EA044825B1 - ELECTRICALLY CONTROLLED SMOKING DEVICE CONTAINING AN OPTICAL PROJECTION SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING SMOKING PRODUCTS CONTAINING A SIGN - Google Patents

Description

Field of technology to which the invention relates

The invention relates to the field of tobacco, in particular to reconstituted tobacco, as well as to an aerosol-generating product. The present invention also relates to smoking articles, in particular to an electrically heated e-liquid system or an electrically heated aerosol generating system.

Prerequisites for creating the invention

In recent years, electronic cigarettes based on consumable products that generate aerosol have gained popularity. There are mainly two types: liquid vaporizers and heated tobacco inhalation devices. Heated tobacco inhalation devices are called heated non-burning (HNB) systems. They provide a more authentic tobacco flavor than e-cigarettes, which deliver an inhaled aerosol by heating a dose of liquid containing aerosol-forming agents, flavorings and often nicotine. The principle of operation of the HNB system is to heat tobacco material containing an aerosol forming substance (such as glycerin and/or propylene glycol), which evaporates during heating and produces vapor that removes nicotine and flavor components from the tobacco material. The tobacco substance is heated to a temperature of 200 to 400°C, which is lower than the normal combustion temperature of a regular cigarette. The inhalation device is typically a hand-held heating device configured to receive the consumables in the form of a rod.

Illegal trade in aerosol generating products, be they standard cigarettes, e-liquids or HNB products, is a problem as counterfeit products in particular may be of poor quality or, in the case of e-liquids or HNB consumables, may not suitable for a particular smoking system. To determine whether a consumable aerosol-generating article is original, a code or similar marking containing product information may be applied to the outer surface of the article for identification during use or prior to use with a particular device. This allows you to check the originality of the consumable product and, if the test result is negative, turn off the heating system with which it is used. Thus, it is desirable that the sign could also contain information about the specific parameters that the inhalation devices should use, such as an ideal temperature range, or a heating profile over time, or parameters that allow different flavors or smoking intensities to be provided to the smoker. To ensure accurate code identification on a consumable item such as an HNB item, the probability of recognition must be very high so that eligible items are not rejected. However, existing signs are limited by the low density of information that can be contained in them, and most known signs are based on classical codes, such as one-dimensional or two-dimensional barcodes, which can be easily copied without the use of special optical tools, for example, simply by visualizing the code with the human eye.

Various attempts have already been made in the prior art to create identifiable aerosol generating products. For example, US 20190008206 A1 discloses a smoking article comprising an indicia on the outer surface of the smoking article that represents the type of smoking article and may be in the form of a pattern, which may be a one-dimensional or two-dimensional bar code. The sign contains varying levels of gray that can be created by printing with smaller dots. Such a sign is easy to detect and reproduce and may contain only a small density of information or must be provided in an unacceptably large size. Due to space constraints, the system described in US 20190008206 A1 is limited to simple optical readers having a detector close to the sign. In addition, the optical reader of US 20190008206 A1 cannot be used near the device heater due to possible damage to the reader detector, which limits the locations on the smoking article for placing the sign.

WO 2019185747 A1 discloses a smoking article comprising an arrangement of markers or signs indicating a parameter associated with the article such that the marking elements extend around the perimeter of the article. In addition, the link discloses an optical sensor device configured to read signs of a product received in the chamber of an aerosol generating device. The optical sensor may be located in a hollow tube and may be in contact with the product, or may be retractable relative to the product to provide a wider field of view. The configuration described in WO 2019185747 A1 is limited to simple optical detection sensors, such as a photodiode detecting intensity or colors, so that the characters read are of a simple type, such as bar codes or a reflective surface, or may contain fluorescent elements. The marks in WO 2019185747 A1, as such, can be easily copied and reproduced.

US 20160302488 A1 describes a smoking article that includes a mark on the outer surface of the smoking article. The sign can be in the form of one-dimensional/two-dimensional barcodes. The code contains an identifiable spectroscopic signature of the mark layer that is sprayed. The spectroscopic signature is detected by an optical reader, which is a simple optical reader located in a very confined space and close to the cavity of the smoking article. Due to space constraints, only simple optical filters can be used, so the system described in US 20160302488 A1 is limited to detecting only simple spectra or colors, or is limited to using one or more narrow-band filters. Consequently, the spectral effects provided by the US 20160302488 A1 system are easy to copy or reproduce.

Thus, there is a need for improved technology to identify aerosol generating products such as HNB, vaping and smoking products. In particular, identification based on codes or characters containing a much higher density of information would be preferable to improve identification quality and prevent counterfeiting of products. In addition, it is further desirable that at least the detector portion of the optical readers be maintained at a temperature below 50° C., typically at room temperature. Prior art systems are limited to simple codes because only simple optical readers can be used and a sign is required that cannot be in close proximity to the heater of the smoking article.

The essence of the invention

The inventors of the present invention have found solutions to the above problems by providing an aerosol generating article that has an optical reader comprising an optical magnification system located within an accessible space of the aerosol generating device. According to the invention, the device provides an optical solution for detecting and identifying information contained in indicia located on an aerosol-generating product or in an aerosol-generating product that may contain high-density encoded information that cannot be read by a simple optical reader placed nearby the indicated sign. Additionally, in embodiments, the invention provides a solution for reading characters using an optical system that may have a portion located adjacent to or in contact with the heater of the aerosol generating device.

In a first aspect, the invention thus relates to an aerosol generating consumable product comprising at least one indicia containing encoded product information located on a surface, i.e. internal or external surface of the specified product. The encoded information is implemented in at least one array of readable code elements that can be read when illuminated by an optical magnification reading system. The readable code elements have a density of at least 10 elements per square millimeter of character.

Thus, the aerosol-generating consumable article of the invention is configured to contain a sign whose details are difficult or impossible to detect by the human eye without the use of an optical system that must at least magnify the image of the sign.

In an embodiment, said readable code elements are structure and/or color code elements. The use of structural and/or color coding elements makes the mark difficult to reproduce. In embodiments, at least three code elements have different colors. Code elements may be black or gray and may have colors that can be any color as defined in the 1976 CIE color chart. The code elements can be heterogeneous code elements that differ in shape, size and have different optical properties. The use of many different code elements in a sign makes it difficult to recognize and detect a counterfeit.

In an embodiment, at least one part of said character contains at least eight code elements having different colors. The use of at least eight different code elements allows for the complexity of the sign and provides a huge amount of embedded information.

In an embodiment, at least a portion of the code elements are labile code elements. The use of labile code elements allows solutions to be provided that provide information about the use of the aerosol-generating product, such as consumption time or heating information, such as the maximum temperature of the product.

In an embodiment, at least a portion of said sign comprises a waveguide. Providing a waveguide-based sign makes it possible to create characters that are difficult to recognize and difficult to reproduce, since this requires a special projection system provided by the device according to the invention.

In a second aspect, the invention further relates to an aerosol generating device comprising a power source located in an external portion of the housing and a cavity defining an axis of the cavity. The housing portion has an opening that is configured to receive a consumable article as described. The aerosol generating device additionally contains a reading system

- 2 044825 optical magnification, defining the entrance hole, and contains at least one focusing optical element and at least one detector. An optical magnification reading system is located in the outer part of the housing and is configured to provide an optically magnified image of at least a portion of said character to said detector and to read said encoded information. The aerosol generating device further comprises a control unit configured to identify the consumable product based on the content of information read by the optical magnification reading system in a sign provided on the consumable product.

In an embodiment, the magnification factor of said optical magnification reading system is at least 2, preferably at least 10, more preferably at least 20, even more preferably at least 50. Providing characters containing a high density of coded elements makes it possible to provide a huge amount of information about the product and at the same time make it very difficult to recognize and reproduce signs.

In an embodiment, said optical magnification reading system comprises at least one concave optical mirror. The use of a concave mirror reduces the number of required optical components.

In an embodiment, said optical magnification reading system comprises at least one adaptable optical element configured to adapt its focal length. The use of adaptable optics allows for variable focusing.

In an embodiment, said optical magnification reading system comprises an optical waveguide located between said input port and said detector. The presence of a waveguide in the path of the optical magnification system allows the detector to be placed away from the heater.

In an embodiment, said at least one concave-shaped optical mirror is a ring-shaped mirror having a center of symmetry located on said cavity axis, and wherein said detector is a ring-shaped detector having a center of symmetry located on said cavity axis. The use of an axisymmetric projection system in combination with a sign located around the entire circumference of the consumable provides a detection method that is independent of the axial orientation of the consumable relative to the optical system.

In an embodiment, said optical magnification reading system is configured to read at least two characters located on said aerosol generating consumable article. Using more than one mark on a consumable item provides more information about the consumable item and makes the product more difficult to recognize and reproduce.

In an embodiment, said optical magnification reading system comprises at least one polarizer. The use of polarization effects provided by the mark or marks can provide more information about the consumable item and make the product very difficult to reproduce.

In an embodiment, said detector is placed in an isolated area of the aerosol generating device such that the temperature of the detector remains below 45° C. during operation. Placing the detector in an isolated area, which can be isolated by ambient air or insulating material so that the detector does not heat up, avoids heating problems such as those associated with damage or stability of optical detection.

Brief description of graphic materials

In fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a partial longitudinal section of an aerosol generating device comprising an optical magnification reading system.

In fig. 2 is a schematic representation of a partial longitudinal section of an optical magnification reading system according to the invention, comprising a beam splitter and at least two detectors.

In fig. 3 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of an optical magnification reading system according to the invention.

In fig. 4 is a schematic top view of a cross section of an aerosol generating device comprising an optical magnification reading system configured to read characters arranged in an array of characters.

In fig. 5 is a schematic top view of a cross section of an aerosol generating device comprising an optical magnification reading system configured to read characters located on at least two surfaces of the aerosol generating article.

In fig. 6 is a schematic representation of a longitudinal section of an optical magnification reading system containing a light source configured to apply an incident light beam to the sign, which propagates along the surface of the aerosol-generating article.

In fig. 7 is a schematic perspective view of an optical magnification readout system comprising a hollow concave axisymmetric reflector facing an axisymmetric detector array.

In fig. 8 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of an optical magnification reading system configured to detect superposition of magnified images of two characters.

In fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical magnification sensing system that includes an optical beam splitter for illuminating a sign and at the same time detecting the light generated by that sign using the same general optical path.

In fig. 10 is a schematic representation of a portion of an optical magnification readout system that contains an array of microlenses.

In fig. 11 is a schematic representation of a portion of an optical magnification reader system comprising a single optical magnification reader containing an integrated microlens array and a detector.

In fig. 12 shows a cross-section of an example of a device according to the invention. The optical reader according to an embodiment includes an optical waveguide for providing a magnified image at its output.

In fig. 13 is an enlarged view of part of a product sign according to the invention.

In fig. 14 illustrates the detected height profile of two structural elements of the sign portion illustrated in FIG. 13.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The present invention will be described with respect to specific embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the invention is not limited thereto. The graphics described are schematic only and are not intended to be limiting. In graphics, the size of some elements may be exaggerated and not drawn to scale for illustrative purposes. The dimensions and relative dimensions do not correspond to those actually used in practice in accordance with the invention.

The invention will be described in the following examples with respect to aerosol-generating consumable articles 1 containing a tobacco-containing dose of aerosol-generating material, but the scope of the invention should not be construed as limited to tobacco-based consumable products, but should cover any aerosol-generating consumable products, such as smoking products, heat-not-burn products, e-liquid cartridges, and cartomizers that contain an aerosol-generating substrate capable of generating an inhalable aerosol when heated. The aerosol generating consumables 1 according to the present invention may or may not have an axis of symmetry, and may have any shape or shape, such as an elongated shape, a cylindrical shape, or a spherical shape, or a beam shape. As shown in FIG. 1-8, the aerosol generating consumable article 1 according to the invention comprises at least a first part 1b containing an indicia 10 located on an outer surface, and a second part 1a attached to the first part, wherein the second part 1a can form a mouthpiece for inhalation by the user an aerosol generated by heating the first part 1b after introducing the aerosol generating consumables 1 into the heating cavity of the aerosol generating device 2. Product 1 contains an additional part 1c, which does not contain a sign 10. The sign 10 can be located on one or both sides of said additional part 1c (Fig. 7, 8).

The invention is implemented using an aerosol-generating product 1, as well as an aerosol-generating device 2. The invention is further implemented by a system which comprises said aerosol generating device 2, comprising an aerosol generating article 1 which is inserted into said aerosol generating device 2. The aerosol generating device 2 and the aerosol generating article 1 of this system are described in detail herein.

As used herein, the term aerosol generating material refers to a material capable of releasing volatile compounds upon heating, which may result in the formation of an aerosol. The aerosol generated from the material may be visible or invisible and may contain vapors (eg, small particles of substances in a gaseous state that are usually liquid or solid at room temperature), as well as gases and liquid droplets of condensed vapor.

The first part 1b of the aerosol-generating article 1 may contain a dose of aerosol-generating material placed in the shell 3, but this is not necessary. The term shell 3 is defined broadly as any structure or layer that protects and contains a dose of aerosol-generating material and that allows manipulation of that material. The shell 3 has an inner surface that can contact the aerosol-generating material and has an outer surface remote from the aerosol-generating material. The shell 3 may preferably comprise a cellulose-based material such as paper, but may also be made of a biodegradable polymer or may be made of glass or ceramic. The shell may be a porous material and may have a smooth or rough outer surface 5 and may be a flexible material or a rigid material. The shell 3 may be an optically opaque or partially transparent optical layer. If we talk about paper, the shell 3 is partially transparent in the visible and infrared range and can be partially transparent in the UV. The shell 3 may contain holes. Said sign 10 may be located at least partially in front of at least one hole provided on the surface of the shell 3.

The term sign 10 is defined as an element or structure containing information about the aerosol generating article 1 and is typically located on a surface of the article 1. The surface may be an external or internal surface of the article 1, such as a surface related to the enclosure of the article. The sign 10 may be embedded in the product 1. In addition, more than 1 sign 10 may be located on or within the product 1.

As used herein, the term magnification M, also defined as a magnification factor, means that the resulting image B is at least the same size as the object A (a character or part of a character) to be displayed. The magnification M=is defined as b/a=B/A and is therefore greater than or equal to 1. A and B are, respectively, the size of the character or part of the character to be displayed, and B is the size of the image in the image plane.

The image is realized using an optical system that has a distance a of the sign object to the focusing system, which is less than the distance b of the image between the focusing system and the image plane, i.e. b=a, where a and b are related as 1/f=1/a+ 1/b, f - focal length of the focusing system of the optical reader of the device. It is generally understood that the size of image B need not be equal to the size of the detector that is used to detect the image. The detector may have, in at least one cross-section, a size that is smaller or larger than the resulting image.

Unlike prior art products that contain indicia, code elements or indicium structures 10, the indicia of the present invention are individually difficult or impossible to detect or identify with the naked eye. The high density indicia of the present invention require an optical reading system that provides an image size at least as large as the size of the portion of the indicia to be detected. For example, simple barcodes are based on an optical reduction system, which means that the magnification factor is less than 1. The reason is that the optical imaging system must provide a wide field of view. In the present invention, the field of view is small because it is designed to detect a character or part of a character that has a very high code density. Therefore, an increase in M of at least one (M>1) is required, but typically by a factor of 2 to 100 or more, as described below. Therefore, the device according to the invention is well suited for detecting marks that are located around the circumference of the product. Devices according to the invention can also be configured to detect and measure characters that are located along the longitudinal direction of the product, which requires devices into which the product is inserted in accordance with a predetermined angular orientation, or using at least a rotating part of the optical reader configured to rotation around cavity 112.

Sign 10 can be of various types, some of which are described in more detail below. Typical classes of 2D or 3D shaped indicia 10 applicable to aerosol generating articles 1 according to the invention include, but are not limited to:

reflective or diffraction marks 10;

reflective and diffraction marks 10;

signs 10 containing metasurfaces;

holographic signs 10;

polarization-sensitive signs 10;

indicia 10 comprising at least one indicative waveguide, such as a resonant waveguide grating (RWG), that is located on or in the indicia 10.

Depending on the design and/or safety purposes, the sign 10 may be a partially transparent sign 10. In addition, it may be designed in such a way that the optical effect it provides when illuminated is independent of the axial position of the aerosol-generating article 1 relative to stationary light source.

In addition, any sign 10 can be placed on a substrate that is located on the surface of the specified shell, and/or can be applied by any physical or chemical means to the specified shell or to the specified product 1;

In preferred embodiments, the characters 10 may be labile characters, i.e. they may change over time or depending on the physical and chemical conditions in the article 1 or aerosol generating device.

Particularly preferred types of signs 10 are those in which at least one

- 5 044825 the sign is made in the form of a resonating waveguide grating (RWG). RWG is described, for example, in: article by A. Sharon et al. Resonating grating-waveguide structures for visible and near-infrared radiation: J.Opt.Soc.Am vol. 14, No. 11, pp. 2985-2993, 1997. The use of RWG in 10 characters allows for the creation of unique optical effects that are extremely difficult to recognize and reproduce. Because of their low periodicity, they do not allow different diffraction orders, which distinguishes them from the much simpler diffractive optical elements (DOE).

Of course, in the context of the present invention, a combination of different types of these exemplary character classes 10, as previously stated, can be envisaged.

The signs 10 may be located on part of the circumference of the product 1 or may be located along the entire circumference (for example, in Fig. 1-4). They may contain high density encoded elements that may be embedded in structures such as diffractive structures or a thin waveguide or hologram located within or on said sign 10, or an array of such structures. The code elements may also be absorbent structures or layers located on or within the sign 10. The code elements may also be polarization sensitive structures.

The sign 10 provided for the aerosol generating article according to the invention can be configured to provide desired direct reflection effects, such as providing, when illuminated by a light beam generated by a light source, multiple light beams that may have different spectra and/or different reflection angles . The reflected light rays can be diffractive light rays projected in any order of diffraction. The sign 10 may include structures on at least one of its surfaces or sides, and may include structures embedded in a layer of the sign 10. For example, diffractive structures may be provided on the outer surface of the sign 10. The light beams may be collimated light beams or may be light beams with a wide aperture and can be diverging or converging light beams.

The encoded information is implemented in at least one array of readable code elements that are read when illuminated by an optical magnification reading system 200 as described below in various examples. The array of readable code elements has a density of at least 10 elements per square millimeter of said character 10. Preferably, the array of readable code elements has a density of more than 20, more preferably more than 50 elements per square millimeter of said character 10.

The sign 10 may be positioned according to a 2D or 3D structure arrangement and may have any shape, such as a square or a rectangular strip. Preferably, said stripe contains an array of redundant code elements that are located around the entire circumference of said product 1. The term redundant as used herein means that the character 10 contains an array of repeated code elements or blocks of code elements and can be read by a fixed optical magnification reader 200 regardless of the position of the product 1, such as an angular position relative to the optical magnification reading system 200. This may be implemented, for example, without limitation, by a sign 10 formed by an array of reflective or diffractive structures, an array of absorbing structures, or an array of resonant waveguides, or a combination thereof.

In addition to the anti-counterfeit properties, it is desirable that the sign 10 could also contain information about specific parameters that should be used by inhalation devices, such as an ideal temperature range, or a heating profile over time, or parameters that allow the smoker to provide different flavors or smoking intensities. .

A particularly interesting application of the device and system according to the invention is to detect and measure the 3D shape of the structural elements of the sign 10. To detect information from such signs 10, the device 2 according to the invention is mandatory since this requires a high magnification factor M, at least greater than 1. typically greater than 10. In an embodiment, the indicia 10 are inkjet-printed features, such as printed dome structures, having a well-defined and defined shape or 3D size. This is possible with existing inkjet machines and can be applied to conventional paper casing 3. Inkjet application can be carried out in such a way that the printed areas or dome structures have a well-defined predetermined shape. The signs 10 may contain photonic crystals to provide unique optical properties such as reflection effects. The sensing system may include means for determining the shape of the printed inkjet elements. Such means can be implemented using an optical configuration based on static detection by two detectors that have different viewing axes, or can also be implemented using a sensing system that contains a movable projection lens or any optical microsystem that allows the extraction of 3D shape information printed elements. Optical detection systems, such as millimeter-sized cameras that provide a magnification of less than 1, do not allow such detection.

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According to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the optical magnification reading system 200 includes a concave mirror 20 that is adapted to obtain a magnified image 10' of the sign 10 on the detector 30 located in the image plane of the magnifying system 200. In the embodiments of FIGS. 1, the detector 30 may be configured to determine the spectral reflectance of the sign 10 or may be configured to obtain an image of at least a portion of the sign 10. In a preferred embodiment, the sign 10 contains redundant optical structures and is formed around the entire circumference such that the optical effect of the sign is independent of the orientation of the aerosol generating article relative to a stationary light source 40 located in the optical magnification reading system 200. In embodiments, the detector 30 may be located in the cavity 112 of the device 2.

The use of the optical magnification reading system 200 allows for the creation of aerosol generating devices 2 that can be arranged according to various types of high density signs 10 as described and allows for greater design flexibility of such aerosol generating devices 2, solving problems such as extremely limited available space and heating issues with components such as the detector of the required optical readout system.

The optical magnification sensing system 200 described herein is configured to transmit electromagnetic radiation, typically radiation having wavelengths including UV, visible, and the entire infrared (IR) range.

Optical magnification reading system 200 may include, but does not exclude:

refractive elements, for example, single or multiple lenses, prisms, beam splitters, Fresnel lenses;

reflective elements, such as flat or concave mirrors;

diffractive elements, for example, diffractive lenses made on a transparent substrate, optical elements whose optical function is provided by metasurfaces;

electrically addressable elements such as MEMS devices, or a combination of such elements.

The optical magnification reading system 200 is selected according to the type of sign 10 and geometric and thermal requirements, and the following options are typical, but not exclusive:

In embodiments not illustrated in the figures, optical fibers may be located in the optical readout system 200. For example, the input surface of the waveguide may be located in the image plane of the projection system, and a portion of the light of this enlarged image 10' of the sign 10 may be transmitted to a remote detector 30. which is configured to determine the intensity and/or spectrum of the directional light. In embodiments, means may be provided for scanning or switching the input surface of the waveguide in the image plane. In embodiments not illustrated in the figures, the waveguide may be located between the light source 40 and the indicated sign. This configuration allows the sign to be illuminated by a light beam created by the output surface of the waveguide.

The waveguides that may be located in the optical magnification readout system 200 may be, but are not limited to:

single fibers 10: to transmit intensity, polarization and spectral information;

bundles of fibers 10: for transmitting images and illuminating light rays;

planar waveguides 10: for transmitting information about luminous intensity, polarization and spectral information, as well as for transmitting images and illuminating light rays.

All embodiments described herein can be adapted to also transmit a light beam, which is provided by a light source 40, 42 located in the optical magnification reading system 200, away from the sign 10. This can be implemented, for example, by beam splitter or translucent mirror. The arrangement of the illumination beam in optical systems, such as a microscope, is well known and will not be described further herein.

The optical magnification reader 200 includes an optical projection system having a magnification factor greater than 1 and at least one detector. Detector 30 may be a single detector, an array of detectors, a detector system containing optical elements and electronics, or may contain or be an imager and/or a miniature spectrometer.

The light source 40, 42 may be any source 40, 42 that can provide a light beam, preferably in the UV (ultraviolet), visible, or infrared (IR) light range. The light source can be, for example, an LED or a semiconductor laser. The light source need not be a powered light source and thus may, for example, be a portion or region of a heater or a hot portion of an aerosol generating device and/or consumable article that produces a beam of infrared light.

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When illuminated by the light source 40, the sign 10 of the aerosol generating article 1 will generate a projected light beam 410, which may be a reflected, transmitted, or diffraction light beam. The projected light beam 410 creates, after reflection or refraction or diffraction by the first focusing element 20, at least one secondary light beam 420 transmitted directly to the detector 30 or using, for example, single or composite reflective, refractive or diffractive elements, beam splitters, or combinations of such elements.

Said projected light beam 410 is then placed in a detection system, also referred to as a detector 30, which includes means for converting optical information provided by at least one aerosol generating product sign 10 into an electrical signal or data that can be used to recognize the product and /or identification of information associated with parameters of the aerosol generating device 2, for example, parameters to be used when operating the device 2 of said article 1. The detection system 30 may comprise a single detector or an array of detectors, or may comprise a vision system. The detection system 30 may also include color filters or a miniature spectrometer.

Optical information about the aerosol generating product 1 may be provided by a sign 10 located on the product 1 or a sign 10 located inside said aerosol generating product 1. The optical magnification system 200 transmits, during operation of the aerosol generating device 2, the optical effect provided by the sign 10 to said detection system.

Other embodiments illustrating exemplary embodiments are now described in detail.

In fig. 2 illustrates a schematic cross-section of an optical magnification system 200 comprising a beam splitter (BS) 50 and two detectors 30, 32. In embodiments as shown, the system 200 may include two polarizers P1, P2 capable of providing sign polarization information 10 according to, e.g. , with two orthogonal planes of polarization. The use of polarization effects allows the creation of more complex characters 10 and makes it much more difficult to recognize and reproduce the identification of the encoded information of the character 10.

In some embodiments, it may be necessary to provide a projection system 200 that has a significant magnification factor, such as 10, or greater than 20, or greater than 50. This may be accomplished using embodiments such as those illustrated in FIG. 3, based on long optical projection path. Due to space constraints in a typical aerosol generating device, the optical path is deflected by at least one secondary reflective mirror 22, which may be a flat or curved mirror. In embodiments not illustrated here, the optical magnification system may be based on a catadioptric configuration. This makes it possible to create a compact optical system, while at the same time providing a long throw length and therefore a high magnification factor.

In fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment where the character is an array of 10-15 identical characters. In embodiments, said array of characters 10-15 may represent different characters configured to project the same information onto the detector system 30. This can be realized by the first focusing element 20, which has a wide angular aperture. In the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 4, more than 1 reflecting mirror 22, 24 can be used to achieve a long projection length. The embodiment in FIG. 4 illustrates an example where the primary projected light beam 410 is directed to the detector 30 through 3 successive converging light beams 412, 414, 416.

In fig. 5 illustrates an embodiment of an aerosol generating device 2 into which is inserted an aerosol generating article 1 comprising two different indicia 10, 11. Each indicia 10, 11 is associated with an optical projection system 200', 200 located in an optical magnification reading system 200 . The first optical projection system 200' is located in the cross-sectional plane of the product part 1b containing the sign 11, and the second projection system 200 is located at an angle relative to the first projection system 200'. Said angle is preferably orthogonal, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

In fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical magnification reading system 200 comprising a light source 40 configured to provide the sign 10 with an incident light beam 400 that propagates along the surface of the aerosol generating article 1. In operation, the incident light beam 400 optically interacts with the sign 10 and provides a projected light beam 410 that is typically directed at an angle of 90° relative to the incident light beam 400. The use of the incident light beam 400 allows the detector 30 to provide an image 10' of the sign 10 that has greater contrast. Grazing incidence illumination technologies, such as those used in microscopy or imaging tools, are known and are not described further herein. In the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, optical filters F1-F3 may be included in the projected or secondary light beam 410, 420. In the example of FIG. 6, sign 10 contains dots, each of which has a specific color when illuminated by a white light beam. Colors

- 8 044825 or spectral characteristics are presented for illustration purposes only in FIG. 6 wavelength symbols λ1-λ3. Code elements may be black or gray and may have any colors as defined in the 1976 CIE Color Schedule. Combining arrays of dense structures, such as dots, thin lines or symbols, in which the structures have different shapes and/or spectral characteristics, is difficult to recognize or reproduce if the magnification system of the invention as described herein is required.

In fig. 7 is a schematic 3D representation of an optical magnification readout system comprising a hollow concave axisymmetric reflector 20 facing an axisymmetric disk-shaped detector array 31-39. For the sake of clarity, FIG. 7 illustrates two examples of converging reflected light beams 410', 410 reflected from said reflector 20. This configuration allows for a magnification system that is independent of the axial orientation of the article 1 since the sign 10 contains redundant optical structures or arrays as previously described. Detectors 31-39 may be single detectors or each may be an array of detectors.

In fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of an optical magnification reading system configured to detect superimposed magnified images of an indicia 10 comprising two indicia 11, 13. Embodiments similar to that shown in FIG. 8 are of particular interest because the superposition of optical effects of at least two characters requires a magnification system of 200 and is difficult to recognize and reproduce. In embodiments, color or polarization effects may be combined in the system 200 of FIG. 8, which makes reading and recognizing the sign even more complex and difficult to reproduce.

In fig. 9 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical magnification sensing system 200 that includes an optical beam splitter BS for illuminating the sign 10 with an incident light beam 400' and at the same time detecting the light beam 420 produced by the sign 10 using the same general optical path. Some casings, such as paper casings, are partially transparent in the visible range and especially in the infrared part of the spectrum. This property is used in the embodiment of FIG. 9, where the mark 10 is located on the inner surface of the shell of the product 1 or next to it. The sign may be made from a shaped substance 104, such as a funnel-shaped sign 100, as illustrated in the inset of FIG. 9. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, the light is focused on the indicated sign using the optical magnification system 200. The interaction of the incident light 400' creates a reflected or scattered light beam 410 that is stored by the optical magnification reading system 200 and projected onto the detector 30. In an embodiment, the sign 10 may include a portion 102 having different optical properties from the rest of the signs. For example, the portion 102 may be a reflective portion 102 that produces in the image plane 10' a light peak or light peaks characteristic of the reflective portion 102. In the case of a completely transparent shell 3 or an article 1 without a shell, the profile of the sign is easily determined. Even in the case of a partially scattering shell such as a thin layer of paper, geometric and spectral information or information about the intensity of the embedded sign can be detected. For example, specific properties of backscattered light scattered by the embedded structure 100, 102, 104 can be detected by a light beam 410 that is reflected or scattered by the structure 100, 102, 104 and which passes through the enclosure, as illustrated in FIG. 9. Without the use of the optical zoom system 200, this would not be possible, or at least extremely difficult, and would not provide reliable information. The presence of embedded indicia 100 makes counterfeiting difficult because the indicia are not visible from the outside of the aerosol generating article 1.

In fig. 10 is a schematic representation of a portion of an embodiment of an optical magnification sensing system 200 that includes a microlens array 20. The use of an array 20 of microlenses 20a-20d allows for a very compact optical projection system 200. In the arrangement of FIG. 10 and 11, each microlens 20a-20d of the microlens array 20 is capable of projecting a light beam and an enlarged image of a portion 10a-10d of the sign 10 onto the detector 30. Each portion 10a10d may be displayed on a corresponding portion 30a-30d of the detector 30, as illustrated in FIG. 10. These detector parts 30a-30d may be individual detector elements or may be an array of detectors. The detector 30 may be configured to detect the entire image of the sign 10 or may be configured to detect the optical properties of each portion 1a-d of the sign 10. For example, detector element 30a may detect the spectral properties of the first portion 10a of the sign. In another example, the detector portion 10a is configured to detect an image 10' of said first sign portion 10a. In embodiments, a portion of the detector 30 may be configured to detect intensity and/or spectral information, and another portion may be configured to acquire an image. For example, the central detector portions 3b-c may image two character elements 10b, 10c, and the remaining detector portions 30a, 30d may be configured to detect color or intensity effects,

- 9 044825 provided by the relevant parts 10a, 10d signs.

In fig. 11 is a schematic representation of a portion of an optical magnification readout system 200 comprising a single optical magnification system comprising a single integrated microlens array. The embodiment in FIG. 11 is of particular interest because it allows for a very compact magnification system 200 to be created. Typical height dimensions t1 and side dimensions t2, t3 may be less than 5 mm, preferably less than 3 mm, so that the total volume of the magnification system 200, including the light source 40 and detector 30, may be less than 100 mm ³ , less than 30 mm ³ . In embodiments, the single projection system 200 may be based on a prism-shaped substrate, where the projected light 420 provided by the sign is directed to the built-in detector 30 by total internal reflection on the reflective surface RS of the prism element. The light source 40 may be mounted on the reflective surface RS, and the light beam 400 may be refracted through the reflective surface RS, as illustrated.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 11, optical filters or other elements may be built into a layer 30' located in front of or in contact with the array 30 of the detector 30. In all embodiments of the invention, the focal length f of the focusing elements is selected depending on the required magnification and the required aperture of the focusing elements. In fig. 11 illustrates the necessary formula 1/f=1/a+1/(b1+b2), where f is the focal length of the focusing elements, a is the distance between sign 10 and the input surface of the focusing elements 20, and b=b1+b2 is the distance between focusing element 20 and image plane 10'. Selecting the correct relationship between focal length f, required apertures, overall dimensions, choice of materials, and cost of an optical imaging system is well known in the optics field and will not be discussed further herein.

In embodiments that seek to further reduce overall size and manufacturing costs, optical structures such as metasurfaces can be used to implement some of the required optical elements, such as the first focusing element 20. The use of metasurfaces to fabricate, for example, a metalens can significantly reduce dimensions of the projection system, as well as their cost, since they can be processed in a bath using typical microfabrication processes. The use of metasurfaces allows the integration of lens arrays on a flat substrate and can be implemented as the first focusing element 20 and/or, if necessary, in front of the detector 30. The advantage of using metasurfaces is to provide planar microlens arrays on which other microstructures can be provided, such as a pinhole array on the rear side of the first focusing array of 20 flat metasurface lenses. This allows reflective structures to be created, significantly reducing crosstalk between different optical projection beams and thus improving the contrast of projected images in the 10' image plane. It is possible to implement metalens projection systems 200 that use, for example, metalens. In the example, the metal lens is intended for use with monochromatic light having a wavelength of 532 nm. The metalens can have a diameter of 2 mm and a focal length of 0.7 mm and is capable of displaying and resolving characters 10 lines wide with a size of 2 μm and a line center distance of 4 μm.

The implementation of flat optics using metasurfaces is described, for example, in the review article: N. Yu and F. Capasso, Flat optics with designer metasurfaces, Nature Materials 13, p. 139 (2014).

Also, in embodiments where the detector 30 is to be located away from the hot surface, a relay lens or curved relay mirror may be installed between the sign 10 and the first focusing element 20, preferably providing a 1:1 image. This allows the first focusing element and detector 30 to be positioned further from the hot surface at a distance preferably twice the focal length of said relay lens.

In all embodiments described but not illustrated herein, the light source 40, 42 may be positioned to produce a light beam 400 extending across the entire diameter of the article 1. Such embodiments are particularly useful in aerosol generating articles 1 where infrared transparency cross-section of the product 1 is at least partially in the infrared wavelength range, for example more than 1%, more preferably more than 5%.

It is generally contemplated that the optical sensing system 200 may include addressable optical elements, such as a flip mirror or MEMS components, which may be located in one of the incident or projected light paths. Other options, containing, for example, optical filters or miniature spectrometers, can be built into said aerosol generating device 2. In one embodiment, the aerosol generating device 2 includes a display that is configured to display information provided by the product sign 10 according to the invention.

It is clear that in all embodiments of the invention, the optical magnification reading system may contain beamforming elements or means for actively changing the paths

Claims (13)

tory and/or shape and/or aperture of the light beam. For example, addressable MEMS mirrors. MEMS devices can be very small, e.g. less than 10-20 mm ³ and can be used to scan parts of the sign 10 or collect light created by light beams that have different orientations, for example, which can be provided by signs containing diffraction gratings or RWG. An example of practical implementation. In fig. 12 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a device comprising a heater 2' and an optical reader comprising an image magnification system based on a waveguide 1000 comprising a diffraction focusing input device 2002 and a diffraction output device 2004. In embodiments, the input device 2002 may have the same structure as the output device 2004. For clarity, FIG. 12, the illumination source of sign 10 is not shown and may be either an LED or light provided by a waveguide, for example using input light from an LED located at the end of the waveguide containing the output region. Light may be introduced into the waveguide 1000 by either a waveguide wedge or a third diffractive input device located in any area of the waveguide 1000. Sign 10 in the embodiment of FIG. 12 has an arrangement of repeating redundant structures 10a having a well-defined shape, providing not only 2D location information on the shell surface, but also height profile information of the structures. The optical system is designed such that its angular aperture always captures an image of portion P of indicia 10, so that the code embedded in indicia 10 can be detected regardless of the angular orientation of article 1 when inserted into cavity 112 of article 2. Using a static projection system, the 2D location or 2D shape of sign structures can be revealed. In the preferred arrangement in FIG. 12, a planar waveguide 1000 is used to obtain an enlarged image 10' of the portion P of the sign 10. The portion P may have a maximum width of 500 μm or less than 250 μm. It would be impossible to detect detailed information for such small regions of P using prior art optical systems. Prior art aerosol generating devices that contain vision systems are based on wide-angle imaging devices, i.e. They are optical image reduction systems, therefore they have a magnification factor M less than 1. By moving the waveguide 1000, either perpendicular to the axis of the resonator 112, or by applying slight rotation 01, 02 of at least one side of the end portion of the waveguide 1000, the optical reader can extract information about the 3D shape of the sign structures 10. These structures can be implemented, for example, with using inkjet printing to produce carefully controlled dots, for example on a paper shell. In fig. 14 illustrates the height measurement of two elements of portion P along portion P1, as illustrated in FIG. 13. In the practical implementation of FIG. 12, the projection distance b consists of the waveguide length b1 and the projection distance b2, i.e. distance between the waveguide output zone to the detector. The distance a from the sign 10 to the input window containing a focusing element such as a diffraction grating is much less than the total projection distance b (=b1+b2). The total projection distance b is usually 45 mm, and a is usually 3 mm, which proves that M is increased by 15 times, i.e. M=b/a =45/3=15. In embodiments, the arrangement shown in FIGS. 12 may be implemented by other projection systems that do not provide an optical waveguide as previously described. The advantage of using at least one waveguide 1000 is that the waveguide is easy to bend and rotate its ends 01, 02. Rotations 01, 02 and possibly lateral movement Δ are small, typically less than 5 degrees (01, 02), respectively 100 µm (Δ). This can be realized, for example, using a mechanism with a piezo or electrostatic drive. CLAIM 1. A consumable product (1), generating an aerosol, for insertion into a device (2), generating an aerosol, and consumption in this device, containing at least one sign (10), containing encoded information about the product (1), placed on the surface said product (1), wherein said encoded information is implemented in at least one array of readable code elements, configured to be read when illuminated by a reading system (200) with optical magnification of said aerosol-generating device (2), wherein said system (200 ) reading is configured to provide a magnification factor M equal to or greater than 1, wherein said readable code elements have a density of at least 10 elements per square millimeter of said character (10). 2. Consumable product (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said readable code elements are structural and/or color code elements. 3. Consumable product (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least three of the color code elements have different colors. 4. Consumable product (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that at least one part of said - 11 044825 character (10) contains at least eight code elements having different colors. 5. Consumable product (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that at least some of the code elements are labile code elements. 6. Consumable product (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that at least part of said sign (10) contains a waveguide (1000). 7. Device (2) generating an aerosol, containing a power source (120) located in the outer part (110) of the housing and a cavity (112) defining an axis (114), wherein said part (110) of the housing has a hole (113) made with the possibility of receiving a consumable product (1), generating an aerosol, containing a sign (10), according to any one of claims 1-6 when inserting the specified product (1), while the device (2), generating an aerosol, additionally contains a system (200) reading with optical magnification, defining the inlet (200a) and containing: a light source (40, 42) configured to illuminate said sign (10) of the aerosol-generating consumable product (1) with a light beam, at least one focusing optical element configured to focus the light beam projected from the sign (10) , on the image plane, a mirror for deflecting the light beam projected from the specified sign (10), along the specified axis (114) of the cavity, when the specified aerosol-generating device (2) is operating, and at least one detector (30, 32), located in the specified image plane of the specified system (200) at such a distance from the mirror along the specified axis (114) of the cavity that the specified reading system (200) is configured to obtain an optically magnified image, enlarged with a magnification factor M equal to or greater than 1, according to at least part of the specified sign (10), on the specified detector (30, 32) and reading the specified encoded information, and the aerosol-generating device (2) additionally contains a control unit (250), configured to recognize the originality of the consumable product ( 1), generating an aerosol based on the content of information read by said reading system (200) in the sign (10) located on the consumable product (1). 8. The aerosol generating device (2) according to claim 7, characterized in that the magnification factor M of said optical magnification reading system is at least 2, preferably at least 10, more preferably at least 20, even more preferably 50 . 9. An aerosol generating device (2) according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that said focusing optical element and said mirror in said reading system (200) are formed by a concave optical mirror. 10. An aerosol generating device (2) according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that said reading system (200) contains at least one adaptable optical element configured to adapt its focal length. 11. Device (2) generating an aerosol, containing a power source (120) located in the outer part (110) of the housing and a cavity (112) defining the axis (114), wherein said part (110) of the housing has a hole (113) made with the possibility of receiving a consumable product (1), generating an aerosol, containing a sign (10), according to any one of claims 1-6 when inserting the specified product (1), while the device (2), generating an aerosol, additionally contains a system (200) reading with optical magnification, defining the inlet (200a) and containing: a light source (40, 42) configured to illuminate said sign (10) of the aerosol-generating consumable product (1) with a light beam, at least one focusing optical element configured to focus the light beam projected from the sign (10) , to the image plane, an optical waveguide (1000) for directing said light beam from said focusing optical element to said image plane, and at least one detector (30, 32) located in said image plane of said system (200) at such a distance from the mirror along the specified axis (114) of the cavity (Fig. 12), that the specified reading system (200) is configured to obtain an optically magnified image, enlarged with a magnification factor M equal to or greater than 1, of at least part of the specified sign (10) , on the specified detector (30, 32) and reading the specified encoded information, and the aerosol-generating device (2) additionally contains a control unit (250), configured to recognize the originality of the aerosol-generating consumable product (1), based on the content of information read by said reading system (200) in the sign (10) located on the consumable product (1). 12. The aerosol generating device (2) according to claim 11, characterized in that said optical waveguide (1000) contains a diffraction light input device (2002) and/or a diffraction light output device (2004). 13. Device (2) generating an aerosol according to any one of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that said reading system (200) with optical magnification is configured to read -