Aerosol-generating device or charging device transferring non-audio data using a digital audio format

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of transmitting non-audio data between an aerosol-generating device or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy and a computing device, comprising: establishing a wired or wireless connection between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device, wherein the aerosol-generating device or the companion device provides identification information to the computing device, and wherein the identification information indicates to the computing device that the aerosol-generating device or the companion device is an audio device; transferring a data payload between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device using a digital audio format; and recovering non-audio data from the data payload.

Description

[0001] AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE OR COMPANION DEVICE TRANSFERRING NON-AUDIO DATA USING A DIGITAL AUDIO FORMAT

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method of transmitting nonaudio data between an aerosol-generating device or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy and a computing device. The present disclosure also relates to an aerosol-generating system, comprising an aerosol-generating device and / or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy. Finally, the present disclosure also relates to a computer program and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing such a computer program.

[0003] Aerosol-forming or aerosol-generating devices are typically designed as handheld devices that can be used by a user for consuming or experiencing, for instance in one or more usage sessions, aerosol generated from an aerosol-forming substrate or an aerosol-forming article, for example by heating. The aerosol-forming devices the present disclosure pertains to are mainly directed to the field of tobacco and tobacco-substitute products, as well as e-vapor devices, for example heated tobacco products (HTP), heat-not-burn devices, electronic cigarettes, e-vapor devices, and / or vaporisers. The aerosol-forming devices of the present disclosure may also pertain to other types of inhalers, dispensers, or atomizers, for example inhalers, dispensers, or atomizers for medical applications.

[0004] Typical aerosol-forming systems can be designed as one-part systems or devices including an aerosol-forming device that can be operated by a user to generate aerosol. Alternatively, aerosol-forming systems can be designed as two-part systems or devices comprising an aerosolforming device and a companion device for storing and / or charging the aerosol-forming device. In either design or configuration, the aerosol-forming system or device can be used by a user for consuming or inhaling, for instance in one or more usage sessions, aerosol generated based on heating an aerosol-forming article or substrate couplable to the aerosol-forming system. In the context of the present disclosure, an aerosol-forming device can refer to both a one-part device and a two-part device, unless explicitly specified otherwise.

[0005] The aerosol-forming article, also referred to as aerosol-generating article, can comprise an aerosol-generating or aerosol-forming substrate, such as a tobacco or nicotine-containing substrate. The aerosol-forming article may be configured in shape and size to be inserted at least partially into the aerosol-forming device or system. In conventional systems or devices, the aerosol-forming article is usually formed as a stick that can be at least partly inserted into a cavity or heating chamber of the aerosol-forming device for aerosol consumption. Insertion of the sticklike shaped aerosol-forming article into the cavity, however, can potentially damage the aerosolforming article, which may potentially affect an experience for a user, for example in terms of taste or homogeneity of the experience. Also, inserting the aerosol-forming article into and removing itfrom the cavity of conventional systems may, at least for some users or in certain scenarios, be cumbersome.

[0006] Exemplary aerosol-forming substrates can comprise solid substrate material, such as tobacco material or tobacco cast leaves (TCL) material. The substrate material can, for example, be assembled, often with other elements or components, to form a substantially stick-shaped aerosol-forming article. Such a stick or aerosol-forming article can be configured in shape and size to be inserted at least partially into the aerosol-forming device. The aerosol-forming device may comprise a heating element or heater device for heating the aerosol-forming article and / or the aerosol-forming substrate. The heating element or heater device may be part of the aerosolforming article and / or the aerosol-forming device. Alternatively or additionally, aerosol-forming substrates can comprise one or more liquids and / or solids, which can, for example, be supplied to the aerosol-forming device in the form of a cartridge or container. Corresponding exemplary aerosol-forming articles can, for example, comprise a cartridge containing or fillable with the liquid and / or solid substrate, which can be vaporized during aerosol consumption by the user based on heating the substrate and / or liquid. Usually, such cartridge or container can be coupled to, attached to or at least partially inserted into the aerosol-forming device. Alternatively, the cartridge may be fixedly mounted to the aerosol-forming device and refilled by inserting liquid and / or solid into the cartridge. The aerosol generated from the aerosol-forming substrate or article may comprise or include one or more of nicotine, aroma, sugar, moisturising agent, botanicals, preservative, flavouring, for example cocoa, liquorice, menthol and lactic acid or other additives. The aerosol generated from the aerosol-forming substrate or article may additionally or alternatively comprise one or more pharmaceutical agents or drugs and may include one or more adjuvants.

[0007] For generating the aerosol during use or consumption, heat can be supplied by a heating element, heater device or heat source to heat at least a portion or part of the aerosol-forming substrate. The heating element, heater device or heat source can be arranged in the handheld device or a handheld part of the aerosol-forming device. Alternatively or additionally, at least a part of or the entire heating element or heater device or heat source can be fixedly associated with or arranged within an aerosol-forming article, for instance in the form of a stick or cartridge, which can be attached to and / or powered by the handheld device or handheld part of the aerosolforming device.

[0008] Exemplary heating elements or heater devices can be based on one or more of resistive heating, inductive heating and microwave heating using electrical energy supplied via, drawn from or stored in an energy storage or battery of the aerosol-forming device. As used herein, a battery of the aerosol-forming device can generally refer to an energy storage of the aerosol-forming device configured to store electrical energy. Accordingly, the term energy storage can include oneor more batteries, one or more capacitors, one or more accumulators or other types of energy storage. Also, any reference to a battery herein can include a plurality of batteries.

[0009] Typically, aerosol-forming devices comprise an energy storage, for example a battery, providing the electrical energy needed to operate the aerosol-forming device and especially for heating the aerosol-forming substrate and / or article, for example to generate aerosol in one or more usage sessions using one or more aerosol-forming articles. The battery may, for example, be a lithium-ion battery.

[0010] As used herein, a usage session may refer to a period of time, during which a user may use the device to generate, consume, experience or inhale aerosol using the aerosol-forming device. Therein, a usage session may be finite. In other words, a usage session may have a start, an end and a duration. The duration of the usage session as measured by time may be influenced by use during the usage session. The duration of the usage session may have a maximum duration determined by a maximum time from the start of the usage session. The duration of the usage session may be less than the maximum time if one or more monitored parameters reaches a predetermined threshold before the maximum time from the start of the usage session. By way of example, the one or more monitored parameters may comprise one or more of: i) a cumulative puff count of a series of puffs drawn by a user since the start of the usage session, and ii) a cumulative volume of aerosol evolved from the aerosol-forming substrate since the start of the usage session.

[0011] It may be desirable to provide connectivity features for aerosol-forming devices and / or companion devices, for example by providing a possibility of transferring data between the device and the internet, for example a web server or a cloud service. For example, it may be desirable to provide data to the aerosol-forming device and / or companion device, for example a software or firmware update or adjustment. Analogously, it may be desirable to obtain data from the aerosol-forming device and / or companion device, for example data about usage patterns and / or the status of the respective device. The aerosol-forming device and / or companion device may comprise wired or wireless connections, for example Bluetooth or USB connections. To connect the device to a computing device, for example a smartphone or a personal computer, typically one or more native applications need to be developed and maintained on the aerosol-forming device, companion device and / or the computing device. These applications then establish the data connection using a specific connection type, i.e. Bluetooth or USB. However, as the applications need to be separately installed on one or more devices, this approach may be regarded as cumbersome by the user. The provision and maintenance of these applications also increases cost in the manufacturer side.

[0012] Another approach for implementing connectivity comprises developing internet applications or webapps which are intended to work without issue across a variety of browsers on differentoperating systems. These may then be interacted with using a browser without the need for separate, dedicated applications. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, not all combinations of browsers and operating systems support the same Bluetooth and USB functionality. Because of this inconsistency, depending upon the operating system, it is sometimes necessary to direct the user to download a specific browser which is compatible with the communication features used by the webapp. Again, as the specific browser needs to be separately installed on one or more devices, this approach may also be regarded as cumbersome by the user.

[0013] This may lead to the user deciding to simply never connect their devices. On the one hand, in this case, the manufacturer and / or vendor loses valuable information about their devices, as usage data may not be obtained. On the other hand, user experience may be reduced due to not receiving firmware updates, bug fixes or software capability extensions.

[0014] It may therefore be desirable to provide for an improved method of transmitting data, particularly non-audio data, between an aerosol-generating device or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy and a computing device. The method should be user friendly and compatible with as many different operating systems as possible.

[0015] These advantages may be achieved by the features described herein.

[0016] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-implemented method of transmitting non-audio data between an aerosol-generating device or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy and a computing device, comprising: establishing a wired or wireless connection between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device, wherein the aerosol-generating device or the companion device provides identification information to the computing device, and wherein the identification information indicates to the computing device that the aerosol-generating device or the companion device is an audio device; transferring a data payload between the aerosolgenerating device or the companion device and the computing device using a digital audio format; and recovering non-audio data from the data payload.

[0017] When connecting electronic devices through wired or wireless connections, it is typical for them to advertise their capabilities to each other so that each device knows what kind of actions may be performed by the respective other devices. For example, when a device advertises that it is a display device, connected devices, for example a personal computer, know that display data to be displayed to a user may be sent or provided to this device using standard protocols and / or formats for display data. Analogously, when a device advertises that is an audio input and / or output device, connected devices know that audio data may be received from and / or sent to this device using standard protocols and / or formats for audio data. Especially for audio data, practically all relevant computing devices such as smart phones, tablet computers, personalcomputers, smart watches or the like, support connections with audio devices and the transfer of audio data, particularly digital audio data, to and / or from these devices using standard audio transmission protocols and / or data formats. What’s more, the transfer of audio data in this way is typically supported irrespective of the type of wired or wireless connection used, for example Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, USB, WLAN, or the like, as long as the connection is supported by the computing device at all. Audio data may also be sent and / or received by practically all relevant internet browser applications typically available or preinstalled on the computing devices. Therefore, to send audio data from a computing device to a device connected as an audio device and / or to receive audio data at a computing device from a device connected as an audio device, no additional software needs to be installed by the user. If the audio data transfer needs additional drivers, these are typically automatically obtained either from local libraries or through an Internet connection by the operating system of the computing device itself, so that the user does not need to manually install any additional and / or separate applications.

[0018] As mentioned in the introduction, such general compatibility does not exist for non-audio data transfer without the need for specific native software applications and / or specific browsers depending on the type of wired or wireless connection used. Therefore, the present invention proposes to have the aerosol-generating device or the companion device identify itself as an audio device to the computing device, even if the aerosol-generating device or the companion device does not have any audio capabilities. However, the computing device, according to its common compatibilities and capabilities, will readily send digital audio data to the device and receive digital audio data from the device, for example instructed by a web page or web application which may be interacted with using any browser available on the computing device. Therefore, a data payload may be transferred between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and a computing device, wherein the data payload is formatted as digital audio data. The data payload may therefore comprise format-specific data, for example a framing, a header, a footer or the like. Additionally, the data payload may comprise a data body which would normally encode the sounds represented by the audio data. The present invention proposes to use this data body to encode non-audio data, i.e. any kind of data which may be desirable to be transmitted or transferred between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device. As the aerosol-generating device and the companion device as well as the web application or website interacted with on the computing device expects the data payload received using the digital audio format to contain this non-audio data, the non-audio data may be recovered from the data payload for further use. In other words, as long as both the sender (for example a web site or web application or the aerosol-generating device or the companion device) and the receiver (also for example a web site or web application or the aerosol-generating device or the companion device) of the data payload know that it contains non-audio data, this data mayQ / 32

[0019] be recovered and used for any purpose. In this way, the desired non-audio data may be transferred between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device using the respective capabilities and compatibilities without the need of manually installing specific, dedicated software by the user. User experience is therefore good, even when using the connectivity features, and it is very unlikely that a user may decide to not use connectivity at all because of usage complexity.

[0020] The non-audio data transfer may be provided in one or both directions between the aerosolgenerating device or the companion device and the computing device. For example, the identification information may indicate to the computing device that the aerosol-generating device or the companion device is an audio input device, for example a microphone. In this way, the computing device can be made to expect the receipt of audio data from the aerosol-generating device or the companion device. Therefore, non-audio data sent disguised as audio data may be transferred from the aerosol-generating device or the companion device to the computing device. Alternatively, the identification information may indicate to the computing device that the aerosolgenerating device or the companion device is an audio output device, for example a loudspeaker. In this way, the computing device can be made to send audio data to the aerosol-generating device or the companion device. Therefore, non-audio data sent disguised as audio data may be transferred from the computing device to the aerosol-generating device or the companion device. Further alternatively, the identification information may indicate to the computing device that the aerosol-generating device or the companion device is both an audio input device and an audio output device, for example a headset. In this case, non-audio data sent disguised as audio data may be transferred freely between the computing device and the aerosol-generating device and the companion device.

[0021] In principle, also a data connection between the aerosol-generating device and the companion device may be established and used as described herein. In other words, a digital audio format may also be used to transfer non-audio data between these devices. However, these devices are normally produced by the same manufacturer and may be tailored to each other both in software and in hardware. They are normally regularly connected to each other, for example for charging the aerosol-generating device by the companion device. Thus, data transfer between them may typically be implemented easier in other ways.

[0022] In a specific example, the method may comprise configuring the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio output device at the computing device and sending the data payload to the aerosol-generating device or the companion device using this audio output device. When the computing device is connected to more than one audio output devices, the user may have to select the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as the currently used audio output device at the computing device. From the point of view of the operating system of thecomputing device, this process is similar as if the computing device was playing sound or music on the aerosol-generating device or companion device, wherein the digital audio data comprising the sound or music is provided, for example, by a website or web application run in a browser. However, of course, the data payload being transmitted may not contain actual audio data, but non-audio data encoded in a digital audio format.

[0023] In this case, for example, transferring the data payload may comprise sending the data payload from the computing device to the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and receiving the data payload at the aerosol-generating device or the companion device. Recovering the non-audio data from the data payload may be performed at the aerosol-generating device or the companion device.

[0024] In another example, the method may comprise configuring the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio input device at the computing device and receiving the data payload at the computing device using this audio input device. When the computing device is connected to more than one audio input devices, the user may have to select the aerosolgenerating device or the companion device as the currently used audio input device at the computing device. From the point of view of the operating system of the computing device, this process is similar as if the computing device was receiving sound or music from the aerosolgenerating device or companion device, wherein the digital audio data comprising the sound or music is delivered, for example, to a website or web application run in a browser. However, as outlined before, the data payload being transmitted may not contain actual audio data, but non-audio data encoded in a digital audio format.

[0025] In this case, for example, transferring the data payload may comprise sending the data payload from the aerosol-generating device or the companion device to the computing device and receiving the data payload at the computing device. Recovering the non-audio data from the data payload may be performed at the computing device and / or a server device, for example a web server or a cloud service run by the manufacturer and / or vendor of the aerosol-generating device and the companion device. Therefore, the data may be sent to the server device, for example to a web site or web application hosted on the server device, by the computing device using, for example, an internet connection.

[0026] In general, recovering the non-audio data from the data payload may comprise error checking based on any kind of error checking data or logic available in the digital audio format and / or the data payload, discarding of format-specific additional data, like framing, headers, footers, or the like, compensating for potential changes in the data values due to loudness or audio level or volume adjustments as explained in more detail below, and / or decoding the non-audio data from the data payload. The recovered non-audio data may be indistinguishable from non-audio data transferred using conventional data transfer protocols for Bluetooth, USB, WLANor the like. In other words, any kind of non-audio data may be transferred using the method as described herein.

[0027] The present invention may be implemented with any kind of wired or wireless connection between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device. Any connection enabling digital audio input and / or output may be used. For example, the wired connection may be a Universal Serial Bus, USB, connection, for example a USB-C connection. The identification information may comprise a USB device descriptor and / or a USB interface descriptor identifying the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio device. For example, the base class 01 h for audio devices may be used. Additionally or alternatively, the base class 10h for audio / video devices may be used. The identification information may comprise one or more USB interface descriptors, for example for identifying an audio output capability and / or an audio input capability. Also, a device subclass may be defined, for example by the code 0x1 for audio control or by the code 0x2 for audio streaming.

[0028] As another example, the wireless connection may be a Bluetooth connection, for example a Bluetooth Low Energy, BLE, connection. The identification information may comprise a Bluetooth class of device code identifying the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio device. The Bluetooth class of device is a number identifier that helps to categorize devices. This information may be broadcast when the device is in pairing mode and collected during discovery. For example, Bluetooth class of device codes may comprise a Major Service Class, a Major Device Class, and a Minor Device Class to more closely identify the type of device used. The Major Service Class used in the present invention may, for example, be 14 for BLE audio or 21 for audio in general as defined in specifications by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, along with any suitable Major and Minor Device Classes for audio output and / or audio input devices.

[0029] As yet another example, the wireless connection may be a wireless local area network, WLAN, connection. The identification information may comprise service discovery information identifying the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio device. Service discovery is a process of automatically detecting devices and services on connected devices, for example in a network. Any suitable service discovery protocol may be employed, such as universal plug and play, UPnP, or simple service discovery protocol, SSDP. The aerosolgenerating device or the companion device may be configured to register in a centralised service discovery registry, which may provide capability information to other connected devices. Additionally or alternatively, the aerosol-generating device or the companion device may be configured to answer broadcasts from connected devices asking for audio devices to identify themselves. Again additionally or alternatively, the aerosol-generating device or the companion device may be configured to broadcast, for example periodically broadcast, identity informationindicating that the aerosol-generating device or the companion device is an audio device to connected devices or the entire connected network.

[0030] According to the present invention, any of the aforementioned types of connections or any other suitable connection may be used for the transfer of the non-audio data using the digital audio format.

[0031] The non-audio data may comprise data pertaining to the aerosol-generating device and / or the companion device, for example usage and / or status data, for example data collected about and / or during the use of the device. Other types of non-audio data may be service data, for example firmware upgrades, patches or extensions, or text and / or image-based messages. The non-audio data may, for example, be identification and / or authorisation data, for example used in a youth access prevention procedure. In other words, the non-audio data may comprise any type of data except audio data. The non-audio data may be data intended for the aerosol-generating device and / or the companion device, sent by the computing device, or may be data intended for the computing device, sent by the aerosol-generating device and / or the companion device.

[0032] Particularly, the non-audio data may be free of data pertaining to audio transmission or to the digital audio format, such as framing, headers, footers, information about the transmission or the used format, and / or error checking data. While all of these may be included in the data payload transferred using the digital audio format, they may not be part of the non-audio data and may therefore be added during preparation of the data payload and then discarded during recovery of the non-audio data. Therefore, while a conventional transfer of digital audio data to or from an audio device may also include the transfer of data that is not directly encoding any sounds, but, for example, merely overhead data used for the transfer itself, this is not a transmission of non-audio data in the sense of the present invention. The non-audio data according to the present invention is therefore not used for encoding or transmitting audio. Instead, the non-audio data is recovered from the data payload and used for a purpose independent of audio reception or output or any meta information pertaining to these processes.

[0033] In the inventive non-audio data transmission using a digital audio format, both the sender and the recipient of the data payload may be aware that the data payload comprises non-audio data to be recovered. On the one hand, the aerosol-generating device and the companion device may be programmed to transmit data in this way. To ensure that no specific software application needs to be installed on the computing device, on the side of the computing device, it may be provided that the data payload is sent and / or received by a web page or web application accessible through a browser on the computing device. The computing device may therefore act as an intermediary between the aerosol-generating device and / or the companion device and the web site or web application, i.e. the server device hosting the web site or web application. The web page or web application may be running or may be hosted on a web server or cloud serviceand may be maintained and / or provided by the manufacturer and / or the vendor of the aerosolgenerating device and / or the companion device. The user may navigate to the web page or web application using any standard browser on the computing device. The web page or web application may then send and / or receive the data payload to and / or from the aerosol-generating device or the companion device using a digital audio format.

[0034] Transferring the data payload using a digital audio format may comprise encoding the nonaudio data to be transmitted in the digital audio format. As already mentioned, encoding the nonaudio data in the digital audio format may comprise adding data pertaining to audio transmission or to the digital audio format, such as framing, headers, footers, and / or information about the transmission or the used format. Also, the non-audio data itself may be encoded in a way specific to the digital audio format so that the transfer of the data payload works without errors. For example, in digital audio, the actual data values transmitted may be adjusted by the sending device, for example the computing device, to adjust the volume of the output at the receiving device. Therefore, the non-audio data needs to be encoded in a way such that these adjustments may be made without leading to unexpected errors because the data payload encodes non-audio data. How the encoding is implemented depends on the specific digital audio format used.

[0035] In general, all digital audio formats may be suitable for the present invention. However, to avoid data loss and / or corruption during the transfer, the digital audio format may comprise or be an uncompressed digital audio format or codec, for example a pulse code modulation format, PCM, or a waveform audio file format, WAV or WAVE, or an audio interchange file format, AIFF. Alternatively, the digital audio format may comprise or be a lossless compressed digital audio format or codec, for example Apple lossless audio codec, ALAC, or free lossless audio codec, FLAG, or Windows media audio lossless, WMA. In lossless compression, the original data may be reconstructed completely without losing any values due to the compression.

[0036] In an alternative embodiment, the digital audio format may comprise a lossy compressed digital audio codec, for example MPEG-1 audio layer 3, MP3, or advanced audio coding, MP4. In this case, the data payload may be configured to avoid the losses induced by the specific digital audio codec. During the encoding of the data payload in the specific digital audio format to be used, the specific cases in which the specific digital audio format is lossy may be taken into consideration. For example, in the MP3 format, signal components are discarded that are considered imperceptible to humans. However, as the processes and algorithms used to identify these components are known, the non-audio data to be encoded and therefore also the data payload may be prepared in a way so that none of the essential non-audio data is identified as imperceptible to humans by the MP3 format and therefore, no non-audio data to be transmitted and encoded in the data payload is discarded. This principle may be transferred to other lossy compressed audio formats as well.For example, the digital audio format may comprise or be a Bluetooth audio codec. For instance, any one or more of Bluetooth SBC (Subband Coding), AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), aptX, LDAC, and / or BLE LC3 may be used.

[0037] The formats and / or codecs mentioned herein are merely exemplary and other suitable formats and / or codecs may be used instead.

[0038] As mentioned, the data values of the data payload encoded in a digital audio format may be changed or adjusted by the sending or receiving device, for example the computing device, to adjust the audio level, i.e. volume, of the supposed audio data. Typically, every computing device has a volume control which is always set to some value, which is then used to modify the volume of any audio data sent to audio output devices or received from audio input devices. The method according to the invention may compensate for these changes and adjustments to avoid losing data. For example, the data payload may comprise one or more reference values, and recovering the non-audio data from the data payload may comprise compensating for changes in audio level and / or compression by using the reference values. The reference values may, for example, be fixed, predefined values sent along with the non-audio data. Changes in the reference values from the fixed, predefined value may then be attributed to changes and adjustments of the audio level and / or to compression. These changes of the reference values may then be used to infer the magnitude of the changes and adjustments and may therefore be used to reverse and / or compensate them.

[0039] Changes and adjustments of the audio level may not be homogeneous throughout the whole data set. Instead, the changes and adjustments may be non-linear between different values of the data. One data value may therefore be changed by a different amount or magnitude than values coming before and / or after. T o make sure that no data is lost and that all of these changes and adjustments may be completely reversed and / or compensated, the data payload may comprise a reference value for every single value of data to be transmitted. This may be implemented in that the data payload may comprise two audio channels, for example a left and a right audio channel, and wherein one of the audio channels comprises reference values and the other audio channel comprises data values encoding the non-audio data, and wherein recovering the non-audio data from the data payload may comprise compensating for changes in audio level and / or compression by using the reference values. In other words, the digital audio format may be a stereo format with two audio channels, each audio channel comprising data values that are configured to be output as audio simultaneously with the corresponding data values from the respective other audio channel in a conventional audio file. The changes or adjustments made to data values meant to be output simultaneously as audio are typically the same. Therefore, the change or adjustment made to each and every one of the data values in the audio channel comprising data values encoding the non-audio data may be reconstructed from thecorresponding data value in the audio channel comprising the reference values. In this way, the changes or adjustments made to the data values representing or encoding the non-audio data may be compensated or reversed to losslessly recover the transmitted non-audio data.

[0040] To further secure data integrity of the transmitted non-audio data, it may be provided that the data payload comprises data redundancy and / or error checking data, for example a cyclic redundancy check, CRC, code or checksum. In case the receiving device detects an error in the transmitted non-audio data, for example, because the CRC code or checksum is faulty, a retransmission may be initiated. For example, the aerosol-generating device or the companion device may be configured to request a retransmission of the data payload when a faulty transmission from the computing device is detected. Analogously, the webpage or web application may be configured to request a retransmission of the data payload when a faulty transmission from the aerosol-generating device or the companion device is detected. In this way, an error-proof transmission of the non-audio data may be ensured.

[0041] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an aerosolgenerating system, comprising an aerosol-generating device and / or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy, wherein the aerosolgenerating system is connectable to a computing device by a wired or wireless connection, wherein the aerosol-generating system is configured to provide identification information readable by the computing device, and wherein the identification information is indicative that the aerosolgenerating system is an audio device, wherein the aerosol-generating system is configured to encode non-audio data into a data payload using a digital audio format and send the data payload to the computing device; and / or receive a data payload from the computing device using a digital audio format and recovering non-audio data from the data payload. All of the features, functions and advantages described herein for the method are also applicable to the aerosol-generating system and vice versa. The aerosol-generating system may not comprise the computing device, but is configured to fulfil the necessary functions that the aerosol-generating system may transmit data to and from the computing device in the way explained herein.

[0042] As mentioned, the aerosol-generating system may not be an audio device. In other words, the aerosol-generating system may be free of an audio output device, such as a loudspeaker, and / or an audio input device, such as a microphone. The aerosol-generating system may nevertheless identify as an audio device towards the computing device to implement the invention. However, when more than one audio devices are connected to the computing device, the user may have to select the aerosol-generating system as the audio device currently used by the computing device to enable the transmission of the data payload between the aerosolgenerating system and the computing device. This may be unintuitive for the user and may diminish user experience when the aerosol-generating system does not actually comprise anyaudio output and / or input devices. Therefore, it may be provided that the aerosol-generating system comprises an audio device, for example an audio output device, such as a loudspeaker, and / or an audio input device, such as a microphone. These may be usable by the user in situations other than the performance of the method according to the present invention, but the presence of these devices alone may render the selection of the aerosol-generating system as the active audio device at the computing device more intuitive for the user and thereby improve user experience.

[0043] The aerosol-generating system may further comprise an aerosol-generating article or substrate. The aerosol-generating device may further be configured to generate aerosol from the aerosol-generating substrate or article. The aerosol-generating article or substrate may be or comprise any solid or liquid suitable for use in the aerosol-generating system, particularly the aerosol-generating device.

[0044] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program, which when executed by processing circuitry of an aerosol-generating device and / or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy and / or a computing device, causes the aerosol-generating device and / or the companion device and / or the computing device to perform the steps of the method according to the present invention. All of the features, functions and advantages of the method and / or the aerosol-generating system are also applicable to the computer program and vice versa.

[0045] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program according to the present invention. All of the features, functions and advantages of the method and / or the aerosol-generating system and / or the computer program are also applicable to the computer-readable medium and vice versa.

[0046] The invention is defined in the claims. However, below there is provided a non-exhaustive list of non-limiting examples. Any one or more of the features of these examples may be combined with any one or more features of another example, embodiment, or aspect described herein.

[0047] Example 1. A computer-implemented method of transmitting non-audio data between an aerosol-generating device or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy and a computing device, comprising:

[0048] establishing a wired or wireless connection between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device, wherein the aerosol-generating device or the companion device provides identification information to the computing device, and wherein the identification information indicates to the computing device that the aerosol-generating device or the companion device is an audio device;transferring a data payload between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device using a digital audio format; and

[0049] recovering non-audio data from the data payload.

[0050] Example 2. The method according to Example 1 ,

[0051] wherein the identification information indicates to the computing device that the aerosolgenerating device or the companion device is an audio input device, for example a microphone, or an audio output device, for example a loudspeaker, or both, for example a headset.

[0052] Example 3. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, further comprising

[0053] configuring the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio output device at the computing device and sending the data payload to the aerosol-generating device or the companion device using this audio output device.

[0054] Example 4. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, further comprising

[0055] configuring the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio input device at the computing device and receiving the data payload at the computing device using this audio input device.

[0056] Example 5. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein transferring the data payload comprises sending the data payload from the computing device to the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and receiving the data payload at the aerosol-generating device or the companion device, and wherein recovering the non-audio data from the data payload is performed at the aerosol-generating device or the companion device; and / or

[0057] wherein transferring the data payload comprises sending the data payload from the aerosolgenerating device or the companion device to the computing device and receiving the data payload at the computing device, and wherein recovering the non-audio data from the data payload is performed at the computing device and / or a server device.

[0058] Example 6. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein the wired connection is a Universal Serial Bus, USB, connection, for example a USB-C connection, and wherein the identification information comprises a USB device descriptor and / or a USB interface descriptor identifying the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio device; or

[0059] wherein the wireless connection is a Bluetooth connection, for example a Bluetooth Low Energy, BLE, connection, and wherein the identification information comprises a Bluetooth class of device code identifying the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio device; orwherein the wireless connection is a wireless local area network, WLAN, connection and wherein the identification information comprises service discovery information identifying the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio device.

[0060] Example 7. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein the non-audio data comprises data pertaining to the aerosol-generating device and / or the companion device, for example usage and / or status data, service data, for example firmware upgrades, patches or extensions, or text and / or image-based messages.

[0061] Example 8. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein the non-audio data is free of data pertaining to audio transmission or to the digital audio format, such as framing, headers, footers, information about the transmission or the used format, and / or error checking data.

[0062] Example 9. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein the data payload is sent and / or received by a web page or web page application accessible through a browser on the computing device.

[0063] Example 10. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein transferring the data payload using a digital audio format comprises encoding the non-audio data to be transmitted in the digital audio format.

[0064] Example 11. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein the digital audio format comprises

[0065] an uncompressed digital audio codec, for example a pulse code modulation format, PCM, or a waveform audio file format, WAV, or an audio interchange file format, AIFF, or

[0066] a lossless compressed digital audio codec, for example Apple lossless audio codec, ALAC, or free lossless audio codec, FLAG, or Windows media audio lossless, WMA.

[0067] Example 12. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein the digital audio format comprises a lossy compressed digital audio codec, for example MPEG-1 audio layer 3, MP3, or advanced audio coding, MP4, and wherein the data payload is configured to avoid the losses induced by the specific digital audio codec.

[0068] Example 13. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein the data payload comprises one or more reference values, and wherein recovering the non-audio data from the data payload comprises compensating for changes in audio level and / or compression by using the reference values.

[0069] Example 14. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein the data payload comprises two audio channels, for example a left and a right audio channel, and wherein one of the audio channels comprises reference values and the other audio channel comprises data values encoding the non-audio data, andwherein recovering the non-audio data from the data payload comprises compensating for changes in audio level and / or compression by using the reference values.

[0070] Example 15. The method according to any one of the previous Examples, wherein the data payload comprises data redundancy and / or error checking data, for example a cyclic redundancy check, CRC, code or checksum.

[0071] Example 16. An aerosol-generating system, comprising an aerosol-generating device and / or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy,

[0072] wherein the aerosol-generating system is connectable to a computing device by a wired or wireless connection, wherein the aerosol-generating system is configured to provide identification information readable by the computing device, and wherein the identification information is indicative that the aerosol-generating system is an audio device,

[0073] wherein the aerosol-generating system is configured to

[0074] encode non-audio data into a data payload using a digital audio format and send the data payload to the computing device; and / or

[0075] receive a data payload from the computing device using a digital audio format and recovering non-audio data from the data payload.

[0076] Example 17. The aerosol-generating system according to the previous Example, wherein the aerosol-generating system comprises an audio device, for example an audio output device, such as a loudspeaker, and / or an audio input device, such as a microphone.

[0077] Example 18. The aerosol-generating system according to any one of Examples 16-17, further comprising

[0078] an aerosol-generating article or substrate, preferably wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to generate aerosol from the aerosol-generating substrate or article.

[0079] Example 19. A computer program, which when executed by processing circuitry of an aerosol-generating device and / or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy and / or a computing device, causes the aerosol-generating device and / or the companion device and / or the computing device to perform the steps of the method according to any one of Examples 1-15.

[0080] Example 20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program according to the previous Example.

[0081] Examples will now be further described with reference to the figures in which:

[0082] Figure 1 shows an aerosol-forming system comprising an aerosol-forming device and / or a companion device;

[0083] Figure 2 shows the connectivity facilitated between the aerosol-forming device, the companion device and a computing device by the present invention; andFigure 3 shows a flowchart of the method.

[0084] The figures are schematic only and not to scale.

[0085] Figure 1 shows an aerosol-forming or aerosol-generating system 1 for forming or generating aerosol, for example for consumption or inhalation by a user in one or more usage sessions. The system 1 may comprise at least one of an aerosol-generating device 2 for generating aerosol and a companion device 3 for at least partially receiving the aerosol-generating device 2. The companion device 3 may be a charging device for charging the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or an energy storage 15 or battery thereof.

[0086] The aerosol-generating device 2 may comprise a mouthpiece 4, through which a user may inhale aerosol provided by the aerosol-generating device 2 for consumption during a usage session. The aerosol may be provided from an aerosol-generating article or substrate provided inside the aerosol-generating device 2 and therefore not visible in Figure 1. Alternatively, the aerosol-generating device 2 may comprise an insertion opening for at least partially inserting an aerosol-generating article, which partly remains outside the aerosol-generating device 2 and may be used directly as mouthpiece by a user.

[0087] The aerosol-generating device 2 may further include processing circuitry or control circuitry with at least one controller 5 and one or more processors 6. For generating the aerosol during use or consumption of the aerosol-generating article, the aerosol-generating device 2 may comprise at least one heating element 7 or heater device for applying heat to at least a portion of the aerosol-generating article. Instead of the heating element 7, an ultrasonic device (not shown) may also be used to generate aerosol from the aerosol-generating article. The processing circuitry and / or the controller 5 and / or the processor 6 may be configured to control actuation, activation and / or deactivation of at least one heating element 7 or ultrasonic device.

[0088] For powering the at least one heating element 7 with electrical power, the aerosolgenerating device 2 may further comprise the at least one energy storage 15, for example in the form of a battery, for storing electrical energy or power. In Figure 1, both the aerosol-generating device 2 and the companion device 3 each comprise an energy storage 15 and the energy storage 15 is electrically coupled to the respective device 2, 3. In particular, energy storage 15 may be removably couplable to the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3. In other words, energy storage 15 may be a replaceable energy storage or battery. The connection between the energy storage 15 and the devices 2, 3 may be configured so that the devices 2, 3 may be run by electrical energy provided by the energy storage 15. Additionally, the connection between the energy storage 15 and the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 may be configured so that data may be transmitted between the processing circuitries of the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 and the energy storage 15.The aerosol-generating device 2 may further comprise at least one electrical connector 12 for coupling to a corresponding at least one electrical connector 13 of the companion device 3 and / or an electrical connector of an external power supply (not shown), e.g., a USB charger. For example, when the aerosol-generating device 2 is at least partially inserted into the opening 14 of the companion device 3, the one or more electrical connectors 12 of the aerosol-generating device 2 may be coupled with the one or more electrical connectors 13 of the companion device 3 to charge the at least one energy storage 15 of the aerosol-generating device 2.

[0089] The aerosol-generating device 2 may further comprise a communications arrangement 9 or communication circuitry 9 with one or more communications interfaces 10 for communicatively coupling the aerosol-generating device 2 with the companion device 3 or other devices, for example, via an Internet connection, a wireless LAN connection, a WiFi connection, a Bluetooth connection, a mobile phone network, a mobile data connection for example but not limited to a 3G / 4G / 5G connection, an edge connection, an LTE connection, a BUS connection, a wireless connection, a wired connection, an optical data connection such as but not limited to IrDa, a radio connection, a near field connection, and / or an loT connection.

[0090] As specific examples, the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 may include a Bluetooth radio 22 or Bluetooth radio device 22, such as an ESP32 or a separate integrated circuit, IC, for example coupled to the control circuitry to enable Bluetooth and / or Bluetooth Low Energy, BLE, connectivity. The Bluetooth radio 22 may be configured to send or receive digital audio data (among others) and provide serial data to the control circuitry, for example through a serial port or a universal asynchronous receiver I transmitter, UART.

[0091] As another example, the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 may include a USB controller 23 or USB control device 23 comprising a USB plug or socket. The USB controller 23 may also be coupled to the control circuitry to enable USB connectivity, for example by a serial port, for example a USB serial IC 24 or a UART. The USB controller 23 may be configured to send or receive digital audio data (among others). The data may be communicated between the USB controller 23 and the USB serial IC 24 using the USB protocol, wherein the USB serial IC 24 may be configured to send or receive serial data to or from the control circuitry.

[0092] The aerosol-generating device 2 may further comprise a data storage 11 or memory for storing information, program code or data. Data storage 11 may also store collected values of sensors and / or one or more mathematical functions or formulas, software and computer instructions that can be executed by the processing circuitry, particularly controller 5 and / or processor 6. One or more sensors 16 may be arranged on, at or in the aerosol-generating device 2 or the companion device 3 to collect data. One or more of the sensors 16 may for example be temperature sensors, strain sensors, accelerometers or any other suitable sensors.The aerosol-generating device 2 may further comprise user interface components, for example comprising an input element or input device 8, for example in the form of a pushbutton or a capacitive button. The input device 8 may be used as a power button to activate or deactivate the heating element 7 or ultrasonic device for aerosol generation thereby to activate or deactivate the aerosol-generating device 2. Upon activation of the aerosol-generating device 2, the heating element 7 may be activated and heat may be applied to at least a part of the aerosol-generating article, such that aerosol can be generated for consumption or inhalation by the user, for example in a usage session.

[0093] The aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 may each comprise one or more output elements, such as a display device 17 and / or one or more LEDs, for outputting a signal and / or displaying information to a user, for example a user interface such as a GUI, or haptic and acoustic data output devices. The display device 17 may be, for example, a touchscreen and may therefore be configured as both an output and an input element. Additionally or alternatively, the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 may include an audio device 25, for example an audio input device like a microphone and / or an audio output device like a loudspeaker. However, the present invention does not rely on the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 including an audio device and may be implemented on devices without an audio device 25.

[0094] As mentioned, the present invention uses digital audio for transferring or transmitting nonaudio data between the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 and a computing device. The general principle is shown in Figure 2. To transfer non-audio data between the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 and a computing device 18, which may, for example, be a smart phone, a smart watch, a tablet computer or a personal computer, like a laptop, desktop PC, or notebook, an audio data connection 21, particularly a digital audio data connection, may be established. As described herein, this may be achieved through the communications and / or connectivity features and capabilities of the involved devices, for example by Bluetooth, for example BLE, USB, WLAN or any other suitable connection. In principle, the same connection and data transfer as described herein may also be used between the aerosolgenerating device 2 and the companion device 3.

[0095] The computing device 18 may include Internet connectivity, for example through a mobile communications network or a fixed Internet connection, for example through ethernet. Therefore, the computing device 18 may establish an Internet connection 20 for accessing a webpage or web application hosted on a server device 19. The server device 19 and / or the webpage or web application may be maintained and / or provided by the manufacturer and / or vendor of the aerosolgenerating device 2 and / or the companion device 3. Particularly, the computing device 18 may use any standard Internet browser or browsing application for accessing and letting a user interactwith the webpage or web application on server device 19, such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, or Safari. It is one of the advantages of the present invention that no additional applications or software packages need to be installed on the computing device 18.

[0096] In practice, the transfer of non-audio data may be implemented between the web page or web application running on the server device 19 and the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3. For example, non-audio data may need to be transmitted from the web page or web application to the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3. In this case, the non-audio data may be, for example, software or firmware updates, bug fixes, patches, software functionality extensions, personal or broadcast messages to the user of the aerosolgenerating device 2 and / or the companion device 3, authorisation or identification data or codes, or any other non-audio data. The non-audio data to be transferred may then be prepared as the to-be-transmitted digital audio file using a digital audio format, as will be explained in more detail below, by the server device 19 and / or the web page or web application. In other words, a digital audio file may be prepared encoding the non-audio data. This digital audio file may then be transmitted from the server device 19 and / or the web page or web application to the computing device 18 using the Internet connection 20. The computing device 18 may receive the digital audio file encoding the non-audio data and may initiate playback of the digital audio file using the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 as audio output device. This may mean that the computing device 18 may alter the data values included in the digital audio file according to local audio level or volume settings at the computing device 18. The data of the digital audio file, altered in this manner, may then be sent through the audio data connection 21 to the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 acting as audio output device as a data payload. The data included in the altered digital audio data, i.e. the data payload, may be received by the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3, whereupon the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 may recover the non-audio data from the data payload. In actuality, therefore, no audio may be played by the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3, as the data payload may be received but may then be differently processed than playback audio. For example, a firmware update may be recovered from the data payload as the non-audio data and may then be installed on the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3.

[0097] As another example, non-audio data may need to be transmitted from the aerosolgenerating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 to the web page or web application. In this case, the non-audio data may be, for example, usage data of the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3, for example historical usage data, or status data about the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3, authorisation or identification data or codes, or any other non-audio data. The non-audio data to be transferred may then be preparedas the to-be-transmitted digital audio file using a digital audio format, as will be explained in more detail below, by the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3. In other words, a digital audio file may be prepared encoding the non-audio data. This digital audio file may then be transmitted from the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 to the computing device 18 using the audio data connection 21. For example, the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 may act as audio input device and may deliver the digital audio file as a “recording” made by the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 acting as audio input device at the computing device 18. This “recording” may be initiated by the server device 19 and / or the web page or web application, for example as a reaction to the user selecting to upload status and / or usage and / or other non-audio data from their device on the web page or web application. The computing device 18 may receive the digital audio file encoding the non-audio data and may upload the digital audio file to the server device 19 and / or the web page or web application. In this step, the computing device 18 may alter the data values included in the digital audio file according to local audio input or gain levels at the computing device 18. The data of the digital audio file, altered in this manner, may then be sent or uploaded through the Internet connection 20 to the server device 19 and / or the web page or web application. The data included in the altered digital audio data, i.e. the data payload, may be received by the server device 19 and / or the web page or web application, whereupon the server device 19 and / or the web page or web application may recover the non-audio data from the data payload. In actuality, therefore, no audio may be recorded by the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3, as the data payload prepared by these devices may not contain audio data, but non-audio data to be transferred to the server device 19 and / or the web page or web application. For example, usage data of the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 may be recovered from the data payload as the non-audio data and may then be used to individualise the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3, for example through adaptation of heating profiles to the way the user performs their usage sessions. These adaptations may be delivered to the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 by software adjustment or update in the same way as explained herein.

[0098] The general principle of transmitting non-audio data using digital audio transmission implemented in the invention will be explained in more detail below. However, it is to be understood that the examples and explanations given are merely provided to further understanding of the present invention. Other solutions, for example other encoding schemes, audio codecs and process steps may be utilized as well.

[0099] Digital audio transmission may refer to the process of sending an encoded stream or packet of data that may represent an audio waveform as a string of 1s and Os, i.e. binary. Conversion to a digital format may allow for convenient manipulation, storage, transmission, and retrieval of anaudio signal. The data throughput achievable by the inventive procedure is sufficient and suitable for data transmission between aerosol-generating devices 2 and / or companion devices 3 and computing devices 18 and / or web pages or web applications, even when compensating for audio transmission affecting the data transmitted when e.g. volume is changed.

[0100] The user may navigate to an appropriate webpage where they may navigate around the web interface and any III on the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or companion device 3 as required in relation to the specific interaction and / or task being carried out. The web content may be provided as a website or a web app. Websites, accessible through browsers, may be navigable and may present digital content, images, video, and audio. Websites may be static, meaning the content may not update dynamically. A website may be a useful tool to distribute firmware updates or other common information such as consumable profiles for the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or companion device 3. Web applications may be websites with functionality and interactive elements. They may be dynamic and built for user engagement or interaction. A web app may be computer software accessed through a web browser, often connected to a database to provide an interactive experience specific to the individual using it. In web apps, data may be referenced, stored, and accessed through a customized interface to simplify the delivery of information to the user.

[0101] To connect the computing device 18 to the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or companion device 3 via USB, the user may simply connect the devices via USB cable, for example a USB-C to USB-C cable. Once connected, no pairing may be required, the user may then navigate to the web page for communication.

[0102] To connect the computing device 18 to the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or companion device 3 via Bluetooth, the user may need turn on Bluetooth on the computing device 18 and setup the connection. The user may have to place the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or companion device 3 into discovery mode, this may be via a button press on the device 2, 3. To pair, the user may tap or otherwise select the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or companion device 3 name when it appears on a screen of the computing device 18. This pairing may only be required once. The computing device 18 and the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or companion device 3 may need to be within range of one another for Bluetooth to operate.

[0103] The following sections give a detailed explanation and illustrations of how the aerosolgenerating device 2 and / or companion device 3 and computing device 18 may use digital audio to communicate and transfer data. Other solutions may also be possible and are not excluded by the following explanation.

[0104] Digitizing audio waves may refer to converting analogue sound waves into digital signals that a machine can store and manipulate. During sampling, the analogue sound wave may be measured at regular intervals, and each measurement may be assigned a numerical value. Therate at which these measurements are taken may be called the sampling rate and may typically be measured in kilohertz (kHz). During quantization, the numerical values obtained through sampling may then be rounded to the nearest whole number. The number of bits used for quantization may determine the dynamic range of the digital signal or the range between the quietest and loudest sounds that can be represented. During encoding, the quantized values may then be encoded into a digital format, such as a Wav or MP3 file, which may be stored on digital storage media. The resultant audio file may be a set of binary strings of bits representing the payload data, surrounded by framing, such as headers, descriptors, IDs and footers, which may be subject to the file format chosen.

[0105] Wav, known also as WAV or WAVE, is a subset of Microsoft’s Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) specification for storing digital audio files. The format doesn’t apply any compression to the binary string of bits, thus, the data is stored in its raw form. It stores audio recordings with different sampling rates and bitrates and is one of the standard formats for audio CDs. Wav files are larger in size as compared to new audio file formats such as MP3, which uses lossy compression to reduce the file size by using an algorithm to encode the data and discard elements that are not perceptible to the human ear. For the data transmission discussed herein, a Wav file may be a suitable format, to ensure the data sent is complete and bits are not lost due to compression, however, other formats may be used. If any data is lost due to compression, these cannot be replicated by the receiving device. Therefore, whole chunks of data may be lost, or even if a single bit is lost this may corrupt any data that follows.

[0106] The Wav file format starts with a file header followed by a sequence of data chunks, among them the “WAV” chunk, which includes two sub-chunks: a “fmt” chunk, which specifies the data format, and a “data” chunk, which contains the actual sample data. The payload data within the Wav file may need to be encoded using a predetermined conversion algorithm that is known by the transmitting and receiving devices, allowing the transmission to be decoded by the receiver.

[0107] An encoding example will now be given using paired 16-bit left and right audio data channels (i.e. 32 bits; 2x 16-bit channels). One channel may be used as a reference channel and one channel may be used as a data channel. In a .wav file each channel stores audio information as a signed integer on each channel. Reducing the volume may divide the audio information in a non-linear way prior to transmission. This means that the values received may be an unknown percentage of the original values. For this reason, of the 16 bits in the data channel, for example 4 bits may be used to store data values. By encoding using one channel as the reference value, which may contain a constant value, and the other as a data channel which may encode 4 bits of data, it may be possible to retrieve the 4 bits of encoded data from the data channel as described below. The remaining 12 bits of the data channel may be filled with redundant 0 values. In this way, a division of up to 4096 may be done for volume adjustment without any data loss. Whenthe audio channel pairs are received, the division applied to the reference value may be determined. This division is the same as that which was applied to the data channel. Thus one channel of 16 bits may be used as a reference value (e.g., the left channel) and 4 bits of the other 16 bits channel (e.g., the right channel) may be used to represent the data.

[0108] This may mean that 4 bytes of data are needed to encode 4 bits of information. However, this is not detrimental as audio streaming is itself very fast, and may be even faster than typical simple data exchanges required between a computing device 18 and an aerosol-generating device 2 and / or a companion device 3.

[0109] The data being sent by either the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 or the computing device 18 may be a serial string of 32 bits treated as a stereo 16-bit transfer. This may allow for 16 bits for the left audio channel and 16 bits for the right audio channel. Every 4 bits may be represented as a hexadecimal character (a base-16 numeral system ranging in values from 0-9 and A-F). This may result in a format of 4 left channel hexadecimal characters and 4 right channel hexadecimal characters, for example 0x12340x5678. Note that hexadecimal characters are prefixed with Ox to identify as hex. The left 4 hex characters may be fixed to 0x7F00 as a reference value and the right 4 hex characters may be used to carry the data. Out of the 4 data hex characters, only the first character may be used (4 most significant bits MSB). This may mean that two left / right samples may be required to transmit 1 byte of data payload (a byte is 8 bits, represented by 2 hexadecimal characters).

[0110] For example, if 3 bytes of data payload, for example 0x120x340x56, were to be encoded, the data may be encoded in the following string: 0x7E000x10000x7E000x20000x7E000x3000 0x7E000x40000x7E000x50000x7E000x6000. In this string, 0x7E00 represents the left audio channel containing the fixed reference value and only one bit of the right audio channel is used for data transmission. Each pair of left channel reference value and right channel data value may be called a sample or sampling. Thus, two samples may encode one byte of data. The left channel fixed value of 0x7F00 may be used to compensate for volume changes on either of the devices. As this is a fixed value, if the value received is less than 0x7F00, it can be deduced that the volume adjustment has reduced this value. This reduction may then be applied to the right channel data characters for compensation.

[0111] The following compensation formula may be used in this example:

[0112] Compensated Right Channel Value = Received Right Channel Value I ( Received Left Channel Value 10x7F00 )

[0113] More generally, the compensated value of the data channel may equal the received value of the data channel divided by a fraction with the received reference channel value as the numerator and the reference value as the denominator.The string of bits may be arranged as part of a frame of data with a header, a footer and also a byte to indicate the size of the data payload. The header may be 256 lots of 0x7F00. This may be followed by the payload data. The first byte after the payload data may be the payload number of bytes. Following this may be a footer of for example 256 lots of 0x4F00. The following formula calculates the total number of samples required to send a given payload in this example:

[0114] Total Number Of Samples Including Header And Footer = Number Of Samples Header + Number Of Samples To Encrypt + Number Of Samples Footer = 256 + ( Number of Payload Bytes + 1 ) x 2 + 256

[0115] In an example of 4 payload bytes, the total number of samples sent may be 256 + 10 + 256 = 522 samples.

[0116] The data encoding method above details how the data payload may be formatted within a Wav file as an example. However, with any method of data transmission, there may be a risk that the payload data received is not the same as the data that has been sent. Therefore, the transmission protocol used may be provided with a method of error checking. For example, using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) may be highly effective at detecting common errors caused by noise in transmission channels, such as burst errors (contiguous sequences of erroneous data symbols) and may help to ensure the integrity of data during transmission, which may be crucial for applications like file transfer, network communication, and data storage. CRCs are simple to implement in software, making it a popular choice for error detection. CRCs work by performing a binary division of the data to be transmitted and appending the remainder (known as the CRC code or checksum) to the data. When the data is received, the same division may be performed, and if the remainder matches the CRC code, the data may be considered intact. As well as CRCs, other methods may be used for data integrity checks.

[0117] Figure 3 shows a flowchart of method 40 according to the present invention. Method 40 may begin in step 41 by establishing a connection, which may be a wired or wireless communications connection, between the aerosol-generating device 2 or the companion device 3 and the computing device 18. During this step, the aerosol-generating device 2 or the companion device 3 may provide identification information to the computing device 18 which may indicate that the aerosol-generating device 2 or the companion device 3 is an audio device, irrespective of whether or not audio capabilities are actually present. However, by identifying the aerosol-generating device 2 or the companion device 3 as an audio device at the computing device 18, the computing device 18 may be enabled to send and / or receive audio data, for example digital audio data, to and from the aerosol-generating device 2 or the companion device 3 acting as an audio output and / or audio input device. Digital audio is a basic function across virtually every type of computing device 18, enabling data transfer without the need for additional software and / or applications. Using the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device2Q / 32

[0118] 3 either as audio output device or as audio input device, in step 42, the method may comprise transferring a data payload between the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 and the computing device 18 using a digital audio format as explained above. In this step, the computing device 18 transfers the data payload to and / or from the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 as if actual audio data was being transferred, despite the fact that the data payload may not contain audio data but non-audio data encoded in the digital audio format. The non-audio data contained in the data payload may then be recovered in step 43 of method 40 and may then be further used or processed as if transferred by standard data transfer.

[0119] In addition to the steps as outlined above, the method 40 may comprise step 44, in which a user may interact with content on a website or web application via a standard application, for example a standard Internet browser application running on the computing device 18. The website or web application may be configured for communication with the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 through the inventive method 40. Therefore, the website or web application may send non-audio data to the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 in the described manner or the website or web application may prompt the aerosolgenerating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 to send non-audio data to the website or web application in the described manner. In practice, this means that the sending side may create or receive the data to be transmitted in step 45. The data to be transmitted may, for example, be at least partly read from a storage or memory and may be individualized for the respective receiver. The data may then be encoded for transmission in step 46. The encoding may be performed in consideration of the specific digital audio file format or codec being used. An audio file in accordance with the specific digital audio file format or codec being used may then be constructed in step 47 by adding framing, such as headers and footers, to the data payload. In step 48, further security precautions may be taken, for example by adding retransmission and / or error checking data to the data payload before transmission. Finally, the digital audio file constructed in this way may be used for the transmission in step 42 as explained above.

[0120] In summary, therefore, the present invention provides the possibility of transferring non-audio data between the aerosol-generating device 2, the companion device 3 and the computing device 18, and thereby websites or web applications, using only basic functions and highly compatible protocols that allow an implementation over virtually all combinations of the aerosolgenerating device 2 and / or the companion device 3 with a multitude of different computing devices 18. As digital audio transfer to and from audio devices is already readily implemented on computing devices 18, the user does not need to install any additional software or applications on the computing device to enable connectivity of the aerosol-generating device 2 and / or the companion device 3. The invention therefore reduces costs for developing and maintainingspecific software applications and simultaneously increases user experience by avoiding unnecessary steps and software clutter.

[0121] For the purpose of the present description and of the appended claims, except where otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing amounts, quantities, percentages, and so forth, are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term "about". Also, all ranges include the maximum and minimum points disclosed and include any intermediate ranges therein, which may or may not be specifically enumerated herein. In this context, therefore, a number A is understood as A ± 10% of A. Within this context, a number A may be considered to include numerical values that are within general standard error for the measurement of the property that the number A modifies. The number A, in some instances as used in the appended claims, may deviate by the percentages enumerated above provided that the amount by which A deviates does not materially affect the basic and novel characteristic(s) of the claimed invention. Also, all ranges include the maximum and minimum points disclosed and include any intermediate ranges therein, which may or may not be specifically enumerated herein.

Claims

28 / 32CLAIMS1. A computer-implemented method of transmitting non-audio data between an aerosolgenerating device or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy and a computing device, comprising:establishing a wired or wireless connection between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device, wherein the aerosol-generating device or the companion device provides identification information to the computing device, and wherein the identification information indicates to the computing device that the aerosol-generating device or the companion device is an audio device;transferring a data payload between the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and the computing device using a digital audio format; andrecovering non-audio data from the data payload.

2. The method according to claim 1,wherein the identification information indicates to the computing device that the aerosolgenerating device or the companion device is an audio input device, for example a microphone, or an audio output device, for example a loudspeaker, or both, for example a headset.

3. The method according to any one of the previous claims, further comprising configuring the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio output device at the computing device and sending the data payload to the aerosol-generating device or the companion device using this audio output device and / orconfiguring the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio input device at the computing device and receiving the data payload at the computing device using this audio input device.

4. The method according to any one of the previous claims,wherein transferring the data payload comprises sending the data payload from the computing device to the aerosol-generating device or the companion device and receiving the data payload at the aerosol-generating device or the companion device, and wherein recovering the non-audio data from the data payload is performed at the aerosol-generating device or the companion device; and / orwherein transferring the data payload comprises sending the data payload from the aerosol-generating device or the companion device to the computing device and receiving thedata payload at the computing device, and wherein recovering the non-audio data from the data payload is performed at the computing device and / or a server device.

5. The method according to any one of the previous claims,wherein the wired connection is a Universal Serial Bus, USB, connection, for example a USB-C connection, and wherein the identification information comprises a USB device descriptor and / or a USB interface descriptor identifying the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio device; orwherein the wireless connection is a Bluetooth connection, for example a Bluetooth Low Energy, BLE, connection, and wherein the identification information comprises a Bluetooth class of device code identifying the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio device; orwherein the wireless connection is a wireless local area network, WLAN, connection and wherein the identification information comprises service discovery information identifying the aerosol-generating device or the companion device as an audio device.

6. The method according to any one of the previous claims,wherein the non-audio data comprises data pertaining to the aerosol-generating device and / or the companion device, for example usage and / or status data, service data, for example firmware upgrades, patches or extensions, or text and / or image-based messages, and / or wherein the non-audio data is free of data pertaining to audio transmission or to the digital audio format, such as framing, headers, footers, information about the transmission or the used format, and / or error checking data.

7. The method according to any one of the previous claims,wherein the data payload is sent and / or received by a web page or web page application accessible through a browser on the computing device.

8. The method according to any one of the previous claims,wherein the digital audio format comprisesan uncompressed digital audio codec, for example a pulse code modulation format, PCM, or a waveform audio file format, WAV, or an audio interchange file format, AIFF, and / ora lossless compressed digital audio codec, for example Apple lossless audio codec, ALAC, or free lossless audio codec, FLAG, or Windows media audio lossless, WMA, and / orwherein the digital audio format comprises a lossy compressed digital audio codec, for example MPEG-1 audio layer 3, MP3, or advanced audio coding, MP4, and wherein the data payload is configured to avoid the losses induced by the specific digital audio codec.

9. The method according to any one of the previous claims,wherein the data payload comprises one or more reference values, and wherein recovering the non-audio data from the data payload comprises compensating for changes in audio level and / or compression by using the reference values.

10. The method according to any one of the previous claims,wherein the data payload comprises two audio channels, for example a left and a right audio channel, and wherein one of the audio channels comprises reference values and the other audio channel comprises data values encoding the non-audio data, andwherein recovering the non-audio data from the data payload comprises compensating for changes in audio level and / or compression by using the reference values.

11. The method according to any one of the previous claims,wherein the data payload comprises data redundancy and / or error checking data, for example a cyclic redundancy check, CRC, code or checksum.

12. An aerosol-generating system, comprising an aerosol-generating device and / or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy, wherein the aerosol-generating system is connectable to a computing device by a wired or wireless connection, wherein the aerosol-generating system is configured to provide identification information readable by the computing device, and wherein the identification information is indicative that the aerosol-generating system is an audio device,wherein the aerosol-generating system is configured toencode non-audio data into a data payload using a digital audio format and send the data payload to the computing device; and / orreceive a data payload from the computing device using a digital audio format and recovering non-audio data from the data payload.

13. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 12, further comprisingan aerosol-generating article or substrate, preferably wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to generate aerosol from the aerosol-generating substrate or article.

14. A computer program, which when executed by processing circuitry of an aerosolgenerating device and / or a companion device configured to charge an aerosol-generating device with electrical energy and / or a computing device, causes the aerosol-generating device and / or the companion device and / or the computing device to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-11.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program according to the previous claim.

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