Apparatus for generating aerosol from an aerosolizable medium, an article of aerosolizable medium and a method of operating an aerosol generating apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12239167-B2
Application number	US-202418633111-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2024
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Mar 4, 2025
Grant date	Mar 4, 2025

Abstract

A method of operating an aerosol generating apparatus is disclosed. The method comprises: sensing, at a first sensor of a sensor arrangement, a first indicia of an article comprising aerosolisable medium; sensing, at a second sensor of the sensor arrangement spaced a predetermined distance from the first sensor, a second indicia of the article; determining a distance between the first indicia and the second indicia; and operating the aerosol generating apparatus based at least on the distance between the first indicia and the second indicia.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for generating aerosol from an aerosolisable medium, the apparatus comprising:
a housing;
a chamber for receiving an article, the article comprising: an aerosolisable medium; and
a marker arrangement comprising a first marker and a second marker spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance; and
a sensor arrangement comprising a first sensor for sensing the first marker and a second sensor for sensing the second marker, wherein:
the first sensor has a first sense region in which the first sensor is able to sense the first marker;
the second sensor has a second sense region in which the second sensor is able to sense the second marker; and
wherein the first sensor and the second sensor are different types of sensors.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement is configured to determine a relative positioning of the first marker and the second marker.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the chamber defines a longitudinal axis and the first sensor and the second sensor are disposed along a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the chamber.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first sense region defines a first distance along a longitudinal direction of the chamber;
the second sense region defines a second distance along the longitudinal direction of the chamber, and
the first and second sensors are spaced from each other such by an amount between the predetermined distance minus the first and second longitudinal distances and the predetermined distance plus the first and second longitudinal distances.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises one or more aerosol generating elements configured to be activated based on a sensed identification information of the article.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the one or more aerosol generating elements comprises a heater arrangement.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the heater arrangement is configured to provide a first heating profile if the identification information has a first characteristic and the heater arrangement is configured to provide a second heating profile if the identification information has a second characteristic different from the first characteristic.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises an optical sensor.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises a capacitive sensor.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined distance is: less than 70 mm, less than 50 mm, less than 30 mm, less than 25, or less than 20 mm.

11. An article comprising:
an aerosolisable medium; and
a marker arrangement comprising a first marker and a second marker comprising identification information, wherein the first marker and the second marker are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance,
wherein the first marker and the second marker are different types of markers, configured to be sensed by different types of sensors.

12. The article according to claim 11 , wherein the marker arrangement comprises optical features.

13. The article according to claim 11 , wherein the marker arrangement comprises electrically conductive features.

14. The article according to claim 11 , wherein the article defines an insertion axis and the marker arrangement is disposed along a direction substantially parallel to the insertion axis.

15. The article according to claim 11 , wherein the marker arrangement is disposed around at least a portion of a perimeter of the article.

16. The article comprising aerosolisable medium according to claim 11 , wherein the identification information of the article indicates that the article comprises at least one of a solid, liquid or gel.

17. An aerosol provision system comprising:
the apparatus according to claim 1 ; and
an article for use with the apparatus, the article comprising:
an aerosolisable medium; and
a marker arrangement comprising a first marker and a second marker comprising identification information, wherein the first marker and the second marker are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance,
wherein the first marker and the second marker are different types of markers, configured to be sensed by different types of sensors.

Assignees

• Nicoventures Trading Ltd

Inventors

• Moloney Patrick
• Korus Anton
• Chan Justin Han Yang

Classifications

• A24F40/51 Primary

  Arrangement of sensors · CPC title

• A24F40/46

  Shape or structure of electric heating means · CPC title

• G06K7/00

  Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, {e.g. for reading patterns} (methods or arrangements for marking the record carrier in digital fashion G06K1/00; pattern recognition G06F18/00; arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding G06V10/00; character recognition, recognising digital ink or document-oriented image-based pattern recognition G06V30/00) · CPC title

• A24F40/42

  Cartridges or containers for inhalable precursors · CPC title

• A24F40/53

  Monitoring, e.g. fault detection · CPC title