System and method of obtaining smoking topography data

• US 10,537,135 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Issued: 01/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Altria Client Services LLC (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Altria Client Services LLC (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Smith, Barry S., Burton, Douglas A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Betsch, Regis J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Knox, Kaleria
• Application Number:
  US14/205,717
• Publication Number:
  US 20140278250A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,141 Days
• Field of Search: 12820221, 131329, 131330, 320104, 200 5 A, 137554, 600523
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/51 Arrangement of sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/65 Devices with integrated communication means, e.g. wireless communication means
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/80 Testing
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/90 Arrangements or methods specially adapted for charging batteries thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 19/00 Investigating materials by mechanical methods G01N3/00 - G01N17/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/00 Investigating or analysing materials by the use of electric, electrochemical, or magnetic means G01N3/00 – G01N25/00 take precedence; measurement or testing of electric or magnetic variables or of electric or magnetic properties of materials G01R

Abstract

An exemplary smoking topography circuit of an electronic aerosol smoking article, includes at least one sensor configured to measure user interaction with the smoking article, a processor, and memory. The processor is configured to detect a smoking event based an output of the at least one sensor, collect data associated with the smoking event, and arrange the data in a pattern that associates the smoking event to shifts in battery voltage. The memory is configured to store the data pattern in a structured multi-byte format.

Claims

1. An electronic vaping article, comprising:

an aerosol-forming substrate;

a heating element configured to heat the aerosol-forming substrate to form an aerosol;

a battery configured to supply power to the heating element to cause the heating element to generate heat;

an air flow sensor configured to generate an output based on measuring a magnitude of an air flowrate through at least a portion of the electronic vaping article;

a processor configured to

detect a start event and an end event of a user interaction with the electronic vaping article based on the output of the air flow sensor and a threshold magnitude value,

capture battery voltage data indicating a shift in a voltage of the battery associated with the user interaction based on

capturing a start value of the voltage of the battery in response to detection of the start event,

capturing an end value of the voltage of the battery in response to detection of the end event, and

determining the shift in the voltage of the battery associated with the user interaction as a difference between the start value and the end value, and

arrange the battery voltage data in a data pattern that defines the user interaction with the electronic vaping article by at least the shift in the voltage of the battery such that the start value and the end value are associated with a first interaction event number and an interaction status of the battery in the data pattern, the interaction status of the battery indicating whether the voltage of the battery associated with the user interaction exceeds a threshold battery voltage; and

a memory configured to store the data pattern in a structured multi-byte format.

2. The electronic vaping article of claim 1, wherein the processor includes a timer configured to be initiated in response to detection of the start event and stopped in response to detection of the end event to obtain a vaping time interval, and the processor is configured to collect a value of the vaping time interval and record the value in the data pattern in association with the first interaction event number as a length of the user interaction with the electronic vaping article.

3. The electronic vaping article of claim 1, wherein

the electronic vaping article includes a plurality of sensors including the air flow sensor, the plurality of sensors configured to measure the voltage of the battery in response to detection of the start event and detection of the end event.

4. The electronic vaping article of claim 1, wherein

the first interaction event number is one of a plurality of interaction event numbers recorded in the data pattern and corresponding to a first data set type representing a respective user interaction with the electronic vaping article, for each respective interaction event number among the plurality of interaction event numbers the processor is configured to record in the data pattern in association with the respective interaction event number

the interaction status of the battery,

an indication that the respective interaction event number corresponds to the first data set type,

the start value of the voltage of the battery,

the end value of the voltage of the battery,

a time interval of the respective user interaction with the electronic vaping article, and

a value of a system clock included in the electronic vaping article, and

wherein for each respective non-interaction event number among a plurality of non-interaction event numbers recorded in the data pattern and corresponding to a second data set type representing a user non-interaction with the electronic vaping article the processor is configured to record in the data pattern in association with the respective non-interaction event number

a non-interaction status of the battery the non-interaction status of the battery indicating whether a non-interaction voltage of the battery associated with the user non-interaction exceeds the threshold battery voltage,

an indication that the respective non-interaction event number corresponds to the second data set type,

a null start value of the voltage of the battery,

a null end value of the voltage of the battery,

a non-vaping time interval between an end of a first user interaction with the electronic vaping article and a start of a second user interaction with the electronic vaping article, and

the value of the system clock.

5. The electronic vaping article of claim 4, wherein the processor includes a first timer configured to measure a length of each user interaction with the electronic vaping article, and a second timer configured to measure a duration between the first and second user interactions with the electronic vaping article.

6. The electronic vaping article of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of sensors including the air flow sensor, the plurality of sensors configured to measure the voltage of the battery, the processor being configured to collect a value of the voltage of the battery from the plurality of sensors, and determine the interaction status of the battery.

7. The electronic vaping article of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to collect data indicating a start of the user interaction with the electronic vaping article and an end of the user interaction with the electronic vaping article from said air flow sensor and determine a vaping status.

8. The electronic vaping article of claim 7, wherein for the data set generated upon occurrence of the start of the user interaction with the electronic vaping article, the processor is configured to determine that the vaping status is a vaping puff status, and include at least one bit in a data set in the data pattern associated with the first interaction event number indicating the vaping puff status of the electronic vaping article.

9. The electronic vaping article of claim 7, wherein upon an occurrence of consecutive user interactions with the electronic vaping article, for the data set generated upon occurrence of the end of a first user interaction with the electronic vaping article, the processor is configured to determine that the vaping status is a puff release status, and include at least one bit in a data set in the data pattern associated with a first non-interaction event number indicating the puff release status of the electronic vaping article.

10. The electronic vaping article of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to output a data set associated with the first interaction event number in the data pattern in a hexadecimal format.

11. The electronic vaping article of claim 1, further comprising:

an interface for connecting the processor to an external device.

12. The electronic vaping article of claim 1, wherein the processor includes a system clock, and a value of the system clock is recorded in association with the first interaction event number.

13. A vaping topography circuit of an electronic vaping article, the vaping topography circuit comprising:

an air flow sensor configured to detect user interaction with the electronic vaping article based on measuring a magnitude of an air flowrate through at least a portion of the electronic vaping article;

a heating element configured to heat an aerosol-forming substrate to form an aerosol;

a battery configured to supply power to the heating element to cause the heating element to generate heat;

a processor configured to

detect a start event and an end event of the user interaction with the electronic vaping article based on an output of the air flow sensor and a threshold magnitude value,

capture battery voltage data indicating a shift in a voltage of the battery associated with the user interaction based on

capturing a start value of the voltage of the battery in response to detection of the start event,

capturing an end value of the voltage of the battery in response to detection of the end event, and

determining the shift in the voltage of the battery associated with the user interaction as a difference between the start value and the end value, and

arrange the battery voltage data in a data pattern that defines the user interaction with the electronic vaping article by at least the shift in the voltage of the battery such that the start value and the end value are associated with a first interaction event number and an interaction status of the battery in the data pattern, the interaction status of the battery indicating whether the voltage of the battery associated with the user interaction exceeds a threshold battery voltage; and

a memory configured to record the data pattern in a structured format.

14. The vaping topography circuit of claim 13, wherein the processor includes a timer configured to be initiated in response to detection of the start event and stopped in response to detection of the end event, wherein a value of the timer at the end of the user interaction with the electronic vaping article is recorded in the data pattern in association with the first interaction event number as a length of the user interaction with the electronic vaping article.

15. The vaping topography circuit of claim 13, wherein

the first interaction event number is one of a plurality of interaction event numbers recorded in the data pattern and corresponding to a first data set type representing a respective user interaction with the electronic vaping article, for each respective interaction event number among the plurality of interaction event numbers, the processor is configured to record in the data pattern in association with the respective interaction event number representing the respective user interaction with the electronic vaping article at least the start value of the voltage of the battery associated with the respective user interaction, the end value of the voltage of the battery associated with the respective user interaction, the interaction status of the battery, and a length of the respective user interaction with the electronic vaping article, and

wherein for each respective non-interaction event number among a plurality of non-interaction event numbers recorded in the data pattern and corresponding to a second data set type representing a user non-interaction with the electronic vaping article the processor is configured to records in the data pattern in association with the respective non-interaction event number at least a duration between consecutive user interactions with the electronic vaping article.

16. The vaping topography circuit of claim 15, wherein the processor includes

a first timer configured to measure the length of the user interaction with the electronic vaping article;

and

a second timer configured to measure the duration between the consecutive user interactions with the electronic vaping article.

17. The vaping topography circuit of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to generate a first interrupt based upon a first output of the air flow sensor corresponding to detection of the start event, and generate a second interrupt upon a second output of the air flow sensor corresponding to detection of the end event, and wherein the processor is configured to determine a vaping status of the electronic vaping article based on the start event and the end event.

18. The vaping topography circuit of claim 17, wherein upon generation of the first interrupt, the processor is configured to determine that the vaping status of the electronic vaping article is a vaping puff status, and records at least one bit in a data set in the data pattern associated with the first interaction event number indicating the vaping puff status.

19. The vaping topography circuit of claim 17, wherein upon generation of the second interrupt, the processor is configured to determine that the vaping status of the electronic vaping article is a puff release status, and records at least one bit in a data set in the data pattern associated with a first non-interaction event number indicating the puff release status.

20. The vaping topography circuit of claim 13, wherein the processor includes

an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert analog data received from the air flow sensor to digital data.

21. A method of generating vaping topography data for an electronic vaping article, the electronic vaping article including at least an aerosol generator including a heating element configured to heat an aerosol-forming substrate to form an aerosol, a battery configured to supply power to the heating element to cause the heating element to generate heat, and an air flow sensor configured to generate an output based on measuring a magnitude of an air flowrate through at least a portion of the electronic vaping article, the method comprising:

determining an occurrence of a start event of a first user interaction with the electronic vaping article based on the output of the air flow sensor and a threshold magnitude value;

capturing first start battery voltage data indicating a voltage of the battery at the start event in response to the determining the occurrence of the start event;

determining an occurrence of an end event of the first user interaction with the electronic vaping article based on the output of the air flow sensor and the threshold magnitude value;

capturing first end battery voltage data indicating a voltage of the battery at the end event in response to the determining the occurrence of the end event;

determining a shift in the voltage of the battery associated with the first user interaction as a difference between the first end battery voltage data and the first start battery voltage data; and

generating a data structure that defines the first user interaction with the electronic vaping article with respect to the shift in the voltage of the battery between the start event and the end event such that the first start battery voltage data and the first end battery voltage data are associated with a first interaction event number and an interaction status of the battery in the data structure, the interaction status of the battery indicating whether the voltage of the battery associated with the first user interaction exceeds a threshold battery voltage.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first user interaction with the electronic vaping article includes a puff start event followed by a puff release event.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

generating a first interrupt when the puff start event is detected; and

starting a first timer upon generation of the first interrupt to measure a length of the first user interaction with the electronic vaping article.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

generating a second interrupt when the puff release event is detected;

stopping the first timer upon generation of the second interrupt; and

starting a second timer upon generation of the second interrupt to measure a duration until a next puff start event.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

storing the captured first start battery voltage data and first end battery voltage data, the interaction status of the battery, and values for the first and second timers, in association with the first interaction event number in a structured format in a non-volatile memory.

26. The method of claim 21, at power on or reset, comprising:

loading system programming stored in memory to a processor; and

initializing the system programming in the processor.

27. The method of claim 26, the method further comprising:

starting a first timer when the system programming is initialized in the processor for a pre-heat mode; and

setting, in the processor, at least one sensor port as an interrupt.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein first interaction event number is one of a plurality of interaction event numbers included in the data structure, the data structure including at least second start battery voltage data and second end battery voltage data in association with a second interaction event number corresponding to a second user interactions with the electronic vaping article, and the data structure includes a duration between user interactions with the electronic vaping article as an event length in association with a non-interaction event number.

29. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

optimizing at least one function of the electronic vaping article based on data included in the data structure.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the optimizing includes configuring at least one of,

a pulse-width modulation (PWM) pulse provided to the heating element, and

a duration during which the heating element receives full power in a pre-heat mode.