Controlling an operation of an electronic cigarette

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11147315-B2
Application number	US-201615219215-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2016
Priority date	Jul 25, 2016
Publication date	Oct 19, 2021
Grant date	Oct 19, 2021

Abstract

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for controlling an operation of an electronic cigarette. The method can include determining a total amount of vaporization energy required to vaporize an amount of liquid stored in a reservoir of an electronic cigarette. The method can include determining a total amount of atomizer power that is delivered to an atomizer associated with the electronic cigarette over a period of time. The method can include determining an amount of liquid remaining in the reservoir of the electronic cigarette, based on a comparison between the total amount of vaporization energy and the total amount of atomizer power delivered to the atomizer over the period of time.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electronic cigarette, comprising:
an atomizer;
a mass airflow sensor; and
a memory disposed on a removable reservoir portion of the electronic cigarette, the memory including a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for controlling the atomizer of the electronic cigarette, the instructions executable by a processor to:
determine a characteristic associated with the electronic cigarette based on data stored on the memory of the reservoir portion of the electronic cigarette, wherein the characteristic includes a resistance characteristic associated with a coil in the atomizer, determined from the data stored on the memory, the resistance characteristic including a resistance of the coil;
determine a flow rate of air provided to the atomizer, based on a signal received from the mass airflow sensor;
determine an amount of power to deliver to the atomizer, based on the resistance characteristic and the flow rate of air;

determine an expiration date of the removable reservoir portion, based on the data stored on the memory of the reservoir portion, wherein the expiration date is based on the date of manufacture of the reservoir portion; and
limit an amount of power delivered to the atomizer based on a current time exceeding the expiration date, such that no power is provided to the atomizer.

2. The electronic cigarette of claim 1 , further comprising instructions stored on the memory, executable to deliver an increased amount of power to the atomizer in response to an increase in the flow rate of air.

3. The electronic cigarette of claim 1 , further comprising instructions stored on the memory, executable to deliver a decreased amount of power to the atomizer in response to a decrease in the flow rate of air.

4. The electronic cigarette of claim 1 , further comprising instructions stored on the memory, executable to determine a total amount of power delivered to the atomizer over a period of time.

5. The electronic cigarette of claim 4 , further comprising instructions stored on the memory, executable to shut down power delivery to the atomizer, based on the total amount of power delivered to the atomizer over the period of time.

6. The electronic cigarette of claim 4 , further comprising instructions stored on the memory, executable to shut down power delivery to the atomizer, based on the total amount of power delivered to the atomizer exceeding a threshold.

7. The electronic cigarette of claim 1 , further comprising instructions stored on the memory, executable to provide an indication of an amount of liquid remaining in the reservoir, based on a total amount of power delivered to the atomizer over a period of time, wherein the amount of liquid remaining in the reservoir is an additional characteristic associated with the electronic cigarette.

8. The electronic cigarette of claim 1 , further comprising instructions stored on the memory, executable to determine a correction factor characteristic associated with a liquid stored in the reservoir portion from the data stored on the memory, the correction factor characteristic including a liquid correction factor associated with the liquid, wherein the determined amount of power is determined based on the liquid correction factor, wherein the liquid correction factor is an additional characteristic associated with the electronic cigarette.

Assignees

• Fontem Holdings 1 Bv

Inventors

• Alarcon Ramon
• Hoffman Adam
• Conrey James R

Classifications

• G01F23/804

  containing circuits handling parameters other than liquid level · CPC title

• A24F40/53 Primary

  Monitoring, e.g. fault detection · CPC title

• G05D23/1924

  using thermal energy, the availability of which is aleatory · CPC title

• G05D23/1927

  using a plurality of sensors (G05D23/1902, G05D23/1917, and G05D23/1919 take precedence) · CPC title

• A24F40/10

  Devices using liquid inhalable precursors · CPC title