DEVICE

Field of Invention

The present invention relates to an aerosol-generating device with enhanced user functionality. More specifically, it relates to an aerosol-generating device such as e- cigarettes, heat-not-burn devices, and the like which are capable of providing notifications to a user.

Background

Inhalers or aerosol-generating devices such as e-cigarettes or vaping devices are becoming increasingly popular. They generally heat or warm an aerosolisable substance to generate an aerosol for inhalation, as opposed to burning tobacco as in conventional tobacco products. The generated aerosol may contain a flavour and/or a stimulant (e.g., nicotine or other active component). Such devices may be desired to provide additional functionality to enhance user experience.

Most aerosol-generating devices incorporate some form of electronic control circuit, typically including a simple computer processor, allowing a user to control operation of the aerosol generation device. Some of the vaping devices also allow the device to be wirelessly connected to a personal computing device to exchange data related to functioning of certain components of the device. However, there is no seamless integration between the aerosol-generating device and the personal computing device to enhance the user experience.

Therefore, there exists a need for a device that can provide additional functionary and be used effectively with a personal computing device. Summary of the Invention

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising establishing a communication between an aerosol-generating device and a personal computing device; detecting an upcoming notification for a user by the personal computing device; providing an indication to the user of the upcoming notification on the aerosol generating device; and inhibiting an indication of the upcoming notification on the personal computing device.

Advantageously, using the above method, the user of an aerosol generating device such as an e-cig can be informed of an important notification received on a personal computing device such as a smartphone using the e-cig. In this way, the user is relieved of checking the smartphone unnecessarily while being assured that no important notification is missed.

Preferably, the method includes receiving an acknowledgement at the personal computing device from the aerosol-generating device before inhibiting notifying the indicating of the upcoming notification on the personal computing device.

Preferably, the method includes identifying a first gesture pattern made by the user on the surface of the aerosol-generating device to initiate establishing communication between the aerosol-generating device and the personal computing device.

Preferably, the method includes detecting, at predetermined intervals, whether the aerosol generating device is in close proximity of the user.

Preferably, the method includes providing the indication to the user of the upcoming notification on the personal computing device and inhibiting the indication on the aerosol generating device when the aerosol-generating device is not in close proximity of the user.

Preferably, the method includes identifying a second gesture pattern made by the user on the surface of the aerosol-generating device to disable the communication between the aerosol-generating device and the personal computing device. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of receiving notifications on an aerosol-generating device comprising establishing a communication with a personal computing device in the vicinity of the aerosol-generating device; receiving a command for an upcoming notification from the personal computing device; providing an indication to a user of the upcoming notification on the aerosol-generating device; and transmitting an acknowledgement message to the personal computing device to inhibit an indication of the upcoming notification on the personal computing device.

Preferably, the acknowledgement message is transmitted in response to detecting that the aerosol-generating device is being held by the user or receiving a user input confirming receipt of the upcoming notification.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an aerosol-generating device comprising a body having an inlet and an outlet with an air channel defined between the inlet and the outlet; a controller configured to establish a communication with a personal computing device in the vicinity of the aerosol-generating device; receive a command for an upcoming notification from the personal computing device; provide an indication to a user of the upcoming notification on the aerosol-generating device; and transmitting an acknowledgement message to the personal computing device to inhibit an indication of the upcoming notification on the personal computing device.

Preferably, the aerosol-generating device further includes an indicator configured to indicate the upcoming notification to the user.

Preferably, the aerosol-generating device further includes a motion sensor configured to detect movements of the user when carrying the device; and a touch-responsive surface to receive an input from the user to initiate establishing or disabling the communication with the personal computing device. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system comprising an aerosol-generating device as defined above; and a personal computing device comprising a user application to interact with the aerosol-generating device.

Preferably, the user application is configured to enable a user to define associations between types of upcoming notification and types of indication on the aerosol-generating device.

Preferably, the personal computing device is configured to inform the aerosol-generating device of the upcoming notification only if there is a pre-defined association between a type of upcoming notification and a type of indication on the aerosol-generating device.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method as described above.

According to another aspect there is provided a method comprising: establishing a communication between an aerosol-generating device and a personal computing device; detecting, by the personal computing device, an upcoming notification for a user from at least one application running on by the personal computing device; providing an indication to the user of the upcoming notification on the aerosol-generating device; and inhibiting an indication of the upcoming notification on the personal computing device.

According to another aspect there is provided a method of receiving notifications on an aerosol-generating device comprising: establishing a communication with a personal computing device in the vicinity of the aerosol-generating device; receiving a command for an upcoming notification from the personal computing device, wherein the upcoming notification is from at least one application running on the personal computing device; providing an indication to a user of the upcoming notification on the aerosol-generating device; and transmitting an acknowledgement message to the personal computing device to inhibit an indication of the upcoming notification on the personal computing device. According to another aspect there is provided an aerosol-generating device comprising: a body having an inlet and an outlet with an air channel defined between the inlet and the outlet; a controller configured to: establish a communication with a personal computing device in the vicinity of the aerosol-generating device; receive a command for an upcoming notification from the personal computing device, wherein the upcoming notification is from at least one application running on the personal computing device; provide an indication to a user of the upcoming notification on the aerosol-generating device; and transmitting an acknowledgement message to the personal computing device to inhibit an indication of the upcoming notification on the personal computing device.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are now described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows an aerosol generating device according to an aspect of the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a system including the device of Fig. 1 and other entities in a connected network; Fig. 3A shows a block diagram of various components of the device of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3B shows a block diagram of various components of a personal computing device present in the system of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 shows a flow diagram of a method according to an aspect of the invention; and

Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary implementation of the method of Fig. 4. Detailed Description

Next, various aspects of the invention will be described. Note that the same or similar portions are denoted with the same or similar reference signs in the descriptions of the drawings below. Note that the drawings are schematic and a ratio of each size is different from a real one. Therefore, specific sizes and the like should be judged in consideration of the following descriptions.

Fig. 1 shows a non-combustion-type aerosol generating device 100, which is a device for inhaling an aerosol by heating or vaporisation without combustion. The device 100 has a rod-like shape with a main body 101 extending from a non-mouthpiece end 102 to a mouthpiece end 103. An air channel or path is defined in the main body 100 between the opposite ends 102, 103. The aerosol-generating device 100 in the present example is an electronic cigarette or a vaping device, and is referred to as e-cig 100 hereinafter. The e- cig 100 works by vaporizing or heating an aerosol source inserted into the e-cig 100 to release a flavour and/or a stimulant for a user to inhale through the mouthpiece end 103. The construction and operation of such a device to generate aerosol is well-known in the art and it will be understood by a skilled person that the invention disclosed herein can be applicable to aerosol generation devices in any shapes, configured with any aerosol generating techniques, not limited to the example.

The e-cig 100 may include an activation switch 104 that may be configured to perform at least one of a turn-on and a turn-off of a power source of the e-cig 100. The activation switch 104 may be a push button or a touch button disposed at any convenient location on the surface of the main body 101 of the e-cig 100. Alternatively, the e-cig 100 does not rely on a switch button to activate power supply to heater, but rely on a puff sensor to detect air flow and trigger the device to start generating aerosol.

Fig. 2 shows a system 200 comprising the e-cig 100 and other associated entities. In the present example, the e-cig 100 is configured to communicate with a personal computing device 201 owned by a user 202. The personal computing device 201 may be a smartphone, tablet, or, a laptop. For the sake of simplicity, the personal computing device 201 is referred to as smartphone 201 hereinafter. Preferably, the e-cig 100 is configured to communicably connect or pair with the smartphone 201 wirelessly using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other wireless communication standards. The smartphone 201 preferably runs a mobile application (commonly referred to as App) that allows the user to interact with the e-cig 100 through a user-friendly interface. The App may be hosted by the manufacturer of the e-cig 100 and compatible with different mobile platforms such as iOS™ and Android™.

The e-cig 100 and/or the smartphone 201 may also be configured to connect to a network 202. The network 203 may be a public network such as the internet and enable the e-cig 100 and the smartphone 201 to connect to other entities in the system 200. It will be appreciated that the e-cig 100 and the App on the smartphone 201 preferably have built-in security protocols to prevent unauthorized access by any malicious entity connected via the network 203. The e-cig 100 and/or the smartphone 201 may also be connected to a server 204 over the network 203. The server 204 is a central controller, preferably managed or authorized by the manufacturer of the e-cig 100, and is preferably configured to manage the e-cig 100 remotely. The server 204 may manage and monitor the operation of the e-cig 100 and also learn from habits of the user by running machine learning algorithms or artificial intelligence programs. The App on the smartphone 201 preferably engages with the server 204 to share the status of the e-cig 100 as well receive any updates and suggestions for the user from the server 204. The user may also be able to order refills and other flavours for the e-cig 100 from the server 204 using the App. It is to be understood that the system 200 is implemented using known communication techniques and standards. The system 200 may include several other entities that are not shown or described for the sake of brevity and would be well-known to the skilled person.

Fig. 3A is a block diagram showing various components or modules of the e-cig 100. In one example, the e-cig 100 comprises a consumables module 301 a and a heating element 302 that vaporizes a consumable item 301b received by the consumables module 301a to release aerosol containing the flavour and/or stimulant for the user to inhale. In the present example, the consumable item 301b is a substance containing nicotine. Presence of the consumable item 301b in the consumables module 301a may be detected by a detector 301c. The consumable item 301 b may be in the form of solid or liquid and is heated by the heating element 302 to release the aerosol without combustion. In case the consumable item 301b is a liquid store, more than one consumable items can be received at the consumable module 301a. The heating element 302 may be powered by a power source 303.

The power source 303 is, for example, a lithium ion battery. The power source 303 supplies an electric power necessary for an action of the e-cig 100. For example, the power source 303 supplies the electric power to all other components or modules included in the e-cig 100.

For the purposes of the present description, it will be understood that the terms vapour and aerosol are interchangeable. In some examples, the heating element is arranged within a capsule or cigarette-like aerosol generating material and connectable to the aerosol generation device, rather than being a component of the aerosol generation device itself.

In one embodiment, a flavouring is present in the consumable item 301b. The flavouring may include Ethylvanillin (vanilla), menthol, Isoamyl acetate (banana oil) or similar. In another embodiment, the consumable item 301b may include an additional flavour source (not shown) provided on the side of the mouthpiece end 103 beyond the consumables module 301 a the consumable item 301 b, and generates a flavour to be inhaled by the user together with the aerosol generated from the consumable item 301b. In yet another embodiment, the e-cig 100 comprises more than one consumable item each comprising a flavouring and/or a certain level of active component (nicotine). In this case, each consumable item can be independently heated to generate aerosol.

The e-cig 100 also includes a controller 304 that is configured to control various components in the e-cig. For example, the controller 304 may control a timing unit 305, a communications unit 306, a memory 307, and sensors 308 included in the e-cig 100. The timing unit 305 is configured to provide time information (e.g., time of the day) and generate timestamp for puff data or event data, which is helpful to analyse user’s vaping preference. The timing unit 305 is further configured to schedule aerosol-delivery profile (also referred to as vaping profile) customized for the user and provide this customized vaping profile to the controller 304 to monitor and restrict the user’s usage of the e-cig 100.

The communications unit 306 is configured to manage communication with the smartphone 201 , the server 204, and, the network 203. The memory 307 is configured to store different vaping profiles and information such as user settings and preferences.

The e-cig 100 may also include various sensors 308 (e.g., puff sensor, motion sensor, biometric sensor, and etc.) to record usage data related to each inhalation or puff when user uses the e-cig 100. The recorded usage data can comprise puff duration (i.e. , length of a puff), a puff interval (i.e., the time between consecutive puffs), and a fluid and/or nicotine consumption amount. In one example, the puff detector can determine the number of times of puff actions of inhaling the aerosol. The puff detector can also detect a time period required for one puff action of inhaling the aerosol.

The e-cig 100 may also include an Input-Output (I/O) or user interface 309 configured to provide indications to the user and to receive inputs from the user. The I/O interface 309 preferably comprises an indication device and an input device. The indication device may comprise a visual light emitting element including one or more Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), a screen display, or a sound emitter, or other appropriate means to provide indication to users. The visual light-emitting element such as an LED may be disposed at the tip of the non-mouthpiece end 102, or on a side surface of the e-cig 100. Such an LED may exhibit various light-emitting mode to provide to user within indication of a puff state where the aerosol is being inhaled, a non-puff state where the aerosol is not being inhaled, a pre-heating state when the heater is heating up, a ready-to vape state when the heater operates at target temperature to generate aerosol, a depletion state where LED bar shows depletion level of the aerosol source, and any other information related to the operation status of the e-cig. The user 202 may provide an input to the e-cig 100 through a touch-sensitive panel disposed on the surface of the e-cig 100. The touch-sensitive panel is responsive to various actions or gestures such as tapping, shaking, toggling, pinching, pattern drawing, etc. performed by the user 202. For example, the user 202 may activate the e-cig 100 by swiping on the touch-sensitive surface of the e-cig 100.

All the elements described above transmit and/or receive command and/or data via communication bus 310. Fig. 3B is a block diagram of various components in the personal computing device/ smartphone 201. The smartphone 201 comprises a processor 311 for controlling various operations of the smartphone, a memory 312 for storing system and user data, an operating system 313 such as Android™ or iOS™, and a power source 314 such as a Li- ion battery for powering the device. The smartphone 201 also comprises a communications unit 315 including modules such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, to connect to with the various entities present in the system 200. Furthermore, the smartphone 201 includes an I/O interface 316 for interacting with the user. The I/O interface 316 preferably comprises a touch screen capable of receiving an input from the user via touch action and displaying content to the user on the screen. However, it is to be understood that the I/O interface may instead comprise keys for receiving an input and a non-touch screen for displaying the content.

In addition, the smartphone 201 has an e-cig control App 317 running thereon, which may be downloaded on the smartphone 201 by the user. The e-cig control App 317 preferably allows the user to set his vaping preferences on the e-cig 100. The e-cig control App 317 may also allow the user to see the vaping history and other useful stats.

All the elements described above transmit and/or receive command and/or data via communication bus 320.

Fig. 4 shows a flow diagram 400 for a method of managing notifications for the user using the smartphone 201 and the e-cig 100. It is to be noted that steps in the process 400 may not necessarily be performed in the same sequence. Also, some of the steps may be optional and can be omitted.

At step 401 , a communication between an aerosol-generating device and a personal computing device is established. In the present example, the e-cig 100 and the smartphone

201 are connected or paired up wirelessly via Bluetooth. During an initial set-up, the user

202 may configure such pairing by turning ON Bluetooth channel on both devices and setting them as mutually trusted devices. After the initial set-up is completed, the e-cig 100 and the smartphone 201 automatically connects to each other when Bluetooth is enabled on both devices and the devices are within the communication range.

In one embodiment, the user 202 wakes up the Bluetooth connectivity on the e-cig 100 by drawing a gesture pattern (e.g. swiping one side to the other using a finger on the touch- sensitive surface of the e-cig 100 or shaking the e-cig). This enables the e-cig 100 to connect to the smartphone 201 present in the vicinity of the e-cig 100. Successfully established connection between the e-cig 100 and the smartphone 201 may be indicated to the user 202 in a number of ways using any kind of indicator. For example, using an LED, an audio signal, or a vibration pattern on the e-cig 100. The user 202 may also see the status of connection via the App on the smartphone 201.

At step 402, an upcoming notification for a user is detected by the personal computing device. In the present example, the smartphone 201 monitors all upcoming notifications from various apps installed on the smartphone 201 , for example, messaging app, email app 318, calendar app 319, reminder app, etc. The smartphone 201 may constantly or periodically check such apps to detect any upcoming notifications for the user. The user 202 preferably have an option to enable or disable notifications for various events on these apps. This may be set by the user using the e-cig control app 317. For example, if the user wishes to disable notifications from the calendar app 319, it is possible to do so by simply turning off calendar app notifications via the e-cig control app 317. Some of these may be triggered upon receiving an external communication via the communications unit 315, such as receiving a text message from another entity. Other notifications such as reminders for due tasks are fetched from the memory 312. When the smartphone 201 is connected to the e-cig 100, upon detecting an upcoming notification, the smartphone 201 may or may not indicate the user 202 of the upcoming notification on the I/O interface 316 of the smartphone 201. At step 403, an indication is provided to the user of the upcoming notification on the aerosol generating device. In the present example, upon detecting the upcoming notification and determining that the smartphone 201 is connected to the e-cig 100, it is determined if the e-cig 100 is fit for providing an indication to the user 202. This may be determined at predetermined intervals by the sensors 308 such as a motion sensor included in the e-cig 100. If the e-cig 100 is detected to be in motion, it is determined to be in active use or at least to be in the close proximity of the user 202. Alternatively, this can also be determined by signals from the touch-sensitive screen if the user 202 holds the e-cig 100 in hand and that likely activates the touch-sensitive screen. In that case, the smartphone 201 signals the e-cig 100 of the upcoming notification and instructs the e-cig 100 to provide an indication to the user 202. The e-cig 100 then indicates the user of the upcoming notification on the e-cig 100 using the I/O interface 309.

The indication can be made in a number of ways. In one example, the LED on the I/O interface 309 may flash twice in one colour when a message is received on the smartphone 201 or it may flash once in another colour when a calendar notification is received on the smartphone 201. Alternatively, the LED may flash 6 times in blue colour to indicate an important notification. In another example, the e-cig 100 may vibrate sharply for a few seconds when a message is received and vibrate gently when a calendar notification is received. Alternatively, the device may vibrate for 6 short times to indicate an important notification.

Such associations between the notification types and indication patterns may be either pre set or defined by the user 202 according to user preferences. These associations may be configured using the app on the smartphone 201. In one embodiment, the smartphone 201 only signals the e-cig 100 for an upcoming notification if there is a pre-defined association between the type of upcoming notification and indication pattern. For example, the user may not define an association for an incoming call as the user would anyhow have to check the smartphone 201 to attend the incoming call. In another embodiment, the smartphone 201 signals the e-cig 100 for all upcoming notifications for a notification-enabled app such as the calendar app 319 as set up by the user 202, irrespective of a pre-defined association. In this case, the user 202 is provided a default indication for an upcoming notification on the calendar app 319 so that the user can promptly check the smartphone 202.

At step 404, an indication of the upcoming notification is inhibited on the personal computing device. In the present example, upon successful indication of the upcoming notification on the e-cig 100, the e-cig 100 may notify the smartphone 201 by sending an acknowledgement message. Such acknowledgement may be triggered by a user providing an input to confirm the receipt of the incoming notification on the e-cig 100. The user input can be for example tapping on the e-cig 100 to confirm the receipt. When such acknowledgement is received, the smartphone 201 turns off any indication for the user 202 on the smartphone 201. In another embodiment, the indication of the upcoming notification on the personal computing device 201 is inhibited automatically after successfully sending the upcoming event notification to the e-cig 100. The user 202 may define in the e-cig control app 317 whether a user confirmation is needed to inhibit the indication on the smartphone 201. For example, the user may require confirmation for a calendar notification but not for an email notification.

The smartphone 201 does not notify the user 202 of the upcoming notification on the I/O interface 316 of the smartphone 201 as the user has already been notified on the e-cig 100. This avoids unnecessary burden on the user to check the smartphone 201. The notification is received on the smartphone 201 as usual for the user 202 to check it in his own time but without making any perceivable indication on the smartphone 201. App icons and notification centre on the smartphone 201 may show pending notification when the user checks the smartphone 201. In this way, the user need not check the smartphone 201 if the notification is deemed to be of lower importance (as perceived by the indication pattern on the e-cig 100). This not only saves time for the user but also limits unnecessary exposure to the display screen of the smartphone 201. On the other hand, if no acknowledgement is received from the e-cig 100 for any reason such as the user 202 not being in close proximity of the e-cig 100 (e.g., the e-cig 100 is left on table still and not in motion, detectable by motion sensors, or the e-cig 100 is not held by user in hand i.e., no signal detectable by the touch-sensitive screen), the smartphone 201 indicates the upcoming notification to the user 202 on the smartphone 201 in the usual way. This ensures that no important notification is missed by the user. However, in this case, indication for the upcoming notification is inhibited on the e-cig 100.

The user 202 may also manually configure to not receive the indication for the upcoming notification on the e-cig 100. This may be done by simply disabling the communication between the e-cig 100 and the smartphone 201. The user 202 may do so by drawing another gesture pattern (e.g. swiping from one side to another on the surface of the e-cig 100 to turn off the Bluetooth connectivity or shaking the e-cig). Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram 500 illustrating an exemplary implementation of the above method. Assuming that the user 202 has defined, using the e-cig control app 317, to receive notifications from the calendar app 319 on the e-cig 100. The smartphone 201 therefore provides a signal to the e-cig 100 for an upcoming notification and intercepts an indication for that notification on the smartphone 201. The e-cig 100 provides an indication for the upcoming notification to the user 202 on the e-cig 100. Depending on the pre-defined association, the controller 304 in the e-cig 100 provides the indication using the I/O interface 309. In the present implementation, 6 short blue LED blinks are used to provide a visual indication or 6 short vibrations are used to provide a haptic indication to the user 202. In this way, the user is notified of any important event using the e-cig 100.

The above described method is advantageous as it provides indication for upcoming notifications to the user on the e-cig 100 instead of the smartphone 201 for convenience. However, if the user is not in the proximity of the e-cig 100, the indication is provided on the smartphone 201 as usual. In either case, it is ensured that the user does not miss any notification while avoiding unnecessary indication on both devices. The processing steps described herein carried out by the main control unit, or controller, may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, or storage, associated with the main control unit. A computer-readable medium can include non-volatile media and volatile media. Volatile media can include semiconductor memories and dynamic memories, amongst others. Non-volatile media can include optical disks and magnetic disks, amongst others.

The foregoing description of illustrative embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration and of description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting with respect to the precise form disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the disclosed embodiments.

As used herein, the term “non-transitory computer-readable media” is intended to be representative of any tangible computer-based device implemented in any method or technology for short-term and long-term storage of information, such as, computer- readable instructions, data structures, program modules and submodules, or other data in any device. Therefore, the methods described herein may be encoded as executable instructions embodied in a tangible, non-transitory, computer readable medium, including, without limitation, a storage device, and/or a memory device. Such instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform at least a portion of the methods described herein. Moreover, as used herein, the term “non-transitory computer-readable media” includes all tangible, computer-readable media, including, without limitation, non- transitory computer storage devices, including, without limitation, volatile and non-volatile media, and removable and non-removable media such as a firmware, physical and virtual storage, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and any other digital source such as a network or the Internet, as well as yet to be developed digital means, with the sole exception being a transitory, propagating signal.

As will be appreciated based on the foregoing specification, the above-described embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using computer programming or engineering techniques including computer software, firmware, hardware or any combination or subset thereof. Any such resulting program, having computer-readable code means, may be embodied or provided within one or more computer-readable media, thereby making a computer program product, i.e. , an article of manufacture, according to the discussed embodiments of the disclosure. The article of manufacture containing the computer code may be made and/or used by executing the code directly from one medium, by copying the code from one medium to another medium, or by transmitting the code over a network.