Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
  • A24F—SMOKERS' REQUISITES; MATCH BOXES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES
  • A24F40/00—Electrically operated smoking devices; Component parts thereof; Manufacture thereof; Maintenance or testing thereof; Charging means specially adapted therefor
  • A24F40/50—Control or monitoring
  • A24F40/53—Monitoring, e.g. fault detection
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
  • A24F—SMOKERS' REQUISITES; MATCH BOXES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES
  • A24F40/00—Electrically operated smoking devices; Component parts thereof; Manufacture thereof; Maintenance or testing thereof; Charging means specially adapted therefor
  • A24F40/20—Devices using solid inhalable precursors

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the field of tobacco, in particular to reconstituted tobacco as well as aerosol-generating article.
• the present invention further relates to smoking devices, especially to an electrically heated e-liquid system or an electrically heated aerosol-generating system.
• Heated tobacco inhaler devices are referred to as “heat-not-burn” systems (HNB). They provide a more authentic tobacco flavour compared to electronic cigarettes, which deliver an inhalable aerosol from heating of a liquid charge comprising aerosol formers, flavorants, and often nicotine.
• the HNB system s working principle is to heat a tobacco material comprising an aerosol-forming substance (such as glycerine and/or propylene glycol) which vaporises during heating and creates a vapour that extracts nicotine and flavour components from the tobacco material.
• the tobacco substance is heated to between 200 and 400°C, which is below the normal burning temperatures of a conventional cigarette.
• the inhaler device is typically a hand-held heater, which is configured to receive rod-shaped consumable articles.
• Illicit trade of aerosol-generating articles is a problem, as counterfeit articles in particular may be of inferior quality or, in the case of e-liquids or HNB consumable articles, may not be suited to a determined smoking system.
• a code or equivalent marking containing information about the article may be arranged on an outer surface of the article, for it to be detected in use or prior use with a certain device. This allows to check for authenticity of the consumable article and in case of negative check, to power off the heating system with which it is used.
• the recognition probability should be very high so that suitable articles will not be rejected.
• Existing indicia are limited by the low density of information that may be contained in them, and most known indicia rely on classic codes such as 1 -dimensional or 2-Dimensional barcodes that may be easily be copied without using specific optical instruments, for example by simply visualizing the code by the human eye.
• classic codes such as 1 -dimensional or 2-Dimensional barcodes that may be easily be copied without using specific optical instruments, for example by simply visualizing the code by the human eye.
• high density information has to be read an article must be correctly oriented so that the indicium faces a detector system. Turning or positioning an article by a customer is rather unacceptable.
• US20190008206A1 discloses a smoking article comprising an indicium on an outer surface of the smoking article and represents a type of smoking article and may be in the form of a pattern or a one or two-dimensional barcode.
• the indicium includes different grey levels that can be generated by printing in dots which have smaller size.
• Such indicium is easily detectable and reproducible and may contain only a small density of information, or to be provided with an unacceptably large size.
• a smoking article comprising an indicium on an outer surface of the smoking article.
• the indicium may be in the form of one/two dimensional barcodes.
• the code comprises an identifiable spectroscopic signature but requires the application of a layer by a spray and requires a spectroscope integrated into the aerosol-generating device.
• the signature produced by a spectrum depends on the concentration that may be between 1 ppm and OOppm, the precision of which is difficult to control.
• a taggant based on a spectroscopic signature is also linked to a spectroscopic measurement and interpretation and calibration issues that may make the taggant not very reliable and there may be issue related to the stability of such a taggant.
• an aerosol-generating consumable article for an inhaler comprising an indicium containing information about a consumable.
• the indicium provides information on the temperature threshold as the indicium is altered after it has been exposed to a temperature exceeding the temperature threshold.
• the indicium is formed from a heat-sensitive composition. The stability of such type of indicium is questionable as a consumable article may be transported in harsh conditions. Again, the indicium is in the form of a simple readable code that is visible to the human eye and the code can thus be easily copied and would have little use as an anti-counterfeit taggant.
• the inventors of the present invention have found solutions to the abovediscussed problems by providing a device that is able to detect and identify information contained in a coded information contained in the indicium of an article, e.g. by manual, activation of detection means while an inserted article in the device stays stationary, i.e. it is not necessary to move or turn the article so that an indicium is aligned or positioned in face or detection means.
• the invention thus relates to an aerosol-generating system comprising an aerosol-generating device in which an aerosol-generating article is inserted, at least partially.
• the aerosol-generating article comprises identification information arranged on or in it.
• the aerosol-generating device comprises a cavity defining a virtual cavity axis.
• the cavity has an opening for insertion of an aerosol-generating article in an insertion position, and a heating assembly arranged to heat said cavity.
• the device further comprises detection means configured to read identification information of an aerosol-generating article in insertion position in the cavity when the detection means are displaced relative to the aerosol generation article and the device further comprises an activation switch configured upon activation to turn the detection means in a reading mode.
• the advantage of a mechanism that does not need electric power is to reduce the battery lifetime.
• the mechanism on which the detection means is fixed may be used to power on the system or start any other activation of a part of the device
• the activation switch of the aerosol-generating device is configured to be activated by the displacement of the detection means.
• the activation switch comprises mechanical means for being manually moved by a user between an OFF position to an ON position of the switch. Incorporating the detection means in a power switch allows to start the functioning of the device only if a predetermined criterium is met relative to the recognition of the article or a specific characteristic or property of the article.
• the detection means is configured to be slidable along and/or rotatable around the virtual cavity axis. Sliding or moving the detection means relative to an article avoids the need for moving or orienting an article in the device.
• the aerosol-generating device comprises a cavity rim and the activation switch is arranged at or next to the cavity rim. Arranging the detection means and/or the switch to a cavity rim allows to not have to reduce the volume of the cavity of the device.
• the detection means are configured to read the identification information of the article and the device further comprises a control unit configured to receive information-related input from the detection means and control at least one functional element of the aerosol delivery device to perform an operation based on the received information-related input.
• the detection means comprise a rotatable member arranged at or above the opening of the cavity, said rotatable member comprising a reading element being arranged to rotate in a plane perpendicular to the cavity axis.
• the rotatable member is ring shaped and comprises an annular surface comprising the reading element.
• a ring-shaped member allows to provide a simple system similar to a rotatable turn-on key and is totally acceptable by a consumer or aerosol articles.
• the detection means comprises a linearly displaceable member comprising a reading element; the displaceable member being above or next to the cavity and arranged to move along a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cavity.
• the detection means comprise a displaceable member comprising a reading element; the displaceable member being configured to perform a spiral- or helicoidal-movement at least partially about the cavity axis.
• the detection means comprise at least one light emitter and at least one light detector, for emitting and detecting electromagnetic waves respectively to and from a code or indicia of the article containing the identification information.
• said electromagnetic waves are UV light, visible light or infrared light beams. In an embodiment, said electromagnetic waves have a frequency from 0.1 to 10 THz. Using different types of wavelengths allows to provide indicia that have different natures and different optical transmission and reflection characteristics. Using infrared or terahertz or UV light allows to identify nonvisible indicia.
• said detection means comprise more than two light emitters and/or more than two light detectors. In variants, the detection means may comprise at least one non-optical detector and may be for example a magnetic or electric detector for measuring a magnetic or electric field or an electrical conductivity or electrical current or capacitance. Devices that use more than one detection system allows to detect information from high density indicia and also indicia that are small and not necessarily distributed homogeneously along a length or a circumference of an aerosol-generating article.
• the identification information is contained in an indicum comprising at least one array of structures arranged according to an optically readable pattern or code.
• Said indicium may comprises one of the following typical classes:
• an indicium that comprises at least one waveguide or at least one resonating waveguide
• an indicium that comprises an adaptation layer to assure the adhesion on the outer surface of the article.
• the indicium may comprise a combination of different types of said typical classes of indicia.
• the invention in another aspect relates to an aerosol-generating device.
• the aerosol-generating device comprises a cavity defining a virtual cavity axis.
• the cavity has an opening for insertion of an aerosol-generating article.
• the device comprises also a heating assembly arranged to heat said cavity.
• the aerosolgenerating device further comprises detection means arranged outside said cavity. The detection means are displaceable relative to the cavity axis.
• the aerosolgenerating device further comprises an activation switch configured upon activation to turn the detection means in an optical reading mode.
• Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a manufactured aerosolgenerating consumable system according to an embodiment of the present invention wherein a rotatable switch of the aerosol-generating device comprises detection means to detect information from an indicium that is on or inside a section of a consumable article.
• Figure 2 shows a schematic representation of a manufactured aerosolgenerating system according to an embodiment of the present invention wherein a longitudinal movable switch of the aerosol-generating device comprises detection means to detect information from an indicium that is on or inside a section of a consumable article.
• Figure 3 shows a schematic representation of a typical realization of the embodiment of the system of Figure 1 comprising at least one detection system inside a rotatable wheel of a switch of the aerosol-generating device.
• Figure 4 shows a lateral cross section in a plane of the rotatable switch of Figure 3, comprising at least one detector system.
• Figure 5 and 6 show a schematic representation of an embodiment of a rotatable switch of the aerosol-generating device, the switch comprising at least two detector systems and an article possibly comprising more than one indicium.
• Figure 5 shows a movable member in a first position and
• Figure 6 shows a movable member in a second position, defined as contact position.
• Figure 7 and 8 show a lateral cross section in a plane of the rotatable switch of Figure 5 and 6 , comprising at least two detector systems.
• Figure 7 shows a first position wherein contact elements are not in contact and
• Figure 9 illustrates an aerosol-generating system comprising an aerosolgenerating device according to the invention, the device comprising two movable sections. Detailed description of the invention
• aerosol-generating material refers to a material capable of releasing upon heating volatile compounds, which can form an aerosol.
• the aerosol generated from aerosol-generating material of aerosolgenerating articles described herein may be visible or invisible and may include vapours (for example, fine particles of substances, which are in a gaseous state, that are ordinarily liquid or solid at room temperature) as well as gases and liquid droplets of condensed vapours.
• wrapper is defined broadly as any structure or layer that protects and contains a charge of aerosol-generating material, and which allows to handle them. It has an inner surface that may be in contact with the aerosolgenerating material and has an outer surface away from the aerosol-generating material.
• the wrapper 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 a ceramic.
• the wrapper may be a porous material and may have a smooth or rough outer surface 5 and may be a flexible material or a hard material.
• the term “structure” refers to a portion of a surface or an element that has a dimension smaller than 5pm covering the field of micro-and nanostructures, and that may have any 2D or 3D shape and which may be a surface feature or an element that is embedded at least partially inside a layer or that is deposited on a surface.
• array means broadly a plurality of microstructures and/or nanostructures that may be arranged in a specific order such as a series of lines or dots but may also be a random distribution of structures.
• the term “indicium” has to be understood broadly and is not limited to indicia that are integrated onto or embedded in a specific layer.
• An indicium is anything that may contain information about the article 1 , including the physical, structural and chemical properties of any constituents of an article, be it the presence or nature of a layer or of materials embedded or elements present inside or onto the article, including the aerosol-generating substrate or substances.
• indicia may be configured to convert an incoming broad band light beam into a plurality of light beams that may be projected on a detector so as to provide intensity information or the image of a code having a predetermined arrangement of code elements that may have different spectral properties.
• An indicium as described herein may be any structure or array of structures that is used to code information on an article.
• An indicium 10 of the article 1 that is inserted in the aerosol-generating device 2 the invention may comprise at least one array of structures that is readable upon illumination by an optical reader system.
• the structures of the indicium 10 may be individually difficult or impossible to detect or identify by the human eye so that the indicium may not be easily be read or copied without using an optical system.
• the structures are preferably microstructures, having larger dimensions that are smaller than 5pm, preferably smaller than 1 m, or nanostructures, having larger dimensions that are typically smaller than 200nm.
• An indicium 10 may be arranged according to a 2D or 3D arrangement of structures and may have any shape such as a square, a rectangular band that may be arranged on a complete circumference of the outer surface 5 of a wrapper.
• the array of structures is arranged according to an optically readable pattern or code.
• the code may be a linear code, or a 2D code or a 3D code.
• said array of structures is arranged on a support fixed on said outer surface.
• the support may be made of any material that can be produced at low cost in great quantities, such as for example a lacquer layer deposited by for example spray technique or a polymer layer that may be deposited on said surface by gluing or thermal techniques.
• the array of structures may be embedded in said layer before or after its application to said outer surface.
• the structures may be formed on at least one of the surfaces of said layer or may be embedded in said layer.
• An indicium 10 of an article 1 may be of different types, some of which are described in further details below. Typical classes of indicia 10, 10’ applicable to aerosol-generating articles 1 that are inserted, at least partially, in the aerosol-generating device 2comprise:
• an indicium comprising at least one resonating waveguide
• An indicium 10 may be arranged to an article 1 provide predetermined direct reflection effects such as providing, upon illumination by a light beam, a plurality of light beams that may have different spectra and/or different reflection angles.
• the reflected light beams may be diffracted light beams projected in any diffraction order.
• an indicium 10 comprises structures on at least one of its surfaces or sides and may comprise structures imbedded inside a layer of the indicium.
• diffractive structures may be provided on an outer surface of an indicium 10, away from said wrapper and may be realized by embossing techniques on a polymer layer.
• An indicium 10 may be incorporated onto or inside said wrapper.
• the indicium in the case of a paper wrapper the indicium may be realized as a coating applied on the outer surface of the paper wrapper.
• An indicium 10 may be also arranged on said wrapper to the inner side thereof, which may be used to hide the indicium.
• infrared light may be used to provide an optical effect by the indicium 10.
• the wrapper may be made of a transparent material and the indicium 10 may be embedded inside the wall of such transparent wrapper that may be an at least partially glass wrapper.
• the invention not only relates to an aerosol-generating system (100) comprising an aerosol-generating device (2) in which an article is inserted , at least partially, but also to an aerosol-generating device (2) as a product in itself.
• Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a manufactured aerosolgenerating device 2.
• the figure 1 illustrates also an inserted aerosol-generating article 1 inserted in the device 2.
• An aerosol-generating article 1 has preferably a virtual longitudinal axis 252 that is preferably, when inserted in the device 2, coincident with the virtual longitudinal axis 252 of a cavity 250 of the device 2.
• the device may further comprise a heating assembly 240
• the article 1 comprises at least one indicium 10 containing information about the article 1 .
• An article has a mouthpiece end 12 and, a distal end 14 opposite to said mouthpiece end.
• the indicium 10 is arranged preferably on an outer surface of said article 1 , but not necessarily so.
• the manufactured aerosol-generating consumable article 1 may have a cross section, defined in a lateral X-Y plane, being any type of regular or irregular shape and can have for example an elliptical or circular cross-section, defined in a plane orthogonal to said longitudinal axis 3.
• the aerosol-generating device 2 of the invention comprises detection means configured to read identification information of the aerosol-generating article in its insertion position in the cavity 250 when the detection means are displaced manually relative to the aerosol generation article 1 and the device 2 further comprises an activation switch configured upon activation to turn the detection means in a reading mode.
• the aerosol-generating device 2 comprises a control unit that is configured to determine authenticity of the consumable article 1 based on the content of the information read by the optical reader system in the indicium 10, 10’ arranged on the consumable I .
• the device further comprises a control unit 230 configured to receive information-related input from the detection means and control at least one functional element of the aerosol delivery device to perform an operation based on the received information-related input.
• the control unit 230 is electrically connected to said detection means, possibly by electrical wires or a wireless connection.
• the switch may be a power switch that comprises the detection means and allows to turn ON and OFF the aerosol-generating device, and allow to provide, during the movement from the OFF to the ON position, information to the device or to the customer,
• the detection performed by the detection means between the movement from the electrically OFF- position to the electrically ON position allows the system to start or not to start, according to pre-set information on the article embedded in an indicium,
• the switch may be operable after another power switch has put the system electrically ON
• the switch may also be configured to trigger a check of the battery level.
• the invention relates to an aerosol-generating device comprising, a power supply section (not illustrated) and a cavity defining a virtual cavity axis 252.
• the cavity 250 has an opening 3 for insertion of an aerosolgenerating article 1 in an insertion position, and a heating assembly, not illustrated, arranged to heat said cavity comprising identification information arranged in or on said article.
• the opening 3 may have any cross section defined in a cross-section plane X-Y, for example a circular, a square or rectangular cross section
• the device further comprises detection means configured to read identification information of the aerosol-generating article in insertion position in the cavity when the detection means are displaced manually relative to the aerosol generation article and the device further comprises an activation switch configured upon activation to turn the detection means in a reading mode.
• the activation switch is configured to be activated by the displacement of the detection means.
• the activation switch is activated by the mechanical displacement of the detection means, for example by turning or sliding a switch as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.
• the aerosol-generating device 2 comprises a cavity rim 4 having a protruding border 2a and the activation switch 20 is arranged at or next to the cavity rim 4.
• a mechanically rotatable member 20 comprises at least one detection system 220 comprising a at least one light emitter 221 and at least one light detector 222.
• the system comprises preferably at least two contacts 402, 404. In a first position of the device the two contacts are not in contact and may be at angle such as 90° or 180° or any other angle defined in their lateral X-Y plane. In a second position the two contacts are in contact and may provide an electric contact to trigger any electrical circuit of the device, such as an on-off electric circuit or to trigger a warning signal, such as a signal provided by a green or a red LED.
• Figure 4 illustrated a typical cross section of the embodiment of Figure 3 and illustrates an article 1 having an indicium 10 arranged along its entire circumference.
• the two contact elements 402, 404 in Figure 4 are arranged at an angle of 180°, but in variants the switch 20 may de designed so that the contacts 402, 404 are close, for example separated by an angle of less than 45 ° defined in their cross section plane X-Y.
• the required angular span 0 of the movement of the wheel depends on the resolution of the indicium 10 and the desired angular separation of the switch wheel. In an advantageous realisation a customer will find a rotation of less than 90° , preferably less convenient.
• the detection system 220 may comprise an electromagnetic emitter and detector that are not arranged in proximity but to opposite places in the rotatable member, for example arranged at 180° in the rotatable member 20 of Figure 3.
• light must be at least partially transmitted through a diameter of the article. This may be realized for example by either providing apertures in the wrapper and/or filter unit or by using terahertz waves that are known to be transmitted partially by parts such as typical heat-not- burn articles that are based on paper and an aerosol-generating substance.
• the detection system 220 may be arranged at any place in the device 2, but preferably at one of its extremities or in a movable part 2b as described further.
• movable member may be arranged in or on a device.
• more than two contacts 402, 404 may be arranged in said movable member
• the rotatable member 20, that may the activation switch comprises at least two detection systems 220, 220’ comprising each at least one light emitter and at least one light detector (as described in relation to Figure 4).
• Figure 7 illustrates a finger 1000 of a consumer that turns the movable member 20.
• Such configuration does not necessarily require an indicium distributed along a periphery but may comprise for example only two indicia that will be detected by a rotation of at least 180 degrees.
• the system comprises preferably at least two contacts 406, 408. In an OFF position of the device the two contacts are not in contact and may be arranged at any angle such as 90° or 180° or any other angle defined in their lateral X-Y plane.
• Figure 6 illustrates an example wherein at least two indicia 10, 10’ are arranged onto an outer surface of an article.
• the indicia 10, 10’ may be invisible and be arranged inside the article 1 , for example to the inside surface of a wrapper or filter or inner cavity.
• a number of N detector systems may be used, and the number of separate indicia may be more than 2.
• the number N of detection systems 200 may be chosen in function of the angular width of the indicia and the angular separation between the indicia and so that at least one indicium is encoded by the angular movement 0 of said rotatable member 20.
• the angular movement of the rotatable member 20 between the first and the second positions can have any predetermined value. If the angular movement 0 of the rotatable member 20 is very small, for example less than 10 degrees, the device 2 will be adapted to detect indicia 10 that are distributed over a whole periphery of an article.
• the device 2 may configure at least 3 detector systems 220, of which at least two may be detector systems of different type.
• one of the detector systems may be configured to perform illumination and detection in a first spectral range and another detection system may be configured to illuminate and detect in a second spectral range.
• the first spectral range may be in the visible range and the second spectral range may be in the infrared or terahertz spectral range.
• one detector system may be configured to detect intensity or spectral information and another detector system may be configured to detect another electro-magnetic signal for example related to the polarisation state of reflected or transmitted electro-magnetic waves.
• At least one of the detector systems 220, 220’ may be a non-optical detection system, for example it may be a detection system configured to detect and measure an electrical or a magnetic field or also an electrical conductance or electrical current.
• the pairs of contacts 402, 404 and 406, 408 are in contact and may provide an electric contact to trigger any electrical circuit of the device, such as an on-off electric circuit or to trigger a warning signal, such as a signal provided by a green or a red LED.
• the detection means are configured to be slidable along the virtual cavity axis 252.
• the detection means may be arranged in a push-bottom 20’ as illustrated in Figure 2
• a combination of rotation and linear movement may also be used, resulting in a spiral or helicoidal movement for example along said virtual cavity axis 252.
• the detection means are configured to read the identification information of the article 1 and the device 2 further comprises a control unit configured to receive information-related input from the detection means and control at least one functional element of the aerosol delivery device to perform an operation based on the received information-related input.
• the detection means comprises a linearly displaceable member comprising a reading element; the displaceable member being above or next to the cavity 250 and arranged to move along a direction Z parallel to the longitudinal axis 252 of the cavity 250.
• the detection means comprise a displaceable member comprising a reading element; the displaceable member being configured to perform a spiral-movement at least partially about the cavity axis.
• the activation switch comprises mechanical means for being manually moved by a user between an OFF position to an ON position of the switch.
• the activation switch is a power switch where in the first position the system is OFF and in the second potion the system is ON, for example allowing to heat the heater.
• the device may be made of two separate parts 2a, 2b arranged to be rotated manually between said first position and said second position.
• the detection means comprise at least one light emitter and at least one light detector, for emitting and detecting electromagnetic waves respectively to and from a code or indicia of the article containing the identification information.
• said electromagnetic waves are UV light, visible light or infrared light beams.
• said electromagnetic waves have a frequency from 0.1 to 10 THz.
• said detections means comprise more than two light emitters and/or more than two light detectors.
• the light sources direct light 300 in a substantial radial direction in a lateral X-Y plane. This is not necessarily so. It is understood that the light sources may be arranged to send a light beam that does not cross the virtual axis 252 of the cavity 252, neither the center axis of an article.
• a light source may be configured to send light that is at a grazing incidence to the local surface of the surface of an article and/or an indicium. The same is valid to the angular view angle of a detector, defined as the aperture of a cone in which light is detected by a detector.
• a light detector may be configured to detect only re-emitted light or transmitted light through the article and having a virtual central aperture axis that does not need to cross the virtual axis of an emitted light beam.
• the detector may have a view angle that is defined in a parallel plane X-Y than the main plain in which a light beam 300 is emitted.
• the virtual central emission angle of the light emitters and the virtual central detection axis may be, in 3D, crossing axes or non- crossing axes.

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• 2021
  • 2021-09-23 EP EP21782731.0A patent/EP4216749A1/de active Pending
  • 2021-09-23 JP JP2023506566A patent/JP2023542796A/ja active Pending
  • 2021-09-23 WO PCT/EP2021/076242 patent/WO2022063920A1/en active Application Filing

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