of transistors, transformers, resistors, capacitors); a processor (shared, dedicated, or group); a memory (shared, dedicated, or group), that may execute one or more software or firmware programs; a combinational logic circuit. The electrical circuitry may be centralised on the apparatus or distributed, including distributed on board the apparatus and/or on one or more components in communication with the apparatus, e.g. as part of the system. The component may include one or more of a: networked-based computer (e.g. a remote server); cloud- based computer; peripheral device. The circuitiy may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. The circuitiy may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware.

As used herein, the term "processor" or“processing resource” may refer to one or more units for processing including as an ASIC, microcontroller, FPGA, microprocessor, digital signal processor (DSP) capability, state machine or other suitable component. A processor may include a computer program, as machine readable instructions stored on a memory and/or programmable logic. The processor may have various arrangements corresponding to those discussed for the circuitry, e.g. on-board and/or off board the apparatus as part of the system.

As used herein, the term "computer readable medium/media" or“data storage” may include conventional non-transient memory, for example one or more of: random access memory (RAM); a CD-ROM; a hard drive; a solid state drive; a flash drive; a memory card; a DVD-ROM; a floppy disk; an optical drive. The memory may have various arrangements corresponding to those discussed for the circuitry/processor.

As used herein, the term“information carrying medium” may include one or more arrangements for storage of information on any suitable medium. Examples include: data storage as defined herein; a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponder; codes encoding information, such as optical (e.g. a bar code or QR code) or mechanically read codes (e.g. a configuration of the absence or presents of cut-outs to encode a bit, through which pins or a reader may be inserted).

As used herein, the term “communication resources” or “communication interface” may refer to hardware and/or firmware for electronic information transfer. Wireless communication resources may include hardware to transmit and receive signals by radio and may include various protocol implementations e.g. the 802.11 standard described in the Institute of Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Bluetooth™ from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group of Kirkland Wash. Wired communication resources may include; Universal Serial Bus (USB); High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) or other protocol implementations. The apparatus may include communication resources for communication with a peripheral device. As used herein, the term“network” or“computer network” may refer to a system for electronic information transfer. The network may include one or more networks of any type, which may include: a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN); a telephone network (e.g. a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and/or a wireless network); a local area network (LAN); a metropolitan area network (MAN); a wide area network (WAN); an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network; a private network; the Internet; an intranet.

As used herein, the term“peripheral electronic device” or“electronic user device” or may include electronic components peripheral to apparatus. The peripheral electronic device may comprise electronic computer devices including: a smartphone; a PDA; a video game controller; a tablet; a laptop; or other like device.

As used herein, the term“storage portion” may refer to a portion of the apparatus adapted to store the precursor.

As used herein, the term“delivery system” may refer to a system operative to deliver, by inhalation, aerosol to a user. The delivery system may include a mouthpiece or an assembly comprising a mouthpiece.

As used herein, the term“flow path” may refer to a path or enclosed passageway through the apparatus, through which the user may inhale for deliveiy of the aerosol. The flow path may be arranged to receive aerosol.

As used herein, the term“flow” may refer to a flow in the flow path, and may include air, which may be induced into the flow path due to an inhalation through the flow path and/or aerosol.

As used herein, the term“inhale” or“puff” may refer to a user inhaling (e.g. due to an expansion from their lungs) to create a pressure reduction to induce flow through the flow path.

As used herein, the term“atomizer” may refer to a device to form the aerosol from the precursor. The atomizer may include a heating system, ultrasonic or other suitable system.

As used herein, the term“consumable” or“capsule” or“pod” may refer to a unit that includes a storage portion. The consumable may include a heating system, e.g. it is arranged as a cartomizer. The consumable may include information carrying medium. Referring to figure l, embodiment aerosol generation apparatus 2 includes a power supply 4, for supply of electrical energy. The electrical energy may be supplied to an atomizer 6 and/or electrical circuitiy 8. The power supply 4 may include an electric power supply in the form of a batteiy and/or an electrical connection to an external power source. The apparatus 2 may include a precursor transmission system 10 to transmit precursor to the atomizer 6 for formation of aerosol therefrom. A delivery system 12 delivers the aerosol to a user.

Referring to figures 1 and 2, embodiment aerosol generation apparatus 2 includes the precursor transmission system 10 having a storage portion 14 for storage of the precursor. The storage portion 14 may be arranged as a reservoir (not shown) or other suitably arranged portion depending on the physical state of the precursor. The precursor transmission system 10 includes a transmission unit 16 to transmit the precursor from the storage portion 14 to the atomizer 6. The transmission unit 16 may include one or more of: an absorbent member (e.g. cotton) arranged for transmission by capillaiy action; a conduit; a valve; a pumping system, which may include an electrically operated pump.

In an embodiment, which is not illustrated, the precursor transmission system 10 may be omitted. In such an embodiment the precursor may be arranged as a consumable pod (e.g. as a solid or gel), wherein an atomizer includes a heated receptacle for the pod.

The delivery system 12 includes a flow path 18 to transmit aerosol from the atomizer 6 to a user. The atomizer 6 includes a precursor inlet 20. The atomizer 6 includes a flow inlet 22 and an outlet 24 of the flow path 18 for passage of flow through the atomizer 6. In an embodiment, which is not illustrated, the flow path 18 receives aerosol from the outlet 24 and does not pass through the atomizer 6.

The flow path 18 includes an inlet 26, which may be arranged through a housing of the apparatus 2. The flow path 18 includes an outlet 28 for delivery of the aerosol and inlet flow to the user. The outlet 28 may be arranged as a mouthpiece or other suitable delivery member.

The atomizer 6 includes a heating system 30, which may be arranged as one or more electrically resistive heating elements (not shown). A heating element may be arranged as a wire or filament. A heating element may be operatively connected to the precursor transmission unit 16 to heat precursor of the transmission unit 16. The one or more heating elements may be arranged within and/or in fluid communication with the flow path 18, e.g. to be cooled by said flow.

The heating system may heat the precursor to below 300 or 350 degrees C. In the instance of a solid precursor, the precursor may be heated without combustion.

In an embodiment, a cartomizer integrates a storage portion 14 and transmission unit 16 of the transmission system 10 and heating system 30 in a common housing. The cartomizer includes a predetermined amount of the precursor. In an embodiment, the consumable unit may integrate said cartomizer and a mouthpiece.

The circuitiy 8 regulates electrical energy from the power supply 4 to the heating system 30. Proximal a heating element the precursor may be converted to a supersaturated vapour, which subsequently condenses to form an inhalable aerosol. As precursor is converted to aerosol it is replaced by further precursor supplied by the transmission unit 16, e.g. by a pumping action, until the storage portion 14 is spent.

The electrical energy supplied to the heating system 30 may be controlled with the circuitiy 8 by one of the following or other like circuitry: pulse width modulation (PWM) via an electrically operated switch, or by other suitable means, e.g. by chopping of an alternating current waveform; a direct current (DC): DC converter, such as a Buck converter; a linear regulator.

The circuitry 8 may comprise a trigger (not shown) to detect when aerosol formation is required. The circuity 8 may effect the supply of electrical energy to the heating system 30 upon the determination of triggering of the trigger. The trigger may detect when a user action suggests aerosol formation is required. Such a request may be implicit, such as via inhalation, or explicit, such as via a button press. The trigger may comprise an actuator actuated by physical contact (e.g. a vaping button), including by a digit of a hand of the user. Examples include a button or dial. The trigger may comprise an inhalation sensor operable to detect user inhalation through the flow path 18. The inhalation sensor may comprise a flow meter or a pressure sensor operable to determine flow pressure, including by capacitive sensing of a pressure respondent displaceable diaphragm.

Referring to figure 3 an embodiment arrangement of an electrically operated aerosol generation system 36 for generation of an aerosol may implement features of any of the preceding embodiments or other embodiments disclosed herein. The aerosol generation system 36 comprises the aerosol generation apparatus 2 and one or more peripheral devices 42. The apparatus 2 is geometrically elongate along a longitudinal axis. The apparatus 2 comprises a device body 38 and a removable consumable 40.

The device body 38 includes the power supply 4, circuitry 8 and optional communication interface 50, which are arranged within a common housing 35. In variant embodiments: the communication interface 50 may be omitted; one or more of said components may be arranged in the housing. The circuitiy 8 is (in addition to being arranged on the device body 38) distributed at least partially on a peripheral device 48. In variant embodiments (not shown) it is additionally arranged on a remote server system or isolated on the device body.

The consumable 40 includes the mouth piece 34 and a cartomizer 32. The cartomizer 32 includes; the atomizer 6; precursor transmission unit 16; and storage portion 14. In variant embodiments: the consumable is separate from the atomizer, i.e. it is not arranged as a cartomizer and may not include the precursor transmission unit.

Referring to figure 4, an electrically operated aerosol generation system 36 for generation of an aerosol may implement features of any of the preceding embodiments or other embodiments disclosed herein.

The aerosol generation system 36 includes a consumable 40 for an aerosol generation device, the consumable comprising a storage portion 14 for storage of aerosol generating precursor 34 and an information carrying medium 44 storing information, wherein the information comprises an encrypted first portion and a corresponding second portion without encryption. The aerosol generation system 36 includes an aerosol generation device body 38 including electrical circuitiy 8. Whilst the circuitry is illustrated as being implemented on the device body, it will be understood that in accordance with other embodiments disclosed herein, the circuitry may be distributed, including on the peripheral device 94 and/or a remote server system (not shown).

Referring to figure 5, the circuitiy 8 is arranged to implement a process of authenticating the consumable 40 to ensure it is suitable for use with the device body 38. The process includes at block 52 obtaining from said information carrying medium 44 said information. At block 54 the information of the first portion is decrypted. At block 56 the consumable is authenticated by determining a correspondence of least part of the decrypted first portion with the second portion.

Considering said blocks in more detail, at block 52 obtaining from said information carrying medium 44 the information may comprise the circuitiy 8 reading the information carrying medium 44, e.g. all or part. In embodiments, the information carrying medium 44 may be implemented as a readable code (e.g. optical or mechanical). In such embodiments, block 52 may comprise the circuitiy 8 controlling a code reader (not shown) to read the code.

In embodiments, the information carrying medium 44 may be implemented as electronic data storage as defined herein. In such embodiments block 52 may comprise the circuitry 8 reading the data storage including by a database query. Reading may be via wired or wireless media, e.g. the data storage is implemented as an (Radio Frequency Identification) RFID transponder, and the circuitiy 8 implements an associated reader. It will be understood that various suitable protocols may be implemented to define the rules, syntax etc. for data transfer (which will depend on the implementation or wired or wireless media) including: Bluetooth™ from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group of Kirkland Wash; Universal Serial Bus (USB); I ² C. Wired media may be preferable since it may be implemented in a more cost-effective manner, and/or data transfer is more secure. Depending on the protocol, reading may include the circuitiy 8 synchronising with the memoiy of the consumable, e.g. via a handshake.

At block 54 the decrypting the first portion may comprise implementing a cryptographic algorithm as defined herein. In an embodiment, the ciyptographic algorithm comprises a secret key of the AES (other symmetric enciyption algorithm).

At block 56 the determining a correspondence of least part of the decrypted first portion with the second portion may comprise comparing the decrypted first portion to the second portion, including comparing all or part of the decrypted first portion or second portion to the other of the second or first portion. Correspondence can be determined if one or more of the values encoded in the information match, i.e. they are identical.

The information stored at one or more corresponding addresses (wherein an address refers to a specific memoiy location used by the implemented software/hardware of the circuitry) for the read information may be compared. In an embodiment, only the information stored at two to ten addresses are compared. The authentication process may thereby be implemented with reduced processing and thus power consumption. In an embodiment, the information stored at all the addresses are compared. A consumable may be determined as authenticated if the information stored at all addresses (of those that are compared) correspond to each other (i.e. there is a match in the stored value), or sufficient addresses match (to compensate of potential loss of data integrity).

The information stored by the information carrying medium 44 (e.g. the information that comprises the first and corresponding second portion) may be associated with the operation of the consumable 40 with the system 36. As used herein“information associated with the operation of the consumable with the system” or“information” may refer to one or more of: a hardware version (e.g. which may provide information of the encoding or data structure of the information for use by the circuitry of the device body); heating system resistance (e.g. for consumables that integrate the heating system); heating system optimal temperature (e.g. selected to correspond to the particular precursor of the consumable); usage level (e.g. for solid or gel precursor) or fill level (e.g. for consumables including a storage portion storing liquid precursor); consumable serial number (e.g. for look-up on a database of other properties related to the consumable or monitoring consumable consumption); manufacturing date; factory of manufacturing; batch number; precursor type (e.g. liquid flavour or if gel, liquid or solid); formulation of precursor (e.g. an amount of a particular active component). In this way when the circuitry 8 decrypts and compares the information, it is also checked for integrity (e.g. sufficient of the addresses match but several do not match). Each piece of the information may be stored at an address of the information carrying medium 44, with individual bytes for encoding.

The operation of the system 2 may be at least partially based on said information associated with the operation of the consumable as part of the system (e.g. that of the deciypted first portion and/or the second portion). For example, the heating system 30 may be operated at a stored temperature and/or a stored resistance of the heating system 30 may be used to determine the temperature of the heating system (e.g. by relating the resistance to temperature, wherein the electrical current and voltage through the heating system is measured by the circuitry 8). In this way, the device body 38 can be calibrated by the read information for optimal operation with the consumable 40.

Referring to figure 6, a more detailed implementation of the previous embodiment is provided. At block 58 the consumable 40 is docked with the device body 38. Referring to figure 7, docking may be implemented via a docking interface 60. In the embodiment, the docking interface includes interlocking guide members 62 to locate the consumable 40 on the device body 38. The guide members form a channel and extend outwardly from the device body 38. The channel corresponds to a peripheral form of the consumable 40. The docking interface 60 may include a retention system 64 to retain the consumable in the located position. In the embodiment, the retention system 64 includes a magnetic coupling. In other embodiments, other docking interfaces can be implemented, including bayonet, press fit, screw fit.

At block 66 the consumable is determined as docked, which may be implemented by a detection system 70. In an embodiment, the detection system 70 is implemented by the circuitiy 8. Referring to figure 7, the circuitiy 8 includes corresponding device detection terminals 72 arranged on the device body 38 and consumable detection terminals 74 arranged on the consumable 40. The detection terminals 72, 74 are electrically coupled when the consumable 40 is docked. Accordingly, a docked consumable 40 can be determined by transmission of electrical energy through a detection circuit 76, which incorporates the terminals and extends through the consumable 40. In other embodiments, the detection system may be implemented by other arrangements, including a mechanically or magnetically or optically actuated switch, which is actuated by docking.

In the instance the detection system 70 does not determine a consumable is present, the circuitiy 8 considers a consumable not to be docked (regardless of whether an invalid consumable is docked), as indicated by block 78.

The circuitiy 8 may be arranged such that determination of docking automatically triggers authentication of the consumable 40, e.g. the process described in figure 5 or another embodiment herein. Referring to figure 6, blocks 80-88, implement a more detailed embodiment of the authentication process described in figure 5.

At block 80 the information from the information carrying medium 44 is read as discussed previously. If the information cannot be read at block 82 the consumable 40 is determined as not authentic. The scenario of a consumable 40 being detected but the information not being read may occur for various reasons, e.g. the information carrying medium is corrupt 44, or absent (e.g. an invalid consumable comprises consumable detection terminals 74 arranged to trigger detection at block 66 but no information cariying medium).

At block 84 the information is decrypted as discussed previously. Optionally, the decryption process may be validated. In an embodiment including validation, the information of the information carrying medium 44 may include a validation sequence, such as a checksum or parity bit, to check the result of the rule when applied to the encrypted information. If the decryption process cannot be validated at block 82 the consumable 40 is determined as not authentic. The scenario may occur if the information of the information carrying medium 44 is corrupt or not authentic.

At block 86 the decrypted information of the first portion is compared to that of the second portion to determine correspondence as discussed previously. If the deciypted information does not match the corresponding information without encryption, at block 82 the consumable 40 is determined as not authentic.

Referring to block 82, for determination of a consumable 40 as not authentic, the circuitiy 8 may implement various responses. In an embodiment, the heating system 30 of the atomizer 8 is enabled to operate at a predetermined temperature, e.g. a safe temperature such as 20-50% lower than a nominal operating temperature. As an example, the nominal operating temperature may be 250 degrees C and the safe temperature may be 50-200 degrees C. The predetermined operating temperature may be stored on the circuitry 8 of the device body 38, e.g. via a data storage implemented by the circuitry. The predetermined operating temperature may be selected as the minimum temperature from which an aerosol may be generated from a typical precursor; in this way a consumable that has not been authenticated remains operable in the system. This mode of operation may prevent a consumable with unknown specification operating unsafely. In an embodiment, the heating system 30 of the atomizer 6 is prevented from operation with a consumable 40 that is not authenticated. Such modes of operation may be implemented for consumables with or without an integrated heating system.

For consumables 40 with an integrated heating system 30, electrical energy may be applied thereto via the circuitiy 8. Referring to figure 7, the circuitry 8 includes corresponding device heater terminals 92 arranged on the device body 38 and consumable heater terminals 94 arranged on the consumable 40. The heater terminals 92, 94 are electrically coupled when the consumable 40 docked. Accordingly, a heater system 30 of a docked consumable 40 can be powered by transmission of electrical energy through a heater circuit 96, which incorporates the terminals, heating system 30 and extends through the consumable 40.

Referring to figure 7 and block 82 of figure 6, the circuitry 8 may notify a user of a consumable that is not authenticated via a user interface 94. The user interface 94 may be arranged on one or more of: the device body 38; the consumable 40; an electronic peripheral device 42. The notification may be one or more of: audible; haptic; visual. Referring to block 88, in response to the determination of a consumable 40 as authentic, the electrical circuitry 8 may enable operation of a heating system 30 of the atomizer 6 with the precursor of an authenticated consumable, e.g. such that an aerosol is generated from the precursor. The heating system 30 may be operated at a temperature encoded by the information of the information carrying medium 44 and/or in another manner discussed herein.

In embodiments, the circuitry 8 may notify a user of a consumable that is authenticated via a user interface 94 as discussed previously.

Referring to block 90, in each instance a consumable 40 is removed from the docked position, the circuitiy 8 may determine, via the detection system 70, said removal. Determination of said removal may trigger the circuitiy 8 to reset to the state of block 66, as indicated by loop 96. Triggering of the authentication process each time the consumable 40 is removed may be beneficial since a user may attempt to quickly remove and replace an authenticated consumable with one that cannot be authenticated.

In an embodiment, the circuitiy 8 implements electronic data storage (not shown), wherein said data storage includes a plurality of different cryptographic algorithms as defined herein. The information of the information carrying medium 44 of the consumable 40 (e.g. the first and second portion or other readable information) comprises an identifier to identify one of said cryptographic algorithms for decryption of the first portion of the particular consumable 40. The identifier may be alphanumeric or with other suitable formulation.

Accordingly, referring to figure 8, the embodiment steps of decrypting the first portion as disclosed herein may further include, at block 100, reading said identifier from the information carrying medium 44. At block 102 the identifier is used to determine the particular cryptographic algorithm for deciypting the encrypted first portion. This block may comprise implementing a data structure such as a key value database (or other like paradigm), wherein the identifier is the key and is linked to a single cryptographic algorithm. In embodiments, the data structure may be implemented across other components of the system, including the peripheral device 42.

In embodiments wherein the identifier is not attributed to a cryptographic algorithm of the data structure, the circuitiy 8 may trigger retrieval of a suitable cryptographic algorithm from a data storage of a remote resource, such as a server system, and subsequent update of the data structure. Retrieval may be implemented over the communication interface 50 of the device body 38 and/or peripheral device 42. In other embodiments, the data structure is regularly updated at predetermined time periods. In an embodiment, the cryptographic algorithm is a secret key of a symmetric encryption algorithm, such as AES.

At block 104, the selected cryptographic algorithm is implemented to decrypt the encrypted first portion of the information as discussed previously.

Referring to figure 9, alternative or additional authentication processes may be implemented for consumables 40 that include an integrated heating system. At block 110, the circuitry 8 implements measurement of an electrical property of the heating system 30. The electrical property may include one or more of: electrical resistance; capacitance; inductance. In the example of electrical resistance, the circuitry 8 may apply a known electrical current through the heater circuit 96 and measure the change in electrical potential over the heating system 30. In the example of inductance or capacitance, the circuitry 8 may apply a non-steady current or voltage through the heater circuit 96 and determine a subsequent change in phase.

At block 112 the measured electrical property is compared to corresponding information stored on the information carrying medium 44 of the consumable 40. The information can be stored on the previously described first and second portions or another portion of the information carrying medium 44 and can be read as discussed previously.

The measured electrical property (including value representative thereof, e.g. the actual value with a particular rule or function applied thereto) is stored as said information. The value is obtained from a prior measurement process, which may be performed during assembly of the consumable or in a laboratory prior to shipment to a retailer etc.

The stored measured electrical property is compared to the electrical property measured by the circuitiy 8. If the values therefor correspond, including an exact match or within a particular threshold (such as less than ±5% or ±10%) the consumable 40 may be determined as authentic (or partially authentic when this authentication process is combined with other embodiment authentication processed discussed herein). In an embodiment, the electrical resistance is stored in Ohms and is compared to the corresponding value measured by the circuitry 8.

In variants of the preceding embodiment process, the stored measured electrical property may be enciypted, with decryption by a cryptographic algorithm of the circuitiy 8. Accordingly, block 114 may include a step of decrypting the stored measured electrical property prior to said comparison.

With such a process, a counterfeit consumable is complex to manufacture since an electrical property of the heating system 30 is linked to the information stored on the information carrying medium 44. Therefore, a counterfeit consumable 40 is less likely to be determined as authentic if only the information carrying medium 44 is replicated. Such an arrangement results in a safer system wherein only consumables with known heating systems are implemented.

The embodiment processes described in association with figure 9 may be suitably combined with those described in association with figures 4-8. For example, a consumable may be determined as authentic if 1) the stored measured electrical property corresponds to the electrical property measured by the circuitry and 2) and/or if at least part of the information of the decrypted first portion corresponds to the second portion.

Referring to figure 10, alternative or additional authentication processes may be implemented for consumables 40 that include an integrated heating system 30. At block 120, an electrical property of the heating system is measured (as discussed previously).

At block 122 the measured property is determined as being within a particular threshold. In an embodiment, there are a plurality of discrete thresholds, which when taken together cover a continuous range, wherein the measured property corresponds to a single threshold. E.g., in the example of electrical resistance there may be thresholds A-C, wherein A is 100-200 Ohms, B is 201-300 Ohms, C is 301-400 Ohms.

At block 124 a cryptographic algorithm is determined based on the assigned threshold to the measured electrical property. This block may comprise implementing a data structure such as a key value database (or other like paradigm), wherein the assigned threshold (e.g. A-C) is the key and is linked to a single cryptographic algorithm. In embodiments, the data structure may be implemented across other components of the system, including the peripheral device 42.

At block 126 the consumable is authenticated by comparing decrypted information (which has been decrypted using the determined cryptographic algorithm from block 124) to duplicate information. This process can be performed as discussed in associated with block 56 of the preceding embodiments.

With such a process, a counterfeit consumable is complex to manufacture since an electrical property of the heating system 30 is linked to the information stored on the information carrying medium 44. Therefore, a counterfeit consumable 40 is less likely to be determined as authentic of only the information carrying medium 44 is replicated. Such an arrangement results in a safer system wherein only consumables with known heating systems are implemented.

It will be appreciated that any of the disclosed methods (or corresponding apparatuses, programs, data carriers, etc.) may be carried out by either a host or client, depending on the specific implementation (i.e. the disclosed methods/apparatuses are a form of communication(s), and as such, may be carried out from either‘point of view’, i.e. in corresponding to each other fashion). Furthermore, it will be understood that the terms “receiving” and“transmitting” encompass“inputting” and“outputting” and are not limited to an RF context of transmitting and receiving radio waves. Therefore, for example, a chip or other device or component for realizing embodiments could generate data for output to another chip, device or component, or have as an input data from another chip, device or component, and such an output or input could be referred to as“transmit” and“receive” including gerund forms, that is,“transmitting” and “receiving”, as well as such“transmitting” and“receiving” within an RF context.

As used in this specification, any formulation used of the style“at least one of A, B or C”, and the formulation“at least one of A, B and C” use a disjunctive“or” and a disjunctive“and” such that those formulations comprise any and all joint and several permutations of A, B, C, that is, A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B in any order, A and C in any order, B and C in any order and A, B, C in any order. There may be more or less than three features used in such formulations.

In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word‘comprising’ does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps then those listed in a claim. Furthermore, the terms“a” or“an,” as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. Also, the use of introductory phrases such as“at least one” and“one or more” in the claims should not be construed to imply that the introduction of another claim element by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim element to inventions containing only one such element, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an." The same holds true for the use of definite articles. Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and“second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Unless otherwise explicitly stated as incompatible, or the physics or otherwise of the embodiments, example or claims prevent such a combination, the features of the foregoing embodiments and examples, and of the following claims may be integrated together in any suitable arrangement, especially ones where there is a beneficial effect in doing so. This is not limited to only any specified benefit, and instead may arise from an“ex post facto” benefit. This is to say that the combination of features is not limited by the described forms, particularly the form (e.g. numbering) of the example(s), embodiment(s), or dependency of the claim(s). Moreover, this also applies to the phrase“in one embodiment”,“according to an embodiment” and the like, which are merely a stylistic form of wording and are not to be construed as limiting the following features to a separate embodiment to all other instances of the same or similar wording. This is to say, a reference to‘an’,‘one’ or‘some’ embodiment(s) may be a reference to any one or more, and/or all embodiments, or combination(s) thereof, disclosed. Also, similarly, the reference to“the” embodiment may not be limited to the immediately preceding embodiment.

As used herein, any machine executable instructions, or compute readable media, may carry out a disclosed method, and may therefore be used synonymously with the term method, or each other.

The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various implementations of the present disclosure.

LIST OF REFERENCES

36 System

2 Apparatus 38 Device Body

4 Power supply

8 Circuitry

6 Atomizer

20 Precursor inlet

22 Flow inlet

24 Outlet

30 Heating system

10 Precursor transmission system

16 Transmission unit

12 Delivery system

34 Mouthpiece

18 Flow path

26 Inlet

28 Outlet

32 Cartomizer

35 Housing

50 Communication interface 40 Consumable

14 Storage portion

34 Precursor

44 Information cariying medium 60 Docking system

62 Guide members

64 Retention system

70 Detection system

72 Device detection terminals

74 Consumable detection terminals 76 Detection circuit

96 heater circuit

92 device power terminals

94 consumable power terminals2 Peripheral device

94 User interface

8 Circuitry Further embodiments: l. An aerosol generation system (36) comprising:

a consumable (40) comprising a storage portion (14) for storage of an aerosol generating precursor and an information carrying medium (44), wherein the information comprises an enciypted first portion and a corresponding second portion without encryption; and

an aerosol generation device body (38) including electrical circuitiy (8) to: obtain from said information carrying medium said information; decrypt the first portion; determine the consumable as authentic if the decrypted first portion corresponds to the second portion.

2. The system of embodiment 1, wherein the information is associated with the operation of the consumable as part of the system.

3. The system of embodiment 2, wherein the electrical circuitiy to enable operation of a heating system of an atomizer with the precursor of an authenticated consumable, wherein the operation is at least partially based on the information.

4. The system of any preceding embodiment, wherein if a consumable is determined as not authentic, the electrical circuitry to prevent operation of a heating system (30) of an atomizer (6) with the precursor of the consumable or to enable usage of said heating system with said precursor at a predetermined safe operating temperature.

5. The system of any preceding embodiment, wherein the consumable and device body comprise a docking interface for docking of the consumable with the aerosol generation device body, the electrical circuitiy including a detection circuit to determine said docking and to trigger authentication of the consumable.

6. The system of any preceding embodiment, wherein the electrical circuitiy implements electronic data storage, the data storage to store a plurality of cryptographic algorithms, the information of the information carrying medium of the consumable comprising an identifier to identify one of said cryptographic algorithms for decryption of the first portion, the electrical circuitiy to identify a cryptographic algorithm for decryption of the first portion based on the identifier and to deciypt the first portion with the identified a cryptographic algorithm. The system of any of the preceding, wherein the aerosol generation device body (38) includes a communication interface (50) to receive a cryptographic algorithm or information to generate a cryptographic algorithm, the data storage of said device body (38) to store said algorithm.

The system of any preceding embodiment, wherein the consumable includes a heating system (30) having one or more electrically resistive heating elements, the information of the information carrying medium of the consumable, preferably the encrypted first portion and the corresponding second portion without encryption including information based on an electrical property of the heating system, wherein the electrical circuitry to: measure the electrical property of the heating system by the application of electrical energy therethrough; determine the consumable as authentic only if the measured electrical property corresponds to the information based on the electrical property.

The system of any preceding embodiment, wherein the electrical circuitry implements electronic data storage, the data storage to store a plurality of cryptographic algorithms, wherein the consumable includes a heating system (30) having one or more electrically resistive heating elements,

the electrical circuitiy to: measure an electrical property of the heating system by the application of electrical energy therethrough; select a cryptographic algorithm to decrypt the first portion based on the measured electrical property; decrypt the first portion with the selected cryptographic algorithm. A consumable (40) for the aerosol generation system (36) according to any of the preceding embodiments, the consumable comprising a storage portion (14) for storage of an aerosol generating precursor and an information carrying medium (44), wherein the information of the information carrying medium comprises an encrypted first portion and a corresponding second portion without encryption, the consumable to transfer the first portion and the second portion to an aerosol generation device body (38) so that the device body (38) can authenticate the consumable by determining a correspondence of the decrypted first portion to the second portion. 11. Use of the consumable (40) of embodiment 10 for the aerosol generation system (36) of any of embodiments 1 to 9 for authenticating the consumable. 12. A method of authenticating a consumable (40), the consumable including a storage portion (14) for storage of an aerosol generating precursor, the method comprising:

reading information from an information carrying medium (44) of the consumable, the information comprising an encrypted first portion and a corresponding second portion without encryption; and

determining the consumable as authentic if the decrypted first portion corresponds to the second portion.

13. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on programmable electric circuity execute the method of embodiment 12.

14. Electric circuitiy for an electrically operated aerosol generation system, said circuitry to implement the method of embodiment 12.

15. A non-transitoiy computer readable medium comprising the computer program of embodiment 13.