Re-charging pack for an e-cigarette

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10236708-B2
Application number	US-201515328099-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2015
Priority date	Jul 24, 2014
Publication date	Mar 19, 2019
Grant date	Mar 19, 2019

Abstract

Various embodiments provide a pack for holding and re-charging an e-cigarette. The pack includes a pack battery; a body portion including a tube for receiving an e-cigarette; a re-charging mechanism for re-charging the e-cigarette received into the tube using the pack battery, wherein the e-cigarette can be re-charged in the tube without disassembly of the e-cigarette; and a dual activation mechanism comprising two separate triggers for causing the re-charging mechanism to begin re-charging the e-cigarette received into the tube using the pack battery. The re-charging begins only in response to the direct activation by a user of both of the separate triggers.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A pack for holding and re-charging an e-cigarette, the pack comprising:
a pack battery;
a body portion including a tube for receiving an e-cigarette;
a re-charging mechanism for re-charging the e-cigarette received into the tube using the pack battery, wherein the e-cigarette can be re-charged in the tube without disassembly of the e-cigarette; and
a dual activation mechanism comprising two separate triggers for causing the re-charging mechanism to begin re-charging the e-cigarette received into the tube using the pack battery, wherein the re-charging begins only in response to direct activation by a user of both of the two separate triggers.

2. The pack of claim 1 , wherein one of the two separate triggers comprises connecting the pack to an external power source or a user-activated switch on an exterior of the pack.

3. The pack of claim 1 , wherein a first one of the two separate triggers is for a user to insert an e-cigarette into the tube.

4. The pack of claim 3 , wherein activation of a second one of the two separate triggers causes a detection that the e-cigarette has been received into the tube.

5. The pack of claim 3 , wherein the pack includes a wired connector at a base of the tube, and wherein the first one of the two separate triggers detects when the wired connector makes electrical contact with a corresponding connector at one end of the e-cigarette received into the tube.

6. The pack of claim 1 , wherein the tube has an open end for inserting the e-cigarette for re-charging and a base end, wherein the base end acts to support an e-cigarette in the tube and includes electrical contacts for re-charging the e-cigarette within the tube.

7. The pack of claim 6 , wherein the electrical contacts are configured to re-charge the e-cigarette via a tip end of the e-cigarette.

8. The pack of claim 7 , wherein the pack includes a lid, and the lid when closed is configured to exert a pressure on the e-cigarette in a direction towards the base end of the tube, thereby helping to provide a more reliable electrical contact between the tip end of the e-cigarette and the electrical contacts at the base end of the tube.

9. The pack of claim 1 , wherein the re-charging of the e-cigarette is performed by induction re-charging of the e-cigarette.

10. The pack of claim 1 , wherein the pack further comprises a lid, which when open allows access to the tube for receiving or removing an e-cigarette, and when closed holds the e-cigarette in the pack, and wherein the second one of the two separate triggers comprises closing the lid.

11. The pack of claim 10 , wherein the pack is further provided with a switch which is mechanically activated by closing the lid.

12. The pack of claim 2 , wherein a second one of the two separate triggers comprises connecting the pack to an external power source.

13. The pack of claim 2 , wherein a second one of the two separate triggers comprises a user-activated switch on the exterior of the pack.

14. The pack of claim 1 , wherein the dual activation mechanism supports more than two triggers and is configured to activate in response to predetermined combinations of two triggers being received.

15. The pack of claim 1 , wherein the pack includes one or more lights for indicating whether the re-charging of the e-cigarette has been activated.

16. The pack of claim 1 , wherein the re-charging begins only in response to the direct activation by a user of both of the two separate triggers and on condition that the pack battery has more than a certain level of charge.

17. A method of operating a pack for holding and re-charging an e-cigarette, the pack comprising a pack battery, a body portion including a tube for receiving an e-cigarette, a re-charging mechanism for re-charging the e-cigarette received into the tube using the pack battery, wherein the e-cigarette can be re-charged in the tube without disassembly of the e-cigarette, and a dual activation mechanism comprising two separate triggers for causing the re-charging mechanism to begin re-charging the e-cigarette received into the tube using the pack battery, the method comprising:
detecting activation by a user of a first one of the two separate triggers;
detecting activation by a user of a second one of the two separate triggers; and
beginning re-charging of the e-cigarette in response to the detected activation of both of the two separate triggers.

Assignees

• Nicoventures Holdings Ltd

Inventors

• Schennum Steven Michael
• Mckeon Thomas Michael
• Nettenstrom Matthew Joel
• Peart Justin Banker

Classifications

• H02J7/731 Primary

  specially adapted for holding portable devices containing batteries (H02J7/751 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/342

  The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging (with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/68) · CPC title

• H02J7/00

  Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries · CPC title

• H02J50/10

  using inductive coupling · CPC title

• B65D25/10

  Devices to locate articles in containers {(for protecting articles from mechanical damage B65D81/02)} · CPC title