Methods and wireless devices

Abstract

To provide a method of receiving data from an aerosol delivery device via the Bluetooth protocol by a remote wireless device.SOLUTION: In a device environment (1), a remote wireless device (6) receives data from an aerosol delivery device (2a) via the Bluetooth protocol, the remote wireless device determines the position of the aerosol delivery device (2a) when the data has been transmitted by the aerosol delivery device (2a). The remote wireless device (6) determines the position as the location of the remote wireless device (6) when the data has been received and stores it as location data in a memory.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Field and Background

[0001]

[0001] This 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 accepts the role of master or slave. Therefore, in a certain communication pair, one node operates as a master and the other operates as a slave. In the context of Bluetooth Low Energy, the master is sometimes called the central, and the slave is sometimes called the peripheral. One master (or central) node can become the master for several slaves (the exact number is often limited by the implementation of individual chip sets), and a certain 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) based on the IEEE802.15.4 wireless protocol.

[0004]

[0004] Examples of exchanging information between aerosol supply devices are described in International Publication No. 2017 / 051173, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017 / 118292, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017 / 093981. Overview

[0005]

[0005] Several 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 comprising the steps of: operating the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device in standby mode; receiving data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device while in standby mode; storing the received data in the memory of the aerosol supply device; generating a connectionless state advertising packet containing the identity and advertising state of the aerosol supply device using the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device; transmitting the advertising packet via the wireless communication interface; receiving a connectionless state request packet from a remote wireless device via the wireless communication interface; generating a connectionless state response packet using the wireless communication interface in response to receiving the request packet; and transmitting the response packet via the wireless communication interface, wherein at least one of the advertising packet and the response packet includes received data from memory and data generated by the aerosol supply device and stored in memory.

[0007]

[0007] In another embodiment, an aerosol supply device can be provided, the device comprising a processor, a wireless communication interface, and a memory containing instructions, the instructions, when executed by the processor, include the steps of: operating the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device in standby mode; receiving data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device while in standby mode; storing the received data in the memory of the aerosol supply device; generating a connectionless state advertising packet containing information about the identity and advertising state of the aerosol supply device using the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device; transmitting the advertising packet via the wireless communication interface; receiving a connectionless state request packet from a remote wireless device via the wireless communication interface; generating a connectionless state response packet using the wireless communication interface in response to receiving the request packet; and transmitting the response packet via the wireless communication interface, wherein 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. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008]

[0008] Next, embodiments of this teaching will be described as merely examples with reference to the attached drawings.

[0009] [Figure 1]

[0009] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the advertising protocol.

[0010] [Figure 2]

[0010] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary device environment.

[0011] [Figure 3]

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

[0012] [Figure 4]

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

[0013] [Figure 5]

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

[0014] [Figure 6]

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

[0015] [Figure 7]

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

[0016] [Figure 8]

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

[0017] [Figure 9]

[0017] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for an aerosol supply device.

[0018] [Figure 10]

[0018] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for an aerosol supply device. Detailed explanation

[0019]

[0019] The method described herein can be modified and replaced in various ways, but the figures show a specific embodiment as an example, which will be described in detail in this specification. However, it should be understood that the figures and detailed description are not intended to limit their scope to the specific embodiment disclosed, but rather, on the contrary, their scope encompasses all modifications, equivalents, and replacements that fall within the spirit and scope defined by the appended claims.

[0020]

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

[0021]

[0021] In some examples, these devices may be aerosol supply devices such as so-called "E-cigarettes," sometimes also known as electronic nicotine delivery (END) devices, which include electronic equipment that enables communication with other communication devices. In this specification, the term "aerosol supply device" refers to both a device containing aerosol material (e.g., a device portion containing aerosol material and a disposable cartomizer portion) and / or a device that does not contain aerosol material (e.g., just the device portion of the above example).

[0022]

[0022] In this example, the device uses Bluetooth Low Energy (“BTLE”), but other Bluetooth protocols or Bluetooth-like protocols can utilize this disclosure. 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 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) to interconnect 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). This 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 this teaching 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 this teaching 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, a non-Bluetooth system that also uses an advertising configuration based on the Bluetooth Low Energy Generic Access Profile (GAP) and thus substantially has an advertising structure as shown in Figure 1 can utilize the techniques of this teaching. Figure 1 shows an advertising structure that, according to this structure, a peripheral (or slave or remote or secondary) device advertises that it can be used as a peripheral (or slave or remote or secondary) device for an advertising period separated by an advertising interval. This advertisement may include data for transmission, or may indicate that data for transmission exists, or may not include any data reference at all. In order to receive the advertisement, a central (or primary or control) device scans for the advertisement during the period of a scan window. Multiple scan windows are separated by a scan interval. The relative duration of the scan interval and the advertisement interval can be modified by deciding to keep the interval constant for one type of device and vary the other, or by deciding to vary both, and this decision can be set by a set of standards or rules for implementing the advertising protocol. By thus relatively varying the scan interval and the advertisement interval, even if the first advertisement period does not overlap with the first scan window, an advertisement period that overlaps with the scan window will occur after several advertisement and scan intervals, and as a result, a connection can be initiated between the central device and the peripheral devices.

[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, within device environment 1, there are several aerosol supply devices 2a - 2e. The various aerosol supply devices 2 are interconnected via a wireless link indicated by the dotted line 4. However, not all 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 scatter net 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 some perspectives, it may be appropriate to describe these interactions as piconets instead of using the description of meshed 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 devices 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 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] Switching between personas within a given device occurs on a timescale that matches the requirements of a particular application to that device. As shown with respect to Figure 1 above, there is a random element in this switching. However, the time range in which this random element can operate is set according to the requirements of the application. For example, to provide high-speed data transmission over a mesh of devices, persona switching may occur relatively frequently. For example, in embodiments based on interaction between a user in a transient location and associated devices (such as END devices 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 over the mesh is not very important, relatively low-frequency persona switching can be used, and it may be appropriate to switch roles only once or twice an hour. Also, the relative duration of the peripheral and central roles can be changed according to factors applicable to the environment of the embodiment. Therefore, while the peripheral persona is active, the device sends 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, the device according to this teaching may have multiple central personas, which may be used to communicate in different meshes or to increase the total number of peripherals, and the device according to this teaching may maintain multiple coupling relationships with these peripherals at once, beyond the limitations imposed by the particular Bluetooth chipset being used. These multiple central personas may be implemented using the persona switching scheme outlined above or by implementing multiple BTLE MCUs.

[0028]

[0028] By using such technology, for example, interconnection between aerosol supply devices 2 can be carried out in a configuration in which aerosol supply device 2a acts as the central and aerosol supply device 2b acts as the peripheral in a first BTLE relationship. Aerosol supply device 2b may also act as the central in a second BTLE relationship in which aerosol supply device 2c acts as the peripheral. Then aerosol supply device 2c may become the central in a third BTLE relationship in which aerosol supply devices 2d and 2e are included as peripherals. Furthermore, aerosol supply device 2d may also become the central in a fourth BTLE relationship in which aerosol supply device 2e is included as the peripheral. As can be understood, other orderings in which aerosol supply devices function as central and peripheral can be implemented in various possible aerosol supply device relationships. For example, the connectivity shown in Figure 1 can be alternatively achieved by having aerosol supply device 2b function as the central in a BTLE relationship where aerosol supply devices 2a and 2c are peripherals, having aerosol supply device 2d function as the central in a relationship where aerosol supply device 2c is peripheral, and having aerosol supply device 2e function as the central in a relationship where aerosol supply devices 2c and 2d are peripherals. As can be seen from the following considerations, the arrangement of relationships for constructing the mesh may be determined on an ad-hoc basis depending on which aerosol supply device becomes the central as a result of the relationship establishment process.

[0029]

[0029] The mesh scheme described herein allows for the exchange of small data packets or tokens between aerosol supply devices without the need to establish a complete BTLE coupling relationship between the aerosol supply devices. Thus, such tokens may be scattered throughout a mesh of any two or more aerosol supply devices based on transient or non-persistent aerosol supply device-to-aerosol supply device relationships, where the peripheral-to-central relationship lasts only for a period long enough to send and receive the tokens. This scheme does not prevent some or all of the aerosol supply devices in the mesh from establishing a coupling relationship (also known as pairing). Such coupling-based schemes may be used, for example, in situations where it is necessary to transmit a larger amount of data between aerosol supply devices in the mesh than the amount of data that can be accommodated using tokens.

[0030]

[0030] Additionally, as shown in Figure 2, an additional device 6 may be provided. Device 6 does not need to have knowledge or ability regarding the meshable interconnectivity of the aerosol supply devices 2, but instead implements a conventional communication protocol. For example, device 6 implements a conventional BTLE interface and can therefore establish a connection 6 with one of the meshable aerosol supply devices 2 so that device 6 acts as the central and the aerosol supply devices 2 act as peripherals. 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 makes it possible to establish a Bluetooth or BTLE-based mesh without a control device that provides core nodes for a star-shaped connection configuration. The mesh can interact with non-mesh devices, and this interaction can be continuous or intermittent, and the non-mesh devices do not need to have any role in establishing, controlling, or setting up the mesh.

[0032]

[0032] Thus, by establishing such a mesh network, various aerosol supply devices 2 can communicate with each other and pass information to other devices within range using existing communication protocols such as BTLE. However, as can be seen from this discussion, the devices use a modified form of a Bluetooth hardware embodiment having Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) Notification in order to achieve this ad-hoc meshable behavior. As can be seen from this teaching, this modification can be achieved by making a modified hardware, firmware, or software implementation of the protocol, for example, by implementing a controller circuit that conforms in many respects to the standard communication protocol but also includes additional functionality brought about by using scripts to achieve the inter-device interactions described herein. The additional functionality may be introduced using modified hardware, which requires the use of non-standard hardware, but this modified hardware allows both modes to be provided in a whole-time manner without the need to share personas in a time-division manner. The controller circuit may be a hardware circuit with functionality provided by its configuration, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or it 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 data to transmit from the device core function processor 14 and provides received data to the device core function processor 14, which, together with, for example, a memory 16 and / or I / O elements 18, performs the core computing functions of the aerosol supply device 2. In Figure 3, the functional components of the aerosol supply device 2 are shown to interact on a direct link basis, but since Figure 3 is essentially schematic, it will be understood that this description also includes alternative arrangements of the functional components on an interconnection basis, for example, by bus. It will also be understood that one or more of the illustrated functional components may be provided by a single physical component, and one functional component may be provided by multiple physical components.

[0034]

[0034] With regard to 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 differ 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 device's charge level and / or nicotine fluid level, loss and discovery interactions, and usage records. Thus, it will also be understood that the core computing function may differ from the core function of the device as perceived by the user. For example, in the case of an aerosol supply device, the core function as perceived by the user may be the aerosol generation function for delivering nicotine, and the computing function may be additional, supplementary, or secondary to that core function as perceived by the user.

[0035]

[0035] Next, Figure 4 schematically shows the protocol structure implemented by the wireless communication interface 12 of each aerosol supply device 2. The protocol structure shown in Figure 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 on an LERF (low energy radio frequency) basis. As shown in Figure 4, this protocol stack can be conceptually divided into a so-called host layer and a controller layer. The controller portion constitutes the lower layers required for physical layer packets and associated timing. The controller portion of the stack may be implemented in the form of an integrated circuit, such as a system-on-a-chip (SoC) package with an integrated Bluetooth radio.

[0036]

[0036] Relevant layer implementations for understanding this teaching 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 communicates with other devices regarding connection parameters and data flow control using the link layer protocol. The link layer controller also processes frames transmitted and received while the device is in advertising mode or scanner mode. The link layer controller also provides gatekeeping functionality to restrict exposure and data exchange with other devices. When filtering is configured, the link layer controller maintains a "whitelist" of permitted devices and ignores all requests for data exchange or advertising information from other devices. In addition to providing security functionality, this can also help manage power consumption. The link layer controller communicates with higher layers of the stack using the host controller interface (HCI) if the layer implementations are not located in the same place.

[0038]

[0038] The Logical Link Control and Adaptation Layer Protocol (L2CAP) components provide data services to higher-layer protocols such as the Security Manager Protocol and the Attribute Protocol. The L2CAP components are responsible for multiplexing protocols, dividing data into packets small enough for the Link Layer Controller, and conversely, for demultiplexing and reconstructing protocols. L2CAP has a backend interface for GAP, which defines comprehensive procedures related to the discovery of BTLE devices and link management aspects of connecting with other BTLE devices. GAP provides an interface for applications to set and enable different operating modes such as advertising or scanning, and to initiate, establish, and manage connections with other devices. Thus, GAP is used to control connections and advertising in Bluetooth. GAP controls device visibility and determines how two devices can (or cannot) interact with each other.

[0039]

[0039] The Low Energy Attribute Protocol (ATT) is optimized for the small packet size used in Bluetooth Low Energy, and allows an attribute server to expose a set of attributes and the values ​​associated with those attributes to attribute clients. These attributes can be discovered, read, and written by the connected device (peer device). GATT provides a framework for using ATT.

[0040]

[0040] As is clear from the above considerations, this teaching facilitates mesh-type interaction of multiple devices using advertising processes, enabling the dissemination of information among an unlimited number of devices, for example, for the purpose of transmitting data across distance and time.

[0041]

[0041] In the context of this example, an application operating on a device communicating via the mesh structure described herein may request or await a specific scan response payload in response to a scan response sent by that device. This scheme is used in conventional Bluetooth embodiments to transmit the device name and other identification details. However, in this scheme, the scan response is defined as a 31-byte data packet, also called a token, and is used to share ID information associated with a variable that, when read by the application, triggers a specific response or action. The timing of such a request is shown in Figure 5. As can be seen from this figure, the scan response request is sent 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 method described herein, data exchanged over the physical layer becomes indistinguishable from normal BTLE traffic at that level. Furthermore, higher layers are modified to accommodate this mesh-like interaction of devices, but non-mesh-enabled applications can communicate over BTLE using devices that conform to this teaching.

[0043]

[0043] Furthermore, a device that uses only a conventional BTLE stack (such as device 6 shown in Figure 2 above) can communicate with an aerosol supply device 2 that uses the meshable method of this teaching. In this case, the conventional BTLE device can receive data from the meshable aerosol supply device 2 without the BTLE stack within the conventional BTLE device having any knowledge of the mesh-type interaction of the aerosol supply device 2. The data received by the conventional BTLE device may originate from the directly connected aerosol supply device 2, or from an aerosol supply device that was previously connected to the directly connected aerosol supply device 2 via a mesh, and the data may have been 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 another conventional BTLE device that is connected to or was connected to a mesh-type aerosol supply device.

[0044]

[0044] Figure 6 schematically illustrates the behavior of each aerosol supply device 2 in relation to managing the dual persona nature of each aerosol supply device 2 in order to establish connections as both central and peripheral. Since BTLE provides two operating modes in the presentation layer, one operating mode corresponds to either the role of central or peripheral, but the aerosol supply device 2 in this example alternates between these two modes, acting as both an advertiser broadcasting to advertise its ability as a peripheral and observer activity searching for other aerosol supply devices that can become peripherals and with which the device can connect as central. While acting as an observer, the aerosol supply device can operate based on the advertiser's advertisements it receives and establish connections as central, following normal BTLE behavior, for example, as described in the BTLE Generic Access Profile (GAP). While the advertiser is broadcasting, the aerosol supply device can establish connections as peripheral with observing aerosol supply devices that respond to become central. As discussed above, this time-division multiplexing between the central and peripheral personas continues after the connection between the devices is established. This allows a single device to operate in both modes on a continuity basis, even though it is time-multiplexed, based on a single BTLE MCU within the device.

[0045]

[0045] Accordingly, the aerosol supply device configured to provide the meshable interactions of this example employs two operating modes related to the dual persona nature of the aerosol supply device, using the standard BTLE GATT (Generic Attribute Profile) specification in combination with a modified GAP. As will be discussed below, this aerosol supply device alternates between advertising as a peripheral and listening as a central so that it can easily connect with other aerosol supply devices in both central and peripheral modes. Typically, a device already indicates mesh identity in that it may be pre-programmed to use a specific UUID associated with a particular device mesh (referred to as a “service” in BTLE terminology) to which the device intends to join. 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 in the mesh. The ID and UUID (essentially mesh ID or group ID) codes are stored within the device's firmware and are inserted into advertising packets along with the data constituting the token, and may also be referenced in scan response requests and scan response messages as part of advertising under GAP interactions with and between devices.

[0046]

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

[0047]

[0047] Figure 6 also shows the relative advertising and observation times of multiple aerosol supply devices. The illustrated scheme tends to avoid (but not necessarily eliminate) simultaneous broadcasting by multiple aerosol supply devices within each other's range. In this example, the observation duration is controlled to be within the range of 0.01 ms to 5 s, and the advertising period is a fixed duration, which may be 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 range given above. Such time offsets can be achieved in several ways, such as by coordinating between aerosol supply devices, or by each aerosol supply device adjusting the length of the interval, such as by introducing irregular time intervals between each mode transition. Such adjustment of the interval length 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 an aerosol supply device is observed with the aim of establishing a central role within the mesh, this aerosol supply device behaves exactly the same as a non-meshing aerosol supply device that is waiting for advertisements from potential peripheral aerosol supply devices. Thus, an aerosol supply device operating in this mode can also become central to a conventional BTLE device without meshing capabilities as taught herein.

[0049]

[0049] When an aerosol supply device advertises with the aim of establishing a peripheral role within a 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 the meshable device receiving the advertisement. Mesh-specific information may include fields such as: • ID of the advertising aerosol supply device. • The packet sequence number of the packets awaiting transmission from that aerosol supply device. This is used to avoid duplication, depending on the application. This may simply be the packet sequence of the packet originating from that aerosol supply device (for example, if the application only requires flooding multiple other aerosol supply devices with payloads or tokens from an advertising aerosol supply device), but it may be unique to a given mesh (group ID), time window, and / or other uniqueness ranges, depending on the application requirements. • The source aerosol supply device identifier of the packet with that packet sequence number. This reflects the fact that the token currently being passed may originate from a different aerosol supply device than the one currently passing it. • The 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 flood-type operation). • The group ID of the source aerosol supply device for the packet with that sequence number. This is used to allow multiple mesh networks to coexist in the same physical space (as mentioned above, this group ID usually uses the BTLE UUID, but a different group ID field can be defined and used if necessary). • The duration or expiration time of the packet having that sequence number. • Payload: Data specific to a particular application—for example, data related to an END device application.

[0050]

[0050] According to the BTLE data processing scheme, if a given application payload item is too large to fit into a single packet, the payload item is divided and distributed into multiple packets, which are then reconstructed at each destination aerosol supply device. In such applications, coupling may be established between aerosol supply devices to provide better transmission management for this large amount of data.

[0051]

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

[0052]

[0052] In the example of Figure 7, aerosol supply device N1 has a set of bits in an advertisement data field that indicates that this aerosol supply device has data to transmit. Depending on the advertising and observation schedule at each aerosol supply device, aerosol supply device N2 becomes a first aerosol supply device within direct communication range of N1 and waits as a central to follow aerosol supply device N1, which has the advertisement data field set. Thus, when aerosol supply device N2 is in central mode, it receives the advertising data that N1 is advertising while it is in peripheral mode. This advertising data received by N2 may be used by N2 in connection with an application that operates on or is associated with N2. In addition to or instead of this, aerosol supply device N2 may cache the advertising data and prepare it to be transmitted forward as advertising data on future occasions when aerosol supply device N2 adopts a peripheral persona. This allows advertising data originating from N1 to be passed forward from N2 as advertising data, which is then received by the aerosol supply device N3 when N2 advertises as a peripheral and N3 is waiting as the central. The advertising data originating from N1 can then be used and / or passed by N3 and finally reach N4 in the same manner.

[0053]

[0053] In this embodiment, it should be noted that advertising data effectively floods the entire mesh. Therefore, if N2 is advertising as a peripheral and N1 happens to be waiting as a central, the advertising data returns to N1 and is also passed forward to N3 through the mesh. In this situation, either the aerosol supply device N1 or any application operating on or associated with 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, by using the time between transmission and reception as some form of random interval generator or by performing mesh diagnostics.

[0054]

[0054] As described above, transmission through the mesh can be made into a more structured form using couplings established between aerosol supply devices. In such a situation, each pair of aerosol supply devices interacts through established couplings, and persona switching in each aerosol supply device allows data received in a coupling in which one persona is a member to be transmitted forward using a coupling in which the other persona is a member.

[0055]

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

[0056]

[0056] Figure 8 provides a further explanation of the meshing behavior between aerosol supply devices. In this example, there are several aerosol supply devices N11 to N19. The diagram in Figure 8 represents a given snapshot in time, showing that different devices among these aerosol supply devices are currently employing different personas among their respective peripheral and central personas. At the time shown in Figure 8, three aerosol supply devices are configured to be in central mode, which are aerosol supply devices N12, N16, and N19, while the remaining aerosol supply devices are configured to be in peripheral mode. As can be seen from the above considerations, given that any given instance of the same aerosol supply device exists in the same location, the exact number and identity of aerosol supply devices configured to be in central mode depends on factors such as the scheduling of its advertising / observation period by each aerosol supply device, and the relative position of each aerosol supply device compared to any other aerosol supply devices already configured as either central or peripheral mode. The exchange of data tokens is shown in the diagram by the presence of a flag, which is passed from N11, which includes this data token in its advertising data, to N12, which is waiting in central mode to receive that advertising data. Subsequently, if N12 adopts a peripheral persona, this token will be included in the advertising data from N12. In this way, the token is passed forward through the mesh and can eventually reach each aerosol supply device in the mesh at least once.

[0057]

[0057] As can be seen from the above considerations, the mesh can change dynamically based on changes in the number and location of aerosol supply devices within the mesh. For example, if some aerosol supply devices move away from the remaining devices in the mesh, those devices will consequently lose communication with all other aerosol supply devices in the mesh and leave the mesh. Similarly, an inactive or power-saving non-wireless aerosol supply device will lose communication with other aerosol supply devices in the mesh and leave the mesh. Furthermore, a new aerosol supply device that was not previously part of the mesh can join the mesh when it enters the range of an aerosol supply device in the mesh or when it is powered on within the range of an aerosol supply device in the mesh. Also, as can be seen from the above consideration of persona switching, an aerosol supply device that is already in the mesh and operating as a peripheral within the mesh can also operate as a central within the mesh at different times. In embodiments where the mesh employs coupling relationships such that a particular aerosol supply device has a defined central role in some couplings and a peripheral role in others, if an aerosol supply device changes its position relative to other aerosol supply devices in the mesh, all established couplings may cease range operation for the new position, so that aerosol supply device may effectively leave the mesh. Such an aerosol supply device then resumes attempting both observation and advertising until it establishes one or more new coupling relationships with other aerosol supply devices in the mesh that are coupled together.

[0058]

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

[0059]

[0059] Such patterns of trust can be supplemented by inherent controls over the amount of personal data that devices are permitted to store / transmit. For example, an aerosol dispensing device may be configured by its owner to not retain any information that identifies the owner, or to prevent the sharing of such information. This does not prevent an END device from interacting with other END devices to exchange information that can be used for lost / found functions, nor does it prevent an END device from exchanging information about itself to enable group interactions between END devices of the same brand or model, as considered below, for example.

[0060]

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

[0061]

[0061] For example, if a specific aerosol supply device or other device is configured by the user to communicate with the user's conventional BTLE device, such as a smartphone, phablet, or tablet device, the trust relationship between the user's meshable device and the conventional BTLE device may be secured in the same manner as other conventional BTLE pairings to establish a communication connection.

[0062]

[0062] Therefore, by using the method of this teaching, it is possible to provide a device that can interact in a mesh-like manner with other similar devices by employing a dual-persona structure, in which the device can operate on a time-division basis as both a master (central) and a slave (peripheral) to communicate with other similar devices, while also being able to operate as a slave / peripheral to conventional devices that do not have dual-persona capabilities.

[0063]

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

[0064]

[0064] The mesh-like interconnectivity of the aerosol supply device 2A with one or more other devices as described above may also be considered as connectionless interaction, where connectionless packets are generated, transmitted, and received by each device according to the examples described above with reference to Figures 1 to 8.

[0065]

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

[0066]

[0066] The data received from the other 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 a 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, the number of charge cycles the battery has undergone since the last time it was charged, the duration of the last charge cycle, the average duration of the charge cycles, and the battery threshold before it required charging.

[0068]

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

[0069]

[0069] The aerosol media characteristics may include the type of cartomizer and / or fragrance currently in use, and the type of cartomizer and / or fragrance most frequently used with the aerosol supply device 2b.

[0070]

[0070] The aerosol generation event characteristics may include the average startup time or operating time of the aerosol supply device 2b, the average startup time or operating time, the time the overheat protection mode occurred last time, and the number of times the overheat protection mode has occurred.

[0071]

[0071] Error or abnormal behavior characteristics may include error codes generated by the aerosol supply device 2b, for example, 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 abnormal or unexpected behavior 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 while each aerosol supply device is in use. For example, aerosol supply device 2b generates usage characteristics while aerosol supply device 2b is in use, stores the generated usage characteristics in its own memory, and then transmits the usage characteristics in a data packet to aerosol supply device 2a. Similarly, aerosol supply device 2a generates its own usage characteristics while aerosol supply device 2a is in use, and stores the generated usage characteristics in memory 16.

[0073]

[0073] In this example, the data received from the other aerosol supply device 2b may optionally include the product type, batch number, serial number, and / or UUID of the aerosol supply device 2b (or, more generally, any information that identifies the aerosol supply device 2b), as well as information about the aerosol supply device 2b, such as the location of the aerosol supply device 2b when the data was transmitted by the aerosol supply device 2b, for example, in the form of GPS coordinates or map grid reference.

[0074]

[0074] The aerosol supply device 2a stores data received from another aerosol supply device 2b in its memory 16. The data may also be time-stamped 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 received data includes the location of the aerosol supply device 2b when the data was transmitted by the aerosol supply device 2b. If it does not, the processor 14 may edit the received data to include the location 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 has elapsed since the data was stored in the memory 16, for example, 1 hour, 24 hours, or 7 days, the data may be deleted from the memory 16.

[0075]

[0075] In this example, before saving the received data to memory 16, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a optionally determines whether data from a particular aerosol supply device 2b has already been saved to memory 16 by, for example, searching for the serial number and / or UUID of the source aerosol supply device 2b in the received data and searching for data associated with the same serial number and / or UUID in memory 16. If it is determined that data from a particular aerosol supply device 2b has already been saved to memory 16, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to overwrite the data from the particular aerosol supply device 2b already saved in memory 16 with the most recently received data from the particular aerosol supply device 2b. Alternatively, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to discard the most recently received data from the particular aerosol supply device 2b, or to append the most recently received data from the particular aerosol supply device 2b to the data already saved in memory 16. For example, if the data already stored in 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 appended to the data already stored in memory 16 in order to provide more granular usage characteristics to the aerosol supply device 2b.

[0076]

[0076] In this example, the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to store data from a predetermined number of aerosol supply devices, for example, 5 or 10 devices, in its memory 16. Therefore, before storing 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 previously received data stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a, for example, by looking for the serial number and / or UUID of the source aerosol supply device in 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 source aerosol supply devices of previously received data is less than a predetermined number, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to store data received from other aerosol supply devices 2b in its memory 16. If it is determined that the number of aerosol supply devices that previously received data is greater than or equal to a predetermined number, the processor 14 of aerosol supply device 2a is configured to determine the oldest data packet in memory 16 by, for example, examining the timestamp associated with each data packet to find the data packet with the oldest timestamp, thereby indicating that the data packet was the oldest stored in memory 16. The processor 14 is then configured to delete the data packet that it has determined to be the oldest, and data received from other aerosol supply devices 2b is stored in memory 16 in place of the deleted data packet. In a further example, aerosol supply device 2a may have a maximum storage limit for data to be stored, and the maximum number of devices that can store data is limited by the size of the data stored in 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 from which data has previously been received and stored.

[0077]

[0077] While operating in standby mode, the aerosol supply device 2a may receive data from the respective wireless communication interfaces of multiple aerosol supply devices, for example, aerosol supply devices 2b to 2e. In such an example, the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to receive data from a single aerosol supply device, store the received data as necessary, as described above, and then receive data from the next aerosol supply device, determining whether to save the received data. 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 standby mode. Optionally, the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to operate in standby mode by default and will operate in 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 stores data from other aerosol supply devices, the aerosol supply device 2a can collect data from any other aerosol supply device that is within a transmission range of, for example, 1 m, 10 m, 100 m, or more.

[0079]

[0079] Using the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a, a connectionless advertising packet is generated that includes information about the identity and advertising status of the aerosol supply device 2a. The information about the identity of the aerosol supply device 2a may include the serial number and / or UUID of the aerosol supply device 2a. The connectionless advertising packet is then transmitted via the wireless communication interface 12.

[0080]

[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, phablet 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 to enable it to communicate with the aerosol supply device.

[0081]

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

[0082]

[0082] At least one of the advertising packet and the response packet includes data received from memory 16 and data generated by the aerosol supply device 2a and stored in 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 a 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 it 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 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 position of the aerosol supply device 2a when the data is transmitted and edit the data so that it is transmitted including the position of the aerosol supply device 2a, for example, in the form of GPS coordinates or a map grid reference.

[0083]

[0083] In this example, at least one of the advertising packet and the response packet, which includes the received data from memory 16 and the data generated by the aerosol supply device 2a and stored in memory 16, may optionally not include all of the received data stored in memory 16. For example, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to transmit all of the data stored in memory 16 relating to the usage characteristics of its own aerosol supply device 14, or it may be configured to transmit only selected data from the received data stored in memory 16. This selection may include only selected values, such as only battery characteristics or only aerosol medium characteristics, or it may include values ​​from each group of usage characteristics, but not so finely tuned that less of the received data is stored in memory 16 than all of the received data. For example, if the received data includes 10 values ​​for error codes generated by the aerosol supply device 2b, the processor 14 may be configured to include only 2 to 5 values ​​for error codes in the transmitted data packet. Alternatively, or in addition to the above, the processor 14 may be configured to include, for example, only the 2nd, 3rd, 10th, or 100th values ​​for each or one particular usage characteristic. The processor may be configured to include, for example, only 10 values ​​for each usage characteristic. The processor may then be configured to determine the number of values ​​for each usage characteristic in the received data and divide this by 10 to determine the interval at which the values ​​should be taken. Alternatively, the processor 14 may be configured to take only one or more of the mean, maximum, minimum, median, and / or mode for each usage characteristic. The processor 14 may also be configured to include any values ​​indicating exceptional or outlier values ​​in the stored and / or transmitted data. For example, the processor 14 may be configured to include the mean for a given usage characteristic along with any values ​​above or below a given value, for example, any values ​​that are two standard deviations greater or less than the mean.

[0084]

[0084] The above example demonstrates that if the remote wireless device 6 interacts with a single aerosol supply device 2a, multiple different aerosol supply devices 2a, 2b can receive data originating from it. This makes it possible for the remote wireless device to receive data from multiple aerosol supply devices simply by being within the transmission range of a single aerosol supply device. The remote wireless device 6 may be fixed in a specific location, such as on a building wall or billboard. The remote wireless device 6 can then directly receive data from any aerosol supply device that is within the transmission range of the remote wireless device 6, and the received data may originate from multiple aerosol supply devices. Thus, the remote wireless device 6 can capture data from multiple different aerosol supply devices that are not within the transmission range of the remote wireless device 6. Furthermore, consumers or owners of each aerosol supply device 2a are unaware that any data transmission or reception is 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 that rearranges the data received from the aerosol supply device and transmits it to another device using a conventional wireless communication protocol, such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, or WiFi, or via a cellular network.

[0086]

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

[0087]

[0087] Optionally, before saving the received data to the memory of the remote wireless device 6, the remote wireless device 6 may determine whether any data from any of the aerosol supply devices included in the received data has already been saved to the memory of the remote wireless device 6 by, for example, searching the received data for the serial number and / or UUID of each aerosol supply device originating from that device, and searching the memory of the remote wireless device 6 for data associated with the same serial number and / or UUID. If it is determined that data from a particular aerosol supply device has already been saved to the memory of the remote wireless device 6, the remote wireless device 6 may be configured to overwrite the data originating from that particular aerosol supply device, which is already saved in memory, with the most recently received and generated data from that particular aerosol supply device. Alternatively, the remote wireless device 6 may be configured to discard the most recently received and generated data from that particular aerosol supply device, or to append the most recently received and generated data from that particular aerosol supply device, which is already saved in memory, to the data originating from that particular aerosol supply device. 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 appended to the data already stored in the memory of the remote wireless device 6 in order to provide more granular usage characteristics for a particular aerosol supply device.

[0088]

[0088] The location data for each aerosol supply device in 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 location information and a timestamp, the remote wireless device 6 can generate a history of where the aerosol supply device 2a was at a particular time and determine if any pattern exists. For example, if the aerosol supply device 2a is in a specific location at the same time on each day of the week, it suggests whether it is the workplace or home of the owner of the aerosol supply device 2a. In another example, the device from which the data originates in each data packet received by the remote wireless device 6 can be used to determine any interaction patterns between individual aerosol supply devices. For example, if each data packet received by the remote wireless device 6 from a specific aerosol supply device 2a always or periodically contains data originating from another specific aerosol supply device 2b, the remote wireless device 6 may determine that the users of these two specific aerosol supply devices 2a and 2b are friends or colleagues who regularly interact with each other, or that the users of these two specific aerosol supply devices 2a and 2b live in nearby locations and regularly cross paths. Location information and timestamps associated with the data from each aerosol supply device can also be used to assist in this determination.

[0089]

[0089] Figure 9 shows the 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 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, a connectionless state advertising packet containing information about 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 a remote wireless device 6 is received via the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a. In step S9-7, a connectionless 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, the response packet includes at least received data from other aerosol supply devices 2b stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a, and data generated by the aerosol supply device 2a, which is also stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a (the received data may also be included in the advertising packet).

[0090]

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

[0091]

[0091] The method described above focuses on the transmission of a response packet from aerosol supply device 2a. However, it should be understood that 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 its range (for example, by measuring the signal strength of the advertising packet transmitted in step S9-5 and determining that an aerosol supply device is within range if the measured signal strength is stronger than a threshold). Thus, the wireless device 6 transmits a connectionless request packet to the identified aerosol supply device (may be by broadcast or unicast signal). Subsequently, each aerosol supply device receives a connectionless request packet in step S9-6, and each aerosol supply device proceeds to steps S9-7 and S9-8. Subsequently, the wireless device 6 receives a connectionless response packet from the aerosol supply device.

[0092]

[0092] Furthermore, it should be understood that the transmission of connectionless state request packets from the wireless device 6 does not have to be triggered by the wireless device 6 receiving the advertising packet in step S9-5. Instead, the wireless device 6 may periodically transmit connectionless state request packets to cause any aerosol supply device that receives the connectionless state request packets to transmit a connectionless state response packet (i.e., perform step S9-7). In this case, before step S9-7, the aerosol supply device determines whether it is within range of the wireless device 6 (for example, by measuring the signal strength of the request packets transmitted from the wireless device 6 and determining that the aerosol supply device is within 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 relating to the aerosol supply device 2b in addition to the data relating to the aerosol supply device 2a from the advertising packet.

[0094]

[0094] Figure 10 shows a method for an aerosol supply device that optionally forms part of the method shown in Figure 9. As can be seen from Figure 10, steps S10-1, S10-2, and S10-8 of the method shown in Figure 10 correspond to steps S9-1, S9-2, and S9-3 of the method shown in Figure 9, respectively. Therefore, following the completion of step S10-8, the method may proceed to step S9-4 of the method shown in Figure 9. Alternatively, the method shown in Figure 10 may be repeated for a predetermined time before proceeding to step S9-4 of the method shown in Figure 9. In step S10-1, the wireless communication interface 12 of the aerosol supply device 2a is configured to operate in 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 look for the serial number and / or UUID of the source aerosol supply device 2b in the received data and to look for data associated with the same serial number and / or UUID in the memory 16. 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 proceeds to step S10-4, in which step S10-4, the data from the other aerosol supply device 2b currently stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a is deleted. Next, the method proceeds to step S10-8, in which step S10-8, the received data is stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a.

[0095]

[0095] Alternatively, if in step S10-3 it is determined that no data from another aerosol supply device 2b is currently stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a, the method proceeds to step S10-5, in which step S10-5 determines the number of source aerosol supply devices from which previously received data stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device was transmitted. For example, the processor 14 of the aerosol supply device 2a may be configured to determine the number of source aerosol supply devices from which previously received data stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a was transmitted by searching for the serial number and / or UUID of the source aerosol supply device in the data and counting the number of unique serial numbers or UUIDs present in the memory 16. The method proceeds to step S10-5, in which step S10-5 it is determined whether the number of source aerosol supply devices from which previously received data stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a was transmitted is greater than a predetermined number. If it is determined that the number of aerosol supply devices that previously sent data and stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a is greater than a predetermined number, the method proceeds to step S10-7, in which 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 timestamp associated with each data packet stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a in order to determine which data packet is the oldest. The processor 14 is then configured to delete the data packet that is determined to be the oldest. The method then proceeds to step S10-8, in which the received data is stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a. Alternatively, if in step S10-3 it is determined that the number of aerosol supply devices that previously transmitted data and are stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a is less than a predetermined number, the method proceeds directly to step S10-8, in which step S10-8 the received data is stored in the memory 16 of the aerosol supply device 2a.

[0096]

[0096] Thus, the method shown in Figure 10 ensures that only the most recent data from each other aerosol supply device 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] When the method shown in Figure 10 is carried out in conjunction with the method shown in Figure 9, it is ensured that the data transmitted to the remote wireless device 6 is 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 power consumption required for the aerosol supply device and shortening the amount of time spent transmitting 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 more. For example, a consumer may carry the aerosol supply device 2a in their hand or in their pocket, and if the consumer walks into or otherwise passes by the transmission range of the remote wireless device 6, the aerosol supply device 2a can transmit data to the remote wireless device 6 without the consumer realizing that an interaction is taking place.

[0098]

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

[0099]

[0099] Although the embodiments described above have primarily described wireless communication interfaces using Bluetooth LE, it should be understood that the principles of this disclosure are not limited to the use of 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 solely to aid in understanding and teaching the claimed features. These embodiments are merely representative examples of embodiments and are not exhaustive or exclusive. The advantages, embodiments, examples, functions, features, structures, and / or other aspects described herein should not be considered to limit the scope of this disclosure as defined by the claims, or to limit equivalents to the claims, and it should be understood that other embodiments may be used and modified without departing from the scope and / or spirit of these claims.

[0101]

[0101] Further examples consistent with this instruction are described in the following numbered clauses. [Clause 1] A method for an aerosol supply device, The steps include: operating the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device in standby mode; During operation in the standby mode, the step of receiving data from the wireless communication interface of another aerosol supply device, The steps include storing the received data in the memory of the aerosol supply device, The steps include generating a connectionless advertising packet containing information about the identity and advertising status of the aerosol supply device using the wireless communication interface of the aerosol supply device, The steps include transmitting the advertising packet via the wireless communication interface, The steps include receiving a connectionless request packet from a remote wireless device via the aforementioned wireless communication interface, In response to the step of receiving the request packet, the steps include generating a connectionless response packet using the wireless communication interface, The step of transmitting the response packet via the wireless communication interface. Includes, 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 of the aerosol supply devices. [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 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 includes the received data from the memory and data generated by the aerosol supply device and stored in the memory, the advertising packet and the response packet including a selection 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 includes selected from 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 item includes information relating to the specific usage characteristics of each of the aerosol supply devices. [Clause 8] The method of Clause 5 or 6, wherein the selection includes saving less than all of the received data. [Clause 9] The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 8, further comprising the step of deleting any data previously received from the other aerosol supply device and stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device before saving the received data to the memory of the aerosol supply device. [Clause 10] Before storing the received data in the memory of the aerosol supply device, the step of determining the number of aerosol supply devices from which the previously received and stored data in the memory of the aerosol supply device originated, If the number of aerosol supply devices that previously sent data exceeds a predetermined number, the step of deleting at least the oldest data before saving the data received from the other aerosol supply devices is to be performed. The method described in any one of the clauses 1 to 9, further including the method described in any one of the clauses 1 to 9. [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 positional data for each of the aerosol supply devices. [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 include 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 the step of deleting the received data stored in the memory of the aerosol supply device after a predetermined time interval. [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] Processor and, Wireless communication interface, A memory containing instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the memory performs the method described in any one of the clauses 1 to 14. An aerosol supply device equipped with the following features. [Clause 16] Processor and, Wireless communication interface, A memory containing instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the processor, Steps to operate the wireless communication interface in standby mode, During operation in the standby mode, the step of receiving advertising packets from the aerosol supply device via the wireless communication interface, The steps of sending a request packet in a connectionless state to the aerosol supply device via the wireless communication interface, and The step of receiving a connectionless response packet from the aerosol supply device via the wireless communication interface, Perform a method that includes 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. memory and A wireless device equipped with the following features.

[0102]

[0102] Various embodiments of the claimed scope may consist of only or substantially of appropriately selected combinations of elements, components, features, parts, steps, means, etc. disclosed, other than those described in detail herein. Furthermore, the disclosure may include other concepts that are not claimed in the present invention but may be claimed in the future in combination with the features claimed herein or separately from the features claimed herein.

Claims

1. It is a method, A remote wireless device receives data from an aerosol supply device via the Bluetooth protocol, A step of determining the location of the aerosol supply device when the data is transmitted by the aerosol supply device, wherein the determining step includes determining whether the location of the aerosol supply device when the data is transmitted by the aerosol supply device is included in the data, and if not, determining that the location of the remote wireless device when it receives the data is the location of the aerosol supply device, The step of storing the determined location of the aerosol supply device as location data in the memory of the remote wireless device, wherein the storing step is: If it is determined that the location data of the aerosol supply device from which the received data originated is already stored in the memory of the remote wireless device, the step includes overwriting the existing location data already stored in the memory. Methods that include...

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the remote wireless device includes a mobile communication device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the remote wireless device includes at least one of a mobile phone, a smartphone, or a tablet device.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the position is in the form of GPS coordinates.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the position is in the form of a map grid reference.

6. The data from the aerosol supply device further includes information for identifying the aerosol supply device, The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of the remote wireless device searching in the memory of the remote wireless device for data containing the information for identifying the aerosol supply device, after the remote wireless device has received data from the aerosol supply device.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the information includes the product type, batch number, serial number, and / or UUID of the aerosol supply device.

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