Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for refilling a reservoir of an electronic aerosol provision system and more specifically to the operation of an apparatus for refilling a reservoir of an electronic aerosol provision system.

Background

Electronic aerosol provision systems, which are often configured as so-called electronic cigarettes, can have a unitary format with all elements of the system in a common housing, or a multi-component format in which elements are distributed between two or more housings which can be coupled together to form the system. A common example of the latter format is a two-component system comprising a device and an article. The device typically contains an electrical power source for the system, such as a battery, and control electronics for operating elements in order to generate aerosol. The article, also referred to by terms including cartridge, cartomiser, consumable and clearomiser, typically contains a storage volume or area for holding a supply of aerosol-generating material from which the aerosol is generated, and in some instances an aerosol generator such as a heater operable to vaporise the aerosol-generating material. A similar three-component system may include a separate mouthpiece that attaches to the article. In many designs, the article is designed to be disposable, in that it is intended to be detached from the device and thrown away when the aerosol-generating material has been consumed. The user obtains a new article which has been prefilled with aerosol-generating material by a manufacturer and attaches it to the device for use. The device, in contrast, is intended to be used with multiple consecutive articles, with a capability to recharge the battery to allow prolonged operation.

While disposable articles, which may be called consumables, are convenient for the user, they may be considered wasteful of natural resources and hence detrimental to the environment. An alternative design of article is therefore known, which is configured to be refilled with aerosol-generating material by the user. This reduces waste, and can reduce the cost of electronic cigarette usage for the user. The aerosol-generating material may be provided in a bottle, for example, from which the user squeezes or drips a quantity of material into the article via a refilling orifice on the article. However, the act of refilling can be awkward and inconvenient, since the items are small and the volume of material involved is typically low. Alignment of the juncture between bottle and article can be difficult, with inaccuracies leading to spillage of the material. This is not only wasteful, but may also be dangerous. Aerosol-generating material frequently contains liquid nicotine, which can be poisonous if it makes contact with the skin.

Therefore, refilling units or devices have been proposed, which are configured to receive a bottle or other reservoir of aerosol-generating material plus a refillable cartridge, and to automate the transfer of the material from the former to the latter. Alternative, improved or enhanced features and designs for such refilling devices are therefore of interest.

Summary

According to a first aspect of certain embodiments there is provided a refilling device for refilling an article with aerosol-generating material from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism, wherein the refilling device comprises a controller configured to: obtain an indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the article; obtain an indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the refill reservoir; determine whether the aerosol-generating material within the article and the aerosol-generating material within the refill reservoir constitute a permissible combination of aerosol-generating materials based on the obtained indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the article and the aerosol-generating material contained within the refill reservoir; and cause an action to be performed responsive to the determination.

According to a second aspect of certain embodiments there is provided an article configured to be refilled with aerosol-generating material by a refilling device from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism, wherein the article comprises an indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the article, and wherein the refilling device is configured to determine whether the aerosol-generating material within the article and the aerosol-generating material within the refill reservoir constitute a permissible combination of aerosol-generating materials based at least on the indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the article.

According to a third aspect of certain embodiments there is provided a refill reservoir containing aerosol-generating material for refilling an article by a refilling device using a transfer mechanism, wherein the refill reservoir comprises an indication of the aerosol generating material contained within the refill reservoir, and wherein the refilling device is configured to determine whether the aerosol-generating material within the article and the aerosol-generating material within the refill reservoir constitute a permissible combination of aerosol-generating materials based at least on the indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the refill reservoir.

According to a fourth aspect of certain embodiments there is provided a system for refilling an article of an aerosol provision device with aerosol-generating material from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism of a refilling device, the system comprising: the refilling device of the first aspect; an article for storing aerosol-generating material; and a refill reservoir comprising aerosol-generating material. According to a fifth aspect of certain embodiments there is provided a method for causing refilling of an article with aerosol-generating material from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism of a refilling device, the method comprising: obtaining an indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the article; obtaining an indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the refill reservoir; determining whether the aerosol-generating material within the article and the aerosol generating material within the refill reservoir constitute a permissible combination of aerosol generating materials based on the obtained indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the article and the aerosol-generating material contained within the refill reservoir; and causing an action to be performed responsive to the determination.

According to a sixth aspect of certain embodiments there is provided a refilling device for refilling an article with aerosol-generating material from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism, wherein the refilling device comprises a controller configured to: obtain an indication of the aerosol-generating material within the refill reservoir; determine operational parameters of the transfer mechanism at least on the basis of the obtained indication; and cause the transfer mechanism to operate in accordance with the determined operational parameters.

According to a seventh aspect of certain embodiments there is provided a refill reservoir containing aerosol-generating material for refilling an article by a refilling device using a transfer mechanism, wherein the refill reservoir comprises an indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the refill reservoir, and wherein the indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the refill reservoir is such that the refilling device may determine operational parameters of the transfer mechanism at least on the basis of the obtained indication and cause the transfer mechanism to operate in accordance with the determined operational parameters.

According to an eighth aspect of certain embodiments there is provided a system for refilling an article of an aerosol provision device with aerosol-generating material, the system comprising the refilling device of the sixth aspect and the refill reservoir of the seventh aspect.

According to a ninth aspect of certain embodiments there is provided a method for refilling an article with aerosol-generating material from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism of a refilling device, the method comprising: obtaining an indication of the aerosol-generating material within the refill reservoir; determining operational parameters of the transfer mechanism at least on the basis of the obtained indication; and causing the transfer mechanism to operate in accordance with the determined operational parameters to transfer aerosol-generating material from the refill reservoir to the article. According to a tenth aspect of certain embodiments there is provided refilling means for refilling an article with aerosol-generating material from refill reservoir means using transfer means, wherein the refilling means comprises controller means configured to: obtain an indication of the aerosol-generating material within the refill reservoir means; determine operational parameters of the transfer means at least on the basis of the obtained indication; and cause the transfer means to operate in accordance with the determined operational parameters.

These and further aspects of the certain embodiments are set out in the appended independent and dependent claims. It will be appreciated that features of the dependent claims may be combined with each other and features of the independent claims in combinations other than those explicitly set out in the claims. Furthermore, the approach described herein is not restricted to specific embodiments such as set out below, but includes and contemplates any appropriate combinations of features presented herein. For example, a nozzle may be provided in accordance with approaches described herein which includes any one or more of the various features described below as appropriate.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail by way of example only with reference to the following drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows a simplified schematic cross-section through an example electronic aerosol provision system to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable;

Figure 2 shows a simplified schematic representation of a refilling device in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

Figure 3 shows a simplified cross-sectional view of a reservoir refilling an article of an aerosol provision system via a nozzle according to an example of the disclosure;

Figures 4a, 4b, and 4c respectively schematically show three different arrangements of the article, refill reservoir and refilling device arranged to provide indications of aerosol generating material within the article and refill reservoir to the refilling device;

Figure 5 shows an example table indicating the permissibility of different combinations of flavoured source liquids as an example of permissible combination information;

Figure 6 shows a flow diagram of method steps performed by a controller of a refilling device according to a first example;

Figure 7 shows a flow diagram of method steps performed by a controller of a refilling device according to a second example;

Figure 8 shows a flow diagram of method steps performed by a controller of a refilling device according to a third example; Figure 9 shows a flow diagram of method steps performed by a controller of a refilling device according to a fourth example;

Figure 10 schematically shows a further (fourth) different arrangement of the refill reservoir and refilling device arranged to provide indications of aerosol-generating material within the article and refill reservoir to the refilling device;

Figure 11 shows a flow diagram of a method performed by a controller of the refilling unit for determining operational parameters for a transfer mechanism on the basis of an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

Figure 12 shows a first modification of the method of Figure 11 according to aspects of the present disclosure;

Figure 13 shows a second modification of the method of Figure 11 according to aspects of the present disclosure;

Figure 14 shows a modification of the method of Figure 12 according to aspects of the present disclosure; and

Figure 15 shows a modification of the method of Figure 13 according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Aspects and features of certain examples and embodiments are discussed / described herein. Some aspects and features of certain examples and embodiments may be implemented conventionally and these are not discussed / described in detail in the interests of brevity. It will thus be appreciated that aspects and features of apparatus and methods discussed herein which are not described in detail may be implemented in accordance with any conventional techniques for implementing such aspects and features.

As described above, the present disclosure relates to (but is not limited to) electronic aerosol or vapour provision systems, such as e-cigarettes. Throughout the following description the terms “e-cigarette” and “electronic cigarette” may sometimes be used; however, it will be appreciated these terms may be used interchangeably with aerosol (vapour) provision system or device. The systems are intended to generate an inhalable aerosol by vaporisation of a substrate (aerosol-generating material) in the form of a liquid or gel which may or may not contain nicotine. Additionally, hybrid systems may comprise a liquid or gel substrate plus a solid substrate which is also heated. The solid substrate may be for example tobacco or other non-tobacco products, which may or may not contain nicotine. The terms “aerosol-generating material” and “aerosolisable material” as used herein are intended to refer to materials which can form an aerosol, either through the application of heat or some other means. The term “aerosol” may be used interchangeably with “vapour”. As used herein, the terms “system” and “delivery system” are intended to encompass systems that deliver a substance to a user, and include non-combustible aerosol provision systems that release compounds from an aerosol-generating material without combusting the aerosol-generating material, such as electronic cigarettes, tobacco heating products, and hybrid systems to generate aerosol using a combination of aerosol-generating materials, and articles comprising aerosol-generating material and configured to be used within one of these non-combustible aerosol provision systems.

According to the present disclosure, a “non-combustible” aerosol provision system is one where a constituent aerosol-generating material of the aerosol provision system (or component thereof) is not combusted or burned in order to facilitate delivery of at least one substance of the aerosol-generating material to a user. In some embodiments, the delivery system is a non-combustible aerosol provision system, such as a powered non-combustible aerosol provision system. In some embodiments, the non-combustible aerosol provision system is an electronic cigarette, also known as a vaping device or electronic nicotine delivery (END) system, although it is noted that the presence of nicotine in the aerosol generating material is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the non-combustible aerosol provision system is an aerosol-generating material heating system, also known as a heat-not-burn system. An example of such a system is a tobacco heating system. In some embodiments, the non-combustible aerosol provision system is a hybrid system to generate aerosol using a combination of aerosol-generating materials, one or a plurality of which may be heated. Each of the aerosol-generating materials may be, for example, in the form of a solid, liquid or gel and may or may not contain nicotine. In some embodiments, the hybrid system comprises a liquid or gel aerosol generating material and a solid aerosol generating material. The solid aerosol generating material may comprise, for example, tobacco or a non-tobacco product.

Typically, the non-combustible aerosol provision system may comprise a non combustible aerosol provision device and an article (consumable) for use with the non combustible aerosol provision device. In some embodiments, the disclosure relates to consumables comprising aerosol-generating material and configured to be used with non combustible aerosol provision devices. These consumables are sometimes referred to as articles throughout the disclosure. However, it is envisaged that articles which themselves comprise a means for powering an aerosol generator or aerosol generating component may themselves form the non-combustible aerosol provision system. In some embodiments, the non-combustible aerosol provision device may comprise a power source and a controller. The power source may, for example, be an electric power source. In some embodiments, the article for use with the non-combustible aerosol provision device may comprise an aerosol-generating material, an aerosol-generating component (aerosol generator), an aerosol-generating area, a mouthpiece, and/or an area for receiving and holding aerosol generating material.

In some systems the aerosol-generating component or aerosol generator comprises a heater capable of interacting with the aerosol-generating material so as to release one or more volatiles from the aerosol-generating material to form an aerosol. However, the disclosure is not limited in this regard, and applies also to systems that use other approaches to form aerosol, such as a vibrating mesh.

In some embodiments, the article for use with the non-combustible aerosol provision device may comprise aerosol-generating material or an area for receiving aerosol-generating material. In some embodiments, the article for use with the non-combustible aerosol provision device may comprise a mouthpiece. The area for receiving aerosol-generating material may be a storage area for storing aerosol-generating material. For example, the storage area may be a reservoir which may store a liquid aerosol-generating material. In some embodiments, the area for receiving aerosol-generating material may be separate from, or combined with, an aerosol generating area (which is an area at which the aerosol is generated). In some embodiments, the article for use with the non-combustible aerosol provision device may comprise a filter and/or an aerosol-modifying agent through which generated aerosol is passed before being delivered to the user.

As used herein, the term “component” may be used to refer to a part, section, unit, module, assembly or similar of an electronic cigarette or similar device that incorporates several smaller parts or elements, possibly within an exterior housing or wall. An aerosol provision system such as an electronic cigarette may be formed or built from one or more such components, such as an article and a device, and the components may be removably or separably connectable to one another, or may be permanently joined together during manufacture to define the whole system. The present disclosure is applicable to (but not limited to) systems comprising two components separably connectable to one another and configured, for example, as an article in the form of an aerosol-generating material carrying component holding liquid or another aerosol-generating material (alternatively referred to as a cartridge, cartomiser, pod or consumable), and a device having a battery or other power source for providing electrical power to operate an aerosol generating component or aerosol generator for creating vapour/aerosol from the aerosol-generating material. A component may include more or fewer parts than those included in the examples.

In some examples, the present disclosure relates to aerosol provision systems and components thereof that utilise aerosol-generating material in the form of a liquid, gel or a solid which is held in an aerosol-generating material storage area such as a reservoir, tank, container or other receptacle comprised in the system, or absorbed onto a carrier substrate. An arrangement for delivering the aerosol-generating material from the aerosol-generating material storage area for the purpose of providing it to an aerosol generator for vapour / aerosol generation is included. The terms “liquid”, “gel”, “solid”, “fluid”, “source liquid”, “source gel”, “source fluid” and the like may be used interchangeably with terms such as “aerosol-generating material”, “aerosolisable substrate material” and “substrate material” to refer to material that has a form capable of being stored and delivered in accordance with examples of the present disclosure.

As used herein, “aerosol-generating material” is a material that is capable of generating aerosol, for example when heated, irradiated or energized in any other way. Aerosol-generating material may, for example, be in the form of a solid, liquid or gel which may or may not contain an active substance and/or flavourants. In some embodiments, the aerosol-generating material may comprise an “amorphous solid”, which may alternatively be referred to as a “monolithic solid” (i.e. non-fibrous). In some embodiments, the amorphous solid may be a dried gel. The amorphous solid is a solid material that may retain some fluid, such as liquid, within it. In some embodiments, the aerosol-generating material may for example comprise from about 50wt%, 60wt% or 70wt% of amorphous solid, to about 90wt%, 95wt% or 100wt% of amorphous solid. In some embodiments, the aerosol-generating material may comprise one or more active constituents, one or more flavours, one or more aerosol-former materials, and/or one or more other functional materials. The active substance as used herein may be a physiologically active material, which is a material intended to achieve or enhance a physiological response. The active substance may for example be selected from nutraceuticals, nootropics, psychoactives. The active substance may be naturally occurring or synthetically obtained. The active substance may comprise for example nicotine, caffeine, taurine, theine, vitamins such as B6 or B12 or C, melatonin, cannabinoids, or constituents, derivatives, or combinations thereof. The active substance may comprise one or more constituents, derivatives or extracts of tobacco, cannabis or another botanical. As used herein, the terms "flavour" and "flavourant" refer to materials which, where local regulations permit, may be used to create a desired taste, aroma or other somatosensorial sensation in a product for adult consumers. They may include naturally occurring flavour materials, botanicals, extracts of botanicals, synthetically obtained materials, or combinations thereof. The aerosol-former material may comprise one or more constituents capable of forming an aerosol. In some embodiments, the aerosol-former material may comprise one or more of glycerol, propylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, tetraethylene glycol, 1,3-butylene glycol, erythritol, meso-Erythritol, ethyl vanillate, ethyl laurate, a diethyl suberate, triethyl citrate, triacetin, a diacetin mixture, benzyl benzoate, benzyl phenyl acetate, tributyrin, lauryl acetate, lauric acid, myristic acid, and propylene carbonate. The one or more other functional materials may comprise one or more of pH regulators, colouring agents, preservatives, binders, fillers, stabilizers, and/or antioxidants.

Figure 1 is a highly schematic diagram (not to scale) of an example electronic aerosol/vapour provision system 10, presented for the purpose of showing the relationship between the various parts of a typical system and explaining the general principles of operation. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to a system configured in this way, and features may be modified in accordance with the various alternatives and definitions described above and/or apparent to the skilled person.

The aerosol provision system 10 has a generally elongate shape in this example, extending along a longitudinal axis indicated by a dashed line, and comprises two main components, namely an aerosol provision device 20 (control or power component, section or unit), and an article or consumable 30 (cartridge assembly or section, sometimes referred to as a cartomiser, clearomiser or pod) carrying aerosol-generating material and operable to generate vapour/aerosol. In the following description, the aerosol provision system 10 is configured to generate aerosol from a liquid aerosol-generating material (source liquid), and the foregoing disclosure will explain the principles of the present disclosure using this example. However, the present disclosure is not limited to aerosolising a liquid aerosol generating material, and features may be modified in accordance with the various alternatives and definitions described above and/or apparent to the skilled person in order to aerosolise different aerosol-generating materials, e.g., solid aerosol-generating materials or gel aerosol-generating materials as described above.

The article 30 includes a reservoir 3 (as an example of an aerosol-generating material storage area) for containing a source liquid from which an aerosol is to be generated, for example containing nicotine. As an example, the source liquid may comprise around 1% to 3% nicotine and 50% glycerol, with the remainder comprising roughly equal measures of water and propylene glycol, and possibly also comprising other components, such as flavourings. Nicotine-free source liquid may also be used, such as to deliver flavouring. In some embodiments, a solid substrate (not illustrated), such as a portion of tobacco or other flavour imparting element through which vapour generated from the liquid is passed, may also be included. The reservoir 3 may have the form of a storage tank, being a container or receptacle in which source liquid can be stored such that the liquid is free to move and flow within the confines of the tank. In other examples, the storage area may comprise absorbent material (either inside a tank or similar, or positioned within the outer housing of the article) that substantially holds the aerosol-generating material. For a consumable article, the reservoir 3 may be sealed after filling during manufacture so as to be disposable after the source liquid is consumed. However, the present disclosure is relevant to refillable articles that have an inlet port, orifice or other opening (not shown in Figure 1) through which new source liquid can be added to enable reuse of the article 30.

The article 30 also comprises an aerosol generator 5, which may have the form of an electrically powered heating element or heater 4 and an aerosol-generating material transfer component 6 designed to transfer aerosol-generating material from the aerosol-generating material storage area to the aerosol generator). The heater 4 is located externally of the reservoir 3 and is operable to generate the aerosol by vaporisation of the source liquid by heating. The aerosol-generating material transfer component 6 is a transfer or delivery arrangement configured to deliver aerosol-generating material from the reservoir 3 to the heater 4. In some examples, it may have the form of a wick or other porous element. A wick 6 may have one or more parts located inside the reservoir 3, or otherwise be in fluid communication with liquid in the reservoir 3, so as to be able to absorb source liquid and transfer it by wicking or capillary action to other parts of the wick 6 that are adjacent or in contact with the heater 4. The wick may be formed of any suitable material which can cause wicking of the liquid, such as glass fibres or cotton fibres. This wicked liquid is thereby heated and vaporised, and replacement liquid is drawn, via continuous capillary action, from the reservoir 3 for transfer to the heater 4 by the wick 6. The wick 6 may be thought of as a conduit between the reservoir 3 and the heater 4 that delivers or transfers liquid from the reservoir to the heater. In some implementations, the heater 4 and the aerosol-generating material transfer component 6 are unitary or monolithic, and formed from a same material that is able to be used for both liquid transfer and heating, such as a material which is both porous and conductive. In still other cases, the aerosol-generating material transfer component 6 may operate other than by capillary action, such as by comprising an arrangement of one or more valves by which liquid may exit the reservoir 3 and be passed onto the heater 4.

A heater and wick (or similar) combination, referred to herein as an aerosol generator 5, may sometimes be termed an atomiser or atomiser assembly, and the reservoir with its source liquid plus the atomiser may be collectively referred to as an aerosol source. Various designs are possible, in which the parts may be differently arranged compared with the highly schematic representation of Figure 1. For example, and as mentioned above, the wick 6 may be an entirely separate element from the heater 4, or the heater 4 may be configured to be porous and able to perform at least part of the wicking function directly (a metallic mesh, for example).

In the present example, the system is an electronic system, and the heater 4 may comprise one or more electrical heating elements that operate by ohmic/resistive (Joule) heating. The article 30 may comprise electrical contacts (not shown) at an interface of the article 30 which electrically engage to electrical contacts (no shown) at an interface of the aerosol provision device 20. Electrical energy can therefore be transferred to the heater 4 via the electrical contacts from the aerosol provision device 20 to cause heating of the heater 4. In other examples, the heater 4 may be inductively heated, in which case the heater comprises a susceptor in an induction heating arrangement which may comprise a suitable drive coil through which an alternating electrical current is passed. A heater of this type could be configured in line with the examples and embodiments described in more detail below.

In general, therefore, an aerosol generator in the present context can be considered as one or more elements that implement the functionality of an aerosol-generating element able to generate vapour by heating source liquid (or other aerosol-generating material) delivered to it, and a liquid transport or delivery element able to deliver or transport liquid from a reservoir or similar liquid store to the vapour-generating element by a wicking action / capillary force or otherwise. An aerosol generator is typically housed in an article 30 of an aerosol generating system, as in Figure 1, but in some examples, at least the heater part may be housed in the device 20. Embodiments of the disclosure are applicable to all and any such configurations which are consistent with the examples and description herein.

Returning to Figure 1, the article 30 also includes a mouthpiece or mouthpiece portion 35 having an opening or air outlet through which a user may inhale the aerosol generated by the heater 4.

The aerosol provision device 20 includes a power source such as a cell or battery 7 (referred to hereinafter as a battery, and which may or may not be re-chargeable) to provide electrical power for electrical components of the aerosol provision system 10, in particular to operate the heater 4. Additionally, there is control circuitry 8 such as a printed circuit board and/or other electronics or circuitry for generally controlling the aerosol provision system 10. The control circuitry 8 may include a processor programmed with software, which may be modifiable by a user of the system. The control circuitry 8, in one aspect, operates the heater

4 using power from the battery 7 when vapour is required. At this time, the user inhales on the system 10 via the mouthpiece 35, and air A enters through one or more air inlets 9 in the wall of the device 20 (air inlets may alternatively or additionally be located in the article 30). When the heater 4 is operated, it vaporises source liquid delivered from the reservoir 3 by the aerosol-generating material transfer component 6 to generate the aerosol by entrainment of the vapour into the air flowing through the system, and this is then inhaled by the user through the opening in the mouthpiece 35. The aerosol is carried from the aerosol generator

5 to the mouthpiece 35 along one or more air channels (not shown) that connect the air inlets 9 to the aerosol generator 5 to the air outlet when a user inhales on the mouthpiece 35.

More generally, the control circuitry 8 is suitably configured / programmed to control the operation of the aerosol provision system 10 to provide conventional operating functions of the aerosol provision system in line with established techniques for controlling such devices, as well as any specific functionality described as part of the foregoing disclosure. The control circuitry 8 may be considered to logically comprise various sub-units / circuitry elements associated with different aspects of the aerosol provision system’s operation in accordance with the principles described herein and other conventional operating aspects of aerosol provision systems, such as display driving circuitry for systems that may include a user display (such as an screen or indicator) and user input detections via one or more user actuable (actuatable) controls 12. It will be appreciated that the functionality of the control circuitry 8 can be provided in various different ways, for example using one or more suitably programmed programmable computers and/or one or more suitably configured application- specific integrated circuits / circuitry / chips / chipsets configured to provide the desired functionality. The device 20 and the article 30 are separate connectable parts detachable from one another by separation in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis, as indicated by the double-headed arrows in Figure 1. The components 20, 30 are joined together when the system 10 is in use by cooperating engagement elements 21, 31 (for example, a screw or bayonet fitting) which provide mechanical and in some cases electrical connectivity between the device 20 and the article 30. Electrical connectivity is required if the heater 4 operates by ohmic heating, so that current can be passed through the heater 4 when it is connected to the battery 5. In systems that use inductive heating, electrical connectivity can be omitted if no parts requiring electrical power are located in the article 30. An inductive work coil / drive coil can be housed in the device 20 and supplied with power from the battery 5, and the article 30 and the device 20 shaped so that when they are connected, there is an appropriate exposure of the heater 4 to flux generated by the coil for the purpose of generating current flow in the material of the heater. The Figure 1 design is merely an example arrangement, and the various parts and features may be differently distributed between the device 20 and the article 30, and other components and elements may be included. The two sections may connect together end-to-end in a longitudinal configuration as in Figure 1, or in a different configuration such as a parallel, side-by-side arrangement. The system may or may not be generally cylindrical and/or have a generally longitudinal shape. Either or both sections or components may be intended to be disposed of and replaced when exhausted, or be intended for multiple uses enabled by actions such as refilling the reservoir and recharging the battery. In other examples, the system 10 may be unitary, in that the parts of the device 20 and the article 30 are comprised in a single housing and cannot be separated. Embodiments and examples of the present disclosure are applicable to any of these configurations and other configurations of which the skilled person will be aware. The present disclosure relates to the refilling of a storage area for aerosol generating material in an aerosol provision system, whereby a user is enabled to conveniently provide a system with fresh aerosol generating material when a previous stored quantity has been used up. It is proposed that this be done automatically, by provision of apparatus which is termed herein a refilling device, refilling unit, refilling station, or simply dock. The refilling device is configured to receive an aerosol provision system, or more conveniently, the article from an aerosol provision system having a storage area which is empty or only partly full, plus a larger reservoir holding aerosol generating material. A fluid communication flow path is established between the larger reservoir and the storage area, and a controller in the refilling device controls a transfer mechanism or arrangement operable to move aerosol generating material along the flow path from the larger reservoir in the refilling device to the storage area. The transfer mechanism can be activated in response to user input of a refill request to the refilling device, or activation may be automatic in response to a particular state or condition of the refilling device detected by the controller. For example, if both an article and a larger reservoir are correctly positioned inside (or otherwise coupled to) the refilling unit, refilling may be carried out. Once the storage area is replenished with a desired quantity of aerosol generating material (the storage area is filled or a user specified quantity of material has been transferred to the article, for example), the transfer mechanism is deactivated, and transfer ceases. Alternatively, the transfer mechanism may be configured to automatically dispense a fixed quantity of aerosol generating material in response to activation by the controller, such as fixed quantity matching the capacity of the storage area.

Figure 2 shows a highly schematic representation of an example refilling device. The refilling device is shown in a simplified form only, to illustrate various elements and their relationship to one another. More particular features of one or more of the elements with which the present disclosure is concerned will be described in more detail below.

The refilling device 50 will be referred to hereinafter for convenience as a “dock”. This term is applicable since a reservoir and an article are received or “docked” in the refilling device during use. The dock 50 comprises an outer housing 52. The dock 50 is expected to be useful for refilling of articles in the home or workplace (rather than being a portable device or a commercial device, although these options are not excluded). Therefore, the outer housing, made for example from metal, plastics or glass, may be designed to have an pleasing outward appearance such as to make it suitable for permanent and convenient access, such as on a shelf, desk, table or counter. It may be any size suitable for accommodating the various elements described herein, such as having dimensions between about 10 cm and 20 cm, although smaller or larger sizes may be preferred. Inside the housing 50 are defined two cavities or ports 54, 56. A first port 54 is shaped and dimensioned to receive and interface with a refill reservoir 40. The first or refill reservoir port 54 is configured to enable an interface between the refill reservoir 40 and the dock 50, so might alternatively be termed a refill reservoir interface. Primarily, the refill reservoir interface is for moving aerosol-generating material out of the refill reservoir 40, but in some cases the interface may enable additional functions, such as electrical contacts and sensing capabilities for communication between the refill reservoir 40 and the dock 50 and determining characteristics and features of the refill reservoir 40.

The refill reservoir 40 comprises a wall or housing 41 that defines a storage space for holding aerosol-generating material 42. The volume of the storage space is large enough to accommodate many or several times the storage area / reservoir 3 of an article 30 intended to be refilled in the dock 50. A user can therefore purchase a filled reservoir 40 of their preferred aerosol generating material (flavour, strength, brand, etc.), and use it to refill an article 30 multiple times. A user could acquire several reservoirs 40 of different aerosol generating materials, so as to have a convenient choice available when refilling an article. The refill reservoir 40 includes an outlet orifice or opening 44 by which the aerosol generating material 42 can pass out of the refill reservoir 40.

A second port 56 (defined inside the housing) is shaped and dimensioned to receive and interface with an article 30. The second or article port 56 is configured to enable an interface between the article 30 and the dock 50, so might alternatively be termed an article interface. Primarily, the article interface is for receiving aerosol-generating material into the article 30, but in some cases the interface may enable additional functions, such as electrical contacts and sensing capabilities for communication between the article 30 and the dock 50 and determining characteristics and features of the reservoir 30.

The article 30 itself comprises a wall or housing 31 that has within it (but possibly not occupying all the space within the wall 31) a storage area 3 for holding aerosol-generating material. The volume of the storage area 3 is many or several times smaller than the volume of the refill reservoir 40, so that the article 30 can be refilled multiple times from a single refill reservoir 40. The article 30 also includes an inlet orifice or opening 32 by which aerosol generating material can enter the storage area 3. Various other elements may be included with the article 30, as discussed above with regard to Figure 1.

The housing also accommodates a fluid conduit 58, being a passage or flow path by which the reservoir 40 and the storage area 3 of the article 30 are placed in fluid communication, so that aerosol-generating material can move from the refill reservoir 40 to the article 30 when both the refill reservoir 40 and the article 30 are correctly positioned in the dock 50. Placement of the refill reservoir 40 and the article 30 into the dock 50 locates and engages them such that the fluid conduit 58 is connected between the outlet orifice 44 of the reservoir 40 and the inlet orifice 32 of the article 30. Note that in some examples, all or part of the fluid conduit 58 may be formed by parts of the refill reservoir 40 and the article 30, so that the fluid conduit is created and defined only when the refill reservoir 40 and/or the article 30 are placed in the dock 50. In other cases, the fluid conduit 58 may be a flow path defined within the housing 52 of the dock 50, to each end of which the respective orifices are engaged.

Access to the reservoir port 54 and the article port 56 can be by any convenient means. Apertures may be provided in the housing 52 of the dock 50, through which the refill reservoir 40 and the article 30 can be placed or pushed. The refill reservoir 40 and/or the article 30 may be completely contained within the respective apertures or may partially be contained such that a portion of the refill reservoir 40 and/or the article 30 protrude from the respective ports 54, 56. In some instances, doors or the like may be included to cover the apertures to prevent dust or other contaminants from entering the apertures. When the refill reservoir 40 and/or the article 30 are completely contained in the ports 54, 65, the doors or the like might require to be placed in closed state to allow refilling to take place. Doors, hatches and other hinged coverings, or sliding access elements such as drawers or trays, might include shaped tracks, slots or recesses to receive and hold the refill reservoir 40 or the article 30, which bring the refill reservoir 40 or the article 30 into proper alignment inside the housing 52 when the door, etc. is closed. Alternatively, the housing of the dock 50 may be shaped so as to include recessed portions into which the article 30 or refill reservoir 40 may be inserted. These and other alternatives will be apparent to the skilled person, and do not affect the scope of the present disclosure.

The dock 50 also includes an aerosol generating material transfer mechanism, arrangement, or apparatus 53, operable to move or cause the movement of fluid out of the refill reservoir 40, along the conduit 58 and into the article 30. Various options are contemplated for the transfer mechanism 53, but by way of an example, the transfer mechanism 53 may comprise a fluid pump, such as a peristaltic pump.

A controller 55 is also included in the dock 50, which is operable to control components of the dock 50, in particular to generate and send control signals to operate the transfer mechanism 53. As noted, this may be in response to a user input, such as actuation of a button or switch (not shown) on the housing 52, or automatically in response to both the refill reservoir 40 and the article 30 being detected as present inside their respective ports 54, 56. The controller 55 may therefore be in communication with contacts and/or sensors (not shown) at the ports 54, 56 in order to obtain data from the ports and/or the refill reservoir 40 and article 30 that can be used in the generation of control signals for operating the transfer mechanism 53. The controller 55 may comprise a microcontroller, a microprocessor, or any configuration of circuitry, hardware, firmware or software as preferred; various options will be apparent to the skilled person. Finally, the dock 50 includes a power source 57 to provide electrical power for the controller 53, and any other electrical components that may be included in the dock, such as sensors, user inputs such as switches, buttons or touch panels, and, if present, display elements such as light emitting diodes and/or display screens to convey information about the dock’s operation and status to the user. In addition, the transfer mechanism may be electrically powered. Since the dock 50 may be for permanent location in a house or office, the power source 57 may comprise a socket for connection of an electrical mains cable to the dock 50, so that the dock 50 may be “plugged in” to mains electricity. Any suitable electrical converter to convert mains electricity to a suitable operational supply of electricity to the dock 50 may be provided, either on the mains cable or within the dock 50. Alternatively, the power source 57 may comprise one or more batteries, which might be replaceable or rechargeable, and in the latter case the dock 50 may also comprise a socket connection for a charging cable adapted to recharge the battery or batteries while housed in the dock.

Further details relating to the fluid conduit will now be described. As noted above, the fluid conduit may be wholly or partly formed by parts of the reservoir 40 and the article 30. In particular, an example arrangement for the fluid conduit 58 is a nozzle by which fluid aerosol generating material is dispensed from the refill reservoir 40. The nozzle may be provided as an element of the dock 50, such that the outlet orifice of the refill reservoir 40 is coupled to a first end of the nozzle when the refill reservoir 40 is installed in the dock. Alternatively, the nozzle may be embodied as an integral part of the refill reservoir 40, to provide the outlet orifice. This associates the nozzle only with the particular reservoir and its contents, thereby avoiding any cross-contamination that may arise from using reservoirs of different aerosol generating material with the same nozzle. The nozzle is engaged into the inlet orifice of the article 30 in order to enable fluid transfer from the reservoir into the article. The engagement may be achieved by movement of the article towards the refill reservoir, or vice versa, for example, when both have been installed in the dock.

Figure 3 shows a schematic representation of a nozzle arranged for use as a fluid conduit. A refill reservoir 40 containing a source liquid 42 has a nozzle 60 arranged as its outlet orifice, a first end or proximal end 61 of the nozzle 60 being adjacent the refill reservoir 40. The nozzle may be integrally formed with the refill reservoir 40 by moulding of a plastics material or 3D printing, for example. This ensures a leak-free juncture between the nozzle 60 and the housing 41 of the refill reservoir 40. Alternatively, the two parts may be formed separately and joined together afterwards, such as by welding, adhesive, a screw-thread or push-fit coupling, or other approach. The nozzle 60 has a tubular elongate shape, and extends from the first end 61 to a second or distal end 62, remote from the refill reservoir 40, which acts as the fluid dispensing point. Fluid is retained in the reservoir by, for example a valve (not shown) at or near the proximal end 61 , which is opened when fluid transfer to the article 30 commences. In other cases, surface tension may be sufficient to retain the fluid, for example if the bore of the nozzle 60 is sufficiently small. The distal end 62 is inserted into or otherwise engages with the inlet orifice 32 of the article 30, and in this example extends directly into the storage area 3 of the article 30. In other examples, there may be tubing, pipework or some other fluid flow path connecting the inlet orifice 32 to the interior of the storage area 3. In use, source liquid 42 is moved out of the refill reservoir 40 using the fluid transfer mechanism 53 of the dock 50, along a fluid channel defined by the nozzle 60 (acting as the fluid conduit) from the proximal end 61 to the distal end 62, where it reaches a fluid outlet of the nozzle and flows into the storage area 3, in order to refill the article 30 with liquid aerosol-generating material.

It should be appreciated from the above that the dock 50 is configured to supply source liquid 42 from the refill reservoir 40 to the reservoir 3 of the article 30. A user may decide to refill the reservoir 3 of the article 30 when the reservoir 3 is depleted (i.e. , when the source liquid therein has been used up), or the user may decide to refill the reservoir 3 when it is partially full (e.g., the user may be away from the dock 50 for a prolonged period of time and wants to ensure they do not run out of source liquid in reservoir 3 before they can return to the dock 50). Even in the case of a depleted reservoir 3 of the article 30 there is likely to be some amount of source liquid retained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30. When only one type of source liquid is available for use, then the same type of source liquid is always provided in both the refill reservoir 40 and the reservoir 3 of the article 30. However, source liquids suitable for producing an aerosol may come in a number of variations, such as combinations of different concentrations (strengths) of active component(s), different flavours, different active components, and different concentrations of other components (such as aerosol formers) to name a few examples. Indeed, there is a growing trend to provide more varieties of source liquids (or aerosol generating material in general) to suit different user’s requirements.

The refill reservoir 40 and reservoir 3 of the article 30 are independent of one another and only interact with one another through the dock 50. In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, the dock 50 is configured to receive information from the refill reservoir 40 and/or the article 30 installed in the dock 50. In particular, the dock 50 is configured to receive information regarding the source liquid 42 contained within the refill reservoir 40 and/or the source liquid contained in reservoir 3 of the article 30. The dock 50, or more particularly the controller 55 of the dock 50, is configured to use the information received from the refill reservoir 40 and/or the article 30 to control operations of the dock 50.

Figures 4a, 4b, and 4c show example implementations of the dock 50 configured to receive information regarding the source liquid from at the refill reservoir 40 and article 30. Figures 4a to 4c are based on Figure 2. Like components are shown with the same reference numerals as used in Figure 2 and a detailed description thereof is omitted; instead the reader is referred to the description provided in relation to Figure 2 for these components. Only the differences with respect to Figure 2 are explained herein.

Figure 4a schematically depicts an implementation where the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 are provided with respective data containing elements 30a, 40a respectively storing indications of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and refill reservoir 40. The data containing element 30a of the article 30 may be any suitable data containing element 30a which is at least capable of being read by an associated data reader 56a provided in the dock 50. Equally, the data containing element 40a of the refill reservoir 40 may be any suitable data containing element 40a which is at least capable of being read by an associated data reader 54a provided in the dock 50.

The data containing elements 30a, 40a may each be an electronically readable memory (such as a microchip or the like) that respectively contain at least an indication of the source liquid contained in reservoir 3 of the article 30 and the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40, for example in the form of a digital / binary code which can be electronically read. The electronically readable memory may be any suitable form of memory, such as electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), although other types of suitable memory may be used depending on the application at hand. The electronically readable memory in this implementation is non-volatile, as the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 are both separable from a power source (e.g., power source 7 located in the aerosol provision device 20 or power source 53 located in the dock 50) and do not contain their own power source. For example, the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 may be packaged and sold individually from the aerosol provision device 20 and dock 50 and thus not be in connection with a power source while packaged ready for sale. However, in other implementations, the electronically readable memory may be volatile or semi-volatile, in which case the article 30 / refill reservoir 40 may require their own power sources which may lead to increased costs and increased material wastage when the article 30 / refill reservoir 40 is disposed of (e.g., when the article 30 reaches a refill limit, or when the refill reservoir 40 is depleted).

The data containing elements 30a, 40a may be electronically read by coupling electrical contacts (not shown) on the article 30 or refill reservoir 40 with electrical contacts (not shown) in the article port 56 or refill reservoir port 54, respectively. That is, when the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 are positioned in the respective ports 56, 54, an electrical connection is formed between the article 30 and the reader 56a in the article port 56 and an electrical connection is formed between the refill reservoir 40 and the reader 54a in the refill port 54. Application of an electric current from the reader 56a, 54a to the data containing elements 30a, 40a allows the reader 56a, 54a to obtain the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 or refill reservoir 40 respectively. Alternatively, the data storage unit 30a, 40a may be electronically read using any suitable wireless technology, such as RFID or NFC, and the article 30 / refill reservoir 40 may be provided with suitable hardware (e.g., an antenna) to enable such reading by a suitable wireless reader 56a, 54a.

As seen in Figure 4a, the respective readers 54a, 56a are coupled to the controller 55 and are therefore configured to provide the obtained indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40 to the controller 55 of the dock 50.

It should be appreciated that the data containing elements 30a, 40a may be based on other types of suitable data storage mechanisms and, in principle, any element that is able to contain data in a format which can be obtained / read by a suitable reader can be employed in accordance with the present disclosure. For example, the data containing element 30a, 40a may comprise an optically readable element containing an indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 or the refill reservoir 40 (such as a bar code or QR code) and the reader 56a, 54a may comprise a suitable optical reader (such as a camera). In this example, the data containing elements 30a, 40a contain an indication of the source liquid in the article 30 or refill reservoir 40 in the form of images (e.g., arranged bars or pixels). In another example, the data containing elements 30a, 40a may comprise a magnetically readable element storing an indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 or the refill reservoir 40 (such as magnetic tags or strips) and the reader 56a, 54a may comprise a suitable magnetic reader (such as a magnetic reading head). It should be appreciated that the type of data containing element 30a, 40a is not significant to the principles of the present disclosure and any suitable data containing element which is capable of containing or storing an indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 or the refill reservoir 40 may be used accordingly.

Additionally, it should be appreciated that the data containing element 30a may utilise the same or a different technology as the data containing element 40a. For example, the data containing element 30a on the article 30 may be an electronically readable memory, such as an EEPROM chip, while the data containing element 40a on the refill reservoir 40 may be an optically readable element, such as a QR code. Other combinations of data storage unit types are possible, however.

In respect of the article 30, being able to write data to the data containing element 30a allows the indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 to be update during or after each refill operation performed via the dock 50. Accordingly, a more accurate indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 may be obtained when the dock 50 (or controller 55 thereof) is configured cause the data containing element 30a to update the indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3. In this regard, the data containing element 30a may be chosen so as to enable the possibility of the indication of the source liquid in the reservoir 3 to be updated (e.g., the data containing element 30a may be a re-writable memory). This may be particularly useful in systems where the article 30 is intended to be refilled multiple times.

In respect of the refill reservoir 40, the refill reservoir is not intended to be refilled (at least by a user of the aerosol provision system), and thus there may not be a necessity for the dock 50 to be able to update the data containing element 40a. It should be appreciated however that the data containing element 40a may nevertheless be updated in some implementations, for example, when or if the refill reservoir 40 is refilled by a suitable technician / operator e.g., by a store attendant of a store selling source liquids or as part of a recycling scheme.

Figure 4b schematically depicts an implementation where the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 are provided with mechanical engagement units 30b, 40b respectively. The mechanical engagement units 30b, 40b are intended to engage with respective mechanical engagement units 56b, 54b provided at the article port 56 and refill reservoir port 54.

The mechanical engagement units 30b, 40b are provided to signify, via physical means, an indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 / refill reservoir 40 respectively. For example, in the arrangement shown in Figure 4b, the mechanical engagement units 30b, 40b may be protrusions which protrude from a surface of the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 respectively. The protrusion 30b of the article 30 is arranged to engage with a recess 56b provided in the article port 56, while the protrusion 40b is arranged to engage with a recess 54b provided in the refill reservoir port 54. Not shown in Figure 4b are sensors (which may comprise mechanical switches, for example) positioned at the recesses 54b, 56b which are configured to send an indication to the controller 55 of the dock 50 when the protrusion is located in the corresponding recess 54b, 56b. As can be seen in Figure 4b, the article port 56 and refill reservoir port 54 comprise a second recess 56b’, and 54b’ respectively. The second recesses 54b’, 56b’ also comprise sensors configured to send an indication to the controller 55 when a protrusion is located in the corresponding second recess 54b’, 56b’. Accordingly, it should be understood that the type of source liquid contained within the reservoir 3 of the article 30 or the refill reservoir 40 can be indicated to the controller 55 of the dock 50 based on the engagement between the protrusion and the respective recess. For example, the protrusion 40b shown in Figure 4b that engages with recess 54b can signify a first source liquid, while a not-shown protrusion that would otherwise engage with recess 54b’ can signify a second liquid. That is, different physical constructions of the refill reservoir 40 having protrusions in different location can be filled with respective source liquids. Depending on which protrusion is sensed (that is, which sensor is triggered in recesses 54b, and 54b’), the controller 55 can identify which source liquid is contained in the refill reservoir 40.

Although not shown, it should be appreciated that the protrusions may instead be located in the respective ports of the dock 50, while the recesses may be located in the article 30 / refill reservoir 40. In these cases, the sensors may be embedded in the protrusion and arranged to sense when the protrusion is located in the recess of the article 30 / refill reservoir 40.

It should be appreciated that protrusions as mechanical engagement units 30b, 40b for the article 30 / refill reservoir 40 and recesses 54b, 56b, 54b’, 56b’ as mechanical engagement units for the article port 56 and refill reservoir port 54 are just one example of suitable mechanical engagement units. In another example, the mechanical engagement units may be provided by appropriately shaped articles 30 and article ports 56, and refill reservoirs 40 and refill reservoir ports 54. For instance, a dock 50 may comprise a refill reservoir port 54 which accommodates a specifically shaped refill reservoir and, correspondingly, does not accommodate refill reservoirs 40 that are not of the specific shape. Refill reservoirs 40 having the specific shape that is accommodated by the refill reservoir port 54 may be filled with a first source liquid, such that when dock 50 is informed that a refill reservoir 40 is located in the port 54, the controller 55 of the dock 50 corresponding obtains the information that the refill reservoir 40 comprises a certain source liquid. To accommodate the potential for refilling the reservoir 3 of the article 30 with different source liquids, the dock 50 may comprise a plurality of different refill reservoir ports 54 each shaped to accommodate different refill reservoirs 40 having different source liquids. Equally, the dock 50 may comprise a plurality of article ports 56 each shaped to accommodate differently shaped articles 30. By way of another example, the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 may comprise electrical contacts positioned so as form an electrical connection with one of a plurality of pairs of electrical contacts positioned in the respective ports 54, 56. In a similar manner to the example shown in Figure 4b, when different pairs of electrical contacts are connected, this can signify to the controller 55 of the dock 50 which source liquids are contained in the article 30 and refill reservoir 40. While this implementation does include an element of electrical detection, it is the physical location of the electrical contacts which indicates the type of source liquid.

It should be appreciated that the type of mechanical engagement unit 30b, 40b, 54b, 56b is not significant to the principles of the present disclosure and any suitable mechanical engagement unit which is capable of providing an indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 or the refill reservoir 40 may be used accordingly. Additionally, it should be appreciated that the mechanical engagement units for the refill reservoir may utilise the same or a different technology as the mechanical engagement units for the article 30.

Figure 4c schematically depicts an implementation where an indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 are provided to the dock 50 manually, e.g., via a user.

Figure 4c shows a remote computing device which is remote from the dock 50 (and from article 30 and refill reservoir 40). The remote computing device in Figure 4c is represented by a smartphone 60, but it should be understood that any suitable computing device may be used in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure (e.g., a personal computer, PC, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a PDA, smartwatch, smart television, etc.). Accordingly, in this implementation, the smartphone 60 is configured to communicate with the dock 50, and accordingly the dock 50 may comprise a suitable communication module 55c configured to at least receive communications from the smartphone 60. For instance, the communications module 55c may be a Bluetooth™ module configured to receive Bluetooth™ communications from the smartphone 60. The smartphone 60 may run an app (software application) which allows a user to manually input an indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40, with the manually input indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40 then being transmitted to the dock 50 via the communication module 55c such that the controller 55 receives the indications of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40.

In the event the dock 50 does not receive an indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 or refill reservoir 40, the dock 50 may be configured to prevent refilling of the article 30 and may also provide a notification to the user informing the user that manual entry of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40 is required before refilling can begin. The notification may be provided on the dock 50 itself or via the app running on the smartphone 60.

Although the implementation of Figure 4c shows a remote computing device being in communication with the dock 50, it should be appreciated that in other implementations the dock 50 may be provided with its own user input mechanism (such as mechanical buttons or a touchscreen, for example) allowing the user to directly input an indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40 to the dock 50.

Figures 4a to 4c show some example implementations of arrangements where an indication of the source liquid contained within the reservoir 3 of article 30 and / or the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir are provided to the dock 50. It should be appreciated that Figures 4a to 4c are not intended to be limiting and any other suitable way of providing the indication of the source liquid contained within the reservoir 3 of article 30 and / or the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 to the dock 50 is contemplated within the present disclosure.

Additionally, it should be appreciated that some implementations may make use of combinations of the technology disclosed in Figures 4a to 4c. For instance, the refill reservoir 40 and refill reservoir port 54 may employ the mechanical engagement units 40b, 54b, 54b’ shown in Figure 4b, while the reservoir 30 may employ the data containing element 30a and reader 56a shown in Figure 4a. Because the refill reservoir 40 and article 30 are essentially independent of one another, there is no requirement that they must use the same kind of technology to provide the indication of the respective source liquids.

In respect of the indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 and / or the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40, the indication of the source liquid may include any suitable information which enables the dock 50 to appropriately identify the source liquid. For instance, the indication may include information relating to the constituents of the source liquid. This may include a list of ingredients and relative percentages / concentrations / amounts of the ingredients making up the source liquid, for example. Alternatively, the indication of the source liquid may include a name or other identifier. For instance, the name or other identifier may be a stock keeping unit (SKU) or a sales name, “e.g., Dark Cherry 3mg/ml”. These names or other identifiers may be indicative of one or more constituents or concentrations of constituents of the source liquid. Any suitable way of identifying the source liquid in the article 30 or refill reservoir 40 may be employed in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure.

Once the controller 55 of the dock 50 has received an indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 and the refill reservoir 40, the controller 55 is configured to determine whether the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 is compatible with the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. In other words, the controller 55 of the dock 50 is configured to determine whether the combination of the source liquids in the refill reservoir 40 and the reservoir 3 of the article 30 is a permissible combination.

As used herein, the term “permissible combination” relates to whether the combination of source liquids is permitted according to predefined criteria. The predefined criteria essentially allow or prevent certain combinations of source liquids being present in the article 30 (or more specifically the reservoir 3 thereof) and may be provided to prevent combinations of certain source liquids or constituents thereof for a variety of reasons. For instance, certain combinations of constituents or concentrations of constituents may not be permitted in accordance with national / international regulations, such as health and safety standards or medical regulations. That is, the criteria may broadly speaking prevent combinations of source liquids which may cause harm or discomfort to a user of the aerosol provision system 10. Other combinations of constituents or concentrations of constituents may produce adverse reactions, such as for instance, causing the combination of source liquids to solidify which may cause damage to the article 30 or prevent aerosol generation. That is, the criteria may broadly speaking prevent damage to the article 30, device 20, or dock 50. Other combinations of constituents or concentrations of constituents may be prevented due to unsatisfactory user experience, for example including unsatisfactory flavour combinations which the majority of user’s may not like because it provides an unpleasant taste.

The predefined criteria may be presented in the form of a table / matrix which may essentially list combinations of source liquids, or classes of source liquids (e.g., sharing a common characteristic), and indicate whether various combinations of source liquids are permitted or not. Figure 5 illustrates an example table in which source liquids are classified by their flavours and the various combinations of the source liquids are shown. The table lists four flavours along the top row and the same four flavours along the left-hand column. The rows may correspond to either of the article 30 or refill reservoir 40, while the columns may correspond to the other of the article 30 or refill reservoir 40. As shown in the table of Figure 5, the combinations of Mint flavoured source liquid with Dark Cherry flavoured source liquid is not permitted, and any of Mint, Dark Cherry and Strawberry flavoured source liquid combined with Banana flavoured source liquid is not permitted. All other combinations, including like flavours, are permitted according to the table as shown in Figure 5. The combinations presented in Figure 5 are provided purely for demonstrating the principle behind the present disclosure and should not be considered as showing suitable or unsuitable flavour combinations.

It should be appreciated that Figure 5 represents just one example of how combinations of source liquids may be presented in table form. As discussed above, the combinations of source liquids may be represented by (or classed by) active type or active concentration. For example, a nicotine containing source liquid may comprise 6 mg/ml_, 12 mg/ml_ or 18 mg/ml_ of nicotine. Equally, the source liquid may be classed by both flavour and nicotine concentration. For instance, the table in Figure 5 may be extended to include two additional rows / columns for each of the flavours such that there are three rows / columns per flavour each for the three classes of nicotine concentration, 6 mg/ml_, 12 mg/ml_ or 18 mg/ml_. Such a table may look broadly similar to Figure 5 but may, for instance, prevent combinations of different concentrations of nicotine. Equally, the table may list some or all SKUs and their respective combinations, or different constituents (and optionally amounts of constituents) and their respective combinations.

Alternatively, the predefined criteria may take the form of a set of rules that govern permissible combinations, as opposed to the table / matrix shown in Figure 5. For example, one rule may be “X constituent cannot be mixed with Y constituent”, and another rule may be “Different concentrations of nicotine (or active) cannot be mixed”. The form of the predefined criteria is not particularly significant for the principles of the present disclosure, and the predefined criteria may be represented in any suitable and desired format.

The predefined criteria for permissible combinations of source liquids may also be referred to herein as permissible combination information, which is information indicative of the permissibility of various combinations of different source liquids or constituents thereof.

The permissible combination information may be pre-stored in the dock 50 (or controller 55 thereof) during manufacture. For example, the controller 55 may comprise or otherwise have access to a memory in which the permissible combination information may be stored.

Alternatively, the permissible combination information may be provided to the dock from a source external to the dock 50. For instance, in some implementations, the permissible combination information may be obtained via a remote source, for example via a server (not shown) in communication with the dock 50. The dock 50 may have a suitable communication module to facilitate communication with the server, either directly (for example using WiFi or cellular communications) or via an intermediate device such as a smartphone for example (for example using a Bluetooth™ connection between the dock 50 and smartphone, with the smartphone having a direct connection to the remote server). In other implementations, the permissible combination information may be provided with the refill reservoir 40 and / or the article 30. For example, the data containing element 30a, 40a may additionally contain the permissible combination information which may be read by reader 54b or 56b and sent to the controller 55 (along with, or separately to, the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 or refill reservoir 40). Alternatively, a separate data containing element may be provided on the article 30 / refill reservoir 40 which contains the permissible combination information. The received permissible combination information from the server or the article 30 / refill reservoir 40 may be stored in a memory of the dock 50. The received permissible combination information may overwrite any existing permissible combination information (e.g., such as that pre-stored in a memory of the dock 50 during manufacture).

In respect of the permissible combination information being received by the dock 50 from a source external to the dock 50, in some implementations, the permissible combination information that is received may include permissible combination information only on the relevant source liquid(s). For instance, in implementations where the permissible combination information is received via a remote server or the like, then the dock 50 may first identify the source liquids contained in the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 and then request information from the server in relation to that combination of source liquids. For instance, the dock 50 may request the permissible combination information for the first identified source liquid with all other source liquids and the second identified source liquid with all other source liquids, or alternatively, the dock 50 may request that the remote server determines whether the identified source liquids constitute a permissible combination (with the remote server providing an indication that the identified source liquids are or are not a permissible combination). In implementations where the permissible combination information is provided via the article 30 or refill reservoir 40, the article 30 or refill reservoir 40 may include permissible combination information for the source liquid stored therein. For instance, if the refill reservoir 40 contains a 6 mg/ml_ nicotine, Dark Cherry flavoured source liquid, then the permissible combination information provided with the refill reservoir 40 may pertain only to combinations of other source liquids with a 6 mg/ml_ nicotine, Dark Cherry flavoured source liquid. In either case, providing only a subset of information may reduce the amount of information stored in the dock 50 and / or transmitted to the dock 50.

Figure 6 illustrates an example method implementing aspects of the present disclosure for determining whether a combination of source liquids is permissible.

The method begins at step S1 with the user coupling the article 30 to the article port 56 of the dock 50. This may include the user directly coupling the article 30 to the article port 56 or, in other implementations, coupling the article 30 and aerosol provision device 20 as a combined unit to the dock 50. Coupling the article 30 / device 20 to the article port 30 comprises engaging the article 30 / device 20 with the conduit 58 as described above such that source liquid 42 contained in the refill reservoir 40 may be transferred to the reservoir3 of the article 30 using the transfer mechanism 53.

At step S2, the dock 50 (or more specifically the controller 55) proceeds to obtain an indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30. As stated above, this may be performed using any of the techniques described in relation to Figures 4a to 4c. By way of example only, article 30 comprises a data containing element 30a, and more specifically an electronic readable memory. The indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 may be a binary or digital code encoding an SKU of the liquid contained in the article 30. Accordingly, at step S2, the reader 56a proceeds to read the indication of the source liquid within the data containing element 30a of the article 30, but it should be appreciated that the indication of the source liquid contained within the article 30 may be obtained using any of the techniques described previously.

At step S3, the controller 55 determines whether the indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 is obtained. If an indication of the source liquid contained within the article 30 is obtained, for example via the reader 56a reading a binary or digital code stored in data containing element 30a, then the indication is passed to the controller 55 for further use and step S3 is answered in the affirmative (that is, a “YES” at step S3). The method then proceeds to step S8 (described in more detail below). If, on the other hand, the indication of the source liquid contained within the article 30 is unable to be obtained, for example because the article 30 does not have a data containing element 30a or because the reader 56a or data containing element 30a is damaged or malfunctioning, then step S3 is answered in the negative (that is, a “NO” at step S3). In this case, the method proceeds to step S7 where the user is alerted that the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 is not obtained. This alert may be communicated in any suitable way, for example via an optical signal (such as illuminating an LED, providing a message on a display, or the like), an audible signal (such as a sound from a speaker), or a haptic signal (such as a vibration from a haptic motor). The mechanism for providing the alert signal may be in either of the dock 50 and / or device 20, or may be in a remote device (such as a smartphone) linked to the dock 50. The alert signal may be provided once, a set number of times, or continuously until action is taken by the user (e.g., by removing the article 30). If the article 30 is removed from the article port 56, the method may proceed back to step S1.

Either before, during, or after steps S1 , S2, or S3 of the method, the user couples the refill reservoir 40 to the refill reservoir port 54 of the dock 50, at step S4. Coupling the refill reservoir 40 to the refill reservoir port 54 comprises engaging the refill reservoir 40 with the conduit 58 as described above such that source liquid 42 contained in the refill reservoir 40 may be transferred from the refill reservoir 40 using the transfer mechanism 53.

At step S5, the dock 50 (or more specifically the controller 55) proceeds to obtain an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. As stated above, this may be performed using any of the techniques described in relation to Figures 4a to 4c. By way of example only, refill reservoir 40 comprises a data containing element 40a, and more specifically an electronic readable memory. The indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 may be a binary or digital code encoding an SKU of the liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. Accordingly, at step S5, the reader 54a proceeds to read the indication of the source liquid within the data containing element 40a of the refill reservoir 40, but it should be appreciated that the indication of the source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40 may be obtained using any of the techniques described previously.

At step S6, the controller 55 determines whether the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 is obtained. If an indication of the source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40 is obtained, for example via the reader 54a reading a binary or digital code stored in data containing element 40a, then the indication is passed to the controller 55 for further use and step S6 is answered in the affirmative (that is, a “YES” at step S6). The method then proceeds to step S8 (described in more detail below). If, on the other hand, the indication of the source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40 is unable to be obtained, for example because the refill reservoir 40 does not have a data containing element 40a or because the reader 54a or data containing element 40a is damaged or malfunctioning, then step S6 is answered in the negative (that is, a “NO” at step S6). In this case, the method proceeds to step S7 where the user is alerted that the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 is not obtained. This alert may be communicated in any suitable way, as described previously in respect of the article 30. Step S7 may involve providing different alerts when the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 is unable to be obtained and when the indication of source liquid contained in the reservoir 40 is unable to be obtained to allow a user to distinguish which indication (of the article 30 or refill reservoir 40) is unable to be obtained. As with the article 30, if the refill reservoir 40 is removed from the refill reservoir port 54, the method may proceed back to step S4.

Additionally, although not shown, at step S7 the dock 50 may prevent refilling of the article 30 in the event that any one or both of the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 are not received.

It should be appreciated that the method shown in Figure 6 assumes that the dock 50 is configured to detect the presence of the article 30 in article port 56 and refill reservoir 40 in refill reservoir port 54 independently of receiving the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 / refill reservoir 40. Acting in this way allows the dock to determine when the article 30 / refill reservoir 40 is received but the indication of the source liquid contained therein cannot be obtained. In the alternative, the dock 50 may be configured to detect the presence of the article 30 in port 56 or refill reservoir 40 in port 54 in conjunction with receiving the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 / refill reservoir 40. In other words, the dock 50 may assume that the article 30 / refill reservoir 40 is not present in the respective port 56 / 54 of the dock 50 if no indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 / refill reservoir is not received. Thus, step S2/S4 and S3/S6 may be performed repeatedly / periodically, and if the article 30 or refill reservoir 40 is not inserted into the respective port 56 / 54, or the indication cannot be read (i.e. , a “NO” at step S3/S6), the method may proceed back to step S2 or S4 with step S7 being omitted. Various modifications to the method steps will be apparent to the skilled person and will be considered depending on the specific application at hand.

At step S8, the controller 55, having received the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40, proceeds to check whether the combination of source liquids contained in the article 30 and the refill reservoir 40 is permissible according to the permissible combination information. As described above, this may involve the controller 55 using the table of Figure 5 (or similar look-up table) to ascertain whether the combination of source liquids is permissible, for example by consulting the look-up table stored in a memory of, or accessible to, the controller 55. Alternatively, the controller 55 may apply each of the predefined rules to the combination of source liquids. As part of step S8, the controller 55 may receive the permissible combination information from an external source to the controller 55 such as a remote server or from the article 30 and / or reservoir 40 (and in the example given, from the data containing element 30a and/or data containing element 40a). The method may involve the controller 55 receiving the permissible combination information each time a check according to step S8 is to be performed or only in response to the controller 55 determining that it does not already have, or have access to, the permissible combination information for the combination of the identified source liquids of the article 30 and refill reservoir 40. This latter situation may be useful in situations to minimise data transmission between the dock 50 and an external source.

At step S8, if the combination of the source liquid contained in the article 30 and the source liquid contained in the reservoir 40 is deemed to be permissible according to the permissible combination information (i.e., a “YES” at step S8), then the dock 50 may permit the refilling of the reservoir 3 of the article 30 from the refill reservoir 40 at step S9. The dock 50 may either automatically start refilling the reservoir 3 once the combinations of source liquids are determined to be permissible, or the dock 50 may confirm to the user (via a suitable alert signal on the dock 50, device 20 or remote device) that the combination of source liquids is permissible and await an indication from the user to begin refilling (e.g., a button press from a manually actuatable button). Refilling may occur in any suitable manner using the transfer mechanism 53 as broadly described above. A suitable signal may be provided to the user to indicate that refilling is complete at the appropriate time.

If, on the other hand, the combination of source liquids is deemed not to be permissible (i.e., a “NO” at step S8), then the method proceeds to step S10 where refilling of the reservoir 3 from the refill reservoir 40 is not permitted. Optionally, at step S11, the controller 55 may cause a notification to be provided to the user that the combination of source liquids is not permitted and / or that refilling is prevented. The notification may be provided in any suitable way, for example via an optical signal (such as illuminating an LED, providing a message on a display, or the like), an audible signal (such as a sound from a speaker), or a haptic signal (such as a vibration from a haptic motor). The mechanism for providing the notification may be in either of the dock 50 and / or device 20, or may be in a remote device (such as a smartphone) linked to the dock 50. The notification may be provided once, a set number of times, or continuously until action is taken by the user (e.g., by removing the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40). If the article 30 or refill reservoir is removed from the article port 56 or refill reservoir port 54, the method may proceed back to step S1 or S4 accordingly. The method of Figure 6 also shows step S12 in dashed lines. In some implementations, where the indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 may be updated (for example, when the data containing element 30a is able to be written to or modified), once refilling of the article 30 has started or has been completed, the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 is updated to include the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 that has subsequently been transferred to the article 30. For example, the binary or digital code indicating the SKU of the source liquid in the refill reservoir 40 may be written to the data containing element 30a of the article 30 in addition to, or to replace, the binary or digital code indicating the SKU of the article 30. Next time the article 30 is inserted into the article port 56, the controller reads the updated indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30.

The method of Figure 6 may be performed each time a refill reservoir 40 is coupled to the refill reservoir port 54, each time an article 30 is coupled to the article port 56, and / or each time refilling the article 30 is to be performed (e.g., if refilling is manually initiated by the user).

In some implementations, particularly those where the indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 3 of the article 30 may be updated, the article 30 may be initially supplied empty (i.e. , not containing a source liquid). In these implementations, the article 30 may be provided without an indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 or the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 may indicate the article 30 is empty (for example, a binary or digital code may be reserved for empty articles 30). In these implementations, step S8 may result in a YES as an empty article 30 is likely to be able to accommodate any source liquid. Step S8 may be arranged to consult the look-up table of Figure 5 or it may be that consulting any look-up table is avoided by virtue of the fact that the article 30 is determined as being empty. Further, steps S2 and S3 may be omitted or an addition step may be provided such that if S3 is negative, the method proceeds to step S8 if it can be confirmed that the article 30 is able to have an indication of the source liquid contained within the article 30 updated (in other words, the indication may be blank initially, but an indication may be provided after refilling).

In some implementations, the permissible combination information may be provided such that the combination of source liquids is only permitted if the source liquids are the same. In other words, step S8 may only be answered in the affirmative if the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 is the same as the source liquid contained in the article 30. The “same” in this respect means either the source liquids having the same constituents or the source liquids having the same constituents and the same amount / concentration of constituents. For example, the former case would permit a Dark Cherry 6mg/ml_ nicotine concentration source liquid to be combined with a Dark Cherry 18mg/ml_ nicotine concentration source, whereas the latter would not. Maintaining the same nicotine concentration, in this example, may be advantageous in order to allow the user to control their nicotine intake or at least have a more intuitive grasp of their potential nicotine intake.

Figure 7 is a further example of a method for determining whether combinations of source liquids are permissible. The method of Figure 7 is largely identical to the method shown in Figure 6, although additionally includes step S13, while step S12 is omitted (for clarity, although step S12 may be implemented in the method of Figure 7). Only differences between the methods shown in Figures 6 and 7 are described herein.

As shown, Figure 7 includes the method step S13 which occurs between step S2 and S8. When the controller 55 proceeds to obtain the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30, the controller 55 may also proceed to obtain an indication of the amount of source liquid contained in the article 30 at step S13. The amount of source liquid contained in the article 30 can be obtained in any suitable manner. In some implementations, the dock 50 may be configured to perform some measurement on the article 30 to ascertain the amount of liquid contained in the article 30. For instance, the article port 56 may comprise a pair of capacitor plates and when the article 30 is coupled to the article port 56 at least a part of the reservoir 3 is arranged between the capacitor plates. By measuring the capacitance between the capacitor plates, an indication of the amount of liquid within the reservoir 3 can be obtained (wherein the dielectric between the capacitor plates is dependent on the proportion of source liquid and the proportion of air between the capacitor plates). Alternatively, the indication of the amount of source liquid within the article 30 may be present in the data containing element 30a. For example, the device 20 may be configured to record the number of inhalations, heating time duration, etc. for the article 30 when the user uses the aerosol provision system 10. This data may be recorded in the data containing element 30a - for instance, the data containing element 30a may comprise a counter configured to count down for each inhalation that is detected by the aerosol provision system. When the article 30 is coupled to the article port 54, the dock 50 (e.g., via reader 546a) is configured to obtain the indication of the amount of source liquid in the article 30.

Once the amount of the source liquid is obtained at step S13, the amount of source liquid in the article 30 is fed into the determination process of step S8. Broadly speaking, the relative amount of source liquid in the article 30 may determine whether the combination of the source liquid contained in the article 30 with the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 is permissible or not. By way of example only, assuming the reservoir 3 contains a Banana flavoured source liquid while the refill reservoir contains a Mint flavoured source liquid. As shown in the table of Figure 5, such a combination is not permitted. If the article 30 is, say, 50% full with Banana flavoured source liquid as determined at step S13, then the ratio of Banana flavoured source liquid to Mint flavoured source liquid if refilling were to go ahead is 1:1. If, on the other hand, the article 30 is, say, only 10% full with Banana flavoured source liquid as determined at step S13, then the ratio of Banana flavoured source liquid to Mint flavoured source liquid if refilling were to go ahead is 1:9. In the latter example, the influence of the Banana flavour on the Mint flavoured source liquid is substantially reduced as compared to the former example. Accordingly, the impact of the Banana flavour, based on the amount of source liquid in the article 30, is relatively low. Thus, broadly speaking, the combination of source liquids which would otherwise not be permitted, may be permitted if the source liquid within the reservoir 3 of the article is below a predetermined threshold. The predetermined threshold may be the same for all source liquids or it may vary from source liquid to source liquid and on the potential combination of the source liquids. Accordingly, the table shown in Figure 5 may be modified to include an indication of the amount or level(s) of source liquid below which the combination is permitted.

It should be appreciated that the above is intended to prevent articles 30 which are filled with a certain first source liquid from ever being used with an impermissible second source liquid, even if, for instance, the first source liquid is completely used up such that only trace amounts of the first source liquid are present in the article 30. Of course, there may still be instances where even trace amounts of a previous source liquid in the article 30 would prevent the article 30 from being refilled with an impermissible second source liquid, e.g., due to medical regulations.

Although not shown in Figure 7, the method of Figure 7 may also influence step S12 if this is to be implemented. For instance, at step S12 the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 is updated, as discussed above. Depending on the amount of the previous source liquid in the article 30 (that is, the amount of source liquid before refilling), the indication of the source liquid contained within the article 30 may be updated differently. Taking the above two examples, if the refilled article 30 comprises 50% Banana flavoured source liquid and 50% Mint flavoured source liquid, then at step S12 the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 may be updated to show that both the existing Banana flavoured source liquid and the newly added Mint flavoured source liquid are now contained in the article 30. The indication may also include an indication of the relative amounts of the two source liquids (e.g., 50:50). Conversely, if the refilled article 30 comprises 10% Banana flavoured source liquid and 90% Mint flavoured source liquid, then at step S12 the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 may be updated to overwrite the existing Banana flavoured source liquid and instead show only the newly added Mint flavoured source liquid is now contained in the article 30. In yet alternative implementations, the indication of the source liquid contained in the article 30 may be updated sequentially to effectively provide a historical list of all source liquids that have been contained in the article 30. Figure 8 shows a further example of a method for determining whether combinations of source liquids are permissible. The method of Figure 8 is largely identical to the method shown in Figure 7, although additionally includes steps S14 and S15. Only differences between the methods shown in Figures 7 and 8 are described herein.

At step S11, the method may proceed to step S14. At step S14, the controller 55 determines whether or not the combination of source liquids in the article 30 and the refill reservoir 40 can be manually overridden. In this regard, while the permissible combination information, for example that shown in Figure 5, may indicate that a particular combination of source liquids is not permissible, there may be a third option “Not Permitted but Manual Override Available”, attributed to some combinations of source liquids. This may particularly be the case for certain flavour combinations where a combination of these source liquids may not contravene any medical regulations but may lead to what may be deemed by the consensus as an unpleasant flavour combination.

In these situations, although the manufacture or recommended action is to not combine the source liquids, some user’s may nevertheless desire to combine these source liquids. In such situations, the permissible combination information may indicate whether the combination of source liquids is able to be manually overridden such that refilling of the reservoir 3 of the article 30 may nevertheless take place. If the permissible combination information shows that the specific combination of source liquids is able to be overridden (or is overridable), then step S14 is answered in the affirmative (i.e. , a YES at step S14) and the method proceeds to step S15. If, conversely, the permissible combination information does not permit the combination of source liquids to be manually overridden, then the method proceeds back to step S11. It should be appreciated that alternatively, step S14 may be between steps S10 and S11 and the negative answer leads to step S11 while the positive answer leads to step S15.

At step S15, the controller 55 is configured to alert the user to the possibility that the prevention of refilling the reservoir 3 from the refill reservoir 40 installed in the refill reservoir port 54 may be manually overridden such that the reservoir 3 is able to be refilled from the refill reservoir 40 installed in the refill reservoir port 54. This alert may be provided according to any of the techniques described above (e.g., via an optical, audible or haptic signal). The alert may also indicate to the user than manual input is required, for example, a manual press of a button on the dock 50 or insertion of a user-specific pin code on a keypad provided in the dock 50 or on a smartphone linked to the dock. The manual user input may be provided by any suitable input mechanism, accordingly. Once the input is received, the controller 55 may cause the transfer mechanism 53 to begin transferring the source liquid from the reservoir 40 to the article 30 as descried previously. That is, the method proceeds to step S9, where refilling is permitted. In addition, it should be appreciated that the indication of the amount of source liquid obtained at step S13 may also influence whether the combination of source liquids may be manually overridden or not. For instance, if the amount of source liquid in the article 30 is relatively low, or below a threshold, a particular combination of source liquids that would otherwise have been impermissible may be manually overridden. As discussed above, each combination of source liquids may have different thresholds where an impermissible combination may otherwise be overridden.

Further to the above, as discussed, the dock 50 may, in some implementations include a plurality of refill reservoir ports 54. In implementations where a plurality of refill reservoirs 40 are provided, at least some of which have different source liquids, then a determination of the combinations of source liquids contained in an article 30 with source liquids contained each or selected ones of the plurality of refill reservoirs 40 is performed. Figure 9 is an example of a method for determining whether combinations of source liquids are permissible for an arrangement comprising a plurality of refill reservoirs 40. The method of Figure 9 is largely identical to the method shown in Figure 6, although additionally includes steps S4a, S5a, S6a and S16. Step S12 is also omitted for clarity. Only differences between the methods shown in Figures 9 and 6 are described herein.

As shown in Figure 9, steps S4a, S5a, and S6a are essentially the same as steps S4, S5, and S6 although are performed in relation to a second refill reservoir (not shown). As discussed, the dock 50 may comprise, in this case, two refill reservoir ports 54 each configured to accommodate a separate refill reservoir 40. When the refill reservoirs 40 are installed in the respective ports 54 (steps S4, S4a), the method proceeds to obtain an indication of the source liquids contained in each of the refill reservoirs (steps S5, S5a), and then confirms the indications of the source liquids contained in each of the reservoirs have been received (steps S6, S6a). Although the process steps for only two refill reservoirs 40 have been shown in Figure 9, it should be appreciated that the method may be extended to any number of refill reservoirs 40.

At this point, the method shown in Figure 9 at step S16 receives a user input to select which of the refill reservoirs 40 are to be used to refill the article 30. The user may select one of the refill reservoirs 40 and, accordingly, the method proceeds to step S8 and the controller 55 determines whether the combination of source liquids is permissible, as described above. Although not shown, in the event the combination of source liquids is impermissible, the controller 55 may permit the user to select an alternative refill reservoir 40 at step S16, and the process continues as described previously.

In an alternative implementation, step S16 may be provided after step S8. That is, at step S8, the controller 55 may determine whether the combination of the source liquid contained in the article 30 with each of the plurality of refill reservoirs 40 is a permissible combination according to the permissible combination information. At step S16, the user may then be given the option to select from all permissible combinations (and / or all combinations able to be manually overridden). If none exist, the method may proceed to step S10 and S11 instead of proceeding to step S16.

In yet another alternative implementation, step S16 may be provided prior to steps S5 and S5a. In this regard, the user may select which of the plurality of refill reservoirs 40 is intended to be used to refill the article 30 and, afterwards, steps S5/S5a and S6/S6a proceed for the selected refill reservoir 40.

In respect of systems which comprise a plurality of refill reservoirs 40, in some implementations, there exists the possibility for multiple refill reservoirs 40 to refill a single article 30. In these implementations, and with reference to Figure 9, at step S16 if the user should select two refill reservoirs (say to supply 50% each of the total amount of source liquid to refill the article 30), then the controller 55 determines whether each of the source liquids in the refill reservoirs 40 is a permitted combination according to the permissible combination information and then determines whether the source liquids of the refill reservoirs 40 is a permitted combination according to the permissible combination information. Only if all combinations are satisfied does step S8 answer in the affirmative and the method proceed to step S9. Otherwise, the method proceeds to step S10 as described above.

It should be appreciated that the methods shown in Figures 6 to 9 are provided to explain certain features applicable to the present disclosure. It should be understood by the skilled person that combinations of the features disclosed in the respective methods is permitted within the scope of the disclosure.

Further, the methods described in Figures 6 to 9 illustrate relevant features in the context of the present disclosure. The methods may be modified to include additional steps not directly related to the present disclosure. For example, the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40 may comprise information related to the lifetime of the source liquid contained within the article 30 or refill reservoir 40. In some implementations, the information may be a data of manufacture, a date of sale, a batch number, etc. The controller 55 may obtain the source liquid lifetime information from the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40 and, in the event that the source liquid lifetime information indicates that the source liquid has expired (e.g., the date of manufacture differs from the current date by greater than a threshold amount), the controller 55 may be configured to prevent refilling of the article 30 from the refill reservoir 40. The source liquid lifetime information may be stored in the data containing element 30a and / or 40a.

Equally, the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40 may comprise identification information related to the identity of the article 30 or refill reservoir 40. In some implementations, the identification information may be a unique identifier uniquely identifying the article 30 or refill reservoir 40, a batch number, etc. The controller 55 may obtain the identification information from the article 30 and / or refill reservoir 40 and, in the event that the identification information indicates that the article 30 or refill reservoir 40 is unsuitable for use (e.g., because the unique identifier indicates the article 30 is not genuine or the batch identifier indicates the refill reservoir is from an unsuitable / recalled batch), the controller 55 may be configured to prevent refilling of the article 30 from the refill reservoir 40. The identification information may be stored in the data containing element 30a and / or 40a.

Although it has been described above that the refilling device / dock 50 is provided to transfer source liquid from a refill reservoir 40 to an article 30, as discussed, other implementations may use other aerosol-generating materials (such as solids, e.g., tobacco). The principles of the present disclosure apply equally to other types of aerosol-generating material, and suitable refill reservoirs 40 and articles 30 for storing / holding the aerosol generating materials, and a suitable transfer mechanism 53, may accordingly be employed by the skilled person for such implementations.

Hence, there has been described a refilling device for refilling an article with aerosol generating material from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism, wherein the refilling device comprises a controller configured to: obtain an indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the article; obtain an indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the refill reservoir; determine whether the aerosol-generating material within the article and the aerosol-generating material within the refill reservoir constitute a permissible combination of aerosol-generating materials based on the obtained indication of the aerosol-generating material contained within the article and the aerosol-generating material contained within the refill reservoir; and cause an action to be performed responsive to the determination. Also described are an article, a refill reservoir, a system and a method for causing refilling of an article with aerosol-generating material from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism of a refilling device.

With reference back to Figures 1 to 3, the dock 50 is configured to supply source liquid 42 from the refill reservoir 40 to the reservoir 3 of the article 30. As mentioned, the refill reservoir 40 may be used with several different refill reservoirs 40, and a user may replace one refill reservoir 40 in the dock 50 with an alternative refill reservoir 40. In some instances, the refill reservoirs 40 may comprise the same source liquid 42 but there is a growing trend for manufactures of source liquids to offer a greater variety of source liquids (e.g., in terms of flavour or in terms of active materials that can be delivered to the user, examples of which are described above). Therefore, it is possible that the user may switch one refill reservoir 40 for another refill reservoir 40 containing a different source liquid. The transfer mechanism 53 of the dock 50 is configured to transfer the source liquid from the refill reservoir 40 to the article 30 (or the reservoir 3 thereof), and thus is configured to interact with the source liquid 42 of the refill reservoir 40. The transfer mechanism 53 may be configured or set-up to operate for a particular scenario, e.g., for a particular source liquid. In the example of the fluid transfer mechanism 53 being a pump, the pump 53 may be configured to operate at a certain pump speed or provide a certain throughput of source liquid. However, the effectiveness of a pump to perform the fluid transfer according to any suitable criteria may depend on the properties of the source liquid that is being pumped.

Hence, in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure, the dock 50 (or more specifically the controller 55 of the dock 50) is configured to obtain an indication of the aerosol generating material (source liquid 42) stored within the refill reservoir 40 and determine operational parameters for operating the transfer mechanism 53 on the basis of at least the obtained indication of the aerosol-generating material in the refill reservoir 40. Once the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 are determined, the controller 55 is configured to cause the transfer mechanism 53 to operate in accordance with the determined operational parameters to thereby transfer the aerosol-generating material (source liquid 42) in the refill reservoir 40 using operational parameters that are more suited to the particular aerosol-generating material that is being transferred. This can help lead to more efficient aerosol-generating material and / or more accurate transfer of the aerosol generating material (e.g., more accuracy in transferring a certain amount of aerosol generating material to the reservoir 3).

In respect of aerosol-generating material, such as the source liquid 42, the aerosol generating material may have a number of different characteristics which may have some bearing either on transfer of the aerosol-generating material from the refill reservoir 40 or in terms of the accuracy of monitoring the transfer of the aerosol-generating material from the refill reservoir 40. For example, taking a source liquid, the source liquid will have a certain density, a certain viscosity and, likely a certain compressibility, all of which will influence the performance of a fluid pump, such as a peristaltic pump. Depending on the type of transfer mechanism 53 and / or the type of aerosol generating material to be transferred, other characteristics of the aerosol-generating material may be important and influence how the transfer mechanism 53 operates. These characteristics of the source liquid are generally as a result of the constituents of the source liquid. For example, some conventional source liquids may use propylene glycol (PG) and / or vegetable glycerol (VG) as primary components of the source liquid. These constituents have very different characteristics as compared to water, for example, which may be considered for use in a different source liquid, e.g., for delivering a different active ingredient to the user. For instance, the viscosity of water at 25°C is around 0.00089 Pa s, whereas the viscosity of PG is around 0.042 Pa s (several orders of magnitude larger than water). The primary component of a source liquid may be chosen based on what is to be delivered to the user (e.g., in terms of the active ingredient or the experience, e.g., volume of visible aerosol). Accordingly, the properties of the source liquid within one refill reservoir 40 may be very different from the properties of the source liquid in another reservoir 40, and thus the fluid transfer mechanism 53 may behave differently when pumping the different liquids. Additionally, while it has been described above that source liquids having different primary components may have different properties, such as viscosity, from one another, it should be appreciated that other constituents may also have an impact on the properties of the source liquids. For example, different flavourings added to the same primary components of the source liquid may cause the source liquid to have different overall characteristics. These differences are likely to be less severe than the above example as the characteristics of a liquid can usually be considered a weighted combination of the characteristics of each of the constituents, and flavourings in nicotine-containing PG/VG source liquids are usually constituent a small proportion of the total mass of the source liquid. The effect that minor differences may have on the transfer mechanism 53 will depend on the sensitivity of the transfer mechanism 53. Additionally, constituents other than flavouring, may alter the overall characteristics of the source liquid; for example, nicotine can be found in a non-protonated form or a protonated form (when mixed with an acid) which may influence the overall properties of the source liquid.

By way of example, a peristaltic pump (which is an example of a fluid transfer mechanism 53) comprises a rotating pump head having one or more rollers, and a section of tubing (usually curved) configured to act as a conduit for the fluid to be pumped. The rollers of the pump head press onto the conduit compressing a part of the tube containing fluid, and as the pump head rotates, the pump head / roller pushes the fluid along the tube towards an exit of the tube (which corresponds to an exit of the pump). Aside from the constant aspects which affect the pump such as the tube diameter, tube length / size of the pump head, etc., the rotational speed of the pump head (comprising the rollers) and, in some cases, the occlusion (the space between the two walls of the tubing when the compress the tubing) may be adjusted. Generally, the speed of rotation of the pump head affects the amount of liquid delivered per unit time (known as the flow rate) - for a given liquid, a faster speed generally means a greater flow rate output by the peristaltic pump. However, the viscosity of the liquid that is pumped can affect the output of the pump. For example, as the viscosity increases, flow rates generally decrease for a given motor speed. That is, if a pump is set to operate at a given speed, two different liquids having different viscosities will, broadly speaking, be delivered at different rates. Also, the viscosity or other properties of the liquid may also have an influence over how quickly the liquid enters the empty section of the tube (one the rollers have shifted liquid along the tube), thus setting the pump head speed to high may result in air (rather than liquid) being moved between two rollers thus reducing the amount of material delivered per stroke of the pump head. Thus, different source liquids may have different optimal speeds for the speed of the pump head, which may be used to ensure speed of delivery and / or efficient use of the power supply (e.g., running the motor at a higher speed uses more power). Additionally, the way in which a peristaltic pump operates, by essentially creating “pockets” of fluid and pushing these pockets along the tube, means that the delivery can sometimes be “pulsed”, e.g., where the amount of fluid exiting the pump per second varies in a pulsating manner. It may be desirable in some applications to control (i.e., reduce) the amount of pulsing so as to have a more predictable delivery of the source liquid and thus provide a more accurate indication or prediction of the amount of source liquid delivered. This may help in systems where a precise amount of liquid is to be transferred.

The above is to be understood as an example of the various influences that the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 (and specifically a peristaltic pump) have on transferring aerosol-generating materials having different characteristics or properties. The skilled person will appreciated that other operational parameters of transfer mechanisms in general may influence the performance of the transfer mechanism and the principles of the present disclosure apply to these operational parameters as well.

Accordingly, the controller 55 of the dock 50 is configured to determine one or more operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 of the dock 50 on the basis of the indication of the aerosol-generating material contained in the refill reservoir 40. The operational parameters may be set such that the transfer mechanisms 53 operates under certain regimes; for example, the transfer mechanism 53 may be set to operate under a first regime that prioritises speed of delivery in which case the parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 are set such that each source liquid is transferred at the quickest possible speed for that source liquid, or the transfer mechanism 53 may be set to operate under a second regime in which accuracy is prioritised in which case the parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 are set such that each source liquid is transferred in a manner that allows for accurate monitoring of the amount delivered for that source liquid. Various other regimes are envisaged and will depend on the application at hand. Equally, the controller 55 may either be configured to act under a single, fixed regime or the controller 55 may be configured to vary the regime, e.g., in response to a user instruction to do so.

The indication of the aerosol-generating material contained with the refill reservoir 40 may be any suitable indication that allows the controller 55 to determine the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 accordingly. The indication includes an indication of at least some characteristics / properties of the aerosol-generating material within the refill reservoir. In some implementations, the indication indirectly indicates the characteristics / properties of the aerosol-generating material in the refill reservoir 40. That is, the indication may include an identifier, such as name or a code (e.g., a SKU) for the aerosol-generating material. For instance, different source liquids may be named differently, e.g. on the basis of their composition, such as “Dark Cherry 6mg/ml_ Nicotine” which indicates that this source liquid has a dark cherry flavour and a concentration of 6 mg/ml_ of nicotine. The controller 55 may be configured have access to a memory which may store a list of identifiers (corresponding to the different source liquids) and the associated operational parameters for those identifiers. Accordingly, the identifier indirectly indicates the characteristics / properties of the source liquid to the controller 55. It should be appreciated that, in some cases, the identifier may be used to identify a class or sub-set of source liquids. For instance, it may be in some implementations, that the primary component of the source liquid has the largest influence on the properties of the overall source liquid, while the secondary component(s) have a small or negligible effect on the properties of the overall source liquid. Accordingly, source liquids may be classed according to their primary component and the identifier for a given source liquid indicates the class to the controller 55. The controller 55 may then set the operational parameter(s) of the transfer mechanism 53 to operational parameter(s) set for that class. It should be appreciated that source liquids may be classed differently, for example on the basis of their property such as viscosity (and thus all source liquids may be classified based on the viscosity falling within certain ranges of viscosity).

Alternatively or additionally, the indication of the aerosol-generating material in the refill reservoir 40 may comprise numerical values for the properties of the aerosol-generating material, e.g., a viscosity, a density, etc. of the source liquid. The controller 55 may determine the associated operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 from the obtained values for the characteristics. Alternatively or additionally, the indication may comprise an indication of the actual operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 such that the controller 55 can determine and set the operational parameters accordingly by simply setting the correct operational parameter for the transfer mechanism 53 from the operational parameters in the indication. This is another example of an indirect indication of the properties of the aerosol-generating material.

Turning to Figures 4a to 4c and Figure 10, Figures 4a, 4b, 4c, and 10 show example implementations of the dock 50 / controller 55 configured to obtain an indication of the source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40 coupled to the dock 50. Figures 4a to 4c and 10 are based on Figure 2. Like components are shown with the same reference numerals as used in Figure 2 and a detailed description thereof is omitted; instead the reader is referred to the description provided in relation to Figure 2 for these components. Only the differences with respect to Figure 2 are explained herein. Figure 4a schematically depicts an implementation where the refill reservoir 40 is provided with a data containing element 40a respectively storing indications of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. The data containing element 40a of the refill reservoir 40 may be any suitable data containing element 40a which is at least capable of being read by an associated data reader 54a provided in the dock 50.

The data containing element 40a may be an electronically readable memory (such as a microchip or the like) that respectively contain at least an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40, for example in the form of a digital / binary code which can be electronically read. The electronically readable memory may be any suitable form of memory, such as electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), although other types of suitable memory may be used depending on the application at hand. The electronically readable memory in this implementation is non-volatile, as the refill reservoir 40 is not continuously coupled to a power source (e.g., power source 53 located in the dock 50). For example, the refill reservoir 40 may be packaged and sold individually from the dock 50 and thus not be in connection with a power source while packaged ready for sale. However, in other implementations, the electronically readable memory may be volatile or semi-volatile, in which case the refill reservoir 40 may require their own power sources which may lead to increased costs and increased material wastage when the refill reservoir 40 is disposed of (e.g., when the refill reservoir 40 is depleted).

The data containing element 40a may be electronically read by coupling electrical contacts (not shown) on the refill reservoir 40 with electrical contacts (not shown) in the refill reservoir port 54, respectively. That is, when the refill reservoir 40 is positioned in the refill reservoir port 54, an electrical connection is formed between the refill reservoir 40 and the reader 54a in the refill port 54. Application of an electric current from the reader 54a to the data containing element 40a allows the reader 54a to obtain the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. Alternatively, the data containing unit 40a may be electronically read using any suitable wireless technology, such as RFID or NFC, and the refill reservoir 40 may be provided with suitable hardware (e.g., an antenna) to enable such reading by a suitable wireless reader 54a.

As seen in Figure 4a, the reader 54a is coupled to the controller 55 and is therefore configured to provide the obtained indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 to the controller 55 of the dock 50.

It should be appreciated that the data containing element 40a may be based on other types of suitable data storage mechanisms and, in principle, any element that is able to contain data in a format which can be obtained / read by a suitable reader can be employed in accordance with the present disclosure. For example, the data containing element 40a may comprise an optically readable element containing an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 (such as a bar code or QR code) and the reader 54a may comprise a suitable optical reader (such as a camera). In this example, the data containing element 40a contains an indication of the source liquid in the refill reservoir 40 in the form of images (e.g., arranged bars or pixels). In another example, the data containing element 40a may comprise a magnetically readable element storing an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 (such as magnetic tags or strips) and the reader 54a may comprise a suitable magnetic reader (such as a magnetic reading head). It should be appreciated that the type of data containing element 40a is not significant to the principles of the present disclosure and any suitable data containing element which is capable of containing or storing an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 may be used accordingly.

Figure 4b schematically depicts an implementation where the refill reservoir 40 is provided with a mechanical engagement unit 40b. The mechanical engagement unit 40b is intended to engage with a respective mechanical engagement unit 54b provided at the refill reservoir port 54.

The mechanical engagement unit 40b is provided to signify, via physical means, an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. For example, in the arrangement shown in Figure 4b, the mechanical engagement unit 40b may be a protrusion which protrudes from a surface of the refill reservoir 40. The protrusion 40b is arranged to engage with a recess 54b provided in the refill reservoir port 54. Not shown in Figure 4b is a sensor (which may comprise a mechanical switch, for example) positioned at the recess 54b and configured to send an indication to the controller 55 of the dock 50 when the protrusion is located in the corresponding recess 54b. As can be seen in Figure 4b, the refill reservoir port 54 comprises a second recess 54b’. The second recess 54b’ also comprises a sensor configured to send an indication to the controller 55 when a protrusion is located in the corresponding second recess 54b’. Accordingly, it should be understood that the type of source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40 can be indicated to the controller 55 of the dock 50 based on the engagement between the protrusion and the respective recess. For example, the protrusion 40b shown in Figure 4b that engages with recess 54b can signify a first source liquid, while a not-shown protrusion that would otherwise engage with recess 54b’ can signify a second liquid. That is, different physical constructions of the refill reservoir 40 having protrusions in different location can be filled with respective source liquids. Depending on which protrusion is sensed (that is, which sensor is triggered in recesses 54b and 54b’), the controller 55 can identify which source liquid is contained in the refill reservoir 40. Thus, the controller 55 obtains the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 based on the triggering of the sensors. Although not shown, it should be appreciated that the protrusions may instead be located in the respective ports of the dock 50, while the recesses may be located in the refill reservoir 40. In these cases, the sensors may be embedded in the protrusion and arranged to sense when the protrusion is located in the recess of the refill reservoir 40.

It should be appreciated that protrusions as a mechanical engagement unit 40b for the refill reservoir 40 and recesses 54b, 54b’ as mechanical engagement units for the refill reservoir port 54 is just one example of suitable mechanical engagement units. In another example, the mechanical engagement units may be provided by appropriately shaped refill reservoirs 40 and refill reservoir ports 54. For instance, a dock 50 may comprise a refill reservoir port 54 which accommodates a specifically shaped refill reservoir and, correspondingly, does not accommodate refill reservoirs 40 that are not of the specific shape. Refill reservoirs 40 having the specific shape that is accommodated by the refill reservoir port 54 may be filled with a first source liquid, such that when dock 50 is informed that a refill reservoir 40 is located in the port 54, the controller 55 of the dock 50 corresponding obtains the information that the refill reservoir 40 comprises a certain source liquid. By way of another example, the refill reservoir 40 may comprise electrical contacts positioned so as form an electrical connection with one of a plurality of pairs of electrical contacts positioned in the device port 54. In a similar manner to the example shown in Figure 4b, when different pairs of electrical contacts are connected, this can signify to the controller 55 of the dock 50 which source liquid is contained in the refill reservoir 40. While this implementation does include an element of electrical detection, it is the physical location of the electrical contacts which indicates the type of source liquid. It should be appreciated that the type of mechanical engagement unit 40b, 54b is not significant to the principles of the present disclosure and any suitable mechanical engagement unit which is capable of providing an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 may be used accordingly.

Figure 4c schematically depicts an implementation where an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 is provided to the dock 50 manually, e.g., via a user.

Figure 4c shows a remote computing device which is remote from the dock 50 (and from refill reservoir 40). The remote computing device in Figure 4c is represented by a smartphone 60, but it should be understood that any suitable computing device may be used in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure (e.g., a personal computer, PC, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a PDA, smartwatch, smart television, etc.). Accordingly, in this implementation, the smartphone 60 is configured to communicate with the dock 50, and accordingly the dock 50 may comprise a suitable communication module 55c configured to at least receive communications from the smartphone 60. For instance, the communications module 55c may be a Bluetooth™ module configured to receive Bluetooth™ communications from the smartphone 60. The smartphone 60 may run an app (software application) which allows a user to manually input an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40, with the manually input indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 then being transmitted to the dock 50 via the communication module 55c such that the controller 55 receives the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40.

Although the implementation of Figure 4c shows a remote computing device being in communication with the dock 50, it should be appreciated that in other implementations the dock 50 may be provided with its own user input mechanism (such as mechanical buttons or a touchscreen, for example) allowing the user to directly input an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 to the dock 50.

Figure 10 schematically depicts an implementation where an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 is obtained by the dock 50 measuring a property associated with the source liquid in the refill reservoir 40.

In Figure 10, one or more sensors 59 are provided with the sensors 59 being configured to measure a property associated with the source liquid and provide the measured value to the controller 55 as an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. The controller 55, based on the measured value, then proceeds to determine the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53. The sensors 59 may be any suitable sensors that can provide a measured value that allows the controller 55 to determine the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 and it should be appreciated that certain types of sensors may only be suitable for certain aerosol-generating materials. In Figure 10, the sensors 59 comprise a pair of capacitor plates positioned either side of the refill reservoir port 54 such that, when the refill reservoir 40 is coupled with the refill reservoir port 54, at least a portion of the refill reservoir 40 containing the source liquid 42 is located between the pair of capacitor plates. The pair of capacitor plates may be located such that only a small portion of the refill reservoir 40 is located between the capacitor plates, and this portion may always contain source liquid (e.g., this may be the bottom of the reservoir 40 where source liquid is inaccessible via the outlet orifice 44) such that the amount of source liquid in the refill reservoir 54 does not influence the obtained capacitance value. Alternatively, the dock 50 may be configured to determine the amount of source liquid in the refill reservoir 40 and appropriately modify the measured capacitance value based on the amount of source liquid. When the refill reservoir 40 is installed in the dock 50, the controller 55 may cause the application of a current (e.g., from power source 57) to the capacitor plates to measure the capacitance of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. The measured capacitance is a function of the type of material that is located between the capacitor plates and, as such, the controller 55 is configured to identify the type or class of the source liquid based on the measured capacitance. For example, the measured capacitance for a source liquid having a primary constituent of water may have a different measured capacitance as compared to a source liquid having a primary constituent of PG/VG. Accordingly, the controller 55 uses the measured capacitance value as an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. The controller 55 may have access to a look-up table or the like which associated capacitance values (or ranges of capacitance values) to one or more operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53.

The use of capacitor plates as a sensor 59 is one example of a possible sensor that may be used to provide an indication of the source liquid contained within the reservoir to the controller 55. Other sensors may be used in other implementations. For example, the dock 50 may comprise a fluid flow meter located in the conduit 58 or in a branched-off section of the conduit. The controller 55 may cause the transfer mechanism 53 to operate according to a default setting to start transferring source liquid from the refill reservoir 40 towards the article 30. The flow meter measures the flow of the source liquid under the default operational parameters of the transfer mechanism, and this value may be indicative of the viscosity of the source liquid. The controller 55 may either calculate the viscosity from the output of the flow meter or otherwise use the output from the flow meter directly to identify suitable operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 (e.g., again by using a look up table). The skilled person will be aware of other possible sensors which may be used to provide a measurement of a property of the aerosol-generating material which is indicative of the characteristic(s) of the aerosol-generating material that affect the efficiency of the transfer mechanism 53.

In some implementations, it may be that a plurality of different sensors are implemented to allow for multiple measurements to be obtained and used as the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. It should also be appreciated that the sensors 59 may be located in the dock 50 (as shown in Figure 10) or the sensors may be located in the refill reservoir 40 (or a part thereof) and communicatively coupled to the controller 55 through appropriate wiring or electrical contacts.

Figures 4a to 4c and 10 show some example implementations of arrangements where an indication of the source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40 are provided to the dock 50 (or more specifically the controller 55 of the dock 50). It should be appreciated that Figures 4a to 4c and 10 are not intended to be limiting and any other suitable way of providing the indication of the source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40 to the dock 50 is contemplated within the present disclosure.

Figure 11 depicts a flow diagram indicating an example method for setting the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The method starts at step S101 where the user couples the refill reservoir 40 to the refill reservoir port 54 of the dock 50. As described above, any suitable coupling mechanism may be employed by the dock 50 and refill reservoir 40.

At steps S102, the controller 55 proceeds to obtain the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. The dock 50 may be configured to obtain the indication of the source liquid using any of the techniques described in relation to Figures 4a to 4c and 10. For the purpose of the present example, the dock 50 is configured to obtain the indication of the source liquid from the data containing element 40a provided on the reservoir 40 using a suitable reader 54.

At step S103, the controller 55 confirms that the indication of the source liquid contained within the reservoir 40 has been obtained. For example, the controller 55 may be configured to perform the steps necessary to obtain the indication of the source liquid contained in the reservoir 40 (for example by supplying a current to reader 54 to read the indication from data containing element 40a) and if the indication is not obtained then the controller 55 may perform certain steps accordingly. Equally, it should be appreciated that in some implementations, the indication may be obtained but not be a genuine indication; for example, a digital code obtained from the data containing element 40a may not correspond to any of the digital codes used by the controller 55 suggesting the digital code may be corrupt (e.g., there is a read error) or not genuine (e.g., the reservoir 40 is counterfeit). This check may be performed at step S103.

Assuming the indication of the source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40 is obtained at step S103 (i.e. , a “YES” at step S103), the method proceeds to step S104. At step S104, the controller 55 is configured to obtain instructions for determining the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53. These instructions may range from being relatively simple to more complex depending on the implementation at hand. A simple set of instructions may be, for example, “Use look-up table to identify operational parameters from the obtained identifier”, in which case the controller 55 is configured to read the identifier (e.g., the name or SKU of the refill reservoir 40 from the data containing element 40a) and refer to the look-up table to determine the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism. A more complex set of instructions may, for example, comprise one or more mathematical formulas for transforming an obtained value into an indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40. For example, the instructions may comprise a relationship between viscosity and the motor speed (e.g., for a peristaltic pump), such that the controller 55 when obtaining the viscosity value (e.g., from data containing element 40a or from sensors 59) can directly calculate the operational parameters from the obtained value. It should be appreciated that the above examples of simple and complex instructions are examples only and the specific instructions to be used may vary depending on the implementation at hand. For instance, other schemes such as a logic or decision tree may form the basis for the instructions, essentially allowing the controller 55 to sequentially determine the answers to a series of questions to ascertain the appropriate operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53.

The instructions for determining the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 may be stored locally (e.g., in a memory of the dock 50) or may be obtained from an external source remote from the dock 50. For instance, in some implementations, the instructions may be obtained via a server (not shown) in communication with the dock 50. The dock 50 may have a suitable communication module to facilitate communication with the server, either directly (for example using WiFi or cellular communications) or via an intermediate device such as a smartphone for example (for example using a Bluetooth™ connection between the dock 50 and smartphone, with the smartphone having a direct connection to the remote server). In other implementations, the instructions for determining the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 may be provided with the refill reservoir 40. For example, the data containing element 40a may additionally contain the instructions for determining the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 which may be read by reader 54b and sent to the controller 55 (along with, or separately to, the indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40). Alternatively, a separate data containing element may be provided on the refill reservoir 40 which contains the instructions.

Figure 11 shows two routes from step S104, either to step S106 directly or via step S105 first. Step S105 in this regard should be viewed as optional and may therefore only be implemented in certain implementations. At step S105, the controller 55 obtains characteristics of the transfer mechanism 53. In this regard, the characteristics of the transfer mechanism 53 may also influence the performance of the transfer mechanism 53 when transferring different aerosol-generating materials. For instance, in the case of a peristaltic pump, the tube length, the tube diameter, the tube strength (i.e. , how easily it is compressed), the tube return (i.e., how easily the tube springs back to the non-compressed state after being compressed) and the number of rollers on the pump head are some of the factors that may influence the efficiency of the transfer mechanism 53. Accordingly, providing the controller 55 with the characteristics of the specific transfer mechanism 53 used in the dock 50 means the controller 55 can take account of these characteristics when determining the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53. For instance, the controller 55 may use the obtained characteristics to modify the look-up table, or the characteristics may be a variable in the mathematical formula provided in step S4. The characteristics of the transfer mechanism 53 may be pre-stored values, e.g., stored in a memory of or accessible by the controller 55 input during manufacture, or the dock 50 may be provided with sensors configured to sense the characteristics of the transfer mechanism 53. Providing the characteristics allows for more general instructions to be used across a number of docks 50 with similar or different transfer mechanisms 53, allows for decreased manufacturing tolerances during production of the dock 50, and / or avoids the need for calibration. Additionally, sensing the characteristics of the transfer mechanism 53 may be particularly suitable when, for example, the characteristics of the transfer mechanism 53 vary with time / wear.

At step S106, the controller 55 proceeds to determine the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53. As discussed, the controller 55 uses the instructions obtained at step S104 in addition to the obtain indication of the source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40 obtained at step S102 to determine the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53. The controller 55 may also optionally use the characteristics of the transfer mechanism obtained at step S105.

Once the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 are determined, the controller 55 sets the determine operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 as the current operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 at step S107. This may involve overwriting stored values for the operational parameters (e.g., a motor speed stored in memory for use when operating the motor) such that the new values are read before operating the transfer mechanism 53 or it may involve physically altering the aspects of the transfer mechanism 53, e.g., changing the position of the rollers on the roller head of a peristaltic pump (e.g., specifically the radial position). In respect of physical changes, this may be performed automatically by the dock 50 e.g., by having suitable actuators located in the dock 50 to adjust the transfer mechanism 53, or the user may be provided with instructions on a user interface of the dock 50 or a smartphone 60 for example to perform some action associated with the transfer mechanism 53.

At step S108, the controller 55 causes the dock 50 to start the refilling process of refill the article 30 from the source liquid 42 of the refill reservoir 40 using the transfer mechanism 53 implementing the determined operational parameters. In the present example, and as mentioned above, the refilling process may start automatically once the refill reservoir 40 and article 30 are suitably positioned in the respective ports 54, 56 of the dock 50. Thus, prior to step S108, the controller 55 may perform a check to determine that the article 30 is located in the article port 30. Alternatively, this check may instead be performed between steps S101 and S102 of Figure 11. As described above, the refilling may be continue until the reservoir 3 of the article 30 is full or a predetermined quantity of source liquid has been transferred to the article 30. Referring back to step S103, if the controller determines that no indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 has been received, i.e., a “NO” at step S103, the method may proceed to step S109.

At step S109, an alert is provided to the user alerting the user that no indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 has been obtained. This alert may be communicated in any suitable way, for example via an optical signal (such as illuminating an LED, providing a message on a display, or the like), an audible signal (such as a sound from a speaker), or a haptic signal (such as a vibration from a haptic motor). The mechanism for providing the alert signal may be in the dock 50 or may be in a remote device (such as a smartphone) linked to the dock 50. The alert signal may be provided once, a set number of times, or continuously until action is taken by the user (e.g., by removing the refill reservoir 40). If the refill reservoir is removed from the refill reservoir port 54, the method may proceed back to step S101.

The method may then proceed to step S110. At step S110, when no indication of the source liquid can be obtained, in some implementations, the controller 55 may cause the transfer mechanism 53 to operate according to a default set of operational parameters. This default set of operational parameters may be chosen to ensure that source liquid may be transferred but likely not in an ideal manner. The alert at step S109 may indicate to the user that the default operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 are being used during the refilling operation (at step S108).

Although not shown in Figure 11, at step S109, the controller 55 may be configured to prevent refilling of the article 30 from the refill reservoir 40 when no indication of the source liquid contained in the refill reservoir 40 is obtained at step S103. The alert at step S109 may indicate to the user that refilling has been suspended, and awaits for the user to remove the refill reservoir 40 and recouple the refill reservoir 40 or an alternative reservoir 40. This may replace step S110 of Figure 11.

The method shown in Figure 11 is an example method and the skilled person will appreciate that variations on the method shown may be made while still keeping in accordance with the present disclosure. For example, some method steps may be omitted or the order of the method steps may be altered from what is shown. For example, steps S109 and S110 may be reversed, or step S109 may be omitted altogether.

Figures 12 and 13 show flow diagrams indicating alternative locations for an additional step, S111 or S112. Each of steps S111 or S112 determine whether an instruction to refill the article 30 has been received by the controller 55 of the dock 50.

In Figure 12, between steps S101 and S102 is provided further step S111. At step S111, the controller 55 is configured to determine whether an instruction to refill the article 30 with the source liquid 42 from refill reservoir 40 has been received. In the method of Figure 11, it was stated that the refilling may be automatic when the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 are located in the respective ports 54, 56. Therefore, at step S111 , the controller 55 may be configured to determine that the presence of both the refill reservoir and the article in their respective ports constitutes an instruction to refill the article 30. Alternatively, the instruction to refill may be provided via a user input, which may be received directly on the dock 50 or via a remote source communicatively coupled to the dock (e.g., a smartphone). The user input may be provided by any suitable input mechanism, such as an actuatable button, voice signal for voice control, a touch screen, etc. Of course, even in the case of a user input, the dock 50 may still perform the required check to ensure both the refill reservoir 40 and article 30 are docked in the respective ports before commencing with the refilling operation at step S108.

In Figure 12, when the instruction to refill is received by the controller 55, the controller 55 then proceeds to implement the remaining steps of the method of Figure 11. In this example, the determination of the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 occurs after the instructions to refill are received, meaning that the process for determining the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 are performed only in response to the refill instruction.

In Figure 13, between steps S106 and S108 and / or steps S110 and S108 is provided a further step S112. As with step S111 , at step S112 the controller 55 is configured to determine whether an instruction to refill the article 30 with the source liquid 42 from refill reservoir 40 has been received. Again, this may be automatically received when the article 30 and refill reservoir 40 are located in the respective ports 54, 56. Therefore, at step S112, the controller 55 may be configured to determine that the presence of both the refill reservoir and the article in their respective ports constitutes an instruction to refill the article 30. Alternatively, the instruction to refill may be provided via a user input, as discussed above.

In Figure 13, when the instruction to refill is received by the controller 55, the controller 55 then proceeds to start the refilling process at step S108. In this example, the determination of the operational parameters of the transfer mechanism 53 occurs prior to any instruction to begin refilling such that the controller 55 is ready to start refilling in response to a user input.

The methods of Figures 12 and 13 may also be suitably adapted to only perform the determination of the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 at an appropriate time. For instance, it should be appreciated that a given refill reservoir 40 may be coupled to the dock 50 once and used to refill an article 30 multiple times. Each time the article is coupled to the dock 50 for refilling, the refill reservoir 40 may still be docked within the dock 50 from the previous refilling operation. Accordingly, the controller 55 may not need to determine the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 when the previous refill reservoir 40 is still connected.

Figures 14 and 15 show flow diagrams indicating an additional step, S113 or S114, which may be implemented in each of the methods shown in Figures 12 and 13 respectively. Each of steps S113 or S114 determine whether the refill reservoir 40 is newly coupled to the dock 50.

Figure 14 is based on Figure 12 and includes the step S113 between steps S111 and S102. When the dock 50 receives an instruction to refill the article at stop S111 (i.e., a “YES” at step S111), the method proceeds to step S113. At step S113, the controller 55 determines whether the refill reservoir 40 is newly coupled to the dock 50. The controller 55 may do this in any suitable way. For example, the refill reservoir 40 may comprise an identifier, e.g., stored in the data containing element 40a, and when the controller 55 receives an instruction to refill, the controller 55 reads the identifier of the refill reservoir 40. If the identifier matches an identifier read previously (and stored in a memory of, or accessible by, the controller 55), then step S113 is answered in the negative (i.e. a “NO” at step S113) the method proceeds step S108 and the refilling proceeds using the current operational parameters (that is, the operational parameters set in the previous refilling operation). Conversely, if the controller 55 determines the refill reservoir 40 is newly added because the obtained identifier does not match the previously stored identifier (i.e., a “YES” at step S 113) , then the method proceeds to step S102 and the determination of the operational parameters may proceed as before. It should be appreciated that the controller 55 may be configured to determine whether the refill reservoir 40 is newly added using other techniques, for example, the dock 50 may be provided with a sensor that detects when the refill reservoir 40 is attached to / removed from the refill reservoir port 54.

Figure 15 is based on Figure 13 and includes the step S114 between steps S107 / S110 and S112. In the method of Figures 13 and 15, the determination of the operational parameters occurs when the refill reservoir 40 is coupled to the dock 50 but, once determined, waits for an instruction to refill. If the user should replace the refill reservoir 40 at this time, then steps S114 allows for the determination of the operational parameters for the transfer mechanism 53 for the new reservoir 40. At step S114, the controller 55 determines whether the refill reservoir 40 is newly coupled to the dock 50. The controller 55 may do this in any suitable way. For example, controller 55 may continually monitor whether the refill reservoir is coupled to the dock 50 using an appropriate sensor. When the sensor indicates the refill reservoir is not coupled and / or a new reservoir 40 is coupled (e.g., because the signal from the sensor switches from absent to present in respect of the refill reservoir 40), i.e., a “YES” at step S114, the controller 55 may be configured to proceed to step S2 and the method proceeds as described above. If the controller 55 determines that the refill reservoir is not newly added (i.e., a “NO” at step S114, the method proceeds to step S112 and the controller waits for an instruction to refill the article 30 as discussed above. Step S114 may be periodically performed so that the controller 55 continually monitors whether the refill reservoir is coupled to the refill port 54.

It should be appreciated that the methods shown in Figures 12 to 15 are provided to explain certain features applicable to the present disclosure. It should be understood by the skilled person that combinations of the features disclosed in the respective methods is permitted within the scope of the disclosure.

Further, the methods described in Figures 12 to 15 illustrate relevant features in the context of the present disclosure. The methods may be modified to include additional steps not directly related to the present disclosure. For example, the refill reservoir 40 may comprise information related to the lifetime of the source liquid contained within the refill reservoir 40. In some implementations, the information may be a data of manufacture, a date of sale, a batch number, etc. The controller 55 may obtain the source liquid lifetime information from the refill reservoir 40 and, in the event that the source liquid lifetime information indicates that the source liquid has expired (e.g., the date of manufacture differs from the current date by greater than a threshold amount), the controller 55 may be configured to prevent refilling of the article 30 from the refill reservoir 40. The source liquid lifetime information may be stored in the data containing element 40a.

Equally, the refill reservoir 40 may comprise identification information related to the identity of the refill reservoir 40. In some implementations, the identification information may be a unique identifier uniquely identifying the refill reservoir 40, a batch number, etc. The controller 55 may obtain the identification information from the refill reservoir 40 and, in the event that the identification information indicates that the refill reservoir 40 is unsuitable for use (e.g., because the unique identifier indicates the refill reservoir 40 is not genuine or the batch identifier indicates the refill reservoir is from an unsuitable / recalled batch), the controller 55 may be configured to prevent refilling of the article 30 from the refill reservoir 40. The identification information may be stored in the data containing element 40a.

Although it has been described above that the refilling device / dock 50 is provided to transfer source liquid from a refill reservoir 40 to an article 30, as discussed, other implementations may use other aerosol-generating materials (such as solids, e.g., tobacco). The principles of the present disclosure apply equally to other types of aerosol-generating material, and suitable refill reservoirs 40 and articles 30 for storing / holding the aerosol generating materials, and a suitable transfer mechanism 53, may accordingly be employed by the skilled person for such implementations.

Hence, there has been described a refilling device for refilling an article with aerosol generating material from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism, wherein the refilling device comprises a controller configured to: obtain an indication of the aerosol-generating material within the refill reservoir; determine operational parameters of the transfer mechanism at least on the basis of the obtained indication; and cause the transfer mechanism to operate in accordance with the determined operational parameters. Also described is a refill reservoir, a system and method for refilling an article with aerosol generating material from a refill reservoir using a transfer mechanism of a refilling device.

The various embodiments described herein are presented only to assist in understanding and teaching the claimed features. These embodiments are provided as a representative sample of embodiments only, and are not exhaustive and/or exclusive. It is to be understood that advantages, embodiments, examples, functions, features, structures, and/or other aspects described herein are not to be considered limitations on the scope of the invention as defined by the claims or limitations on equivalents to the claims, and that other embodiments may be utilised and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the claimed invention. Various embodiments of the invention may suitably comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of, appropriate combinations of the disclosed elements, components, features, parts, steps, means, etc., other than those specifically described herein. In addition, this disclosure may include other inventions not presently claimed, but which may be claimed in future.