Method for aerosol supply device and aerosol supply device

Abstract

To provide a method for an aerosol supply device.SOLUTION: A method includes the steps of: generating usage characteristics by an aerosol supply device (2); storing the usage characteristics in a memory (16) of the aerosol supply device (2); generating, by the aerosol supply device (2), a packet that includes data including at least part of the usage characteristics stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device; and transmitting the packet to a wireless device via a wireless communication interface (12) of the aerosol supply device (2). The wireless communication interface is a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication interface, and the wireless device is a mobile phone, a smart phone, a phablet or tablet device, a host or gateway device, or a beacon such as a BLE beacon.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

Field and Background

[0001]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method for an aerosol supply device and an aerosol supply device.

[0002]

[0002] In conventional wireless communication systems such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and Bluetooth Low Energy (also known as Bluetooth Smart Technology), individual devices can operate as nodes that play the role of master or slave in a specific communication relationship. Therefore, each node assumes the role of either a master or a slave. Thus, in a communication pair, one node operates as the master and the other operates as the slave. In the context of Bluetooth Low Energy, the master is sometimes referred to as the central, and the slave is sometimes referred to as the peripheral. One master (or central) node can become the master for several slaves (the exact number is often limited by the implementation of the individual chipset), and a node can register as a slave (or peripheral) for multiple masters, but can only operate as a slave for one master at a time.

[0003]

[0003] Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy fundamentally operate differently from other low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs) such as Zigbee (registered trademark) and Thread (registered trademark), which are based on the IEEE802.15.4 wireless protocol.

[0004]

[0004] Examples of exchanging information between aerosol supply devices are described in International Publication No. WO2017 / 051173, US Patent Application Publication No. US2017 / 118292, and US Patent Application Publication No. US2017 / 093981. Overview

[0005]

[0005] Some specific aspects and embodiments are described in the appended claims.

[0006]

[0006] According to a first aspect, a method for an aerosol supply device can be provided. The method includes operating the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device in a standby mode, receiving data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device during the operation of the standby mode, storing the received data in the memory of the aerosol supply device, using the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device to generate a connectionless advertising packet including identification information (identity) of the aerosol supply device and information regarding the advertising state, transmitting the advertising packet via the wireless communication interface, receiving a connectionless request packet from a remote wireless device via the wireless communication interface, in response to receiving the request packet, using the wireless communication interface to generate a connectionless response packet, and transmitting the response packet via the wireless communication interface. At least one of the advertising packet and the response packet includes received data from the memory and data generated by and stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device.

[0007]

[0007] According to another aspect, an aerosol supply device can be provided, which device includes a processor, a wireless communication interface, and a memory containing instructions. The instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device to operate in a standby mode, receive data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device during standby mode operation, store the received data in the memory of the aerosol supply device, use the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device to generate a connectionless advertising packet including information regarding the identity and advertising state of the aerosol supply device, transmit the advertising packet via the wireless communication interface, receive a connectionless request packet from a remote wireless device via the wireless communication interface, in response to receiving the request packet, use the wireless communication interface to generate a connectionless response packet, and transmit the response packet via the wireless communication interface. At least one of the advertising packet and the response packet includes the received data from the memory and data generated by and stored in the memory by the aerosol supply device.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0008]

[0008] Next, embodiments of the present teachings will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0009]

Figure 1

[0009] FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an advertising protocol.

[0010]

Figure 2

[0010] FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an exemplary device environment.

[0011]

Figure 3

[0011] Figure 3 is a diagram schematically showing the functional components of the aerosol supply device.

[0012]

Figure 4

[0012] Figure 4 is a diagram schematically showing the protocol stack.

[0013]

Figure 5

[0013] Figure 5 is a diagram schematically showing the scan response timing.

[0014]

Figure 6

[0014] Figure 6 is a diagram schematically showing the mode scheduling.

[0015]

Figure 7

[0015] Figure 7 is a diagram schematically showing the mesh of the aerosol supply device.

[0016]

Figure 8

[0016] Figure 8 is a diagram schematically showing the mesh of the aerosol supply device.

[0017]

Figure 9

[0017] Figure 9 is a diagram schematically showing the method for the aerosol supply device.

[0018]

Figure 10

[0018] Figure 10 is a diagram schematically showing the method for the aerosol supply device. Detailed description

[0019] The methods described herein may be subject to various modifications and alternative forms, and specific embodiments are shown by way of example in the figures and will be described in detail herein. However, the figures and the detailed description are not intended to limit the scope to the particular forms disclosed, but rather, on the contrary, the scope is to include all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims.

[0020]

[0020] This disclosure relates to modified forms of wireless communication behavior. According to this teaching, a device can be configured to use Bluetooth or a communication protocol similar to Bluetooth, and can operate as both a master / central and a slave / peripheral simultaneously in different communication relationships based on time division in a manner that may be transparent to other devices using the communication protocol for communicating with that device.

[0021]

[0021] In some examples, these devices may be aerosol delivery devices, such as so-called "e-cigarettes," which are sometimes also known as electronic nicotine delivery (END) devices, equipped with electronic devices that enable communication with other communication devices. As used herein, the term "aerosol delivery device" refers to both a device containing an aerosol raw material substance (e.g., a device portion containing an aerosol raw material substance and a disposable atomizer portion), and / or a device not containing an aerosol raw material substance (e.g., only the device portion of the aforementioned example).

[0022]

[0022] In this example, the device uses Bluetooth Low Energy (“BTLE”), but other Bluetooth protocols or protocols similar to Bluetooth can utilize the present teachings. Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for short-range communication between appropriately enabled devices. BTLE is a variant of the original Bluetooth system designed to consume less power during use for extended battery life and / or for small battery applications. Both Bluetooth and BTLE operate in the 2.4 - 2.485 GHz ultra-high frequency (UHF) industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band and are designed to create a so-called wireless personal area network (PAN) for interconnecting devices over short distances. BTLE uses a modified version of the Bluetooth stack for communication, and as a result, BTLE devices and conventional Bluetooth devices are not directly compatible unless one device implements both protocols. Both the Bluetooth standard and the BTLE standard are maintained by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The present disclosure is provided in the context of an embodiment of BTLE using portions of the Bluetooth v4 specification related to BTLE. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the present teachings can be applied to other Bluetooth schemes such as the so-called Classic Bluetooth definitions also described in the Bluetooth v4 specification. It will be further understood that the present teachings can be applied to technologies that do not conform to the entire Bluetooth specification but still behave in a Bluetooth-like manner.

[0023]

[0023] For example, an advertising configuration based on the Bluetooth Low Energy Generic Access Profile (GAP) can also be used, and thus, a non-Bluetooth system that substantially has an advertising structure as shown in FIG. 1 can utilize the techniques of the present teachings. FIG. 1 shows an advertising structure according to which a peripheral (or slave or remote or secondary) device advertises that it can be utilized as a peripheral (or slave or remote or secondary) device during advertising periods separated by an advertising interval. This advertisement may include data for transmission, or may indicate the presence of data for transmission, or may have no data reference at all. To receive an advertisement, a central (or primary or control) device scans for advertisements during the period of a scan window. A plurality of scan windows are separated by a scan interval. The relative durations of the scan interval and the advertising interval are changed by determining to keep the interval for one device type constant and vary the other, or by determining to vary both, and that determination can be set by a set of standards or rules for implementing an advertising protocol. By varying the scan interval and the advertising interval relatively in this way, even if the first advertising period does not overlap with the first scan window, after several advertising intervals and scan intervals, an advertising period that overlaps with the scan window occurs, and as a result, a connection can be initiated between the central device and the peripheral device.

[0024]

[0024] A first example of a device environment 1 in which the present teachings can be utilized is shown in FIG. 2. In this example, several aerosol supply devices 2a-2e are present within the device environment 1. The various aerosol supply devices 2 are interconnected via a wireless link indicated by the dashed line 4. However, not all of the aerosol supply devices 2 are directly interconnected with each other's aerosol supply devices. Rather, the aerosol supply devices 2 are interconnected in a mesh-like pattern with a scatternet data flow. Thus, when a message is passed from aerosol supply device 2a to aerosol supply device 2d, it can be seen that the message is passed through aerosol supply devices 2b and 2c (and optionally 2e as well) in order to reach aerosol supply device 2d. From several perspectives, it may be appropriate to describe these interactions as piconets instead of using the description of meshing interactions or mesh-like interactions. For ease of reading, the term mesh is used throughout this specification.

[0025]

[0025] To achieve such a mesh-type communication structure, a device consistent with the present teachings can assume two or more personas and thus can belong to two or more BTLE communication relationships. Further, the device can operate as central or peripheral within one BTLE communication relationship and as peripheral within another BTLE communication relationship. To manage the simultaneity of these different personas, the device of the present teachings can operate to switch between two personas such that only one persona is adopted at a time. The switching between personas occurs frequently enough such that each communication relationship is maintained without the devices forming the communication relationships concluding that those communication relationships are unavailable and closing them.

[0026]

[0026] The switching between personas within a given device occurs on a time scale that matches the requirements from a particular application for that device. As shown with respect to FIG. 1 above, there is a random element to this switching. However, the time range within which this random element can operate is set according to the requirements of the application. For example, in order to provide high-speed data transmission via the device's mesh, persona switching occurs relatively frequently. For example, in embodiments based on interactions by a device associated with a user in a transient location (such as in the case of an END device in a social setting), each device may be configured to switch roles every few seconds. On the other hand, for higher power efficiency, and when the data transmission speed through the mesh is not as important, relatively infrequent persona switching can be used, which may be appropriate for switching roles only once or twice an hour. Also, the relative durations of the peripheral and central roles can be changed according to factors applicable to the embodiment's environment. Thus, while the peripheral persona is active, the device transmits data as part of an advertising packet, and while the central persona is active, the device waits for other devices to advertise data packets.

[0027]

[0027] Furthermore, a device according to the present teachings can have multiple central personas, and these multiple central personas can be used to communicate in different meshes, or to increase the total number of peripherals, and the device according to the present teachings can maintain multiple bonding relationships at once with these peripherals beyond the limitations imposed by the particular Bluetooth chipset being used. These multiple central personas can be executed using the persona switching scheme outlined above, or by implementing multiple BTLE MCUs.

[0028]

[0028] By using such a technique, for example, the interconnection between two aerosol supply devices 2 can be performed in a form where the aerosol supply device 2a operates as a central in the first BTLE relationship and the aerosol supply device 2b operates as a peripheral. The aerosol supply device 2b may also operate as a central in a second BTLE relationship that causes the aerosol supply device 2c to act as a peripheral. Subsequently, the aerosol supply device 2c may become central in a third BTLE relationship that includes the aerosol supply devices 2d and 2e as peripherals. Further, the aerosol supply device 2d may also become central in a fourth BTLE relationship that includes the aerosol supply device 2e as a peripheral. As can be understood, other orderings in which the aerosol supply device functions as a central and a peripheral can be implemented in various possible aerosol supply device relationships. For example, the connectivity shown in FIG. 1 can be alternatively realized by causing the aerosol supply device 2b to function as a central in a BTLE relationship where the aerosol supply devices 2a and 2c are peripherals, causing the aerosol supply device 2d to function as a central in a relationship where the aerosol supply device 2c is a peripheral, and causing the aerosol supply device 2e to function as a central in a relationship where the aerosol supply devices 2c and 2d are peripherals. As can be seen from the following considerations, the arrangement of the relationships for forming the mesh may be determined on an ad-hoc basis according to which aerosol supply device becomes central as a result of the relationship establishment process.

[0029]

[0029] The mesh scheme described in this disclosure enables small data packets or tokens to be exchanged between aerosol supply devices without the need to establish a full BTLE connection relationship between the aerosol supply devices. Thus, such tokens can flood within a mesh consisting of any two or more aerosol supply devices based on a transient or non-persistent aerosol supply device-to-aerosol supply device relationship where the peripheral-to-central relationship lasts only long enough to send and receive the token. This scheme does not prevent some or all of the aerosol supply devices within the mesh from establishing a connection relationship (also known as pairing). A scheme based on such a connection may be used, for example, in situations where it is necessary to transmit a larger amount of data between aerosol supply devices within the mesh than the amount of data that can be accommodated using tokens.

[0030]

[0030] Also, as shown in FIG. 2, an additional device 6 may be provided. The device 6 need not have knowledge or ability regarding the meshable interconnectivity of the aerosol supply device 2. Instead, it executes a communication protocol in a conventional manner. For example, the device 6 implements a conventional BTLE interface and can thus establish a connection 6 with one of the meshable aerosol supply devices 2 such that the device 6 operates as a central and the aerosol supply device 2 operates as a peripheral. Alternatively, the device may utilize the same meshable interconnectivity to communicate with one or more of the aerosol supply devices 2.

[0031]

[0031] Thus, it can be seen that the scheme of this teaching enables a Bluetooth or BTLE-based mesh to be established without a control device providing a core node for a star-shaped connection configuration. The mesh can interact with devices that are not of the mesh type, and this interaction can be continuous or intermittent, and the devices that are not of the mesh type need not have any role in establishing, controlling, or configuring the mesh.

[0032]

[0032] Thus, by establishing such a mesh network, various aerosol supply devices 2 can communicate with each other and can also pass information to other devices within the scope of using existing communication protocols such as BTLE. However, as can be seen from this consideration, the device uses a modified form of a Bluetooth hardware implementation having a Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) Notification to achieve this ad-hoc meshable behavior. As can be seen from this teaching, this modification complies with the standard communication protocol in many respects, but also includes additional functionality brought about, for example, by using a script for achieving the device interaction described herein. This can be achieved by implementing a modified hardware, firmware, or software implementation of the protocol by means of a controller circuit. The additional functionality may be introduced using modified hardware, which requires the use of non-standard hardware, but this modified hardware enables both modes to be provided in a full-time manner without the need to share personas in a time-division manner. The controller circuit may be a hardware circuit having functionality provided by its configuration, such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or may be a programmable microprocessor (μP) or microcontroller (MCU) operating under the control of firmware and / or software.

[0033] [

[0033] ]Figure 3 schematically shows the functional components of each aerosol supply device 2. Each aerosol supply device 2 has an antenna 10 for transmitting and receiving BTLE signals. The antenna 10 is connected to a wireless communication interface 12, for example, a BTLE control circuit 12 such as a BTLE MCU. The wireless communication interface 12 receives transmission data from the device core function processor 14 and provides received data to the device core function processor 14, and the device core function processor 14 operates together with, for example, a memory 16 and / or an I / O element 18 to execute the core computing function of the aerosol supply device 2. In Figure 3, the functional components of the aerosol supply device 2 are shown to interact directly in a link-based manner, but since Figure 3 is essentially a schematic, it will be understood that this description also includes alternative arrangements of the functional components based on, for example, bus-based interconnections. It will also be understood that one or more of the illustrated functional components may be provided by a single physical component, or that one functional component may be provided by multiple physical components.

[0034] [

[0034] ]Regarding the functional components related to the core computing function of the aerosol supply device 2, it will be understood that the nature and use of these components may vary depending on the nature of the device itself. In the example of the aerosol supply device 2, the core computing function may include the exchange of information tokens between aerosol supply devices, monitoring and reporting of the charge level and / or nicotine fluid level of the device, interaction of loss and discovery, and usage records. Therefore, it will also be understood that the core computing function may be different from the core function of the device perceived by the user. For example, in the case of an aerosol supply device, the core function perceived by the user is likely to be the aerosol generation function for delivering nicotine, and the computing function is additional, supplementary, or secondary to that core function perceived by the user.

[0035]

[0035] Next, FIG. 4 schematically shows a protocol structure implemented by the wireless communication interface 12 of each aerosol supply device 2. The protocol structure shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to a Bluetooth stack, which includes GATT (generic attribute protocol), GAP (generic access protocol), SM (service manager protocol), GATT / ATT (low energy attribute protocol), L2CAP (logical link control and adaptation layer), and a link layer. In this example, the link layer operates based on LERF (low energy radio frequency). As shown in FIG. 4, this protocol stack can be conceptually divided between a so-called host layer and a controller layer. The controller portion constitutes the lower layers required for physical layer packets and related timing. The controller portion of the stack may be implemented in the form of an integrated circuit such as a SoC (system-on-a-chip) package having an integrated Bluetooth radio.

[0036]

[0036] Implementations of layers relevant to understanding the present teachings include the link layer, L2CAP, GAP, and low energy attribute protocol.

[0037]

[0037] The link layer controller is responsible for low-level communication via the physical interface. The link layer controller manages the sequence and timing of transmitted and received frames, and uses the link layer protocol to communicate with other devices regarding connection parameters and data flow control. The link layer controller also processes frames transmitted and received while the device is in the advertising mode or scanner mode. The link layer controller also provides a gatekeeping function to limit exposure and data exchange with other devices. When filtering is set, the link layer controller maintains a "white list" of permitted devices and ignores all requests for data exchange or advertising information from other devices. In addition to providing security features, this can also help manage power consumption. The link layer controller uses a host controller interface (HCI) to communicate with the upper layers of the stack if the layer implementation is not located in the same place.

[0038]

[0038] The logical link control and adaptation layer protocol (L2CAP) components provide data services to upper layer protocols such as the security manager protocol and the attribute protocol. The L2CAP components multiplex protocols, split data into packets small enough for the link layer controller, and conversely, are responsible for a protocol that performs demultiplexing and reconstruction operations. L2CAP has a backend interface for GAP, and this backend interface defines comprehensive procedures related to the discovery of BTLE devices and the link management aspects of connecting to other BTLE devices. GAP provides an interface for applications to set and enable different operating modes such as advertising or scanning, and also to initiate, establish, and manage connections with other devices. Therefore, GAP is used to control connections and advertising in Bluetooth. GAP controls the visibility of devices and determines the ways in which two devices can (or cannot) interact with each other.

[0039]

[0039] The low energy attribute protocol (ATT) is optimized for the small packet sizes used in Bluetooth low energy, enabling an attribute server to publish a set of attributes and values associated with the attributes to an attribute client. These attributes can be discovered, read, and written by a peer device. GATT provides a framework for using ATT.

[0040]

[0040] As is apparent from the above considerations, according to the present teachings, the use of the advertising process facilitates the mesh-type interaction of multiple devices, enabling, for example, the dissemination of information among an unlimited number of devices for the purpose of passing data across distances and time.

[0041]

[0041] In the context of this example, an application operating on a device that communicates via the mesh-type structure described herein may request or wait for a specific scan response payload in response to a scan response transmitted by that device. This approach is used in conventional Bluetooth implementations to transmit details of the device name and other identification information. However, in this approach, the scan response is defined as a 31-byte data packet, also called a token, which is used to share ID information related to variables that trigger specific responses or actions when read by an application. The timing of such requests is shown in FIG. 5. As can be seen from this figure, a scan response request is transmitted by the central device during the advertising interval, and the scan response data is provided by the peripheral before the next advertising interval begins.

[0042]

[0042] By implementing the teachings herein, the data exchanged via the physical layer becomes indistinguishable from normal BTLE traffic at that level. Also, while higher layers are modified to accommodate this meshable interaction of the devices, applications that have the non-mesh type enabled can communicate via BTLE using devices that conform to this teaching.

[0043]

[0043] Also, a device that uses only a conventional BTLE stack (such as device 6 shown in FIG. 2 above) can communicate with the aerosol supply device 2 using the meshable method of the present disclosure. At this time, the conventional BTLE device can receive data from the meshable aerosol supply device 2 without the BTLE stack in the conventional BTLE device having any knowledge about the mesh-type interaction of the aerosol supply device 2. The data received by the conventional BTLE device may be from the directly connected aerosol supply device 2 that is the source, or may be from an aerosol supply device that was previously connected to the directly connected aerosol supply device 2 via a mesh and is the source, and the data was stored or cached in the meshable aerosol supply device 2. The source of such mesh transfer data may be another mesh-type aerosol supply device 2, or may be another conventional BTLE device that is or was connected to the mesh-type aerosol supply device.

[0044]

[0044] Figure 6 schematically shows the behavior of each aerosol supply device 2 related to managing the dual persona nature of each aerosol supply device 2 to establish connections as both central and peripheral. Since BTLE provides two operating modes in the presentation layer, one operating mode corresponds to each of the central and peripheral roles, but the aerosol supply device 2 in this example alternates between these two modes, broadcasting an advertiser to advertise its capabilities as a peripheral and performing observer activity to search for other aerosol supply devices that can become peripherals and to which the device can connect as a central. While operating as an observer, the aerosol supply device can operate based on the received advertiser advertisements to establish a connection as a central according to normal BTLE behavior, as described, for example, in the BTLE Generic Access Profile (GAP). While performing advertiser broadcasting, the aerosol supply device can respond to observed aerosol supply devices that want to become central and establish a connection as a peripheral. As discussed above, this time division between the central and peripheral personas continues after the connection between the devices is established. This enables a single device to operate in both modes on an ongoing basis, despite being time multiplexed based on a single BTLE MCU within the device.

[0045]

[0045] Thus, an aerosol supply device configured to provide meshable interactions in this example employs two operating modes related to the dual persona nature of the aerosol supply device using a modified GAP in combination with the standard BTLE GATT (Generic Attribute profile) specification. As will be discussed below, this aerosol supply device alternates between advertising as a peripheral and waiting as a central so that it can easily connect with other aerosol supply devices in both the central mode and the peripheral mode. Usually, the device already indicates the identity of the mesh in that it may be pre-programmed to use a specific UUID associated with a specific device mesh (referred to as a "service" in BTLE terms) that the device intends to participate in. For example, all END devices from a particular brand, type, or manufacturer may be programmed to use the same UUID. In this context, to identify the active persona or mode, the aerosol supply device uses an ID code that uniquely identifies the aerosol supply device within the mesh. The ID and UUID (substantially a mesh ID or group ID) codes are held within the device's firmware and are inserted into the advertising packet along with the data that constitutes the token and may also be referenced in the scan response request and scan response message as part of the advertising under GAP interactions with and between devices.

[0046]

[0046] While operating as a central, the aerosol supply device can assume the states of a scanner, initiator, and master, and while operating as a peripheral, the aerosol supply device can assume the states of an advertiser and a slave.

[0047]

[0047] FIG. 6 also shows the relative advertising times and observation times of multiple aerosol supply devices. The illustrated scheme tends to avoid (but not necessarily eliminate) multiple aerosol supply devices within each other's range from broadcasting simultaneously. In this example, the observation duration is controlled to be within the range of 0.01 ms to 5 s, and the advertising period may be a fixed duration within the range of 0.5 s to 10 s. In other examples, the advertising duration may be variable, and the observation duration may fall within a range different from, overlapping with, or a subset of the exemplary ranges given above. Such time offsets can be achieved in several ways, such as by adjustment between aerosol supply devices or by adjusting the length of the intervals, for example, by each aerosol supply device providing irregular time intervals between each mode transition. Such adjustment of the length of the intervals can be done by selecting one of several possible interval lengths for each interval or by using some form of interval duration random number generator.

[0048]

[0048] When the aerosol supply device is observed for the purpose of establishing a central role within the mesh, this aerosol supply device operates in exactly the same way as an aerosol supply device without mesh-forming capabilities when waiting for an advertisement from a potential peripheral aerosol supply device. Thus, an aerosol supply device operating in this mode can also act as a central with respect to a conventional BTLE device without mesh-forming capabilities of the present teachings.

[0049] When the aerosol supply device advertises for the purpose of establishing its role as peripheral within the mesh, this aerosol supply device advertises using a structure based on BTLE GAP data. However, the BTLE GAP structure is modified to include mesh-specific information that can be recognized by mesh-capable devices that receive the advertisement. The mesh-specific information can include fields such as the following. · ID of the advertising aerosol supply device. · Packet sequence number of the packet waiting to be transmitted from that aerosol supply device. This is used to avoid duplication, depending on the application. This may simply be the packet sequence of the originating packet of that aerosol supply device (for example, if the application only requires flooding a payload or token from the advertising aerosol supply device to multiple other aerosol supply devices), but may be unique for a given mesh (group ID), time window, and / or other uniqueness scope, according to the requirements of the application. · Source aerosol supply device identifier of the packet having that packet sequence number. To reflect that the currently passed token may be originated from an aerosol supply device different from the aerosol supply device currently passing it. · Destination aerosol supply device identifier for the packet having that packet sequence number. Depending on the embodiment, this may be a single aerosol supply device (corresponding to some form of routed operation) or "all" aerosol supply devices (corresponding to a flooding type of operation). · Group ID of the source aerosol supply device for the packet having that sequence number. This is used to enable multiple mesh networks to coexist within the same physical space (as described above, this group ID typically uses a BTLE UUID, but another group ID field can be defined and used as needed). · The duration of existence or expiration time of the packet having the sequence number. · Payload. Data specific to a particular application - for example, data related to the END device application.

[0050]

[0050] According to the BTLE data processing method, if a given application payload item is too large to be a single packet, the payload item is split and distributed into multiple packets and then reconstructed at each destination aerosol supply device. In such an application, a connection may be established between aerosol supply devices to provide more transmission management for this large amount of data.

[0051]

[0051] FIG. 7 schematically shows the connectivity pattern among several aerosol supply devices N1, N2, N3, and N4. In this figure, aerosol supply device N1 is outside the direct communication range with aerosol supply device N4. Different operating modes of the aerosol supply devices are represented by the control chips (CC: control chip) 22 and mesh chips (MC: mesh chip) 24 of the respective elements of aerosol supply devices N1 to N4. The control chip represents the aerosol supply device MCU that operates to communicate with a conventional BTLE device such as device 6 shown in FIG. 2. The mesh chip represents the aerosol supply device MCU that operates in both central mode and peripheral mode for communication through the mesh.

[0052]

[0052] In the example of FIG. 7, the aerosol supply device N1 has a set of bits in an advertisement data field indicating that the aerosol supply device has data to be transmitted. According to the scheduling of advertising and observation at each aerosol supply device, the aerosol supply device N2 becomes the first aerosol supply device within the direct communication range with N1 and waits as a central to follow the aerosol supply device N1 having an advertisement data field set. Thus, when the aerosol supply device N2 is in the central mode, it receives the advertising data that N1 has advertised while N1 is in the peripheral mode. This advertising data received by N2 may be used by N2 in connection with an application that either operates on N2 or is associated with N2. In addition to or instead of this, the aerosol supply device N2 can cache the advertising data to be prepared to forward it as advertising data at a future opportunity when the aerosol supply device N2 adopts a peripheral persona. Thereby, the advertising data generated by N1 can be passed forward as advertising data from N2, and then that advertising data is received by the aerosol supply device N3 when N2 advertises as a peripheral and N3 is waiting as a central. Then, the advertising data generated by N1 can be used and / or passed by N3 and finally reaches N4 in the same way.

[0053]

[0053] In this embodiment, it should be noted that the advertising data effectively floods the entire mesh. Thus, if N2 is advertising as a peripheral while N1 is incidentally waiting as a central, the advertising data returns to N1 and is additionally forwarded forward through the mesh to N3. In this situation, either the aerosol supply device N1, or any application operating on or related to N1 may simply discard the returned advertising data. In some embodiments, the aerosol supply device or application may utilize the returned advertising data in some way, for example, using the time between transmission and reception as some form of random interval generator, or performing mesh diagnostics.

[0054]

[0054] As described above, transmission through the mesh can be made in a more structured form using the connections established between aerosol supply devices. In such a situation, each pair of aerosol supply devices interacts through the established connection, and persona switching at each aerosol supply device enables data received in a connection where one persona is a member to be forwarded forward using a connection where the other persona is a member.

[0055]

[0055] Control over whether data is sent to all aerosol supply devices (flooding) or only to selected aerosol supply devices (routing) can be achieved in several ways. If the data is set to be automatically transmitted to all aerosol supply devices without restriction, this can be the default state set in the aerosol supply device. If the data is to be sent only to the aerosol supply devices that are currently active within the mesh, this can be achieved either as the default behavior setting in the aerosol supply device or as an application-specific setting, where the application recognizes the mesh and provides control information to the communication stack to indicate the data transmission range. If the data is to be sent only to a specific aerosol supply device, this can be achieved with an application-specific setting, where the application recognizes the mesh and provides control information to the communication stack to indicate the data transmission range. This example is configured to operate based on the flooding method so that data is automatically transferred to all currently meshed devices.

[0056]

[0056] FIG. 8 provides further explanation of the meshing behavior among aerosol supply devices. In this example, there are a number of aerosol supply devices N11 - N19. The figure in FIG. 8 represents a given snapshot in time, and different ones of these aerosol supply devices are shown as currently adopting different personas among the respective peripheral personas and the central persona. At the point in time shown in FIG. 8, three aerosol supply devices are configured to be in the central mode, and these are aerosol supply devices N12, N16, and N19, and the remaining aerosol supply devices are configured to be in the peripheral mode. As can be seen from the above considerations, when any given instance of the same aerosol supply device is present at the same location, the exact number and identity of the aerosol supply devices configured to be in the central mode depend on factors such as the scheduling of its advantaging / observation period by each aerosol supply device, and the relative position of each aerosol supply device compared to any other aerosol supply device already configured as either in the central mode or the peripheral mode. The exchange of data tokens is indicated in the figure by the presence of flags, and the flag is passed from N11, which includes this data token in the advantaging data and transmits it, to N12, which is waiting in the central mode to receive the advantaging data. This token will then be included in the advantaging data from N12 when N12 adopts a peripheral persona. Thereby, the token is passed forward through the mesh and can ultimately reach each aerosol supply device within the mesh at least once.

[0057] As can be seen from the above considerations, the mesh can change dynamically based on the number and position changes of the aerosol supply devices within the mesh. For example, if some aerosol supply devices move away from the rest of the devices in the mesh, as a result, those devices will lose communication with all the aerosol supply devices within the mesh and leave the mesh. Similarly, aerosol supply devices that are not active or have entered a power-saving non-wireless mode will lose communication with other aerosol supply devices within the mesh and leave the mesh. Further, when a new aerosol supply device that was previously not part of the mesh enters the range of the aerosol supply devices within the mesh, or when the power is turned on within the range of the aerosol supply devices within the mesh, it can join the mesh. Also, as can be seen from the above considerations of persona switching, an aerosol supply device that is already within the mesh and operating as a peripheral within the mesh will also operate as a central within the mesh at different times. In an embodiment where the mesh adopts a connection relationship such that a particular aerosol supply device has a role defined as central in some connections and a peripheral role in other connections, if an aerosol supply device changes its position relative to the aerosol supply devices within the mesh, all the established connections may stop operating within the range for the new position, so that aerosol supply device may effectively leave the mesh. Then, such an aerosol supply device resumes attempting both observation and advantaging until it establishes one or more new connection relationships with other aerosol supply devices in the mesh connected by the connection.

[0058] As will be understood by those skilled in the art, Bluetooth and BTLE provide security for communication couplings between nodes. This does not apply to the transmission of purely advertising-based tokens in the form of advertising data, unless such transmission of the token leads to the establishment of a coupling relationship. In this example, even when a coupling relationship is used, the aerosol supply device can be configured to establish such a coupling without requiring user input to verify the reliability between different aerosol supply devices or between other devices. Rather, in this example, a particular type of aerosol supply device can be configured to pre-trust all other aerosol supply devices of that particular type. For example, each aerosol supply device can be configured to trust all other devices that are identified as aerosol supply devices from a given manufacturer, group of manufacturers, brand, group of brands, model, group of models, or that comply with a given aerosol supply device standard or group of standards.

[0059]

[0059] Such a trust pattern can be supplemented with inherent control over the amount of personal data that the device stores / transmits is permitted. For example, the aerosol supply device may be set by the owner so as not to retain any information identifying the owner or to prevent sharing of information. This does not prevent END devices from interacting with other END devices and exchanging information that can be used for the lost / found function, nor does it prevent END devices from exchanging information about the END device itself to enable group interactions between END devices of the same brand or model, for example, as discussed below.

[0060]

[0060] In other examples, trust may be an explicit function for the user, and the user may be asked to actively accept or request to establish a communication coupling with another aerosol supply device.

[0061]

[0061] For example, when a particular aerosol supply device or other device is set by a user to communicate with the user's conventional BTLE device, such as a smartphone, a tablet, or a tablet device, the trust relationship between the user's meshable device and the conventional BTLE device may be security protected and a communication connection may be established in the same manner as other conventional BTLE pairings.

[0062]

[0062] Therefore, by using the method of the present disclosure, a device that can adopt a dual persona structure and can interact with other similar devices in a mesh type can be provided. In this dual persona structure, the device can operate in a time-division basis as both a master (central) and a slave (peripheral) to communicate with other similar devices. On the other hand, it will be understood that the device can also operate as a slave / peripheral with respect to a conventional device without dual persona capabilities.

[0063]

[0063] Using this method, device-to-device interactions between a range of devices can be facilitated for a range of purposes. As described above, an example of a device that can have such device-to-device interactions using the mesh type or piconet connection form method of the above example is an electronic nicotine delivery device (END device).

[0064]

[0064] The meshable interconnectivity of the aerosol supply device 2A with one or more other devices as described above may also consider connectionless state interactions, and connectionless state packets are generated, transmitted, and received by each device according to the examples described above with reference to FIGS. 1-8.

[0065]

[0065] In an exemplary system, the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to operate the wireless communication interface 12 in a standby mode. In other words, as described above, for a given aerosol supply device 2a, the central persona is active, and as a result, the aerosol supply device 2a waits for an advertising data packet from another device. While operating in the standby mode, the aerosol supply device 2a may receive data in the form of one or more data packets from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device 2b. In this exemplary system, the data received from another aerosol supply device 2b is transmitted as part of an advertising packet by the other aerosol supply device 2b. Alternatively, an advertising packet may be transmitted by another aerosol supply device 2b, and in response, the aerosol supply device 2a transmits a connectionless request packet to the other aerosol supply device 2b. The received data from the other aerosol supply device 2b is then transmitted as part of a connectionless response packet to the aerosol supply device 2a.

[0066]

[0066] The data received from another aerosol supply device 2b includes information describing the usage characteristics of the other aerosol supply device 2b. For example, the usage characteristics may include one or more values selected from the group including battery characteristics, aerosol generation characteristics, aerosol medium characteristics, aerosol generation event characteristics, and error or abnormal behavior characteristics.

[0067]

[0067] The battery characteristics may include the current charge state of the battery of the aerosol supply device 2b, when the battery was last charged, the number of charge cycles the battery has received, the duration of the previous charge cycle, the average duration of the charge cycles, and the battery threshold before charging is required.

[0068]

[0068] Aerosol generation characteristics may include average puff duration, overall puff duration, total number of puffs, number of puffs per output profile (e.g., number of puffs for a high-output profile and number of puffs for a low-output profile), currently selected output profile, and average number of times the aerosol supply device 2b is used per day.

[0069]

[0069] Aerosol medium characteristics may include the type and / or flavor of the currently used atomizer, and / or the type and / or flavor of the atomizer most frequently used with the aerosol supply device 2b.

[0070]

[0070] Aerosol generation event characteristics may include the average start-up time or operating time of the aerosol supply device 2b, average start-up time or operating time, when the overheat protection mode occurred last time, and the number of times the overheat protection mode occurred.

[0071]

[0071] Error or abnormal behavior characteristics may include error codes generated by the aerosol supply device 2b, e.g., the number of times the puff received from the user is too short for the aerosol supply device to respond (e.g., no aerosol is generated), and details of all abnormalities or unexpected behaviors from the aerosol supply device 2b when each error code is generated.

[0072]

[0072] The usage characteristics of each aerosol supply device are recorded and stored in memory during the use of the aerosol supply device. For example, the aerosol supply device 2b generates usage characteristics during its use, stores the generated usage characteristics in its own memory, and then transmits the usage characteristics in the data packet to the aerosol supply device 2a. Similarly, the aerosol supply device 2a generates its own usage characteristics during its use and stores the generated usage characteristics in the memory 16.

[0073]

[0073] In this example, the data received from another aerosol supply device 2b is optional and includes information about the aerosol supply device 2b such as the product type, batch number, serial number, and / or UUID (or, more generally, any information identifying the aerosol supply device 2b), and the position of the aerosol supply device 2b when the data was transmitted by the aerosol supply device 2b, for example, the position in the form of GPS coordinates or a map grid reference.

[0074]

[0074] The aerosol supply device 2a stores the data received from another aerosol supply device 2b in its memory 16. The data may also be timestamped to record when it was received from the other aerosol supply device 2b. The processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a also determines whether the position of the aerosol supply device 2b when the data was transmitted by the aerosol supply device 2b is included in the received data, and if not, the processor 14 may edit the received data to include the position of the aerosol supply device 2a when the data was received, for example, in the form of GPS coordinates or a map grid reference. After a predetermined amount of time, such as 1 hour, 24 hours, or 7 days, has elapsed since the data was stored in the memory 16, the data may be deleted from the memory 16.

[0075]

[0075] In this example, before storing the received data in the memory 16, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a optionally searches the received data for, for example, the serial number and / or UUID of the source aerosol supply device 2b, and searches the data in the memory 16 for data associated with the same serial number and / or UUID, to determine whether data from a specific aerosol supply device 2b has already been stored in the memory 16. If it is determined that data from a specific aerosol supply device 2b has already been stored in the memory 16, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to overwrite the data from the specific aerosol supply device 2b already stored in the memory 16 with the data most recently received from the specific aerosol supply device 2b. Alternatively, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to discard the data most recently received from the specific aerosol supply device 2b, or to add the data most recently received from the specific aerosol supply device 2b to the data received from the specific aerosol supply device 2b already stored in the memory 16. For example, if the data already stored in the memory 16 is from a first time interval and the most recently received data is from a second different time interval, the most recently received data can be added to the data already stored in the memory 16 in order to provide more detailed usage characteristics for the aerosol supply device 2b.

[0076]

[0076] In this example, the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to store in its memory 16 data from a predetermined number of aerosol supply devices, for example, 5 or 10 devices. Thus, before storing the received data in the memory 16, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a determines the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of the data previously received and stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a, for example, by searching for the serial numbers and / or UUIDs of the source aerosol supply devices within the data and counting the number of unique serial numbers or UUIDs present in the memory 16. If it is determined that the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of the previously received data is less than the predetermined number, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to store in its memory 16 data received from another aerosol supply device 2b. If it is determined that the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of the previously received data is equal to or greater than the predetermined number, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to, for example, examine the time stamps associated with each data packet, find the data packet with the oldest time stamp, and thereby determine the oldest data packet in the memory 16 by indicating that the data packet is the oldest and was stored in the memory 16. The processor 14 then deletes the data packet that the processor 14 has determined to be the oldest, and data received from another aerosol supply device 2b is configured to be stored in the memory 16 in place of the deleted data packet. In a further example, the aerosol supply device 2a may have a maximum storage limit for storing data, and the maximum number of devices for which data can be stored is limited by the size of the stored data for each device. In this example, the same basic principle of deleting the oldest stored data may be applied by examining the remaining available storage space, instead of (or in addition to) the number of devices in which data was previously received and stored.

[0077]

[0077] While operating in the standby mode, the aerosol supply device 2a may receive data from the wireless communication interfaces of a plurality of aerosol supply devices, for example, each of the aerosol supply devices 2b to 2e. In such an example, the aerosol supply device 2a determines whether to save the received data, receives data from a single aerosol supply device, saves the received data as described above if necessary, and then is configured to receive data from the next aerosol supply device. This process may be repeated for each data packet received from another aerosol supply device as long as the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a is operating in the standby mode. Optionally, the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to operate in the standby mode by default and operates in the standby mode unless otherwise configured by the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a.

[0078]

[0078] In the above example where the aerosol supply device 2a receives and saves data from other aerosol supply devices, the aerosol supply device 2a can collect data from any other aerosol supply device within a transmission range of, for example, up to 1 m, 10 m, 100 m, or farther.

[0079]

[0079] Using the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a, generate a connectionless state advertising packet including information regarding the identity and advertising state of the aerosol supply device 2a. The information regarding the identity of the aerosol supply device 2a may include the serial number and / or UUID of the aerosol supply device 2a. Then, the connectionless state advertising packet is transmitted via the wireless communication interface 12.

[0080] In response to the transmission of an advertising packet in a connectionless state, a request packet in a connectionless state from the remote wireless device 6 is received via the wireless communication interface 12. The remote wireless device 6 may be a mobile communication device, such as a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet or tablet device, a host or gateway device, or a beacon such as a BLE beacon. The mobile communication device 6 may have a specific application installed so as to be able to communicate with the aerosol supply device.

[0081] In response to the step of receiving the request packet, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to generate a response packet in a connectionless state using the wireless communication interface 12 and transmit the response packet via the wireless communication interface 12.

[0082] At least one of the advertising packet and the response packet includes received data from the memory 16 and data generated by the aerosol supply device 2a and stored in the memory 16. In this example, the data generated by the aerosol supply device 2a includes information describing the usage characteristics of the aerosol supply device 2a. For example, the usage characteristics may include one or more values selected from the group including battery characteristics, aerosol generation characteristics, aerosol medium characteristics, aerosol generation event characteristics, and error or abnormal behavior characteristics. The data generated by the aerosol supply device 2a may include the same information as the data received from another aerosol supply device 2b, or may include different information. For example, the data received from another aerosol supply device 2b may include only the aerosol generation event characteristics for that particular aerosol supply device 2b, while the data generated by the aerosol supply device 2a may include the usage characteristics for the aerosol supply device 2a including values for each of the battery characteristics, aerosol generation characteristics, aerosol medium characteristics, aerosol generation event characteristics, and error or abnormal behavior characteristics. The processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may also determine the location of the aerosol supply device 2a when the data is transmitted and edit the data to include the location of the aerosol supply device 2a, for example, in the form of GPS coordinates or map grid references, so as to be transmitted.

[0083]

[0083] In this example, at least one of the advertising packet and the response packet, which includes received data from the memory 16 and data generated by the aerosol supply device 2a and stored in the memory 16, does not necessarily include all of the received data stored in the memory 16. For example, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to transmit all of the data stored in the memory 16 regarding the usage characteristics of its own aerosol supply device 14, but may also be configured to transmit only selected ones of the received data stored in the memory 16. The selected ones may include only selected values, such as only battery characteristics or only aerosol medium characteristics, or may include values from each of the groups of usage characteristics in a less fine-grained manner so as to be less than all of the received data stored in the memory 16. For example, if the received data includes 10 values for an error code generated by the aerosol supply device 2b, the processor 14 may be configured to include only 2 to 5 values for the error code in the transmission data packet. Alternatively, or in addition, the processor 14 may be configured to include only, for example, every second, third, tenth, or hundredth value for each or one particular usage characteristic. The processor may be configured to include only 10 values for each usage characteristic, for example. Then, the processor may be configured to divide this by 10 to determine the number of values for each usage characteristic of the received data and to determine the interval at which to take the values. Or, the processor 14 may be configured to take only one or more of the average value, maximum value, minimum value, median value, and / or mode value for each usage characteristic. The processor 14 may also be configured to include in the data to be stored and / or transmitted any value indicating an outlier or abnormal value. For example, the processor 14 may be configured to include the average value for a given usage characteristic together with values above or below a predetermined value, for example, any value greater than or less than 2 standard deviations from the average value.

[0084] [

[0084] ]The above example shows that, as long as the remote wireless device 6 interacts with a single aerosol supply device 2a, a plurality of different aerosol supply devices 2a, 2b can receive the source data. This enables the remote wireless device to receive data from a plurality of aerosol supply devices as long as the remote wireless device is within the transmission range of a single aerosol supply device. The remote wireless device 6 may be fixed at a specific location, such as a building wall or a billboard. Then, the remote wireless device 6 can directly receive data from any aerosol supply device that enters the transmission range of the remote wireless device 6, and the received data may be from a plurality of aerosol supply devices that are the source. Therefore, the remote wireless device 6 can capture data from a plurality of different aerosol supply devices that are not within the transmission range of the remote wireless device 6. Furthermore, the consumer or owner of each aerosol supply device 2a will not be aware of any data transmission or reception taking place.

[0085] [

[0085] ]The remote wireless device 6 stores the data received from the aerosol supply device 2a in a memory associated with the remote wireless device 6. Alternatively, the remote wireless device 6 may be a relay device, and the data received from the aerosol supply device may be rearranged and transmitted to another device using a conventional wireless communication protocol, such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, WiFi, or through a cellular network.

[0086] As described above with respect to when aerosol supply device 2a receives data from another aerosol supply device 2b, remote wireless device 6 may timestamp the received data to record when the data was received from aerosol supply device 2a. Remote wireless device 6 may also determine whether the location of aerosol supply device 2a when the data was transmitted by aerosol supply device 2a is included in the received data, and if not, wireless device 6 may edit the received data to include the location of remote wireless device 6 when the data was received, in the form of, for example, GPS coordinates or map grid references. Optionally, when a predetermined amount of time, e.g., 1 hour or 24 hours, has elapsed since the data was stored in the memory of remote wireless device 6, the data is deleted from the memory of remote wireless device 6.

[0087]

[0087] Optionally, before storing the received data in the memory of the remote wireless device 6, the remote wireless device 6 searches for, for example, the serial number and / or UUID of each aerosol supply device of the source in the received data, and searches for data associated with the same serial number and / or UUID in the memory of the remote wireless device 6 to determine whether any data of the aerosol supply device included in the received data has already been stored in the memory of the remote wireless device 6. If it is determined that data from a particular aerosol supply device has already been stored in the memory of the remote wireless device 6, the remote wireless device 6 may be configured to overwrite the data of the particular aerosol supply device that is already stored in the memory with the data that was most recently received and generated from the particular aerosol supply device. Alternatively, the remote wireless device 6 may be configured to discard the data that was most recently received and generated from a particular aerosol supply device, or to add the data that was most recently received and generated from a particular aerosol supply device to the data of the particular aerosol supply device that is already stored in the memory. For example, if the data already stored in the memory of the remote wireless device 6 is from a first time interval and the most recently received data is from a second different time interval, the most recently received data can be added to the data already stored in the memory of the remote wireless device 6 in order to provide more detailed usage characteristics for a particular aerosol supply device.

[0088]

[0088] The position data for each aerosol supply device within the data received by the remote wireless device 6 can be used to determine the movement of each aerosol supply device and their corresponding users. For example, if each packet of data from a particular aerosol supply device 2a includes position information and a timestamp, the remote wireless device 6 can generate a history of where the aerosol supply device 2a was at a particular point in time and determine whether any patterns exist. For example, if the aerosol supply device 2a is at a particular location at the same time each day of the week, it suggests whether the owner of the aerosol supply device 2a is at work or at home. In another example, any interaction patterns between individual aerosol supply devices can be determined using the device that is the source of the data within each data packet received by the remote wireless device 6. For example, if each data packet received by the remote wireless device 6 from a particular aerosol supply device 2a always or periodically includes data whose source is another particular aerosol supply device 2b, the remote wireless device 6 may determine that the users of these two particular aerosol supply devices 2a, 2b are friends or colleagues who regularly act together, or that the users of these two particular aerosol supply devices 2a, 2b live in nearby locations and regularly pass by each other. The position information and timestamps associated with the data from each aerosol supply device can also be helpful in making this determination.

[0089]

[0089] FIG. 9 shows a method of an aerosol supply device. In step S9-1, the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to operate in a standby mode. In step S9-2, the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a receives data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device 2b. In step S9-3, the received data is stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a. In step S9-4, an advertising packet in a connectionless state including information regarding the identity and advertising state of the aerosol supply device 2a is generated using the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a. In step S9-5, the advertising packet is transmitted via the wireless communication interface 12. In step S9-6, a connectionless state request packet from the remote wireless device 6 is received via the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a. In step S9-7, a connectionless state response packet is generated using the connection interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a, and in step S9-8, the response packet is transmitted via the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a. In this embodiment, at least the response packet includes received data from another aerosol supply device 2b stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a, and also data generated by the aerosol supply device 2a stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a (the received data may also be included in the advertising packet).

[0090] Although steps S9-4 to S9-8 have been described and shown as occurring after steps S9-1 to S9-3, it should be understood that steps S9-4 to S9-8 may occur at any time with respect to steps S9-1 to S9-3. That is, for example, advertising packets in a connectionless state may be generated and transmitted periodically, and this may be before or after the aerosol supply device 2a receives data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device 2b.

[0091]

[0091] The method shown above focuses on the transmission of response packets from the aerosol supply device 2a. However, it should be understood that the aerosol supply device 2b (or any other aerosol supply device) may also transmit a response packet to the wireless device 6. For example, before step S9-6, the wireless device 6 identifies an aerosol supply device within the range of the wireless device 6 (e.g., by measuring the signal strength of the advertising packet transmitted in step S9-5 and determining that the aerosol supply device is within the range if the measured signal strength is stronger than a threshold). Accordingly, the wireless device 6 transmits a connectionless state request packet to the identified aerosol supply device (which may be by a broadcast signal or a unicast signal). Subsequently, each aerosol supply device receives the connectionless state request packet in step S9-6, and each aerosol supply device continues with steps S9-7 and S9-8. Subsequently, the wireless device 6 receives a connectionless state response packet from the aerosol supply device.

[0092]

[0092] Furthermore, it should be understood that the transmission of the connectionless state request packet from the wireless device 6 may not be caused by the reception of the advertising packet in step S9-5 by the wireless device 6. Instead, the wireless device 6 may periodically transmit the connectionless state request packet to cause any aerosol supply device that receives the connectionless state request packet to transmit the connectionless state response packet (i.e., to execute step S9-7). In this case, before step S9-7, the aerosol supply device determines whether it is within the range of the wireless device 6 (for example, by measuring the signal strength of the request packet transmitted from the wireless device 6 and determining that the aerosol supply device is within the range if the measured signal strength is stronger than a threshold).

[0093]

[0093] Furthermore, it should be understood that in other embodiments, steps S9-5 to S9-8 may be omitted. For example, if the advertising packet generated in step S9-4 includes received data from the aerosol supply device 2b, after step S9-5, the transmitted advertising packet is received by the wireless device 6. The wireless device 6 is configured to identify (and optionally store) the received data regarding the aerosol supply device 2b in addition to the data regarding the aerosol supply device 2a from the advertising packet.

[0094]

[0094] FIG. 10 shows a method for an aerosol supply device that optionally forms part of the method shown in FIG. 9. As can be seen from FIG. 10, steps S10-1, S10-2, and S10-8 of the method shown in FIG. 10 respectively correspond to steps S9-1, S9-2, and S9-3 of the method shown in FIG. 9. Therefore, following the completion of step S10-8, the method may continue with step S9-4 of the method shown in FIG. 9. Alternatively, the method shown in FIG. 10 may be repeated until a predetermined time and then continue with step S9-4 of the method shown in FIG. 9. In step S10-1, the wireless communication interface 12 of 2a of the aerosol supply device is configured to operate in a standby mode. In step S10-2, the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a receives data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device 2b. In step S10-3, it is determined whether data from another aerosol supply device 2b is currently stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a. For example, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to search the received data for the serial number and / or UUID of the source aerosol supply device 2b and search the memory 16 for data associated with the same serial number and / or UUID. If it is determined that data from another aerosol supply device 2b is currently stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a, the method continues to step S10-4, where the data from another aerosol supply device 2b currently stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a is deleted. Then, the method continues to step S10-8, where the received data is stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a.

[0095] Alternatively, in step S10-3, if it is determined that data from another aerosol supply device 2b is not currently stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a, the method proceeds to step S10-5, where the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of data previously received and stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device is determined. For example, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to determine the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of data previously received and stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a by searching for the serial numbers and / or UUIDs of the source aerosol supply devices within the data and counting the number of unique serial numbers or UUIDs present within the memory 16. The method proceeds to step S10-5, where it is determined whether the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of data previously received and stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a is greater than or equal to a predetermined number. If it is determined that the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of data previously received and stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a is greater than or equal to a predetermined number, the method proceeds to step S10-7, where the oldest data is deleted from the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a. For example, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to examine the timestamps associated with each data packet stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a to determine which data packet is the oldest. The processor 14 is then configured to delete the data packet determined to be the oldest. The method then proceeds to step S10-8, where the received data is stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a. Alternatively, in step S10-3, if it is determined that the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of data previously received and stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a is less than a predetermined number, the method directly proceeds to step S10-8, where the received data is stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a.

[0096]

[0096] In this way, the method shown in FIG. 10 ensures that only the most recent data from other aerosol supply devices is stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a while limiting the amount of data stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a. This also reduces the amount of memory required for the aerosol supply device 2a.

[0097]

[0097] If the method shown in FIG. 10 is continued together with the method shown in FIG. 9, it is guaranteed that the data transmitted to the remote wireless device 6 will be from the most recent interaction with other aerosol devices. This also limits the amount of data that needs to be transmitted to the remote wireless device 6, thereby reducing the required power consumption for the aerosol supply device and shortening the amount of time spent transmitting the data. This increases the likelihood that the data will be successfully received by the remote wireless device 6 while the aerosol supply device 2a and the remote wireless device 6 are within a transmission range of, for example, up to 1 m, 10 m, 100 m, or further apart. For example, the consumer may carry the aerosol supply device 2a by hand or in a pocket, and as the consumer walks into or past the transmission range of the remote wireless device 6, the consumer may not notice that an interaction is taking place, and the aerosol supply device 2a can transmit data to the remote wireless device 6.

[0098]

[0098] Thus, from one perspective, a method for an aerosol supply device has been described. The method includes the step of operating the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device in a standby mode. During the standby mode operation, the data is received data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device. The received data is stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device. An advertising packet in a connectionless state including information regarding the identity and the advertising state of the aerosol supply device is generated using the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device and transmitted via the wireless communication interface. A request packet in a connectionless state is received from a remote wireless device via the wireless communication interface. In response to the step of receiving the request packet, a response packet in a connectionless state is generated using the wireless communication interface and the response packet is transmitted via the wireless communication interface. At least one of the advertising packet and the response packet includes received data from the memory and data generated by the aerosol supply device and stored in the memory.

[0099]

[0099] Although the above embodiments have been mainly described with respect to a wireless communication interface using Bluetooth LE, it should be understood that the principles of the present disclosure are not limited to using a specific wireless communication interface. For example, other embodiments may be based on a Wi-Fi direct communication interface, or any other wireless communication interface.

[0100]

[0100] The various embodiments described herein are presented only to assist in the understanding and teaching of the claimed features. These embodiments are merely provided as representative examples of the embodiments and do not purport to be exhaustive or exclusive. The advantages, embodiments, examples, functions, features, structures, and / or other aspects described herein should not be considered as limiting the scope of the disclosure as defined by the claims or as limiting equivalents to the claims, and it should be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and / or spirit of the claims.

[0101]

[0101] Further examples consistent with this teaching are described in the following numbered clauses. [Clause 1] A method for an aerosol supply device, comprising: operating the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device in a standby mode; receiving data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device during operation of the standby mode; storing the received data in the memory of the aerosol supply device; generating, using the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device, a connectionless advertising packet including information regarding the identity and advertising state of the aerosol supply device; transmitting the advertising packet via the wireless communication interface; receiving, via the wireless communication interface, a connectionless request packet from a remote wireless device; generating, in response to receiving the request packet, a connectionless response packet using the wireless communication interface; transmitting the response packet via the wireless communication interface and A method, wherein at least one of the advertising packet and the response packet includes the received data from the memory and the data generated by the aerosol supply device and stored in the memory. [Clause 2] The method according to Clause 1, wherein the data includes information describing the usage characteristics of each aerosol supply device. [Clause 3] The method according to Clause 2, wherein the usage characteristics of each aerosol supply device include one or more values selected from the group including battery characteristics, aerosol generation characteristics, aerosol medium characteristics, aerosol generation event characteristics, and error or abnormal behavior characteristics. [Clause 4] The method according to Clause 2 or 3, wherein the usage characteristics of each aerosol supply device are recorded and stored in the memory during the use of each aerosol supply device. [Clause 5] The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 4, wherein at least one of the advertising packet and the response packet including the received data from the memory and the data generated by the aerosol supply device and stored in the memory includes selected ones of the received data stored in the memory and all of the data generated by the aerosol supply device and stored in the memory. [Clause 6] The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 4, wherein at least one of the advertising packet and the response packet including the received data from the memory and the data generated by the aerosol supply device and stored in the memory includes selected ones of the received data stored in the memory and the data generated by the aerosol supply device and stored in the memory. [Clause 7] The method according to Clause 5 or 6, wherein the selected ones include information regarding specific usage characteristics of each aerosol supply device. [Clause 8] The method according to Clause 5 or 6, wherein the selection includes storing less than all of the received data. [Clause 9] The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 8, further comprising, before storing the received data in the memory of the aerosol supply device, deleting any data previously received from the other aerosol supply device and stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device. [Clause 10] Before storing the received data in the memory of the aerosol supply device, determining the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of data previously received and stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device; if the number of aerosol supply devices that were the source of the previously received data is greater than or equal to a predetermined number, before storing the data received from the other aerosol supply device, deleting at least the oldest data; The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 9, further comprising. [Clause 11] The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 10, wherein the data generated by the aerosol supply device and / or the data received from the other aerosol supply device includes position data for each aerosol supply device. [Clause 12] The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 11, wherein at least one of the advertising packet and the response packet, which includes the received data from the memory and the data generated by the aerosol supply device and stored in the memory, includes a timestamp. [Clause 13] The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 12, further comprising, after a predetermined time interval, deleting the received data stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device. [Clause 14] The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 13, wherein the wireless communication interface is a Bluetooth low energy communication interface. [Clause 15] A processor; A wireless communication interface; A memory including instructions which, when executed by the processor, perform the method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 14. An aerosol supply device comprising [Article 16] A processor, A wireless communication interface, A memory containing instructions, which when executed by the processor, Cause the wireless communication interface to operate in a standby mode, During the operation of the standby mode, receive an advertising packet from the aerosol supply device via the wireless communication interface, Transmit a connectionless state request packet to the aerosol supply device via the wireless communication interface, and Receive a connectionless state response packet from the aerosol supply device via the wireless communication interface, Execute a method including At least one of the advertising packet and the response packet includes data generated by the aerosol supply device and data received by the aerosol supply device from another aerosol supply device, A memory and A wireless device comprising

[0102]

[0102] Various embodiments of the claimed scope appropriately include, consist of, or consist essentially of appropriate combinations of disclosed elements, components, features, parts, steps, means, etc. other than those detailed herein. Further, the present disclosure may include other concepts that are not currently claimed but may be claimed in the future in combination with or separately from the features currently claimed.

Claims

1. A method for an aerosol supply device, the method comprising: generating usage characteristics by the aerosol supply device; storing the usage characteristics in a memory of the aerosol supply device; generating, by the aerosol supply device, a packet containing data including at least a portion of the usage characteristics stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device; transmitting the packet to a wireless device via a wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device, the wireless communication interface being a Bluetooth Low Energy communication interface; A method comprising the above.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the usage characteristics include battery characteristics.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the battery characteristics include the charge state of the battery.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the usage characteristics include aerosol generation characteristics.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the aerosol generation characteristics include the number of puffs.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the aerosol generation characteristics include the duration of a puff.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the aerosol generation characteristics include the selected output profile.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the usage characteristics include aerosol medium characteristics.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the aerosol medium characteristics include the type of aerosol raw material used.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the usage characteristics include an error code.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the packet includes information regarding the identification of the aerosol supply device.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the information regarding the identification of the aerosol supply device includes an ID code that uniquely identifies the aerosol supply device.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the packet is a connectionless packet.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the wireless device is a smartphone.

15. An aerosol supply device, the aerosol supply device comprising: a processor; a wireless communication interface that is a Bluetooth Low Energy communication interface; a memory; and comprising the aerosol supply device generating usage characteristics storing the usage characteristics in the memory generating a packet containing data including at least a part of the usage characteristics stored in the memory transmitting the packet to a wireless device via the wireless communication interface An aerosol supply device configured to perform the above.

16. The aerosol supply device according to claim 15, wherein the usage characteristics include battery characteristics.

17. The aerosol supply device according to claim 16, wherein the battery characteristics include the state of charge of the battery.

18. The aerosol supply device according to claim 15, wherein the usage characteristics include aerosol generation characteristics.

19. The aerosol supply device according to claim 18, wherein the aerosol generation characteristics include the number of puffs.

20. The aerosol supply device according to claim 18, wherein the aerosol generation characteristics include the duration of a puff.

21. The aerosol supply device according to claim 18, wherein the aerosol generation characteristics include the selected output profile.

22. The aerosol supply device according to claim 15, wherein the usage characteristics include aerosol medium characteristics.

23. The aerosol supply device according to claim 22, wherein the aerosol medium characteristics include the type of aerosol raw material used.

24. The aerosol supply device according to claim 15, wherein the usage characteristics include an error code.

25. The aerosol supply device according to claim 15, wherein the packet includes information regarding the identification of the aerosol supply device.

26. The aerosol supply device according to claim 25, wherein the information regarding the identification of the aerosol supply device includes an ID code that uniquely identifies the aerosol supply device.

27. The aerosol supply device according to claim 15, wherein the packet is a connectionless packet.

28. The aerosol supply device according to any one of claims 15 to 27, wherein the external device is a smartphone.

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