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EP4578314A2 - Procédé et système d'identification d'articles de génération d'aérosol - Google Patents

Procédé et système d'identification d'articles de génération d'aérosol Download PDF

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Publication number
EP4578314A2
EP4578314A2 EP25168481.7A EP25168481A EP4578314A2 EP 4578314 A2 EP4578314 A2 EP 4578314A2 EP 25168481 A EP25168481 A EP 25168481A EP 4578314 A2 EP4578314 A2 EP 4578314A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
article
aerosol
indicium
layers
generating
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
EP25168481.7A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP4578314A3 (fr
Inventor
Patrick Debergh
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
JT International SA
Original Assignee
JT International SA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by JT International SA filed Critical JT International SA
Publication of EP4578314A2 publication Critical patent/EP4578314A2/fr
Publication of EP4578314A3 publication Critical patent/EP4578314A3/fr
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
    • A24F—SMOKERS' REQUISITES; MATCH BOXES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES
    • A24F40/00—Electrically operated smoking devices; Component parts thereof; Manufacture thereof; Maintenance or testing thereof; Charging means specially adapted therefor
    • A24F40/50—Control or monitoring
    • A24F40/51—Arrangement of sensors
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
    • A24F—SMOKERS' REQUISITES; MATCH BOXES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES
    • A24F40/00—Electrically operated smoking devices; Component parts thereof; Manufacture thereof; Maintenance or testing thereof; Charging means specially adapted therefor
    • A24F40/50—Control or monitoring
    • A24F40/53—Monitoring, e.g. fault detection
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
    • A24F—SMOKERS' REQUISITES; MATCH BOXES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES
    • A24F40/00—Electrically operated smoking devices; Component parts thereof; Manufacture thereof; Maintenance or testing thereof; Charging means specially adapted therefor
    • A24F40/20—Devices using solid inhalable precursors

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the field of tobacco, in particular to reconstituted tobacco as well as aerosol-generating articles.
  • the present invention further relates to smoking devices, especially to an electrically heated e-liquid system or an electrically heated aerosol-generating system.
  • Heated tobacco inhaler devices are referred to as "heat-not-burn” systems (HNB). They provide a more authentic tobacco flavour compared to electronic cigarettes, which deliver an inhalable aerosol from heating of a liquid charge comprising aerosol formers, flavorants, and often nicotine.
  • HNB system's working principle is to heat a tobacco material comprising an aerosol-forming substance (such as glycerine and/or propylene glycol) which vaporises during heating and creates a vapour that extracts nicotine and flavour components from the tobacco material.
  • the tobacco substance is heated to between 200 and 350°C, which is below the normal burning temperatures of a conventional cigarette.
  • the inhaler device is typically a hand-held heater, which is configured to receive rod-shaped consumable articles.
  • Illicit trade of aerosol-generating articles is a problem, as counterfeit articles in particular may be of inferior quality or, may not be suited to a specifically dedicated aerosol-generating system.
  • a code or equivalent marking containing information about the article may be arranged onto an outer surface of the article, for it to be detected in use or prior use with a certain device. This allows to check for authenticity of the consumable article and in case of negative check, to provide an appropriate control, such as to power off the heating system with which it is used.
  • the recognition probability should be very high so that suitable articles will not be rejected.
  • existing indicia are limited by the low density of information that they may be contained, and most known indicia rely on conventional codes such as 1-Dimensional or 2-Dimensional barcodes that may be easily be forged
  • WO2019185749 discloses an aerosol generating apparatus having a cavity for receiving an article (such as aerosol-generating consumable article).
  • the article has marker elements arranged in the form of lines on its outer surface.
  • the marker elements consist of an encoded parameter associated with the article.
  • the apparatus includes a sensor arrangement to monitor the marker elements (such as indicium) after the article has been inserted in the cavity, i.e. when the article does not undergo any movement anymore.
  • the apparatus comprises an optical sensor arrangement and a non-optical sensor arrangement such as capacitive sensor to monitor the presence of these markers. Due to lack of space only simple markers can be arranged over a small length, limited to low density information.
  • US 2019008206A1 a small camera having a wide field of view is implemented to read a code on an article that has been fully inserted into a cavity of an aerosol generating device.
  • the system described in US 2019008206A1 requires a wide field of view lens to assure that the image of a significant portion of the surface of the smoking article is required, so that the image covers at least the area of the code.
  • Implementing a vision camera requiring a uniform illumination system and a very wide aperture lens to cover the angular span of a code on an article is cumbersome and expensive. Also, as the system may only capture one side of a smoking article it requires a precise angular orientation of the inserted article relative to the optical axis of the vision system.
  • US 2019008206A1 discloses an embodiment based on a mirror system which would lead to a complex system that is not adapted for low cost smoking devices and their inserted smoking articles.
  • WO2019129378A1 discloses an inhaler for heated cigarette rods (such as consumable article), having an indicium which is only readable by the optical reader after the consumable has been exposed to a temperature exceeding a temperature threshold.
  • the system is limited to detect of the consumable has been overly heated or has been used a second time. Due to lack of space, only simple codes can be detected by the system, or the detection has to be done by the human eye which checks if the code on the articles has been altered. There is thus a need for an improved technique to allow authentication of aerosol-generating articles such as HNB, vaping and smoking articles.
  • authentication based on codes that comprise a much higher information density detectable by a- non cumbersome detection system would be preferable to improve authentication quality and harden counterfeiting of the articles.
  • Imaging optics to detect complex codes require most often complex or voluminous optical paths and optical parts, which lead to devices that are too heavy or which have unacceptable dimensions. Also, the use of chemicals, in the form of liquids or gases, to realize indicia have to be avoided during the manufacturing process of a consumable article.
  • the invention is achieved by a method to identify coded information arranged on an aerosol-generating consumable article.
  • the article defines an insertion direction Z and comprises at least one indicium containing coded information about the article arranged on or inside said article; the aerosol-generating device comprising a heating cavity arranged for insertion of the article along the insertion direction and comprising an indicium detection system.
  • the method comprises the steps of:
  • an indicium or indicium layer may be made of an array of electrically conductive layers arranged in the length of said insertion direction Z and wherein said indicium detection system comprises at least one electrical detector. Similar detection methods as the ones used in the case of optical detection schemes may be applied, such as the use of conductive conical shaped indicia.
  • additional information on the article may be retrieved during the movement of withdrawal of the article 1 out of said aerosol-generating device.
  • an aerosol-generating device comprising, arranged in an outer body, a power supply section and a heating cavity, said body having an opening accessible at the outer body and being configured to receive a consumable article defining an insertion direction Z.
  • the heating cavity defines a cavity axis that is parallel to the insertion direction.
  • the aerosol-generating device further comprises an indicium detection system configured in the device to detect said readable code optically and/or electrically upon the insertion of said article in the cavity as said article moves through the cavity, Preferably the movement is executed from a proximal end to a distal end thereof.
  • the detection system may comprise a single detector and may comprise a slit arranged in front of the detector, allowing to provide a simple detection system that relies on the detection of varying optical and/or optical effects, such as varying light intensities provided by the passing of the indicium in front of the detector system.
  • the detector system comprises an imaging system to provide an image of the indicium or a portion of it while it passes in front of the detection system at the introduction of the consumable article in the aerosol-generating device.
  • the detector is an electric and/or magnetic detector and is configured to detect and/or measure the value or variation of: an electrical capacitance, an inductance a magnetic field, a resistance, an electric field, an electrical potential, an electrical current, a micro-electrical discharge.
  • the device comprises a microwave source and the detector is a microwave detector.
  • an aerosol-generating article for aerosol generating device comprising a cavity; the article defining an insertion direction Z and comprising at least one indicium containing coded information about the article, said indicium being arranged in the insertion direction Z, for being read by an indicium detection system of an aerosol-generating device upon insertion of said aerosol-generating article in the cavity as the article moves in or through the aerosol-generating device.
  • the article comprises different types of layers as described above.
  • a first layer is optical detectable
  • a second layer is electrically detectable by said detection system.
  • an optical detection signal may be provided, in function of time, before or after an electrical detection signal.
  • a layer is made of a fist layer comprising a plurality of first layer elements and a second layer comprising a second array of second layer elements.
  • the layer may be arranged as a sequence of successive first and second layer elements.
  • said first layer and said second layer are arranged on a common longitudinal axis, or in parallel in contact or in close proximity.
  • said first and/or second layer is partially optically detectable and partially electrically detectable.
  • Aerosol-generating articles 1 of the invention are also defined herein as articles or consumables or consumable articles.
  • aerosol-generating material refers to a material capable of releasing upon heating volatile compounds, which can form an aerosol.
  • the aerosol generated from aerosol-generating material of aerosol-generating articles described herein may be visible or invisible and may include vapours (for example, fine particles of substances, which are in a gaseous state, that are ordinarily liquid or solid at room temperature) as well as gases and liquid droplets of condensed vapours.
  • Detailed composition of the aerosol generating substance may be tobacco, aerosol formers, binders, flavouring agents, nicotine and combinations thereof.
  • An aerosol-forming substrate may be provided in a stable support. Such a support may be in the form of a powder, granules, strands, small strips, sheets or foam.
  • wrapper is defined broadly as any structure or layer that protects and contains a charge of aerosol-generating material, and which allows to handle them. It has an inner surface that may be in contact with the aerosol-generating material and has an outer surface away from the aerosol-generating material.
  • the wrapper 3 may preferably comprise a cellulose based material such as paper and/or cellulose acetate.
  • the wrapper 3 may also be made of a biodegradable polymer or may be made of glass or a ceramic, and/or cellulose acetate.
  • the wrapper 3 may be a porous material and may have a smooth or rough outer surface 5 and may be a flexible material or a hard material.
  • the manufactured aerosol-generating consumable article 1 may have a cross section of any regular or irregular shape, and can have, for example, an elliptical or circular cross-section, defined in a plane orthogonal to a longitudinal axis.
  • indicium is a broad term that encompasses any layer or structure or element or configuration or layer or any geometrical and/or physical and/or or chemical property that may be used to identify the aerosol-generating article.
  • the indicium is meant to be an element applied to or part of the aerosol-generating article that has the ability to de detected or read by a detection device for providing a signal of analog or digital form.
  • the indicium of the invention is particularly configured to be readable during the introduction movement of the indicium in a device, by passing typically in front of or next to a detector system 100. It is understood that the indicium may comprise also additional information that is read when the indicium is not in movement, for example when an article has been introduced into a device and before, during or after its consumption.
  • Information in the indicium may be encoded in digital (e.g. binary) or analog manner.
  • an optical effect encompasses any of: a colour, an intensity, a polarisation, a spectral, an interferometric, a transmission, a deviation or a reflection effect.
  • the invention is achieved by a method to identify coded information arranged on an aerosol-generating consumable article 1.
  • the article 1 defines an insertion direction Z and comprises at least one indicium 10 containing coded information about the article 1 arranged on or inside said article 1.
  • the method comprises the steps of:
  • a movement of the aerosol-generating article may be realized after the full insertion of the article in said cavity.
  • the movement may be, for example, any back-and-forward movement of the aerosol-generating article after it has been inserted in the cavity 200.
  • the detection of the indicium 10 is realized by any optical and/or electrical effect as defined before.
  • the detection of the indicium 10 is fully finished when the aerosol-generating article 1 does not move anymore. In variants additional information on the article 1 may be retrieved during the movement of withdrawal of the article 1.
  • Indicia 10 may have a continuous shape ( Figure 8 , 10 ) in the length of an article or may be arranged according to a plurality of indicia elements 11-17 ( Fig.1, 3 , 6 , 10 )
  • said indicium 10 is made of an array of optical layers arranged in the length of said insertion direction Z, and wherein said indicium detection system 100 comprises at least one optical detector 130, 140.
  • a detector system 100 may comprise two different detectors.
  • at least one of said two detectors 130,140 may be a non-optical detector.
  • a first detector is an optical detector and a second detector is an electrical detector, e.g. a capacitive, inductive or resistive detector.
  • Layers that may be used as a code or a support of an indicium 10 are advantageously chosen amongst article layers such as one of: glue layers, bond, seam, separation layers, joining layers, overlapping layers.
  • a layer may have also a single function as support layer of an indicium or array of indicia.
  • indicia 10 are realized onto or into layers that may have typically one of the functions of:
  • a layer of an article may be used as an indicium 10.
  • typical manufacturing layers of an article 1 such as a paper wrapper or a glue layer, may be manufactured so that they conform to a predetermined shape, such as a triangular shape that may be identified during the introduction of an article in a device.
  • the shaped part of such a layer may thus be used as an indicium 10 without requiring an added indicium layer onto or into an article 1.
  • said indicium 10 is made of an array of magnetic layers 10 arranged in the length of said insertion direction Z, and wherein said indicium detection system 100 comprises at least one magnetic detector configured to detect a magnetic field generated by said magnetic layers.
  • indicia 10 of the invention may have optical properties such as light focusing, light diverging properties.
  • indicia may provide a signal related to changes of color, polarization and optical scattering effects, or a combination of such optical effects.
  • image processing techniques in the invention may be simple contrast enhancing techniques or very advanced. Image processing methods such as used in any high security detection systems, for example as used in banking or in fingerprint recognition.
  • 2D and/or 3D imaging may be used to detect and interpret the information imbedded in the indicium 10.

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  • Inspection Of Paper Currency And Valuable Securities (AREA)
  • Automatic Analysis And Handling Materials Therefor (AREA)
  • Containers And Packaging Bodies Having A Special Means To Remove Contents (AREA)
EP25168481.7A 2020-06-12 2021-06-01 Procédé et système d'identification d'articles de génération d'aérosol Pending EP4578314A3 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP20179617 2020-06-12
PCT/EP2021/064719 WO2021249833A1 (fr) 2020-06-12 2021-06-01 Procédé et système d'identification d'articles de génération d'aérosol
EP21730188.6A EP4164436B1 (fr) 2020-06-12 2021-06-01 Procédé et système d'identification d'articles de génération d'aérosol

Related Parent Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP21730188.6A Division EP4164436B1 (fr) 2020-06-12 2021-06-01 Procédé et système d'identification d'articles de génération d'aérosol

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP4578314A2 true EP4578314A2 (fr) 2025-07-02
EP4578314A3 EP4578314A3 (fr) 2025-08-27

Family

ID=71094116

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP25168481.7A Pending EP4578314A3 (fr) 2020-06-12 2021-06-01 Procédé et système d'identification d'articles de génération d'aérosol
EP21730188.6A Active EP4164436B1 (fr) 2020-06-12 2021-06-01 Procédé et système d'identification d'articles de génération d'aérosol

Family Applications After (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP21730188.6A Active EP4164436B1 (fr) 2020-06-12 2021-06-01 Procédé et système d'identification d'articles de génération d'aérosol

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (2) EP4578314A3 (fr)
JP (1) JP7734702B2 (fr)
PL (1) PL4164436T3 (fr)
WO (1) WO2021249833A1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US12022880B2 (en) * 2020-01-06 2024-07-02 Kt&G Corporation Aerosol generating device preventing reuse of an aerosol generating article by detecting discoloration of a wrapper of the aerosol generating article
WO2023127720A1 (fr) * 2021-12-28 2023-07-06 日本たばこ産業株式会社 Inhalateur d'arôme sans combustion
CN217592037U (zh) * 2022-02-24 2022-10-18 比亚迪精密制造有限公司 电磁感应件、加热装置及电子烟
CN117137201A (zh) * 2023-08-25 2023-12-01 爱奇迹(香港)有限公司 雾化装置的控制方法、控制系统及雾化装置

Citations (4)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2017207442A1 (fr) 2016-05-31 2017-12-07 Philip Morris Products S.A. Système produisant un aérosol à commande électrique muni de moyens permettant de détecter un article produisant un aérosol tubulaire
US20190008206A1 (en) 2015-08-14 2019-01-10 Philip Morris Products S.A. An electrically operated smoking device including a system for identifying smoking articles in the device
WO2019129378A1 (fr) 2017-12-29 2019-07-04 Jt International S.A. Inhalateur avec reconnaissance optique et consommable associé
WO2019185749A1 (fr) 2018-03-29 2019-10-03 Nicoventures Trading Limited Appareil de génération d'aérosol à partir d'un milieu aérosolisable, article de milieu aérosolisable et procédé d'exploitation d'appareil de génération d'aérosol

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5967148A (en) 1997-10-16 1999-10-19 Philip Morris Incorporated Lighter actuation system
PL3119224T3 (pl) * 2014-03-21 2023-10-23 Nicoventures Trading Limited Urządzenie do podgrzewania materiału zdatnego do palenia i sposób identyfikacji wyrobu z materiału zdatnego do palenia
GB201805263D0 (en) 2018-03-29 2018-05-16 Nicoventures Trading Ltd Apparatus for generating aerosol from an aerosolisable medium, an article of aerosolisable medium and a method of operating an aerosol generating apparatus
US11903422B2 (en) 2018-08-17 2024-02-20 Philip Morris Products S.A. Aerosol-generating device for use with an aerosol-generating article comprising means for article identification

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20190008206A1 (en) 2015-08-14 2019-01-10 Philip Morris Products S.A. An electrically operated smoking device including a system for identifying smoking articles in the device
WO2017207442A1 (fr) 2016-05-31 2017-12-07 Philip Morris Products S.A. Système produisant un aérosol à commande électrique muni de moyens permettant de détecter un article produisant un aérosol tubulaire
WO2019129378A1 (fr) 2017-12-29 2019-07-04 Jt International S.A. Inhalateur avec reconnaissance optique et consommable associé
WO2019185749A1 (fr) 2018-03-29 2019-10-03 Nicoventures Trading Limited Appareil de génération d'aérosol à partir d'un milieu aérosolisable, article de milieu aérosolisable et procédé d'exploitation d'appareil de génération d'aérosol

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Title
J.R.PARKER: "Algorithms for image processing and Computer Vision", 2011, WILEY
N.MARKA.AGUADO: "Feature Extraction and Image Processing for Computer Vision", 2019, ACADEMIC PRESS
R. SZELISKI: "Computer vision: Algorithms and Applications", 2010, SPRINGER VERLAG

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP4164436B1 (fr) 2025-04-09
EP4164436A1 (fr) 2023-04-19
EP4164436C0 (fr) 2025-04-09
JP2023528685A (ja) 2023-07-05
EP4578314A3 (fr) 2025-08-27
JP7734702B2 (ja) 2025-09-05
WO2021249833A1 (fr) 2021-12-16
PL4164436T3 (pl) 2025-09-01

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