EP4189523A1

EP4189523A1 - Method of operating an aerosol-generating device

Info

Publication number: EP4189523A1
Application number: EP21748887.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Karima Lakraa
Original assignee: JT International SA
Current assignee: JT International SA
Priority date: 2020-07-28
Filing date: 2021-07-23
Publication date: 2023-06-07
Also published as: WO2022023215A1; JP2023536828A

Abstract

The invention discloses a method of operating an aerosol-generating device comprising identifying a first trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device, wherein the first trajectory pattern enables a connection mode on the aerosol-generating device; advertising connection data to establish a connection with a personal computing device upon enabling the connection mode; identifying a second trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device, wherein the second trajectory pattern disables the connection mode on the aerosol-generating device; and sending a disconnection request from the aerosol-generating device to the personal computing device upon disabling the connection mode.

Description

METHOD OF OPERATING AN AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE

Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a method of operating an aerosol-generating device. Specifically, it relates to operating the aerosol-generating device to communicate with a personal computing device.

Background

Aerosol generating devices such as inhalers or e-cigarettes have gained popularity in recent years. These devices not only provide safer alternative to traditional tobacco products but also incorporate other smart functionalities. One such functionality is connecting to a personal computing device such as a smartphone to monitor and control operation of the aerosol generating device or the e-cig. This is commonly achieved by establishing a Bluetooth connection between the smartphone and the e-cig.

In known devices, to establish a Bluetooth connection between the two devices, a user is required to enable Bluetooth setting on both the smartphone and the e-cig and perform a few steps before the connection can be established. While some devices allow users to initiate the connection by interacting with a user interface, there are still a number of steps to be followed to establish a successful connection and sometimes not easy to use or not reliable. In any case, the user is required to go to a Bluetooth settings tab on the smartphone to connect with the e-cig. Also, there is no easy way to disconnect the e-cig from the smartphone without needing to explicitly disabling Bluetooth from the Bluetooth setting tab on the smartphone or moving the e-cig out of the Bluetooth range.

The present invention is aimed at overcoming the issues described above and providing an easy and intuitive way to establish a connection between an aerosol generating device and a personal computing device. l Summary of the Invention

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating an aerosol-generating device comprising identifying a first trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device, wherein the first trajectory pattern enables a connection mode on the aerosol-generating device; advertising connection data to establish a connection with a personal computing device upon enabling the connection mode; identifying a second trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device, wherein the second trajectory pattern disables the connection mode on the aerosol generating device; and sending a disconnection request from the aerosol-generating device to the personal computing device upon disabling the connection mode.

Advantageously, using this method it is possible to reliably and quickly connect or disconnect an aerosol-generating device such as an e-cig with a personal computing device such as a smartphone. A user need not enable or disable settings on the smartphone and with simple gesture movements of the e-cig it is possible to securely connect with the smartphone.

Preferably, the advertising connection data comprises a pairing bit which is set to a predefined value to establish the connection with the personal computing device.

Preferably, the method further comprises activating an application, associated with the aerosol-generating device, on the personal computing device to establish the connection.

Preferably, the method further comprises detecting an initial movement of the aerosol generating device prior to identifying the first and second trajectory patterns.

Preferably, the initial movement of the aerosol-generating device is detected based on partial sensor data received from a sensor of the aerosol-generating device.

Preferably, detecting the initial movement of the aerosol-generating device acts as a trigger for the aerosol-generating device to begin receiving full sensor data from the sensor of the aerosol-generating device to enable identification of the first and second trajectory patterns. In this way, the first and second trajectory patterns may be identified without requiring the aerosol generating device to receive full sensor data at all times. Advantageously, this leads to a reduced power consumption and preserves the battery of the aerosol-generating device.

Preferably, the first trajectory pattern comprises a single continuous trajectory and the second trajectory pattern comprises two discontinuous trajectories.

Preferably, the first trajectory pattern is a circular motion and the second trajectory pattern is a cross motion.

Preferably, the first and second trajectory patterns are selected from a list of predefined trajectory patterns stored on the aerosol-generating device.

Preferably, the method further comprises receiving a new trajectory pattern from a user and updating the aerosol-generating device to associate the new trajectory pattern with an operation of the device.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an aerosol-generating device comprising a sensor and a controller, the sensor and the controller configured to identify a first trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device, wherein the first trajectory pattern enables a connection mode on the aerosol-generating device; advertise connection data to establish a connection with a personal computing device upon enabling the connection mode; identify a second trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device, wherein the second trajectory pattern disables the connection mode on the aerosol-generating device; send a disconnection request from the aerosol generating device to the personal computing device upon disabling the connection mode.

Preferably, the sensor is further configured to detect an initial movement of the aerosol generating device prior to identifying the first and second trajectory patterns. Preferably, the aerosol-generating device, further comprises a communication interface to establish connection with a personal computing device via an application installed on the personal computing device; and a user interface to indicate recognition of the first and second trajectory patterns to a user.

Preferably, the controller is configured to update the aerosol-generating device to associate a new trajectory pattern received from a user with an operation of the device.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method as described above.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are now described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a system comprising an aerosol generating device and a personal computing device according to an aspect of the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of the aerosol generating device in the system of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 shows a flow diagram of a method of operating the aerosol generating device in the system of Fig. 1 ;

Figs. 4A and 4B show examples of trajectory patterns formed using the aerosol generating device of Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 5A shows a sequence diagram for connecting the aerosol generating device with the personal computing device in the system of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 5B shows a sequence diagram for disconnecting the aerosol generating device from the personal computing device in the system of Fig. 1 ; and Fig. 6 shows a user interface on an app for the aerosol generating device on the personal computing device in the system of Fig. 1.

Detailed Description

Next, various aspects of the invention will be described. Note that the same or similar portions are denoted with the same or similar reference signs in the descriptions of the drawings below. Note that the drawings are schematic and a ratio of each size is different from a real one. Therefore, specific sizes and the like should be judged in consideration of the following descriptions.

Fig. 1 shows a system 100 with a user 101 and various entities capable of communicating with each other. The system 100 comprises a non-combustion-type aerosol generating device 102, a personal computing device 103, and a remote server 104. The aerosol generating device 102 and the personal computing device 103 are owned and controlled by the user 101. The remote server 104 is a monitoring and controlling station accessible on a network such as the internet by the devices 102 and 103. The remote server 104 may be managed or directed by the manufacturer of the aerosol generating device 102.

The aerosol generating device 102 is a device for inhaling an aerosol by heating or vaporisation without combustion. The device 102 has a rod-like shape with a main body extending from a non-mouthpiece end to a mouthpiece end. An air channel or path is defined in the main body between the opposite ends. The aerosol-generating device 102 in the present example is an electronic cigarette or a vaping device, and is referred to as e-cig 102 hereinafter. The e-cig 102 works by vaporizing or heating an aerosol source inserted into the e-cig 102 to release a flavour and/or a stimulant for a user to inhale through the mouthpiece end. The construction and operation of such a device to generate aerosol is well-known in the art and it will be understood by a skilled person that the invention disclosed herein can be applicable to aerosol generation devices in any shapes, configured with any aerosol generating techniques, not limited to the example. The e-cig 102 may include an activation switch (not shown) that may be configured to perform at least one of a turn-on and a turn-off of a power source of the e-cig 102. The activation switch may be a push button or a touch button disposed at any convenient location on the surface of the main body of the e-cig 102. Alternatively, the e-cig 102 does not rely on a switch button to activate power supply to heater, but rely on a puff sensor to detect air flow and trigger the device to start generating aerosol.

The personal computing device 103 is a smart electronic device possessed by the user

101 , in the present example it is referred to as a smartphone 103. The e-cig 102 is configured to communicate with the smartphone 103. Preferably, the e-cig 102 is configured to communicably connect or pair with the smartphone 103 wirelessly using Bluetooth communication standard. The smartphone 103 preferably runs a mobile application (commonly referred to as App) that allows the user 101 to interact with the e- cig 102 through a user-friendly interface. The App may be hosted by the manufacturer of the e-cig 102 and compatible with different mobile platforms such as Android™. It is to be understood that the e-cig 102 and the smartphone 103 may be able to connect to each other via other wireless communication means.

To connect the e-cig 102 to the smartphone 103, the user 101 activates Bluetooth option from settings on the smartphone 103 and makes a first trajectory pattern using the e-cig

102. The first trajectory pattern enables a connection mode activating Bluetooth on the e- cig 102. The App on the smartphone 103 then establishes connection with the e-cig 102. To disconnect, the user 101 makes a second trajectory pattern with the e-cig 102 which disables the connection mode on the e-cig 102. This connection (and disconnection) technique is explained in detail further below with reference to Figs. 3-5.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing various components or modules of the aerosol generating device or the e-cig 102. In one example, the e-cig 102 comprises a consumables module 201a and a heating element 202 that vaporizes a consumable item 201b received by the consumables module 201a to release aerosol containing the flavour and/or stimulant for the user to inhale. In the present example, the consumable item 201 b is a substance containing nicotine. Presence of the consumable item 201b in the consumables module 201a may be detected by a detector 201c. The consumable item 201b may be in the form of solid or liquid and is heated by the heating element 202 to release the aerosol without combustion. In case the consumable item 201 b is a liquid store, more than one consumable items can be received at the consumable module 201a. The heating element 202 may be powered by a power source 203.

The power source 203 is, for example, a lithium ion battery. The power source 203 supplies an electric power necessary for an action of the e-cig 102. For example, the power source 203 supplies the electric power to all other components or modules included in the e-cig 102.

For the purposes of the present description, it will be understood that the terms vapour and aerosol are interchangeable. In some examples, the heating element is arranged within a capsule or cigarette-like aerosol generating material and connectable to the aerosol generation device, rather than being a component of the aerosol generation device itself.

In one embodiment, a flavouring is present in the consumable item 201b. The flavouring may include Ethylvanillin (vanilla), menthol, Isoamyl acetate (banana oil) or similar. In another embodiment, the consumable item 201b may include an additional flavour source (not shown) provided on the side of the mouthpiece end 103 beyond the consumables module 201a the consumable item 201 b, and generates a flavour to be inhaled by the user together with the aerosol generated from the consumable item 201b. In yet another embodiment, the e-cig 102 comprises more than one consumable item each comprising a flavouring and/or a certain level of active component (nicotine). In this case, each consumable item can be independently heated to generate aerosol.

The e-cig 102 also includes a controller 204 that is configured to control various components in the e-cig. For example, the controller 204 may control a timing unit 205 (comprising a timer), a communications unit 206, a memory 207, a motion sensor 208, and a puff sensor 209 included in the e-cig 102. The timing unit 205 is configured to provide time information (e.g., time of the day) and generate timestamp for puff data or event data, which is helpful to analyse user’s vaping preference. The motion sensor 208 may be implemented as a combination of various sensors such as an accelerometer and a gyroscope. These sensors are configured to detect any movement of the e-cig 102 which may be a random displacement or a defined movement following a gesture or trajectory pattern by the user. The controller 204 is configured to process data from the motion sensor 208 to determine if a detected movement of the e-cig 102 corresponds to a specific control operation of the e-cig 102. For example, the e-cig 102 may be switched ON by shaking the device side to side or connected to the smartphone 103 by making a particular trajectory pattern using the e-cig 102.

The communications unit 206 is configured to manage communication with any personal computing device such as the smartphone 103, the remote server 104, a tracking device, or other e-cigs in the vicinity of the e-cig 102. The communications unit 206 incudes a Bluetooth module. The memory 207 is configured to store data received from the motion sensor 208, the timing unit 205, and the controller 204, as well as vaping usage history and information such as user settings and preferences.

The puff sensor 209 is configured to determine the number of puff actions of inhaling the aerosol. The puff sensor 209 can also determine a time period required for one puff action of inhaling the aerosol. The recorded usage data can comprise puff duration (i.e. , length of a puff), a puff interval (i.e., the time between consecutive puffs), and a fluid and/or nicotine consumption amount.

The e-cig 102 may also include a consumable recognition sensor (now shown) configured to identify the consumable item 201 b inserted in the e-cig 102. The recognition sensor may be included in the consumables module 201 a or the detector 201c. The recognition sensor may use NFC, RFID or any other known technique to recognise the strength of the stimulant contained in the consumable item 201b from an NFC/RFID tag disposed on the consumable 201b.

The e-cig 102 may also include an Input-Output (I/O) or user interface 210 configured to provide indications to the user and to receive inputs from the user. The I/O interface 210 preferably comprises an indication device and an input device. The indication device may comprise a visual light emitting element including one or more Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), a screen display, or a sound emitter, or other appropriate means to provide indication to users. The visual light-emitting element such as an LED may be disposed at the tip of the non-mouthpiece end 102, or on a side surface of the e-cig 102. Such an LED may exhibit various light-emitting mode to provide to user within indication of a puff state where the aerosol is being inhaled, a non-puff state where the aerosol is not being inhaled, a pre heating state when the heater is heating up, a ready-to vape state when the heater operates at target temperature to generate aerosol, a depletion state where LED bar shows depletion level of the aerosol source, and any other information related to the operation status of the e-cig. The input device can be one or more user operable buttons or sensible touch panel, responsible to depression, toggling, or touch.

All the elements described above transmit and/or receive command and/or data via communication bus 211.

Fig. 3 shows a flow diagram 300 of a method of operating the e-cig 102 according to an aspect of the invention. It is to be noted that not all steps in the method are shown in the flow diagram 300.

At step 301, a first trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device is identified. In the present example, the user 101 makes a first trajectory pattern in air using the e-cig 102. This first trajectory pattern could be any pre-configured pattern in the e-cig 102 which corresponds to a control operation of the e-cig 102. As shown in Fig. 4A, the first trajectory pattern may be a circle drawn freely in air by a single arm rotation of the user 101. The motion sensor 208 detects this movement of the e-cig 102 and passes the information to the controller 204 for processing. The controller 204 compares the detected movement pattern with defined patterns stored in the memory 207 of the e-cig 102. The controller 204 identifies the detected movement as the first trajectory pattern. It is to be noted that preferably the user 101 is required to unlock the e-cig 102 before the motion sensor 208 and the controller 204 can identify the detected movement. Unlocking of the e- cig 102 may be done by biometric sensing or other ways known in the art. This is to ensure that only an authorized user is allowed to control the e-cig 102.

At step 302, a connection mode is enabled on the aerosol-generating device. In the present example, after the first trajectory pattern is identified, the controller 204 enables a connection mode such as a Bluetooth connection mode on the communications unit 206. The communications unit 206 then starts advertising the availability of the e-cig 102 to nearby Bluetooth-enabled compatible devices such as the smartphone 103. The smartphone 103 has an e-cig app which recognizes the e-cig 102 from advertising data (explained in further detail with reference to Fig. 5A) and establishes a connection between the e-cig 102 and the smartphone 103. It is to be noted that this technique of connection is different from the standard technique of connecting a smartphone with other Bluetooth- enabled electronic devices, which is done via the Bluetooth setting tab on the smartphone. In the present technique, the smartphone 103 is connected to the e-cig 102 via an app specifically developed for the e-cig instead of settings tab of the smartphone 103.

At step 303, a second trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device is identified. In the present example, the user 101 makes a second trajectory pattern in air using the e-cig 102. This second trajectory pattern could be any pre-configured pattern in the e-cig 102 which corresponds to a control operation of the e-cig 102. As shown in Fig. 4B, the second trajectory pattern may be a cross drawn freely in air by two arm movements of the user 101. The motion sensor 208 detects this movement of the e-cig 102 and passes the information to the controller 204 for processing. The controller 204 compares the detected movement pattern with defined patterns stored in the memory 207 of the e-cig 101. The controller 204 identifies the detected movement as the second trajectory pattern. It is to be noted that the e-cig 102 may or may not require unlocking by the user 102 for disconnection.

At step 304, the connection mode is disabled on the aerosol-generating device. In the present example, after the second trajectory pattern is identified, the controller 204 disables the connection mode on the communications unit 206. In one embodiment, the communications unit 206 then stops advertising the availability of the e-cig 102 to nearby compatible devices such as the smartphone 103. The smartphone 103 can therefore no longer find the e-cig 102 and the connection between the e-cig 102 and the smartphone 103 is broken. Alternatively, the communication unit 206 modifies the advertising data, e.g., setting a pairing bit to a value of 0 unequal to a previously paired state of 1. In this case, even though the smartphone 103 can still find the e-cig 102, but will not connect to it due to unmatched advertising data. It is to be noted that the user 101 is neither required to disable the Bluetooth on the smartphone 103 nor required to move away from the Bluetooth communication range to break the connection between the e-cig 102 and the smartphone 103. In another embodiment, the e-cig initiatively sends a disconnection request to the smartphone 103 to ask the smartphone 103 to disconnect. Various steps in this process are explained in detail further below with reference to Fig. 5B.

Fig. 4A shows one example of the first trajectory pattern 401 according to an aspect on the invention. The first trajectory pattern is a circle which the user 101 makes by holding the e- cig 102 in his or her hand and moving the e-cig 102 freely in air in a circular motion in clockwise direction. However, it is also possible to define a pattern with rotation in anti clockwise direction. The first trajectory pattern can be categorized as one trajectory as it comprises only one continuous movement.

Fig. 4B shows one example of the second trajectory pattern 402 according to an aspect on the invention. The second trajectory pattern is a cross which the user 101 makes by holding the e-cig 102 in his or her hand and moving the e-cig 102 freely in air, first from upper left to bottom right, and then from upper right to bottom left. However, it is also possible to define a pattern in a reverse direction. The second trajectory pattern is categorized as two trajectories as it comprises two discontinuous movements.

It is to be noted these are only two exemplary trajectory patterns and there could be several possible trajectory patterns, each corresponding a control operation of the e-cig 102. While the e-cig 102 is preferably pre-configured with some trajectory patterns by its manufacturer, it is possible for the user 101 to re-configure and/or define new trajectory patterns and associate those with various control operations. The user 101 can either select from a list of predefined patterns stored on the device or the device can be trained via machine learning algorithms to learn any motion preferred by the user (e.g. making letters such as A, B, or C using the device). For example, the user may need to repeat a preferred motion (e.g., letter A) for a predetermined number of times or repeat the motion within a training period (e.g, 1 day or 1 week) until the device collects enough data for training to perform pattern recognition. Once the learning is completed, the firmware on the device is updated to recognize the preferred motion based on training data. Such firmware update can happen internally in the e-cig 102 itself, optionally via the remote server 104. Alternatively, the e-cig 102 may rely on the smartphone 103 with more powerful computation capability to process and send the training data to the remote server 104 to update the firmware on the e-cig 102.

Fig. 5A shows a sequence diagram 501 for the control operation of connecting the e-cig 102 with the smartphone 103. When the user 101 wishes to connect the e-cig 102 with the smartphone 103 for the very first time, he or she enables Bluetooth option on the smartphone 103 and activates the e-cig app on the smartphone 103. The app presents a pairing screen on the smartphone 103 to provide initial instructions to the user. It is to be noted that after the first time, landing on the pairing screen is not needed. The user 101 unlocks the e-cig 102, which may be indicated with an audio, visual, or haptic feedback. Alternatively, the e-cig 102 is unlocked by default or remains unlocked from last unlocking action, which does not require unlocking before connection. In the unlocked state, the motion sensor 208 starts detecting any motion or movement of the e-cig 102. In an alternative embodiment, the e-cig 102 does not listen to all sensor data to preserve battery. In this case, the e-cig 102 is configured to have a gyroscope logic to receive partial sensor data which is sufficient to detect simple movements (such as the device being picked up from a table) and use such data as a trigger to detect trajectory patterns such a circle or cross described above.

When the user 101 makes the first trajectory pattern, the motion sensor 208 generates a response for the controller 204 which initializes motion recognition. After the controller 204 recognises the first trajectory pattern, circle in the present example, the controller 204 instructs the communications unit 206 to set a pairing bit in advertising data of Bluetooth signal to a predefined value, e.g. Ί”. The advertising data is definable data under Bluetooth protocol and the data may be modified by the manufacturer of the device. The pairing bit is one bit defined in the preferred format for the advertising data. The pairing bit may however occupy more than one bit.

At the e-cig app on the smartphone 103, after the Bluetooth is enabled, the e-cig app starts searching for Bluetooth-enabled devices present in the vicinity of the smartphone 103. For the devices discovered by the app, their advertising data is parsed to check if the pairing bit is set to 1. When the e-cig 102 is found with the pairing bit set to 1 , the pairing or connection operation is started. Once connected to the e-cig 102, the app stops discovering new devices. It is to be noted that after the connection is established, if the e- cig 102 gets away from the smartphone 103, i.e. outside the Bluetooth range, the connection is broken. However, as soon as the e-cig 102 moves back in the vicinity of the smartphone 103 the connection is automatically re-established without requiring the user 101 to intervene.

Fig. 5B shows a sequence diagram 502 for the control operation of disconnecting the e- cig 102 from the smartphone 103. Steps for disabling the connection are similar to those described above for establishing connection in Fig. 5A. To disable, the user 101 makes the second trajectory pattern, cross in the present example, which the controller 204 recognises and initiates a disconnection process. The app on the smartphone 103 receives a disconnect request from the controller 204 and the connection is broken.

To enhance user experience, various stages of the operation are indicated to the user 101 via the I/O interface 210 on the e-cig 102 and/or the Ul interface of the app on the smartphone 103. For example, after the first trajectory pattern is recognized, the e-cig 102 starts a blue LED indication. When the e-cig 102 is connected to the smartphone 103, the e-cig 102 vibrates three short times and the blue LED indicates that with another visual pattern. Upon disconnection, the blue LED on the e-cig 100 is either turned off or changed to a different colour.

On the e-cig app on the smartphone 103, the user 101 first sees a pairing screen with instructions to pair the e-cig 102 with the smartphone 103, as shown by Ul 601 in Fig. 6. A landing screen is thereafter displayed on the app when the e-cig 102 is connected to the smartphone 103. In practice, the time interval between enabling of the connection mode on the e-cig 102 (by first trajectory pattern recognition) and a connection being established with the smartphone 103 is usually around 4-5 seconds. For that reason, on the app, a Ul 602 is displayed in that time interval to indicate that the connection is being established. Alternatively, only one single indication may be provided after the connection is successfully established. Upon disconnection, the app displays message such as “no connection” or “disconnected” on the landing screen. The app may also display other statistics and useful information for the user once the smartphone 103 is connected to the e-cig 102. If the e-cig 102 disconnects from the smartphone 103, the app displays last read data on the landing screen. As shown in Fig. 6, Ul 603 shows that there is no connection with the e-cig 102 but shows remaining battery life of the e-cig 102, vaping stats of the user for the day along with other useful information.

The processing steps described herein carried out by the main control unit, or controller, may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, or storage, associated with the main control unit. A computer-readable medium can include non-volatile media and volatile media. Volatile media can include semiconductor memories and dynamic memories, amongst others. Non-volatile media can include optical disks and magnetic disks, amongst others.

The foregoing description of illustrative embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration and of description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting with respect to the precise form disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the disclosed embodiments.

As used herein, the term “non-transitory computer-readable media” is intended to be representative of any tangible computer-based device implemented in any method or technology for short-term and long-term storage of information, such as, computer- readable instructions, data structures, program modules and submodules, or other data in any device. Therefore, the methods described herein may be encoded as executable instructions embodied in a tangible, non-transitory, computer readable medium, including, without limitation, a storage device, and/or a memory device. Such instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform at least a portion of the methods described herein. Moreover, as used herein, the term “non-transitory computer-readable media” includes all tangible, computer-readable media, including, without limitation, non- transitory computer storage devices, including, without limitation, volatile and non-volatile media, and removable and non-removable media such as a firmware, physical and virtual storage, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and any other digital source such as a network or the Internet, as well as yet to be developed digital means, with the sole exception being a transitory, propagating signal. As will be appreciated based on the foregoing specification, the above-described embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using computer programming or engineering techniques including computer software, firmware, hardware or any combination or subset thereof. Any such resulting program, having computer-readable code means, may be embodied or provided within one or more computer-readable media, thereby making a computer program product, i.e. , an article of manufacture, according to the discussed embodiments of the disclosure. The article of manufacture containing the computer code may be made and/or used by executing the code directly from one medium, by copying the code from one medium to another medium, or by transmitting the code over a network.

Claims

Claims:

1. A method of operating an aerosol-generating device comprising: identifying a first trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device, wherein the first trajectory pattern enables a connection mode on the aerosol-generating device; advertising connection data to establish a connection with a personal computing device upon enabling the connection mode; identifying a second trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol generating device, wherein the second trajectory pattern disables the connection mode on the aerosol-generating device; and sending a disconnection request from the aerosol-generating device to the personal computing device upon disabling the connection mode.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertising connection data comprises a pairing bit which is set to a predefined value to establish the connection with the personal computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising activating an application, associated with the aerosol-generating device, on the personal computing device to establish the connection.

4. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising detecting an initial movement of the aerosol-generating device prior to identifying the first and second trajectory patterns.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the initial movement of the aerosol-generating device is detected based on partial sensor data received from a sensor of the aerosol generating device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein detecting the initial movement of the aerosol generating device acts as a trigger for the aerosol-generating device to begin receiving full sensor data from the sensor of the aerosol-generating device to enable identification of the first and second trajectory patterns.

7. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the first trajectory pattern comprises a single continuous trajectory and the second trajectory pattern comprises two discontinuous trajectories.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first trajectory pattern is a circular motion and the second trajectory pattern is a cross motion.

9. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the first and second trajectory patterns are selected from a list of predefined trajectory patterns stored on the aerosol-generating device.

10. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising receiving a new trajectory pattern from a user and updating the aerosol-generating device to associate the new trajectory pattern with an operation of the device.

11. An aerosol-generating device comprising a sensor and a controller, the sensor and the controller configured to: identify a first trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device, wherein the first trajectory pattern enables a connection mode on the aerosol-generating device; advertise connection data to establish a connection with a personal computing device upon enabling the connection mode; identify a second trajectory pattern of movement of the aerosol-generating device, wherein the second trajectory pattern disables the connection mode on the aerosol-generating device; and send a disconnection request from the aerosol-generating device to the personal computing device upon disabling the connection mode.

12. The aerosol-generating device of claim 11 , wherein the sensor is further configured to detect an initial movement of the aerosol-generating device prior to identifying the first and second trajectory patterns.

13. The aerosol-generating device of claim 11 or 12, further comprises: a communication interface to establish connection with a personal computing device via an application installed on the personal computing device; and a user interface to indicate recognition of the first and second trajectory patterns to a user.

14. The aerosol-generating device of any preceding claim, wherein the controller is configured to update the aerosol-generating device to associate a new trajectory pattern received from a user with an operation of the device.

15. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method of claims 1 to 10.