SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OBTAINING SMOKING TOPOGRAPHY DATA

• US 20140278250A1
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Altria Client Services LLC (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Altria Client Services, Inc. (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Smith, Barry S., Burton, Douglas A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,537,135 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/187
• 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 smoking article, comprising:

at least one sensor configured to measure user interaction with the smoking article;

a processor configured to detect a smoking event based on an output of the at least one sensor, collect data associated with the smoking event, and arrange the data in a pattern that defines the smoking event by at least a shift in battery voltage; and

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

2. The article of claim 1, wherein the processor includes a timer configured to be initiated at a start of the smoking event and stopped at the end of the smoking event to obtain a smoking time interval, and the processor is configured to collect a value of the smoking time interval and record the value in the data set as the length of the smoking event.

3. The article of claim 1, comprising:

a first sensor of the at least one sensor configured to detect a puff start event and a puff end event of the smoking event;

a second sensor of the at least one sensor configured to measure a battery voltage at the puff start event and at the puff end event,

wherein the processor is configured to collect values of the battery voltages at each of the puff start event and the puff end event, and record these values as the starting battery voltage and the ending battery voltage of the smoking event, respectively.

4. The article of claim 1, wherein the data set is a first data set, and upon occurrence of consecutive smoking events, for each respective smoking event the processor is configured to generate the first data set that includes the initial battery voltage of the smoking event, the ending battery voltage of the smoking event, and the time interval of the smoking event, and wherein the processor is configured to generate a second data set that includes at least a non-smoking time interval between the end of a first smoking event and the start of a second smoking event.

5. The article of claim 4, wherein the processor includes a first timer configured to measure the length of each smoking event, and a second timer configured to measure the duration between the first and second smoking events.

6. The article of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of sensors is configured to measure a voltage of the battery, the processor being configured to collect a value of the battery voltage from said one of the plurality of sensors, and determine a status of the battery.

7. The article of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to include at least one data set in the data pattern, the data set including at least one data bit indicating the status of the battery.

8. The article of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is an air flow sensor configured to detect a puff start event and a puff end event, the processor being configured to collect data indicating the puff start event and the puff end event from said one of the plurality of sensors and determine a smoking status.

9. The article of claim 8, wherein for the data set generated upon occurrence of the puff start event, the processor is configured to determine that the smoking status is a smoking puff status, and include at least one bit in the data set indicating the smoking puff status of the article.

10. The article of claim 8, wherein upon an occurrence of consecutive smoking events, for the data set generated upon occurrence of a puff end event of the first smoking event, the processor is configured to determine that the smoking status is a puff release status, and include at least one bit in a second data set indicating the puff release status of the article.

11. The article of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to output the data set in a hexadecimal format.

12. The article of claim 1, comprising:

an interface for connecting the processor to an external device.

13. The article of claim 1, wherein the processor includes a system clock, and a value of the system clock is recorded in each data set.

14. A smoking topography circuit of an electronic smoking article, the circuit comprising:

at least one sensor configured to detect user interaction with the smoking article;

a battery configured to supply power to the smoking article;

a processor configured to detect a smoking event based an output of the at least one sensor, collect data associated with the smoking event, arrange the data in a pattern that defines the smoking event by at least a shift in battery voltage; and

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

15. The circuit of claim 14, wherein the processor includes a timer configured to be initiated at a start of the smoking event and stopped at an end of the smoking event, wherein a value of the timer at an end of the smoking event is recorded in the memory as a length of the smoking event.

16. The circuit of claim 14, wherein each smoking event has a corresponding data set in the data pattern recorded in memory, and wherein upon occurrence of consecutive smoking events, each data set includes at least the initial battery voltage of the respective smoking event, the ending battery voltage of the respective smoking event, and the length of the respective smoking event, and wherein the memory records a second data set that includes at least a duration between consecutive smoking events.

17. The circuit of claim 16, wherein the processor includes:

a first timer configured to measure the length of the smoking event; and

a second timer configured to measure the duration between the consecutive smoking events.

18. The circuit of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to generate a first interrupt based upon a first output of the at least one sensor corresponding to the detection of a puff start event, and generate a second interrupt upon a second output of the at least one sensor corresponding to the detection of a puff end event from the at least one sensor, and wherein the processor is configured to determine a smoking status of the smoking article based on the puff start event and the puff end event received by the first circuit.

19. The circuit of claim 18, wherein upon generation of the first interrupt, the processor is configured to determine that the smoking status of the article is a smoking puff status, and records at least one bit in the data set indicating the smoking puff status.

20. The circuit of claim 18, wherein upon generation of the second interrupt, the processor is configured to determine that a smoking status of the article is a puff release status, and records at least one bit in the data set indicating the puff release status.

21. The circuit of claim 14, wherein the at least one sensor is an air flow sensor.

22. The circuit of claim 14, wherein the processor includes:

an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert analog data received from the at least one sensor to digital data.

23. A method of generating smoking topography data for an electronic aerosol smoking article including at least a battery, an aerosol generator including a heating element to produce a smoke stream, and a processor, the method comprising:

determining an occurrence of a smoking event through at least one sensor that measures user interaction with the smoking article;

capturing a battery voltage at a start and an end of a smoking event; and

generating a data structure that defines the smoking event with respect to a change in battery voltage at the start and end of the smoking event.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the smoking event includes a puff start event followed by a puff release event.

25. The method of claim 23, 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 smoking event.

28. The method of claim 23, comprising:

at power on or reset;

loading system programming stored in memory to the processor; and

initializing the system programming in the processor.

29. The method of claim 28, the method 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.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein the data structure includes at least the battery voltage for each of the first and second smoking events, and the duration between smoking events as an event length.

31. The method of claim 23, comprising:

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

26. The method of claim 26, comprising:

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

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.

27. The method of claim 26, comprising:

storing the captured battery voltages and values for the first and second timers in a structured format in non-volatile memory.