Aerosol Device Puff Counting and Time Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aerosol generating devices, such as e-cigarettes, lack user-friendly control options for monitoring aerosol intake, requiring significant user effort and offering limited flexibility in settings.
Innovation Solution
A method that detects puffs, monitors time elapsed between puffs, and resets puff counting when a preset time is exceeded, providing user indications based on predefined counts and orientations, utilizing a control circuitry with a puff detector, timing unit, and controller to manage aerosol intake tracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the device provides detailed monitoring and control settings, then the user can monitor aerosol intake, but the device complexity increases and requires significant user effort
Solution Approach 1:
The device automatically detects puffs, monitors time intervals, counts puffs in succession, and provides notifications without requiring user configuration. The control circuitry autonomously determines when to reset counters and when to provide notifications, making the system self-configuring and eliminating the need for manual settings while maintaining precise monitoring capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes its monitoring parameters dynamically based on detected usage patterns. When a time interval greater than the first preset value is detected between puffs, the system automatically resets the puff counter. The system also adapts notification behavior based on device orientation detection, providing notifications only when held in the first orientation, thus simplifying user interaction while maintaining monitoring precision
2Adaptability or versatility
If the device requires user intervention for settings, then the monitoring can be customized, but the ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The device performs self-customization by automatically adapting to user behavior patterns. The control circuitry detects puff intervals and autonomously determines when to reset counters and when to provide notifications, eliminating the need for manual customization while maintaining adaptability to different usage patterns
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring system dynamically adjusts its behavior based on real-time detection of usage patterns and device orientation. The puff counter automatically resets when time intervals exceed thresholds, and notifications are dynamically provided only when the device is in the correct orientation, creating a flexible system that adapts without user input
3Loss of information
If the device continuously monitors all puffs, then complete data is collected, but the loss of time for processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and processes only relevant puff data by continuously monitoring time intervals between puffs. When a time interval exceeds the first preset value, the system extracts this information to trigger a counter reset, eliminating the need to process and store data for all puffs uniformly, thus reducing processing time while maintaining data completeness for relevant events
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring system operates periodically by checking time intervals between puffs against preset thresholds. Rather than continuously processing all puff data, the system periodically evaluates whether time intervals warrant counter resets or notifications, reducing processing load while maintaining complete tracking of significant usage events
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention discloses to a method of operating an aerosol-generating device comprising detecting puffs taken by a user; monitoring a time elapsed after each puff; counting the puffs in succession unless the time elapsed is greater than a first preset value; and restarting counting the puffs when the time elapsed is greater than the first preset value.