Bio-traceable Electronic Consumable Device with Biometric Authorization
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increased availability of electronic consumable devices (ECDs) such as e-cigarettes and vaping devices poses challenges in restricting their usage to authorized individuals, particularly minors, due to their discreet form factors and difficulty in detecting unauthorized use, leading to health concerns and legal issues.
Innovation Solution
Integration of bio-traceability features, including biosensors like fingerprint scanners, into ECDs for user-based usage restriction and tracking, which require registration and authorization through a remote controller device, ensuring only authorized users can access and use the devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If ECDs are made with discreet form factors to improve user convenience and portability, then ease of operation and device compactness are improved, but difficulty of detecting unauthorized use increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary registration of authorized users through biometric authentication before actual device usage. This preliminary action creates a database of authorized individuals, enabling later detection and prevention of unauthorized use without affecting the device's compact form factor
2Reliability
If biometric authentication systems are integrated into ECDs to restrict usage to authorized individuals, then usage restriction capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The authentication system is segmented into two independent parts: a portable ECD with biometric sensor and a remote controller for user registration and management. This segmentation allows the complex registration functionality to be distributed, reducing the burden on the main device while maintaining strong usage restriction capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
A remote controller device serves as an intermediary between the user and the ECD registration process. This intermediary handles the complex tasks of biometric data collection, storage, and verification, allowing the main ECD to remain relatively simple while achieving reliable usage restriction
3Reliability
If remote tracking and authorization features are added to ECDs to enable centralized control, then ability to restrict and track usage is improved, but device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The remote tracking and authorization system operates periodically rather than continuously. The ECD checks for authorized user presence at scheduled intervals (e.g., before each usage session) rather than maintaining constant monitoring, significantly reducing power consumption while maintaining effective centralized control capability
Data Source
AI summary
Electronic consumable devices (ECDs) are provided with integrated bio-traceability to facilitate user-based usage restriction, tracking, etc. For example, an individual legally purchases an ECD (e.g., an e-cigarette) from a vendor, and the ECD has a biosensor (e.g., fingerprint scanner) integrated therein. During the purchasing, the vendor uses a controller device to set up registration of the ECD for the individual, and the ECD cannot be used prior to registration. As part of the registration, the individual uses the biosensor to register a biometric signature, and the vendor's controller device confirms registration of the ECD. According to some embodiments, subsequent to registration, the ECD can be used only in connection with maintaining both device-level authorization based on communications with one or more remote controller devices and user-level authorization based on acquisition of the registered biometric signature by the integrated biosensor.