Electronic smoking system

• US 5,934,289 A
• Filed: 10/20/1997
• Issued: 08/10/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Philip Morris Incorporated (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Philip Morris Incorporated (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hajaligol, Mohammad R., Watkins, Michael L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Silverman, Stanley S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEAVITT, STEVEN
• Application Number:
  US08/954,752
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• Field of Search: 131/194, 131/329, 131/328, 219/121.6, 219/121.75, 219/121.62, 219/121.78, 219/121.81, 219/122, 219/121.74, 128/202.21
• US Class Current: 131/328
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/20 Devices using solid inhalable precursors
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/46 Shape or structure of electric heating means
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/51 Arrangement of sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/53 Monitoring, e.g. fault detection
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/90 Arrangements or methods specially adapted for charging batteries thereof

Abstract

A novel photonic-electronic smoking system comprising a cigarette and a photonic operated electronic lighter, together with methodologies of smoking a cigarette, the lighter comprising a receptacle for removably receiving a cigarette; a photonic source; an optical train establishing a plurality of optical pathways from said photonic source to a plurality of locations at the received cigarette; a source of electrical power; a puff sensor responsive to a drawing action upon a cigarette received by said receptacle; and a controller responsive to said puff sensor for controllably communicating said source of electrical power with said photonic source so that upon drawing action upon the received cigarette, the photonic source discharges along said optical pathway to heat a region of said cigarette adjacent at least one of said locations.

Claims

1. An electronic lighter of an electrical smoking system, said electrical lighter comprising:

a receptacle for removably receiving a cigarette along a cigarette-receiving space defined by said receptacle;

a photonic source;

an optical train establishing a plurality of optical pathways from said photonic source to a plurality of locations at said cigarette receiving space of said receptacle;

a source of electrical power;

a puff sensor responsive to a drawing action upon a cigarette received by said receptacle; and

a controller responsive to said puff sensor for controllably communicating said source of electrical power with said photonic source so that upon drawing action upon the received cigarette, the photonc source discharges along said optical pathway to heat a region of said cigarette adjacent at least one of said locations.

2. The electrical lighter of claim 1, wherein said photonic source comprises a plurality of discrete photonic elements and said optical train directs the discharge of each photonic element to at least one of said plurality of locations at said receiving cigarette, said controller operative to communicate said source of electrical power with at least one but less than all of said photonic elements responsively to a signal from said puff sensor.

3. The lighter as claimed in claim 2, wherein said controller communicates each of said plurality of photonic elements in accordance with a predetermined sequence and in accordance with a first predetermined power application cycle.

4. The lighter as claimed in claim 3 further comprising a cigarette detector operative to generate a signal indicative of a presence of a cigarette in said receptacle, said controller disabled from executing said power application cycle in the absence of said cigarette indicative signal from said cigarette detector.

5. The lighter as claimed in claim 4, wherein said power source comprises a battery, a battery monitor operative to generate a signal indicative of a voltage condition at said battery, said lighter further comprising a recharge port for establishing connection with a source of power external of said lighter, said controller operative to controllably communicate said recharge port with said batteries responsively to a detection of a predetermined voltage condition at said battery from said battery monitor.

6. The lighter of claim 5 further comprising a cleanliness sensor operative to monitor a cleanliness condition at a location along said optical train, said controller being further operative to communicate said photonic source with said recharger port responsively to said controller receiving a signal indicative of an availability of external power at said recharge port sensor and a signal from said cleanliness at a predetermined threshold.

7. The lighter as claimed in claim 6, wherein said controller is operative to communicate said battery with said photonic source in accordance with a first power schedule, and further operative to communicate power received at said recharge port to said photonic elements in accordance with a second power application cycle;

said second power cycle adapted to clean said location along said optical train.

8. The lighter as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a photo-sensor optically arranged to receive an output from said location and in communication with said controller, said photo-sensor operative to provide said controller a signal indicative of a presence of condensate at said location along said optical train.

9. The lighter of claim 5, further comprising a detachable recharger fixture having a first electrical connection cooperative with said recharge port and a second electrical connector for establishing connection to a house hold electrical socket.

10. The lighter as claimed in claim 2, wherein each said photonic elements comprise a laser diode.

11. The lighter as claimed in claim 10, wherein said optical train comprises a plurality of optical elements optically arranged to cooperate with said laser diodes, said optical elements spaced from said cigarette receiving space.

12. The lighter as claimed in claim 11, wherein said optical train includes an annulus interposed between said plurality of photonic elements and said cigarette receiving space, said annulus including discrete locations operative as part of said optical pathway from each photonic element to said location at said cigarette receiving space.

13. The lighter as claimed in claim 12, wherein said annulus includes a plurality of second discrete portions for contacting said cigarette so as to locate the adjacent portions of the receive cigarette relative to said plurality of photonic of elements.

14. The lighter as claimed in claim 12, wherein the controller is operative to effect displacement of an element of the optical train during at least a portion of the execution of a puff cycle so as to move said photonic discharge along a predermined target region of the inserted cigarette.

15. The lighter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said optical train comprises a plurality of optical pipes, said optical pipes extending from a plurality of first pipe portions outside of said receptacle to a plurality of second pipe portions within said receptacle, said second pipe portions operative to direct light toward said locations at said cigarette receiving space, said lighter further comprising a beam distributor adapted to selectively direct said discharge of said photonic source to said optical pipes at said first pipe portions in accordance with a preselected sequence.

16. The lighter as claimed in claim 15, wherein said beam distributor comprises a rotatable optical element arranged to receive the output of said photonic source, said rotatable optical element rotatable into a plurality of angular positions, said rotatable optical element directing the discharge of said photonic source to different first portions of said plurality of optical pipes at different angular positions.

17. The lighter as claimed in claim 16, wherein said first portions of said plurality of optical pipes are disposed radially about said rotatable optical element, said rotatable optical element rotated by operation of a step drive, said controller operative to actuate said step drive to rotate said rotatable optical element from one angular position to the next in accordance with said preselected sequence.

18. The lighter as claimed in claim 17, wherein said step motor is powered by a battery.

19. The lighter as claimed in claim 16, wherein said rotatable optical element comprises a partial mirror, said lighter further comprising a photonic power monitor comprising an optical detector arranged to receive a transmitted fraction of said photonic discharge through said partial mirror, said reflected portion of said photonic discharge at said rotatable optical element being directed toward said first portions of said plurality of optical pipes, said photonic power monitor in communication with said controller.

20. The lighter as claimed in claim 19, wherein said second portion of said optical pipe includes a partial mirror, a reflected majority of said photonic discharge being directed by said partial mirror toward said location along said received cigarette space, at least a portion of said photonic discharge being transmissible through said partial mirror toward said condensate monitor.

21. The lighter as claimed in claim 20 further comprising a cigarette detector operative to detect the presence of a cigarette in said receptacle.

22. The lighter as claimed in claim 21, wherein said power source comprises a battery, a battery monitor operative to generate a signal indicative of a voltage condition at said battery, said lighter further comprising a recharger port for establishing connection with a source of power external of said lighter, said controller operative to controllably communicate said recharger port with said batteries responsively to a detection of a predetermined voltage condition at said battery by said battery monitor.

23. The lighter as claimed in claim 15, further comprising a condensate monitor comprising a photo detector at a location adjacent at least one of said second portions of said optical pipes, said condensate monitor in communication with said controller, said condensate monitor operative to generate a signal indicative of level of condensate at said second portion, said controller being further operative to place said lighter in a dormant mode upon receiving a signal from said condensate monitor indicative that the condensate exceeds a predetermined threshold.

24. The lighter as claimed in claim 23, wherein said second portion of said optical pipe includes a partial mirror, a reflected majority of said photonic discharge being directed by said partial mirror toward said location along said received cigarette space, at least a portion of said photonic discharge being transmissible through said partial mirror toward said condensate monitor.

25. The lighter as claimed in claim 15, wherein said optical train further comprises an annulus adjacent said second portions of said light pipes, said annulus including discrete locations operative as part of said optical pathway from each of said second portions to each location at said cigarette receiving space, said annulus including a plurality of second discrete portions for consistently positioning the received cigarette relative to said optical train.

26. The lighter as claimed in claim 15, wherein said controller is further operative to controllably communicate said photonic source with said external power source at said recharger port responsively to said signal from said condensate monitor.

27. The lighter as claimed in claim 26, wherein said controller is operative to communicate said battery, with said photonic source in accordance with a first power application cycle, and further operative to communicate external power received at said recharge port to said photonic source in accordance with a second power schedule, said first power schedule adapted to promote heating of the received cigarette;

said second power schedule adapted to clean a selected portion of said optical train.

28. The lighter of claim 27, further comprising a detachable recharger fixture having a first electrical connection cooperative with said recharge port and a second electrical connector for establishing connection to a household electrical socket.

29. The lighter as claimed in claim 26, wherein said power source comprises a battery, a battery monitor operative to generate a signal indicative of a voltage condition at said battery, said lighter further comprising a recharger port for establishing connection with a source of power external of said lighter, said controller operative to controllably communicate said recharger port within said batteries responsively to a detection of a predetermined voltage condition at said battery by said battery monitor.

30. The lighter as claimed in claim 26, wherein said controller is operative to communicate said battery with said photonic source in accordance with a first power application cycle, and further operative to communicate external power received at said recharge port to said photonic source in accordance with a second power schedule, said first power schedule adapted to promote heating of the received cigarette;

said second power schedule adapted to clean a selected portion of said optical train.

31. The lighter of claim 30, further comprising a detachable recharger fixture having a first electrical connector cooperative with said recharge port and a second electrical connector for establishing connection to a household electrical socket.

32. The lighter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said optical train comprises an optical pipe extending axially into said cigarette receiving space of said receptacle, and a rotatable beam director arranged to direct output of said light pipe from an axial direction to a transverse direction, said optical train further comprising a drive for controllably rotating said beam director sequentially amongst a plurality of angular positions, responsively to said controller, so that upon sequential rotation of said beam director, said photonic discharge is directed amongst said plurality of locations at said cigarette receiving space.

33. The lighter as claimed in claim 32, wherein said rotatable beam director is rotated by operation of a step motor, said controller operative to actuate said step motor to rotate said rotatable optical element from one angular position to the next in accordance with said sequence.

34. The lighter as claimed in claim 33, wherein said step motor is powered by a battery.

35. The lighter as claimed in claim 34, further comprising a condensate detector comprising a photo detector at a location adjacent at least one of said second end portions of said optical pipes, said condensate detectors in communication with said controller, said controller further operative to monitor condensate along said optical train responsively to said condensate detectors.

36. The lighter as claimed in claim 35, further comprising a cigarette detector operative to detect the presence of a cigarette in said receptacle and in communication with said cigarette detector.

37. The lighter as claimed in claim 36, wherein said power source comprises a battery, a battery monitor operative to generate a signal indicative of a voltage condition at said battery, said lighter further comprising a recharger port for establishing connection with a source of power external of said lighter, said controller operative to controllably communicate said recharger port with said batteries responsively to a detection of a predetermined voltage condition at said battery by said battery monitor.

38. The lighter as claimed in claim 32, wherein the controller is operative to effect displacement of an element of the optical train during at least a portion of the execution of a puff cycle so as to move said photonic discharge along a predermined target region of the inserted cigarette.

39. The lighter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said optical train comprises a cylindrical optical pipe, said optical pipe extending from a first pipe portion outside of said receptacle to a second pipe portion within said receptacle, said second pipe portion operative to direct light toward said locations at said cigarette receiving space, said lighter further comprising a beam distributor adapted to selectively direct said discharge of said photonic source to said optical pipe at said first pipe portions in accordance with a preselected sequence.

40. The lighter as claimed in claim 39, wherein said beam distributor comprises a rotatable optical element arranged to receive the output of said photonic source, said rotatable optical element rotatable into a plurality of angular positions, said rotatable optical element directing the discharge of said photonic source to different angular locations along said first portion of said optical pipe.

41. The lighter as claimed in claim 40, wherein said first portion of said optical pipe is disposed radially about said rotatable optical element, said rotatable optical element rotated by operation of a step drive, said controller operative to actuate said step drive to rotate said rotatable optical element from one angular position to the next in accordance with said preselected sequence.

42. The lighter as claimed in claim 39, wherein the controller is operative to effect displacement of an element of the optical train during at least a portion of the execution of a puff cycle so as to move said photonic discharge along a predermined target region of the inserted cigarette.

43. The lighter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is operative to effect displacement of an element of the optical train during at least a portion of the execution of a puff cycle so as to move said photonic discharge along a predermined target region of the inserted cigarette.

44. A method of smoking a cigarette comprising the steps of:

inserting a cigarette into a receptacle;

repetitively generating a photonic beam responsively to each puff of a predetermined number of puffs; and

directing each of said generated photonic beams to respective, different locations about said inserted cigarette from puff to puff so that during each puff upon the inserted cigarette, a tobacco aerosol is thermally generated at a discrete location at the cigarette by a photonic beam.

45. The method as claimed in 44, wherein said step of repetitively generating a photonic beam responsively to each puff includes the step of generating a photonic discharge repetitively from a single source, and said step of directing each of said generated photonic beams to respective, different locations about said inserted cigarette from puff to puff includes the step of directing said photonic discharge to a rotatable light deflector and rotating said light deflector from one predetermined angular position to the next from puff to puff.