WO2025238045A1

WO2025238045A1 - Aerosol-generating device

Info

Publication number: WO2025238045A1
Application number: PCT/EP2025/063146
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hung Bun Choi; Xing Yang; Bin Li; Artem BYBYK; Alona OSOCHENKO; Gayatri KONDEPUDI; Szabolcs BALÁSI; Rustem SUNIEV
Original assignee: Philip Morris Products SA
Current assignee: Philip Morris Products SA
Priority date: 2024-05-14
Filing date: 2025-05-14
Publication date: 2025-11-20
Anticipated expiration: 2026-11-14

Abstract

The disclosure relates to an aerosol-generating device having a communication interface for connecting to a user device and a wireless network, the aerosol-generating device being configured to: establish a first connection to the user device; obtain, via the first connection, network data indicative of a network identifier of the wireless network; and establish a second connection to the wireless network based on the network data.

Description

AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of aerosol-generating systems for generating aerosol, for example nicotine-containing aerosol. In particular, the present disclosure relates to an electronic aerosol-generating device configured to generate aerosol, e.g., based on heating at least a part of an aerosol-generating article or substrate. The present disclosure further relates to an aerosol generating system comprising the aerosol-generating device and a user device, a method for controlling an aerosol-generating device and to a corresponding computer program product, which may be a computer program or a computer-readable medium storing a computer program.

Aerosol-generating systems typically comprise aerosol-generating devices 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 by heating an aerosol-generating substrate or at least a portion of an aerosol-generating article comprising such substrate. It will be appreciated that aerosol-generating devices can generate aerosol by other means, such as for example by vibrating, by spraying or other means.

Generally, aerosol-generating devices may comprise a communication interface as wireless connection means. Specifically, a wireless connection between the aerosol-generating device and the Internet may be desirable for certain actions, such as but not limited to activation of the aerosol-generating device for the first time, upgrading a firmware of the aerosol-generating device, and similar. However, providing the network data for connecting to a wireless network giving Internet access on the aerosol-generating device may be cumbersome or not even possible, e.g., when the aerosol-generating device is configured as a so-called headless device, which may not have a user interface capable of receiving the network data by means of user input.

It may, therefore, be desirable to provide for an improved aerosol-generating device overcoming or at least mitigating one or more of the aforementioned drawbacks.

This is achieved by the subject-matter of the independent claims. Optional features are provided by the dependent claims and by the following description.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to an aerosol-generating device, which may be configured to generate aerosol, for example nicotine-containing aerosol inhalable by the user, from at least a part of an aerosol-generating article or aerosol-generating substrate, for example based on supplying one or more aerosol generators with electrical energy. However, the aerosolgenerating device is not limited to nicotine-containing aerosol generation, i.e., to an electronic cigarette or similar. Alternatively, the aerosol-generating device may be any other device capable of generating an aerosol, e.g., a medical inhaler, a diffuser device, and similar. The present disclosure further relates to an aerosol-generating system comprising the aerosol-generating device and a user device, in particular a user electronic device such as but not limited to a smartphone, a tablet computer, a mobile or notebook computer, a stationary computer or similar. The present disclosure further relates to a method for controlling an aerosol-generating device and to a corresponding computer program product, which may be a computer program or a computer-readable medium storing a computer program. Any disclosure presented herein (note that herein according to this disclosure includes hereinabove and hereinbelow) with reference to an aspect of the present disclosure, equally applies to any other aspect of the present disclosure.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an aerosol-generating device having a communication interface for connecting to a user device and a wireless network, the aerosol-generating device being configured to: establish a first connection to or, in other words, with the user device; obtain, via the first connection, network data indicative of a network identifier of the wireless network; and establish a second connection to or, in other words, with the wireless network based on the network data.

Accordingly, the aerosol-generating device of this disclosure provides for the capability of connecting to a wireless network, which may have or grant network resources such as, for example, Internet access, by establishing a second connection to the wireless network using a first connection to a user device. The second connection is established based on the network data, which is obtained via a first connection to a user device, which may have any configuration as explained herein, such as but not limited to a smartphone, tablet computer, notebook or mobile computer, stationary computer, or similar, for example. In particular, the network data used to establish the second connection may be obtained from the user device via the first connection. In particular, the first connection may be separate from the second connection. Thereby, the aerosolgenerating device provides for a reliable and convenient connection of its communication interface to a wireless network via the usage of the user device.

Generally, one or more communication interface types or communication protocols may be implemented in the aerosol-generating device and its communication interface or, in other words, circuitry. In particular, the communication interface or circuitry may be configured for one or both of wired and wireless communication, in particular at least with one or more of a user device, network router and charger device as herein explained. For example, the communication interface may be based on one or more of a BUS communication, a cable communication, a wireless communication, a Bluetooth communication, a Wi-Fi or WL N (Wireless Local Area Network) communication, a cellular communication, an infrared communication, a nearfield communication, an internet communication or any other suitable type of communication or communication protocol.

Optionally, a charger device and/or aerosol-generating article may form part of the aerosolgenerating device. The charger device itself may, in one alternative, comprise the communication interface. In another alternative, the aerosol-generating device without the charger device may comprise the communication interface. The charger device may be couplable and decouplable from a remainder of the aerosol-generating device for generating the aerosol, which may accordingly comprise an aerosolization circuit, for charging an energy storage of the remainder of the aerosol-generating device. In particular, the aerosol-generating device or part of the aerosol-generating device for generating the aerosol may comprise an energy storage and the charger device may comprise an energy storage. The one or more energy storages may be one or more batteries (e.g., a lithium-ion battery). When the energy storage(s) is/are a battery/batteries, the cathode material may comprise lithium-cobalt-oxide (LCO), lithium- manganese-oxide (LMO), lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt-oxide (NMC), lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP), and/or lithium-nickel-cobalt-aluminium-oxide (NCA), for example. The anode material may comprise carbon (e.g., graphite), silicon and/or lithium-titanate-oxide (LTO), for example.

Generally, the aerosol-generating device may, via its communication interface, interact, in particular communicate with and/or connect to or with, several other devices. One of these devices is the user device. Another one of these devices is the device setting up the wireless network, which may be the same user device, a different user device or any other device capable thereof, e.g., a network router as exemplary explained herein. Moreover, the aerosol-generating device may communicate with, in particular over the Internet, a server as explained herein. The server may be from a manufacturer of the aerosol-generating device, for example. The server may be configured to manage different aerosol-generating devices, e.g., by receiving data and/or providing data as disclosed herein, e.g., usage data relating to the usage of the aerosolgenerating devices and/or configuration data for configuring the aerosol-generating devices, e.g., for updating an operating software thereof. The server may be at a distant location from the aerosol-generating device, in particular such that an Internet-based communication may be required to communicate with the server. Similarly, the user device may be configured to, e.g., via its communication interface, such as based on Wi-Fi and/or any cellular standard, communicate with the server over the Internet. As explained herein, the communication of the aerosol-generating device with the server may be provided via the second connection of the wireless network, when the respective device setting up the wireless network gives Internet access to the aerosol-generating device as explained herein. The server may host a web service, in particular a dedicated web service, to which the aerosol-generating device and/or the user device may have access over the Internet. Such server may also be referred to as a web server. The aerosol-generating device may comprise or execute a piece of software for communicating with the web service on the server. The user device may also have or execute a piece of software for communicating with the web service on the server and/or the aerosol-generating device. For example, the piece of software on the user device may be an installed app or application (i.e., software piece or package), or it may be a web app or web application, in particular a progressive web application. A progressive web application (PWA), or progressive web app, is a type of application software delivered through the web. It may, for example, be built using common web technologies including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WebAssembly or similar. The PWA is intended to work on any platform with a standards-compliant browser, including desktop and mobile devices. The web application or progressive web application may be hosted, e.g., by the server or any other instance or server. The PWA may be accessed, e.g., displayed and/or at least partially executed, by or on the user device, e.g., by means of a web browser thereof. For example, the hosted code, e.g., HTML or any other web technology as mentioned herein, of the progressive web application, which may be a type of webpage or website, may be at least partially executed by the web browser to display the PWA via the web browser on the user device. In particular, via the web browser of the user device, the user may access the web application or progressive web application and provide user input thereto and/or receive output or data therefrom. Hence, there may be no need to install an additional software on the user device to communicate with the server and/or aerosol-generating device but rather, already existing software, such as a web browser, may be used for this purpose, where the server may host the web application accessed by the web browser of the user device.

For the communication between the respective devices mentioned herein, for example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) may be used, in particular between the aerosol-generating device and the wireless network and/or between the user device and the server, whereas in particular the communication between the user device and the aerosol-generating device may not use HTTP but data packages or payloads, in particular Wi-Fi payloads, for example. HTTP is a protocol that may be used to send information, e.g., between the web browser of the user device, by which the web application may be accessed, and the web server, the latter being identified on the Internet by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which is commonly known as a web address. This URL can be converted into an Internet Protocol (IP) address, which uniquely identifies each device connected to Internet. A HTTP response is the content send, e.g., by the server to the web browser on the user device. This content typically has a determined HTTP format and is composed by a HTTP Header and a HTTP Body. A web page for instance is a HTTP response (as displayed by a browser). For HTTP responses, the HTTP Headers contain for instance information about the encoding used for the web page, the server software used on the server etc. The HTTP Bodies are where the code of the web page (HTML, JavaScript, etc.) or of the resource is requested. A HTTP request is the content sent, e.g., by the web browser of the user device via the web application to the web server, in particular with a similar HTTP format. For HTTP requests, the HTTP Headers includes information about the request, such as the type of request, information about the web browser and other metadata (like the time the request was made).

Exemplary aerosol-generating substrates to be used in aerosol-generating articles for the aerosol-generating device 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-generating article. Such a stick or aerosol-generating article can be configured in shape and size to be inserted at least partially into the aerosol-generating device, which, for example, can comprise a heating element for heating the aerosol-generating article and/or the aerosol-generating substrate. Alternatively, or additionally, aerosol-generating substrates can comprise one or more liquids and/or solids, which can for example be supplied to the aerosol-generating device in the form of a cartridge or container. Exemplary aerosol-generating articles can comprise a cartridge or container that contains or is fillable with the liquid and/or solid substrate, which can be vaporized during aerosol consumption by the user based on heating the substrate. Usually, such cartridge can be coupled to, attached to and/or at least partially inserted into the aerosolgenerating device. Alternatively, the cartridge may be fixedly mounted to the aerosol-generating device and refilled by inserting liquid and/or solid substrate material into the cartridge.

For generating aerosol during use or consumption, the aerosol-generating device may comprise a user interface, which may be actuated by the user, thereby triggering supply of one or more aerosol-generating means or aerosol generators, such as one or more aerosol ization elements or sources, e.g., heating elements or heat sources, with electrical energy, for example to heat at least a portion of the aerosol-generating substrate or article. At least a part of the aerosol-generating means or aerosol generator, for example at least a part of the aerosolization element, can be arranged in the aerosol-generating device. Alternatively, or additionally, at least a part of the aerosol-generating means or aerosol generator, for example at least a part of the aerosolization element, can be arranged in the aerosol-generating article.

Exemplary aerosolization elements 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 of the aerosol-generating device. Exemplary energy storages can include one or more batteries, one or more capacitors, one or more accumulators or other types of energy storage.

Alternatively, or additionally, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to supply electrical energy to one or more other aerosol-generating means, aerosol engines or aerosol generators to generate aerosol. For example, the aerosol-generating device and/or aerosolgenerating article may comprise one or more vibrating elements, one or more vibrating meshes, one or more spraying devices, or other means for generating aerosol.

In an example, the first connection may be a wireless connection. Thereby, the first connection to or, in other words, with the user device may be conveniently established in a wireless manner without using any cable. However, using a cabled connection, e.g., by means of an USB cable such as of an USB type C, may be an additional or alternative option. In particular, using a cable may enable the use of Wi-Fi Protected Setup for establishing the second connection, in one alternative. In an example, the first connection may be a Wi-Fi connection. In other words, the first connection may be a wireless LAN (WLAN) connection forming a local area network (LAN) between the communication interface of the aerosol-generating device and the user device. Generally, Wi-Fi or WLAN are widely adopted in different kinds of user devices and have a large range, allowing the aerosol-generating device to reliably and conveniently connect, by means of establishing the first connection, to a large number of different kinds of user devices, such as but not limited to smartphones, tablet computers, mobile or notebook computers, stationary computers and similar. In particular, the user device may have and utilize a hotspot mode, in which the user device, e.g., smartphone, becomes a Wi-Fi station or router, such that the aerosolgenerating device may, via the first connection, connect to it or, in other words, its wireless network. An advantage of the hotspot mode is that the user device may still be able to access the Internet despite its local wireless network, in particular its first connection, e.g., via a cellular module for establishing a cellular connection with the Internet. Advantages of using Wi-Fi over other connection techniques, such as Bluetooth, are for example the increased stability of the connection and generally the greater connection range.

In an example, the second connection may be a Wi-Fi connection. Similarly, the wireless network may be a wireless local area network, to which the aerosol-generating device may be connected via its communication interface and the second connection. In particular, both, the first connection and the second connection may be Wi-Fi connections, which however are separate from one another in that the first connection connects the aerosol-generating device to the user device and the second connection connects the aerosol-generating device to the wireless network. Thereby, advantageously, the advantages of the Wi-Fi connection are used for both connections, ensuring reliability and convenience for the user of the aerosol-generating device and utilizing the same technology on the part of the communication interface, thereby not requiring different kinds of communication interfaces or technologies on the aerosol-generating device, e.g., such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capability, which however may be provided nevertheless on the aerosol-generating device.

In an example, the wireless network may be set up or, in other words, provided by a network router. The network router may be any electronic device capable of establishing a wireless network, such as but not limited to a wireless network router, a smartphone, a computer, or any other user (electronic) device with a wireless communication interface, and similar. Also, the wireless network may be set up or provided by multiple network routers, e.g., to cover different destinations or areas with the wireless network.

In an example, the network identifier may be a Service Set Identifier (SSID). The SSID may be a freely chosen name of a service set of one or more network routers or electronic devices, which share the SSID. The SSID may be a label, in particular in natural language, e.g., in the form of a name, which is broadcast by the one or more network routers or electronic devices. Hence, users or devices wanting to connect to the wireless network may see its SSID as name and thereby identify the wireless network, e.g., as the one they want to connect to for gaining access to a network resource, e.g., the Internet, which may be provided by the one or more network routers or electronic devices. By obtaining the SSID via the first connection, the aerosolgenerating device gains the information to which wireless network it shall establish the second connection. For example, the user device or a user using the user device (and, optionally, the aerosol-generating device) may select the respective network identifier, in particular SSID, from a list of available network identifiers or SSID’s in an area, in particular within a range of a communication interface of the user device or the aerosol-generating device, which may then be transferred to the aerosol-generating device after user-selection via the first connection such that it is thereby obtained. This selection may be made available via the web application accessed by the web browser of the user device, for example. Hence, for example, the aerosol-generating device does not require any complex and/or expensive components, such as a display, selection means such as a touch capability of the display or additional buttons, or any other means, to view or announce and chose the respective network identifier for establishing the second connection with the wireless network associated with a chosen network identifier. Instead, any user device of the user may be used for this purpose, which typically already has all capabilities necessary to choose a network identifier from a list of network identifiers.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to terminate the first connection after establishing the second connection. For example, the establishing of the second connection may instantaneously or after some time, e.g., after a predetermined duration, lead to a termination of the first connection. Thereby, the energy resources of the aerosol-generating device are conserved, in particular since actions as described herein, e.g., initial activation or updating a firmware of the aerosol-generating device, may be done utilizing the second connection.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may have no user interface configured for obtaining, e.g., selecting and/or typing, the network identifier and/or a password for connecting to the wireless network based on user input on the aerosol-generating device. In other words, the aerosol-generating device may be a so-called headless device, which does not comprise the capability of obtaining the network identifier or name of the wireless network, e.g., SSID, and/or password for connecting to the wireless network based on user input on the aerosol-generating device. In other words, the aerosol-generating device may not have any user interface that allows a user to input the network identifier or name of the wireless network and/or the password. In case of a Wi-Fi connection, the password may in the form of a Wi-Fi-protected access key (WPA key), for example. In yet other words, the aerosol-generating device may be incapable of receiving user input for directly obtaining, e.g., by selecting and/or typing, the network identifier or name of the wireless network and/or password based on the user input. Hence, it may not only be more convenient and reliable to use the user device and the first connection to provide the network identifier as part of the network data and, optionally, the password, but the aerosol-generating device may in fact not be capable of doing this by itself via user input on the aerosol-generating device (only), thereby allowing to make the aerosol-generating device more compact and omitting any complex and/or expensive components as explained herein.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may have an interface for establishing the first connection, in particular a user interface to obtain a user input for establishing the first connection. Hence, while the user interface may not allow to establish the second connection, e.g., by choosing the network name and/or typing the password, it may very well be provided that the interface, in particular user interface, allows to establish the first connection, which may be less challenging than the second connection. In particular, the user device may be also owned or at least be accessed or used by the user, making it easier to establish the first connection as explained herein, while the network router or electronic device setting up the wireless network may not be owned or accessed in its settings by the user, e.g., when the wireless network is a public wireless network or for other reasons, e.g., when it is at a workplace and the user does not have access to it for any other reason.

In an example, the user interface may be configured as a touch-sensitive user interface, in particular as a button, on the aerosol-generating device. This is a particularly simple and cost- effective solution, where pushing the button may enable or trigger establishing the first connection. However, the interface is not limited to a user interface or thereto and may alternatively be any other than a button, such as but not limited to a display, in particular a touch display, a microphone for receiving voice commands or recording natural speaking as user input, an NFC-Chip and/or an RFID-Chip for near-field communication with the user device, and/or similar.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to establish the first connection based on Software Access Point, SoftAP, and/or Wi-Fi Protected Setup after obtaining the user input. The user input may be the pushing or actuating of the touch-sensitive user interface, e.g., the button, in a particularly simple implementation. Alternatively, for example, the user input may be bringing the NFC-Chip and/or RFID-Chip into a near-field range of the user device, in particular a near-field communication unit thereof, such that the SoftAP and/or Wi-Fi Protected Setup can thereby be triggered. In fact, any mode of SoftAP, protected or not, e.g. protected by Wi-Fi Protected Setup, may be used by the aerosol-generating device and the user device for establishing the first connection, wherein the Wi-Fi Protected Setup may be triggered or initiated by the user input. Ultimately, when the Wi-Fi Protected Setup is used, the first connection may be securely and conveniently established between the aerosol-generating device and the user device, in particular since the user has access to both devices. Alternatively, SoftAP without Wi-Fi Protected Setup may be used. For example, the user interface or button may be comprising a Wi-Fi icon indicating to the user that actuating or interacting with the user interface or button switches the aerosol-generating device’s mode to SoftAP, where the device creates a corresponding Wi-Fi network and is acting as a router. This Wi-Fi network may be simplified. Specifically, it may not be protected by a password, i.e., without a password to connect to it. The SSID can be standardized across different aerosol-generating devices and broadcasted in clear. The SSID may include a specific hashtag for each aerosol-generating device. The aerosolgenerating device may receive feedback when a user device connects, e.g., indicated by a green light on the aerosol-generating device. The SoftAP mode can have a timeout of a couple seconds, e.g. of 30 seconds or more, or a couple minutes, e.g. in between 2 to 10 minutes, e.g. about 5 minutes.

In an example, the network data may be encrypted by an asymmetric encryption method. Specifically, when the first connection between the aerosol-generating device and the user device may is an open network, it is not password protected, and thereby eases the user experience. In addition, the communication between the user device and the aerosol-generating device via the first connection may be based on a standard HTTP protocol. Nevertheless, the user's Wi-Fi network password (e.g., home Wi-Fi) may be protected (i.e., encrypted). For this purpose, an asymmetric encryption method may be used. Specifically, the aerosol-generating device may comprise a private/public key pair stored thereon, specifically on a data storage thereof. The private key may specifically be retained securely in the aerosol-generating device. Further, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to transmit the public key via the first connection to the user device. This means that when the first connection between the user device and the aerosol-generating device is established, the next step may be for the user device or web application to request a unique cryptographic certificate from the aerosol-generating device. The unique cryptographic certificate may be used to verify that it was issued by an aerosol-generating device, specifically by a specific manufacturer. The user device can obtain a public key from the certificate and then use the public key to encrypt the user's Wi-Fi network password. The encrypted password may be transmitted to the aerosol-generating device together with or separate from the user selected SSID of the wireless network as network data. The aerosolgenerating device may further be configured to then decrypt the encrypted user's Wi-Fi network password inside the network data using the private key. This assures that the open network is indeed created by the aerosol-generating device.

In an example, the network data may be based on a user selection from one or more network identifiers on the user device. In particular, the network data may be obtained based on the user selection. Such selection may be made by user input received on the user device, e.g., on an input means such as a touch display, keyboard, mouse, trackpad, or any other input means. For example, the user device may indicate, e.g., display or announce, several different network identifiers within its or the aerosol-generating device’s wireless communication range, in particular Wi-Fi range, and the user may choose therefrom. For example, when the user is at a public space, e.g., a restaurant, coffee shop, or workspace, the user may know with which wireless network based on the network identifier, e.g., SSID, they may want to establish the second connection with. This may thereby be enabled. In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to determine the one or more network identifiers via its communication interface and transmit, via the first connection, the determined one or more network identifiers for the user selection to the user device. Specifically, it may be the communication interface of the aerosol-generating device or generally the aerosolgenerating device which screens or scans for available and compatible wireless networks within its range to which it might connect. Accordingly, it is the aerosol-generating device which may transmit to the user device, and thereby e.g. its web application such as the PWA, to which wireless networks according to their network identifiers it may connect. The choice however with which wireless network the aerosol-generating device shall establish the second connection may be left to the user. For this purpose, the user device or its web application may be displaying the determined one or more network identifiers and the user may for example select their home network or office network or any network they would like to connect their aerosol-generating device to. Consequently, the web application may request the user to provide a password for the selected network identifier, in case the selected wireless network is password protected. Upon selection of the network identifier and/or entering the password, the network data indicative of the network identifier and/or the password may be passed from the user device to the aerosolgenerating device using the first connection.

In an example, the network data may be further indicative of a password of the wireless network, and wherein the aerosol-generating device may be configured to establish the second connection based on the network identifier and the password. Hence, for example, the wireless network may be password protected, in particular protected by a WPA key. For securely establishing the second connection to the wireless network and/or at least for gaining access to a network resource thereof, e.g., the Internet, it may be required to transmit, via the second connection, a password of the wireless network thereto, which may then be verified by the network router for securely establishing the second connection and/or giving access to the network resource to the aerosol-generating device. For example, the wireless network may be a home wireless network or a wireless network at the user’s workplace and the user may want to establish the second connection to it without the aerosol-generating device having a user interface which would allow them to do so, e.g., not allowing them to select or type the network identifier and/or the password. However, both, the network identifier and the password may be obtained by, e.g., user input thereon, or known to the user device, which may accordingly provide the network data indicative thereof to the aerosol-generating device via the first connection, enabling the aerosolgenerating device itself to connect to the wireless network.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured or, in other words, be capable to simultaneously maintain the first connection and the second connection, in particular at least until the first connection is being terminated. Thereby, the aerosol-generating device does not need to switch between the first connection and second connection but can maintain both connections, which may be advantageous when the first connection may be needed or is beneficial during the establishing of the second connection as explained herein, e.g., with respect to solving a captive portal of the wireless network or in conjunction with the transmission of a temporary device identifier via the first network as described herein further below. Also, in any other case, the preservation of the first connection allows the aerosol-generating device to send communication or message coming from the wireless network to the user device, specifically the web application executed thereon. Hence, the establishing of the second connection may be conducted in a quick and efficient manner compared to when the aerosol-generating device would need to switch between the first and second connection. The maintaining of the first connection and the second connection may also be referred to as a concurrent mode of the aerosolgenerating device, which may thereby be provided.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to: obtain, via the second connection, in particular by or at the aerosol-generating device and/or from the network router, second network data relating to a captive portal of the wireless network; transmit, via the first connection, in particular by the aerosol-generating device, the second network data to the user device; obtain, via the first connection, in particular from the user device and/or at or by the aerosolgenerating device, third network data relating to input information for completing the captive portal; and transmit, via the second connection, in particular by the aerosol-generating device and/or to the network router, the third network data for completing the captive portal to access one or more network resources of the wireless network.

In other words, the first connection may also be used to complete or, in other words, solve a captive portal to access or, in other words, gain access to one or more network resources of the wireless network. Captive portals are typically used in public wireless networks, where certain input information may be required to complete the captive portal. However, the aerosol-generating device may have no user interface or a user interface that may not be capable to receive the input information for completing the captive portal from the user. In other words, the aerosol-generating device may be a headless device. To overcome this issue of connecting to public wireless networks in particular, the first connection is being used, after receiving, via the second connection, the second network data relating to a captive portal of the wireless network, in particular comprising data about the captive portal of the wireless network, for transmitting the second network data to the user device, via the first connection. The second network data may be for example in the form of a HTTP response including the captive portal web page, i.e., the web content provided by the wireless network or, in other words, via the wireless network from the network router, until the captive portal is completed, or, in other words, its authentication is passed. Different from a headless aerosol-generating device, the user device may comprise capabilities, e.g., a user interface such as a touch display or any other input means, allowing the user to complete the captive portal or the input information required therefrom, which may be included in the second network data. Alternatively, the user device may comprise at least part of the input information and/or generate it automatically or autonomously, e.g., based on settings of the user and/or known data of the user. The user device may accordingly transmit third network data relating to, in particular comprising, input information for completing the captive portal, via the first connection, to the aerosol-generating device, where it is accordingly being obtained or, in other words, received. This third network data may then be transmitted from the aerosolgenerating device via the second connection to the wireless network such that it may complete the captive portal and give access to the one or more network resources of the wireless network.

In an example, the input information for completing the captive portal may relate to or comprise one or more of: a one-time access code; user data, in particular one or more of an e-mail address, a username, and a phone number; an acceptance or rejection of a user consent, in particular relating to one or more of a user policy, an end-user license agreement, and a subscription service; and one or more answers to a question or a survey.

Accordingly, the third network data may provide any type of input information needed to complete the captive portal, some of which may be based on user data or preferences, e.g., acceptance of rejection of user consent, or individual data, such as a one-time access code or one or more answers to a question or a survey. The question or survey may for example be part of a captcha, e.g., to verify that the user trying to access the one or more network resources is human. The one-time access code may, for example, be sent to the e-mail address and/or phone number of the user for verification. The user may then provide this one-time access code to the user device, in particular the web application accessed by the web browser of the user device, using input means on the user device, whereby at least part of the third network data may be generated.

In an example, the network resource may be an Internet access over the wireless network. In other words, when completing the captive portal, the aerosol-generating device may be granted Internet access over the wireless network, thereby allowing it to perform one or more of the actions as described herein, e.g., updating its firmware and/or an initial activation of the aerosolgenerating device.

In particular when the user device carries out a web application on a web browser as described herein, the web application may not include the SSDI and password of the aerosolgenerating device, such that it may be challenging to establish the first connection between the user device and the aerosol-generating device. As previously described, this may, for example, be done via the Wi-Fi Protected Setup. However, there may be alternative and potentially more secure ways as further described herein.

In an example, one or both of a device identifier of the aerosol-generating device and a password for establishing the first connection with the aerosol-generating device may be provided on the aerosol-generating device. Accordingly, when the user has hold of the aerosol-generating device, the user may know the relevant data required for establishing the first connection to the user device by accordingly inputting it into their user device. This is a safe procedure for establishing the first connection, in addition or alternatively to the Wi-Fi Protected Setup described herein, for example, since typically only the user has access to their aerosol-generating device.

In an example, the device identifier, the password, or both may be provided in the form of a machine-readable code, in particular a QR-code. Hence, the user device, when equipped with a camera as typical for a smartphone or other handheld electronic devices but also stationary devices such as desktop computers, may conveniently scan the machine-readable code by taking a picture thereof and analysing its content, thereby arriving at the device identifier and/or the password.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to display the device identifier, the password, or both on a display of the aerosol-generating device. For example, a display of the aerosol-generating device may be configured to display the device identifier and/or the password. This may be in addition to, alternative to or combined with the machine-readable code, e.g., the device identifier and/or the password may be displayed as machine-readable code.

In an example, the device identifier may be a unique device identifier of the aerosolgenerating device. Hence, the device identifier may only be used or at least meant to be used once for any aerosol-generating device, e.g., by generating a unique random code or number and/or producing the aerosol-generating devices with unique device identifiers by a manufacturer only.

In an example, the unique device identifier may be a serial number and/or a Service Set Identifier (SSID). The serial number and/or the SSID may have any characters such as but not limited to numbers, uppercase and/or lowercase letters, and symbols, for example. In particular, the SSID may comprise or consist of the serial number of the aerosol-generating device.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to broadcast information including a Service Set Identifier (SSID) of the aerosol-generating device and one or both of: device identification information indicative of the device being an aerosol-generating device; and a password for, in particular securely, establishing the first connection with the aerosolgenerating device.

The broadcasted information may be used by the user device to identify the aerosolgenerating device, in particular clearly identify and differentiate it from other devices within the wireless network range of the user device having other SSIDs but potentially being of a very large number, which may make it difficult to quickly identify the SSID of the aerosol-generating device. Further, in case the broadcast information includes the password, e.g., the WPA key, for securely establishing the first connection between the user device and the aerosol-generating device, it may be provided that the user device needs to transmit the password of the aerosol-generating device thereto via the first connection, otherwise terminating or not establishing the first connection. For example, the broadcasted information may be up to 32 bytes long and contain a specific identifier allowing the user device to identify the broadcasted information as being from an aerosol-generating device. For example, the user device may access or run an application as herein described, e.g., a web application or progressive web application. This application may contain information regarding the specific identifier allowing the user device to identify the information as relating to the aerosol-generating device. A second identifier in the broadcasted information, e.g., an up to 32 bytes long name or code, may be the password itself. Alternatively, for example, the second identifier may be transmitted, by the user device to the server herein described for retrieving the password, similar or in addition as described in the below example. In any case, the broadcasted information may be received by the user device and the user device or user thereof may quickly identify which of potentially many different SSIDs broadcasted within its range is the aerosol-generating device and establish the first connection using the SSID and password.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to establish the first connection based on one or more of a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a password of the aerosolgenerating device being stored on a server. This example may be in addition to or as alternative to the previous example. For example, different aerosol-generating devices may have one or both, i.e., the couple of SSID and password, stored on a server, which may be connected to the Internet. For example, the user device may transmit all SSIDs within its range or, in other words, received on the user device, e.g., as may be displayed for user selection. This may be via or by using the application on the user device. In fact, any of the communication from the side of the aerosol-generating device with the user device and/or the server may go through the application, which may contain or be configured to generate specific requests and responses, e.g., as HTTP requests and responses in the case of a web application, in particular progressive web application. Then, the user device may transmit all SSIDs to the server. In particular, when the SSID is a unique device identifier, e.g., a serial number, the server may identify this SSID as being of an aerosol-generating device, e.g., because the server stores all SSIDs of aerosolgenerating devices, at least of the same manufacturer. The server may accordingly return the SSID and/or the password of the aerosol-generating device, which may then be used to establish the first connection by the user device. In another example, for accessing the SSID and password on the server, for example, the user may need to use the herein mentioned device identifier associated with the aerosol-generating device, e.g., unique device identifier, such as the serial number of their aerosol-generating device, and provide it to the user device, in particular the app, such as a progressive web app, executed on the user device. The user device may, via the Internet, transmit the thereby obtained device identifier to the server and receive the SSID and/or password for the transmitted device identifier, thereby securely allowing to establish the first connection. In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to transmit a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device via the second connection. In particular, the aerosolgenerating device may be configured to transmit, via the second connection, the unique device identifier to a server. In particular, the second connection may give Internet access to the aerosolgenerating device such that the unique device identifier may be transmitted over the Internet to the server.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to: obtain, via the second connection, a temporary device identifier of the aerosol-generating device after transmitting the unique device identifier; wherein the aerosol-generating device may be further configured to: display the temporary device identifier on a display of the aerosol-generating device; and/or transmit, via the first connection, the temporary device identifier.

Thereby, an authentication at the user device via the communication between the aerosolgenerating device and the server may be provided. For example, the temporary device identifier of the aerosol-generating device may be received or obtained from the server in response to the receiving of the unique device identifier at the server. This temporary device identifier may be temporary in that it may only be used within a certain time, e.g., some minutes or seconds, and/or only once or for a predefined number of times. For example, the temporary device identifier may take any form such as but not limited to numbers, letters, symbols or similar, e.g., such as a password or key. This temporary device identifier may be displayed on the aerosol-generating device, such that the user may provide it as input on the user device or it may be scanned, e.g., via taking an imaging thereof, by the user device. Alternatively, or additionally, the temporary device identifier may be directly transmitted via the first connection to the user device. The user device may then transmit this temporary unique device identifier, or any code or data based thereon, e.g., after processing it, to the server via its own Internet communication with the server, e.g., via an app executed by the user device, whereby the authentication may be successfully performed. The use of this authentication may be manyfold, one example of which is now described.

In an example, the temporary device identifier may be configured to grant permission for transmitting, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device and/or obtaining, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device, in particular when the user provides the temporary device identifier as user input on the user device. In particular, the temporary device identifier may be configured such that, when the temporary device identifier is obtained as user input on the user device and subsequently transmitted to the server, e.g., via a Wi-Fi connection, cellular connection or similar allowing Internet-based transmission to the server, the user device and/or aerosol-generating device are authenticated by and/or at the server. Thereby, the server may permit the aerosol-generating device to transmit, via the second connection and to the server over the Internet, data, in particular usage data and/or configuration data. Alternatively, or additionally, the server may permit the aerosol-generating device to obtain, via the second connection and over the Internet from the server, data.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to: obtain, via the second connection, configuration data for configuring the aerosol-generating device; and configure the aerosol-generating device based on the configuration data.

The configuration data may be one example of data that may be received via the second connection, in particular over the Internet and from the server. The data may be obtained independent from or only after permission is granted based on the temporary device identifier, for example.

In an example, the configuration data may be configured for one or both of: configuring one or more settings of the aerosol-generating device; and updating an operating software of the aerosol-generating device.

In other words, by means of the configuration data, the aerosol-generating device may be configured, e.g., in one or more of its settings, and/or in its operating firmware or software, which may be updated, for example.

In an example, the one or more settings may relate to one or more of: a number of consecutive puffs allowed; an amount of energy usable to generate aerosol; a number of usage sessions the aerosol-generating device is operable to generate aerosol; and a number of aerosol-generating articles usable with the aerosol-generating device.

For example, according to a setting, the aerosol-generating device may only allow a number of consecutive puffs per time, per (electrical) charge of the energy storage of the aerosolgenerating device, per aerosol-generating article, and/or similar. This setting may be changed based on the configuration data, which may be for example based on user input on the user device, in particular on the web application accessed via the web browser thereof, the user desiring to change this setting. For example, according to a setting, the amount of energy usable to generate aerosol may be defined by the aerosol-generating article, e.g., per time, depending on a charge status, per article, and/or similar. Thereby, the user may adopt settings, e.g., set an energy saving mode, in which the amount of energy usable may be limited compared to a nominal or maximum amount of energy usable. For example, according to a setting, the number of usage sessions the aerosol-generating device is operable to generate aerosol may be adopted, which may be closely related to an amount of energy or charge available at the aerosol-generating device. Similarly, according to a setting, a number of aerosol-generating articles usable with the aerosol-generating device may be adopted by the user based on the configuration data.

In an example, the configuration data may be based on the unique device identifier. This may mean that the configuration data may be chosen or obtained based on the unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device. Thereby, it may be ensured that only the specific configuration data for the aerosol-generating device according to its unique device identifier will be obtained by the aerosol-generating device.

In an example, the configuration data may be obtained from the server. In particular, the configuration data may be directly obtained from the server, i.e., without the user device being in between the communication and, e.g., by means of the Internet-based communication established through the second connection to the wireless network. Hence, the user device may conveniently not be needed anymore for configuring the aerosol-generating device and, for example, the first connection may already be terminated at the time of configuring the aerosolgenerating device.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to obtain the configuration data and/or configure the aerosol-generating device based on the configuration data after displaying and/or transmitting the temporary device identifier, in particular after the user device transmits the temporary device identifier to the server, where it is authenticated and permission to obtaining the configuration data is granted, as previously explained.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to transmit, via the second connection, one or both of: usage data relating to the usage of the aerosol-generating device; and configuration data relating to one or more settings and/or a version of an operating software of the aerosol-generating device.

Hence, in addition to the previously mentioned configuration data, also or alternatively, usage data relating to the usage of the aerosol-generating device by the user may be transmitted to the server via the Internet-based communication over the second connection.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to transmit, via the second connection, the one or both of the usage data and the configuration data to the server as herein explained.

In an example, the usage data may relate to one or more of: a time the aerosol-generating device has been operated by the user; a number of consecutive puffs a user has taken; an amount of energy used to generate aerosol; a number of usage sessions the aerosol-generating device has been operated to generate aerosol; and a number of aerosol-generating articles used with the aerosol-generating device to generate aerosol in one or more usage sessions.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to transmit, via the second connection, the one or both of the usage data and the configuration data after displaying and/or transmitting the temporary device identifier, in particular after the user device transmits the temporary device identifier to the server, where it is authenticated and permission to obtaining the configuration data is granted, as previously explained.

It may also be possible that the aerosol-generating device is able to establish a second connection to different wireless networks based on different network data. For example, the aerosol-generating device may be able to obtain, via the first connection, different network data indicative of different network identifier of different wireless networks, e.g., two, three or more different wireless networks. These different wireless networks may be available for establishing a second connection to them at the same time and/or at the same location. In this case, the aerosolgenerating device may be able, based on the obtained different network data, to establish the second connection to any one of these wireless networks.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to automatically establish a second connection with any one of multiple networks based on different network data obtained for each one of the wireless networks. In other words, the aerosol-generating device may know, based on the techniques described herein, how to connect to every one of the multiple networks and automatically select to which one it shall establish the second connection. Automatically means that a user does not need to provide input or trigger for the establishing of the second connection with any one of the multiple networks. Rather, the aerosol-generating device selects the wireless network to connect to by itself, in particular based on assigned priorities described further herein. However, the different wireless networks may have different quality of connectivity, e.g., wireless signal strength, bandwidth, and/or similar.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to automatically establish a second connection with any one of multiple networks based on different network data obtained for each one of the wireless networks, wherein the automatic establishment of the second connection comprises a selection of one of the multiple networks based on priorities assigned to the different wireless networks, the priorities in particular being based on or reflecting at least signal strengths of the wireless networks. The signal strength may be a received signal strength indicator, which may be obtained together with the network data and/or separate therefrom. The signal strength may be received and/or updated periodically. For example, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to periodically, e.g., every few seconds or every minute or so, send a broadcasting package request to the wireless networks, whose network routers may then respond to this request including the signal strength. The aerosol-generating device may then store the signal strength information for each of the available wireless networks, to which it sent the broadcasting package request. Such information may be stored in any form, e.g., in the form of a table. With this information, the priorities may be assigned to the different wireless networks based on the signal strength received from their response. The received signal strength indicator may fluctuate over time and/or depending on the position of the aerosol-generating device. Thus, it may not only be advantageous to select a wireless network based on the priorities in view of the received signal strength indicator initially but also later and periodically to potentially switch the wireless network to which the second connection shall be established to increase the performance, e.g., speed, stability and similar, of the second connection.

Another aspect of this disclosure relates to a system or aerosol-generating system comprising the aerosol-generating device of this disclosure and a user device.

In an example, the system may further comprise an aerosol-generating article couplable or coupled to an aerosol-generating device of the system to generate aerosol based on aerosolization, in particular heating, of at least a portion of the aerosol-generating article.

In an example, the system may further comprise a network router, the wireless network being set up by the network router.

In an example, the system may further comprise a server, the aerosol-generating device being configured to communicate with the server via the second connection, in particular an Internet-based communication provided by or through the second connection.

In an example, the system may comprise an aerosol-generating article.

Another aspect of this disclosure relates to a user device having a communication interface for connecting to an aerosol-generating device, the user device being configured to: establish a connection to the aerosol-generating device; obtain network data indicative of a network identifier of a wireless network; and transmit, via the connection to the aerosol-generating device, the network data to the aerosol-generating device.

In an example, the user device may be configured for one or more of: obtain, via the connection, second network data relating to a captive portal of the wireless network, in particular from the aerosol-generating device, in particular via the connection; process the second network data for obtaining third network data relating to input information for completing the captive portal, in particular by displaying the second network data on the user device and receiving the input information as user input on the user device; transmit, via the connection, the third network data to the aerosol-generating device.

In an example, the user device may be configured to: obtain, in particular via a camera and/or its communication interface, a temporary device identifier; transmit the temporary device identifier, in particular via a web application executed by the user device, to a server, in particular for having the aerosol-generating device being granted permission for transmitting, in particular via the second connection, data from the aerosol- generating device and/or obtaining, in particular via the second connection, data from the aerosolgenerating device.

In particular, the user device may make use of its web browser for transmitting and/or obtaining data, and optionally, in any of the other steps of communications or user actions or interactions, e.g., receiving user input on the user device, as described herein. Specifically, as explained herein, the user device, in particular via its web browser, may access, display and/or execute a web progressive application, which may for example be hosted on the server.

Another aspect of this disclosure relates to a network router having a communication interface for setting up a wireless network, the network router being configured to: establish a connection to an aerosol-generating device based on network data obtained by a user device and transmitted to an aerosol-generating device connected to the user device.

Another aspect of this disclosure relates to a method for controlling an aerosol-generating device having a communication interface for connecting to a user device and a wireless network, the method comprising: establishing a first connection, the first connection being to the user device; obtaining, via the first connection, network data indicative of a network identifier of the wireless network; and establishing a second connection, the second connection being to the wireless network, based on the network data.

The first connection may accordingly be established between the user device and the aerosol-generating article, whereas the second connection is established between the aerosolgenerating device and the wireless network or its network router(s) setting up the wireless network.

In an example, the method may be further comprising: transmitting, via the first connection, network data to the aerosol-generating article, by the user device.

In an example, the first connection may be terminated after establishing the second connection.

In an example, the first connection and the second connection may be simultaneously maintained, in particular before terminating the first connection and/or at least for a predetermined duration or one or more actions performed as described herein, e.g., for completing a captive portal.

In an example, the method may be further comprising: obtaining, via the second connection, second network data relating to a captive portal of the wireless network; transmitting, via the first connection, the second network data to the user device; obtaining, via the first connection, third network data relating to input information for completing the captive portal; and transmitting, via the second connection, the third network data for completing the captive portal to access one or more network resources of the wireless network.

In an example, the method may further comprise one or more of: transmitting, by the wireless network or network router via the second connection, the second network data to the aerosol-generating device; obtaining, by the user device via the first connection, the second network data from the aerosol-generating device; obtaining, by the user device, in particular at least by means of a user input on the user device, the third network data; transmitting, by the user device via the first connection, the third network data to the aerosolgenerating device.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may broadcast information including a Service Set Identifier (SSID) of the aerosol-generating device and one or both of: device identification information indicative of the device being an aerosol-generating device; and a password for establishing the first connection with the aerosol-generating device.

In an example, the method may comprise: obtaining, by the user device, the broadcasted information; identifying, by the user device, the device broadcasting the information as aerosolgenerating device based on the device identification information.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may establish the first connection based on one or more of a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a password of the aerosol-generating device being stored on a server.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may transmit a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device via the second connection.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may transmit, via the second connection, the unique device identifier to a server.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may: obtain, via the second connection, a temporary device identifier of the aerosol-generating device after transmitting the unique device identifier; and wherein the aerosol-generating device may: display the temporary device identifier on a display of the aerosol-generating device; and/or transmit, via the first connection, the temporary device identifier.

In an example, the method may comprise one or more of: obtaining, by the server, the unique device identifier; generating, by the server, the temporary device identifier based on the unique device identifier; transmitting, by the server, the temporary device identifier to the aerosol-generating device; receiving, by the user device, the temporary device identifier; in particular by means of a camera of the user device scanning the temporary device identifier and/or by obtaining it from the aerosol-generating device via the first connection; transmitting, by the user device, the temporary device identifier to the server; obtaining, by the server, the temporary device identifier; authenticating, by the server, the obtained temporary device identifier, in particular by comparing it to the generated temporary device identifier.

In an example, the server may grant permission for transmitting, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device and/or obtaining, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device, in particular after authentication of the obtained temporary device identifier by the server.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may: obtain, via the second connection, configuration data for configuring the aerosol-generating device; and configure the aerosol-generating device based on the configuration data.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may transmit, via the second connection, one or both of: usage data relating to the usage of the aerosol-generating device; and configuration data relating to one or more settings and/or a version of an operating software of the aerosol-generating device.

In an example, the aerosol-generating device may transmit, via the second connection, the one or both of the usage data and the configuration data to a server.

Another aspect of this disclosure relates to a computer program product or computer program, which when executed by an aerosol-generating system or device, instructs the aerosolgenerating system or device to carry out any of the methods of this disclosure. The computer program product may be a product, e.g., having stored thereon the computer program, e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable medium or, alternatively, the computer program (as such), for example.

Another aspect of this disclosure relates to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program according to this disclosure.

Another aspect of this disclosure relates to an aerosol-generating device having a light sensor and a communication interface for connecting to a wireless network, the aerosolgenerating device being configured to: obtain, by the light sensor, a sequence of one or more light pulses from a display of a user device, the one or more light pulses being indicative of network data of the wireless network, the network data relating to one or more of a network identifier and a password of the wireless network; encode the sequence to obtain the network data; and establish a connection to the wireless network based on the network data.

The aerosol-generating device of this aspect may provide an alternative or additional way of connecting the aerosol-generating device to the wireless network, i.e., establishing the second connection, in particular without requiring a first connection to the user device but rather by obtaining and encoding the sequence of the one or more light pulses, thereby receiving the network data and enabling the connection to the wireless network. It is noted that any feature of the aerosol-generating device of this aspect may be combined with any feature of the aerosolgenerating device of the previous aspect and/or the aerosol-generating device of the following aspect.

Another aspect of this disclosure relates to an aerosol-generating device having a communication interface for connecting to a user device, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to advertise connection data for connecting the aerosol-generating device to the user device, wherein the connection data comprises a unique device identifier of the aerosolgenerating device.

In an example of the last aspect, the unique device identifier may be configured identifiable by the user device for establishing the connection of the aerosol-generating device to the user device.

In an example of the last aspect, the unique device identifier may be a serial number of the aerosol-generating device.

In an example of the last aspect, the unique device identifier is associated with a user account of a user of the aerosol-generating device.

In an example of the last aspect, the communication interface may be based on Bluetooth.

In an example of the last aspect, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to advertise the connection data on one or more of three communication channels having a fixed frequency range share within a Bluetooth frequency range.

In an example of the last aspect, the aerosol-generating device may be configured to transmit data packages on one or more of a remainder of communication channels having a fixed frequency range share within the Bluetooth frequency range after connecting the aerosolgenerating device to the user device.

In another aspect, this disclosure relates to a system comprising the aerosol-generating device of the last aspect and a user device.

In another aspect, this disclosure relates to a user device comprising a communication interface for connecting to an aerosol-generating device, wherein the user device is configured to: obtain connection data advertised by the aerosol-generating device for connecting the aerosol-generating device to the user device, wherein the connection data comprises a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device; identify the aerosol-generating device based on the unique device identifier; and establish a connection to the aerosol-generating device based on the identification of the unique device identifier.

In an example of the last aspect, the user device may be configured to obtain user data of a user of the aerosol-generating device based on a user account associated with the unique device identifier.

According to another aspect, this disclosure relates to a method for connecting an aerosolgenerating device to a user device, the method comprising: advertising, by the aerosol-generating device, connection data for connecting the aerosolgenerating device to the user device, wherein the connection data comprises a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device; obtaining, by the user device, the connection data advertised by the aerosol-generating device; identifying, by the user device, the aerosol-generating device based on the unique device identifier; and establishing, by the user device, a connection to the aerosol-generating device based on the identification of the unique device identifier.

In an example, the method may comprise obtaining, by the user device, user data of a user of the aerosol-generating device based on a user account associated with the unique device identifier.

Any one of the methods of this disclosure may be at least partially or fully computer implemented. This means that at least one, multiple or all steps of any one of the methods may be carried out by a computer. The computer may be a processor of the aerosol-generating device, for example.

It is emphasized that any feature, step, function, element, technical effect and/or advantage described herein with reference to one aspect of the disclosure equally applies to any other aspect of the disclosure.

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 or aspects may be combined with any one or more features of another example, embodiment, or aspect described herein.

1. An aerosol-generating device having a communication interface for connecting to a user device and a wireless network, the aerosol-generating device being configured to: establish a first connection to the user device; obtain, via the first connection, network data indicative of a network identifier of the wireless network; and establish a second connection to the wireless network based on the network data.

2. The aerosol-generating device of example 1, wherein the first connection is a wireless connection. 3. The aerosol-generating device of example 2, wherein the first connection is a WiFi connection.

4. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the second connection is a Wi-Fi connection.

5. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the wireless network is set up by a network router.

6. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the network identifier is a Service Set Identifier (SSID).

7. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to terminate the first connection after establishing the second connection.

8. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device has no user interface configured for obtaining the network identifier and/or a password for connecting to the wireless network based on user input on the aerosolgenerating device.

9. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device has a user interface configured to obtain a user input for establishing the first connection.

10. The aerosol-generating device of example 9, wherein the user interface is configured as a touch-sensitive user interface, in particular as a button, on the aerosol-generating device.

11. The aerosol-generating device of example 9 or 10, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to establish the first connection based on Software Access Point, SoftAP, and/or Wi-Fi Protected Setup after obtaining the user input.

12. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the network data is based on a user selection from one or more network identifiers on the user device.

12a. The aerosol-generating device of example 12, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to determine the one or more network identifiers via its communication interface and transmit, via the first connection, the determined one or more network identifiers for the user selection to the user device.

12b. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the network data is encrypted by an asymmetric encryption method.

13. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the network data is further indicative of a password of the wireless network, and wherein the aerosolgenerating device is configured to establish the second connection based on the network identifier and the password. 14. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to simultaneously maintain the first connection and the second connection.

15. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to: obtain, via the second connection, second network data relating to a captive portal of the wireless network; transmit, via the first connection, the second network data to the user device; obtain, via the first connection, third network data relating to input information for completing the captive portal; and transmit, via the second connection, the third network data for completing the captive portal to access one or more network resources of the wireless network.

16. The aerosol-generating device of example 15, wherein the input information for completing the captive portal relates to one or more of: a one-time access code; user data, in particular one or more of an e-mail address, a username, and a phone number; an acceptance or rejection of a user consent, in particular relating to one or more of a user policy, an end-user license agreement, and a subscription service; and one or more answers to a question or a survey.

17. The aerosol-generating device of example 15 or 16, wherein the network resource is an Internet access over the wireless network.

18. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein one or both of a device identifier of the aerosol-generating device and a password for establishing the first connection with the aerosol-generating device are provided on the aerosol-generating device.

19. The aerosol-generating device of example 18, wherein the device identifier, the password or both are provided in the form of a machine-readable code, in particular a QR-code.

20. The aerosol-generating device of claim 18 or 19, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to display the device identifier, the password or both on a display of the aerosol-generating device.

21. The aerosol-generating device of any one of examples 18 to 20, wherein the device identifier is a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device.

22. The aerosol-generating device of example 21 , wherein the unique device identifier is a serial number and/or a Service Set Identifier (SSID).

23. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to broadcast information including a Service Set Identifier (SSID) of the aerosol-generating device and one or both of: device identification information indicative of the device being an aerosol-generating device; and a password for establishing the first connection with the aerosol-generating device.

24. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to establish the first connection based on one or more of a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a password of the aerosol-generating device being stored on a server.

25. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to transmit a unique device identifier of the aerosolgenerating device via the second connection.

26. The aerosol-generating device of example 25, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to transmit, via the second connection, the unique device identifier to a server.

27. The aerosol-generating device of example 25 or 26, wherein the aerosolgenerating device is configured to: obtain, via the second connection, a temporary device identifier of the aerosol-generating device after transmitting the unique device identifier; wherein the aerosol-generating device is further configured to: display the temporary device identifier on a display of the aerosol-generating device; and/or transmit, via the first connection, the temporary device identifier.

28. The aerosol-generating device of example 27, wherein the temporary device identifier is configured to grant permission for transmitting, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device and/or obtaining, via the second connection, data from the aerosolgenerating device, in particular when the user provides the temporary device identifier as user input on the user device.

29. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to: obtain, via the second connection, configuration data for configuring the aerosol-generating device; and configure the aerosol-generating device based on the configuration data.

30. The aerosol-generating device of example 29, wherein the configuration data is configured for one or both of: configuring one or more settings of the aerosol-generating device; and updating an operating software of the aerosol-generating device.

31. The aerosol-generating device of example 30, wherein the one or more settings relate to one or more of: a number of consecutive puffs allowed; an amount of energy usable to generate aerosol; a number of usage sessions the aerosol-generating device is operable to generate aerosol; and a number of aerosol-generating articles usable with the aerosol-generating device.

32. The aerosol-generating device of any one of examples 25 to 27 and of any one of examples 29 to 31 , wherein the configuration data is based on the unique device identifier.

33. The aerosol-generating device of example 32, wherein the configuration data is obtained from the server.

34. The aerosol-generating device of example 27 or 28 and any one of examples 29 to 33, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to obtain the configuration data and/or configure the aerosol-generating device based on the configuration data after displaying and/or transmitting the temporary device identifier.

35. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to transmit, via the second connection, one or both of: usage data relating to the usage of the aerosol-generating device; and configuration data relating to one or more settings and/or a version of an operating software of the aerosol-generating device.

36. The aerosol-generating device of example 35, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to transmit, via the second connection, the one or both of the usage data and the configuration data to a server.

37. The aerosol-generating device of example 35 or 36, wherein the usage data relates to one or more of: a time the aerosol-generating device has been operated by the user; a number of consecutive puffs a user has taken; an amount of energy used to generate aerosol; a number of usage sessions the aerosol-generating device has been operated to generate aerosol; and a number of aerosol-generating articles used with the aerosol-generating device to generate aerosol in one or more usage sessions.

38. The aerosol-generating device of any one of examples 35 to 37, wherein the one or more settings relate to one or more of: a number of consecutive puffs allowed; an amount of energy usable to generate aerosol; a number of usage sessions the aerosol-generating device is operable to generate aerosol; and a number of aerosol-generating articles usable with the aerosol-generating device.

39. The aerosol-generating device of example 27 or 28 and any one of examples 35 to 38, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to transmit, via the second connection, the one or both of the usage data and the configuration data after displaying and/or transmitting the temporary device identifier. 39a. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to automatically establish a second connection with any one of multiple networks based on different network data obtained for each one of the wireless networks

39b. The aerosol-generating device of example 39a, wherein the automatic establishment of the second connection comprises a selection of one of the multiple networks based on priorities assigned to the different wireless networks.

39c. The aerosol-generating device of example 39b, wherein the priorities are based on signal strengths of the wireless networks.

40. A system comprising the aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous examples and a user device.

41. The system of example 40, comprising a network router, the wireless network being set up by the network router.

42. The system of example 40 or 41 , comprising a server, the aerosol-generating device being configured to communicate with the server via the second connection.

43. The system of any one of examples 40 to 42, comprising an aerosol-generating article.

44. A user device having a communication interface for connecting to an aerosolgenerating device, the user device being configured to: establish a connection to the aerosol-generating device; obtain network data indicative of a network identifier of a wireless network; and transmit, via the connection to the aerosol-generating device, the network data to the aerosol-generating device.

44a. The user device of example 44, the user device being configured for one or more of: obtain, via the connection, second network data relating to a captive portal of the wireless network, in particular from the aerosol-generating device, in particular via the connection; process the second network data for obtaining third network data relating to input information for completing the captive portal, in particular by displaying the second network data on the user device and receiving the input information as user input on the user device; transmit, via the connection, the third network data to the aerosol-generating device.

44b. The user device of example 44 or 44a, the user device being configured to: obtain, in particular via a camera and/or its communication interface, a temporary device identifier; transmit the temporary device identifier, in particular via a web application executed by the user device, to a server, in particular for having the aerosol-generating device being granted permission for transmitting data from the aerosol-generating device and/or obtaining data from the aerosol-generating device. 45. A network router having a communication interface for setting up a wireless network, the network router being configured to: establish a connection to an aerosol-generating device based on network data obtained by a user device and transmitted to an aerosol-generating device connected to the user device.

46. A method for controlling an aerosol-generating device having a communication interface for connecting to a user device and a wireless network, the method comprising: establishing a first connection, the first connection being to the user device; obtaining, via the first connection, network data indicative of a network identifier of the wireless network; and establishing a second connection, the second connection being to the wireless network, based on the network data.

47. The method of example 46, the method further comprising: transmitting, via the first connection, network data to the aerosol-generating article, by the user device.

48. The method of any one of examples 46 to 47, wherein the first connection is terminated after establishing the second connection.

49. The method of any one of examples 46 to 48, wherein the first connection and the second connection are simultaneously maintained.

50. The method of any one of examples 46 to 49, wherein the method further comprises: obtaining, via the second connection, second network data relating to a captive portal of the wireless network; transmitting, via the first connection, the second network data to the user device; obtaining, via the first connection, third network data relating to input information for completing the captive portal; and transmitting, via the second connection, the third network data for completing the captive portal to access one or more network resources of the wireless network.

51. The method of any one of examples 46 to 50, wherein the method further comprises one or more of: transmitting, by the wireless network or network router via the second connection, the second network data to the aerosol-generating device; obtaining, by the user device via the first connection, the second network data from the aerosol-generating device; obtaining, by the user device, in particular at least by means of a user input on the user device, the third network data; transmitting, by the user device via the first connection, the third network data to the aerosolgenerating device. 52. The method of any one of examples 46 to 51 , wherein the aerosol-generating device broadcasts information including a Service Set Identifier (SSID) of the aerosol-generating device and one or both of: device identification information indicative of the device being an aerosol-generating device; and a password for establishing the first connection with the aerosol-generating device.

53. The method of example 52, wherein the method comprises: obtaining, by the user device, the broadcasted information; identifying, by the user device, the device broadcasting the information as aerosolgenerating device based on the device identification information.

54. The method of any one of examples 46 to 53, wherein the aerosol-generating device establishes the first connection based on one or more of a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a password of the aerosol-generating device being stored on a server.

55. The method of any one of examples 46 to 54, wherein the aerosol-generating device transmits a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device via the second connection.

56. The method of example 55, wherein the aerosol-generating device transmits, via the second connection, the unique device identifier to a server.

57. The method of example 55 or 56, wherein the aerosol-generating device: obtains, via the second connection, a temporary device identifier of the aerosol-generating device after transmitting the unique device identifier; and wherein the aerosol-generating device: displays the temporary device identifier on a display of the aerosol-generating device; and/or transmits, via the first connection, the temporary device identifier.

58. The method of example 57, wherein the method comprises one or more of: obtaining, by the server, the unique device identifier; generating, by the server, the temporary device identifier based on the unique device identifier; transmitting, by the server, the temporary device identifier to the aerosol-generating device; receiving, by the user device, the temporary device identifier; in particular by means of a camera of the user device scanning the temporary device identifier and/or by obtaining it from the aerosol-generating device via the first connection; transmitting, by the user device, the temporary device identifier to the server; obtaining, by the server, the temporary device identifier; authenticating, by the server, the obtained temporary device identifier, in particular by comparing it to the generated temporary device identifier. 59. The method of example 57 or 58, wherein the server grants permission for transmitting, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device and/or obtaining, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device, in particular after authentication of the obtained temporary device identifier by the server.

60. The method of any one of examples 46 to 59, wherein the aerosol-generating device: obtains, via the second connection, configuration data for configuring the aerosolgenerating device; and configures the aerosol-generating device based on the configuration data.

61. The method of any one of examples 46 to 60, wherein the aerosol-generating device transmits, via the second connection, one or both of: usage data relating to the usage of the aerosol-generating device; and configuration data relating to one or more settings and/or a version of an operating software of the aerosol-generating device.

62. The method of example 61 , wherein the aerosol-generating device transmits, via the second connection, the one or both of the usage data and the configuration data to a server.

62a. The method of any one of examples 46 to 62, wherein the aerosol-generating device has a user interface, and wherein the method comprises: obtaining, by the user interface, a user input for establishing the first connection; and wherein the aerosol-generating device establishes the first connection based on Software Access Point, SoftAP, after obtaining the user input.

62b. The method of any one of examples 46 to 62a, wherein the network data is encrypted by an asymmetric encryption method.

62c. The method of any one of examples 46 to 62b, wherein the network data is based on a user selection from one or more network identifiers on the user device, and wherein the method comprises: determining, by the aerosol-generating device via its communication interface, the one or more network identifiers; and transmitting, by the aerosol-generating device via the first connection, the determined one or more network identifiers for the user selection to the user device.

63. A computer program product or computer program, which when executed by an aerosol-generating system or device, instructs the aerosol-generating system or device to carry out the method according to any one of examples 46 to 62c.

64. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program according to example 63.

65. An aerosol-generating device having a light sensor and a communication interface for connecting to a wireless network, the aerosol-generating device being configured to: obtain, by the light sensor, a sequence of one or more light pulses from a display of a user device, the one or more light pulses being indicative of network data of the wireless network, the network data relating to one or more of a network identifier and a password of the wireless network; encode the sequence to obtain the network data; and establish a connection to the wireless network based on the network data.

66. An aerosol-generating device having a communication interface for connecting to a user device, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to advertise connection data for connecting the aerosol-generating device to the user device, wherein the connection data comprises a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device.

67. The aerosol-generating device of example 66, wherein the unique device identifier is configured identifiable by the user device for establishing the connection of the aerosolgenerating device to the user device.

68. The aerosol-generating device of example 66 or 67, wherein the unique device identifier is a serial number of the aerosol-generating device.

69. The aerosol-generating device of any one of examples 66 to 68, wherein the unique device identifier is associated with a user account of a user of the aerosol-generating device.

70. The aerosol-generating device of claim any one of examples 66 to 69, wherein the communication interface is based on Bluetooth.

71. The aerosol-generating device of example 70, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to advertise the connection data on one or more of three communication channels having a fixed frequency range share within a Bluetooth frequency range.

72. The aerosol-generating device of example 71 , wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to transmit data packages on one or more of a remainder of communication channels having a fixed frequency range share within the Bluetooth frequency range after connecting the aerosol-generating device to the user device.

73. A system comprising the aerosol-generating device of any one of examples 66 to 72 and a user device.

74. A user device comprising a communication interface for connecting to an aerosolgenerating device, wherein the user device is configured to: obtain connection data advertised by the aerosol-generating device for connecting the aerosol-generating device to the user device, wherein the connection data comprises a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device; identify the aerosol-generating device based on the unique device identifier; and establish a connection to the aerosol-generating device based on the identification of the unique device identifier. 75. The user device of example 74, wherein the user device is configured to obtain user data of a user of the aerosol-generating device based on a user account associated with the unique device identifier.

76. A method for connecting an aerosol-generating device to a user device, the method comprising: advertising, by the aerosol-generating device, connection data for connecting the aerosolgenerating device to the user device, wherein the connection data comprises a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device; obtaining, by the user device, the connection data advertised by the aerosol-generating device; identifying, by the user device, the aerosol-generating device based on the unique device identifier; and establishing, by the user device, a connection to the aerosol-generating device based on the identification of the unique device identifier.

77. The method of example 76, wherein the method comprises obtaining, by the user device, user data of a user of the aerosol-generating device based on a user account associated with the unique device identifier.

Examples will now be further described with reference to the Figures in which:

Figure 1 shows an aerosol-generating system;

Figure 2 shows a communication scheme between the aerosol-generating system, a network router and a server;

Figure 3 shows a flow chart of a method for controlling the aerosol-generating device of the aerosol-generating system of Figs. 1 and 2;

Figure 4 shows a flow chart of an on-boarding process including the method of Fig. 3;

Figure 5 shows a flow chart of a procedure of completing a captive portal.

The Figures are schematic only and not true to scale. In principle, identical or like parts, elements and/or steps are provided with identical or like reference numerals in the Figures.

Figure 1 shows an exemplary aerosol-generating device 100. The aerosol-generating device 100 of Figure 1 is exemplary shown as part of a system 1000 or aerosol-generating system 1000, which includes optional components, such as an aerosol-generating article 200, and one or more devices, such as a charger device 140 and/or a user device 300, which may be external of the aerosol-generating device 100, e.g., in the form of a mobile device and/or a computing device, such as but not limited to a smartphone, notebook or mobile computer, tablet computer, stationary computer and so on, for example. The system 1000 may further comprise one or more network routers 400 and/or one or more servers 500, one of each being shown herein exemplary. It is noted that the aerosol-generating device 100 may be operable as a standalone device 100 without any of the optional components 200, 140, 300, 400 of the system 1000. Also, the charging device 140 and/or the aerosol-generating article 200 may optionally be part of the aerosolgenerating device 100, which may be couplable thereto and decouplable therefrom.

The aerosol-generating device 100 includes one or more energy storages 102 for storing electrical energy and/or for providing electrical energy to generate aerosol. The aerosolgenerating device 100 may further comprise a charging interface 103 that may be configured for connecting the aerosol-generating device 100 to the charger device 140 for charging the energy storage 102 or a charging cable, for example.

The exemplary aerosol-generating device 100 shown in Figure 1 includes at least a part of an aerosolization circuit 104 with at least one aerosolization element 106. The aerosolization circuit 104 may be a heating circuit with at least one heating element as aerosolization element 106 for heating at least a part of an aerosol-generating article 200 couplable or coupled to the aerosol-generating device 100. It is noted that the aerosolization circuit 104 and aerosolization element 106 are optional only. Alternatively, or additionally, at least a part of or the entire aerosolization circuit 104 and/or aerosolization element 106 may be integrated or arranged in the aerosol-generating article 200. Alternatively, or additionally, at least a part of the aerosolization circuit 104 may be integrated into a control circuitry 110 of the aerosol-generating device 100.

It is further noted that the aerosolization element 106 is merely for illustrative purposes shown in Figure 1 as inductive coil configured to inductively heat at least a part of the aerosolgenerating article 200, for example a susceptor material (e.g. one or more susceptors) arranged in an aerosol-generating substrate 202 of the aerosol-generating article 200. Alternatively, or additionally, the at least one aerosolization element 106 may be configured for one or more of resistive heating and microwave heating.

Further, it is noted that the aerosol-generating article 200 is only exemplary shown in Figure 1 as having a stick-like or tubular shape and as being at least partially insertable through an opening 105 of a housing 107 of the aerosol-generating device 100, for example into a heating chamber 109 of the aerosol-generating device 100. In other exemplary designs, the aerosolgenerating article 200 may be shaped as container or cartridge that may be fixedly integrated in the aerosol-generating device 100 or that may be couplable to the aerosol-generating device 100.

The aerosol-generating device 100 further optionally comprises control circuitry 110 or device control circuitry 110 operatively coupled to the energy storage 102. The control circuitry 110 may optionally include one or more processors 112, e.g., in the form of one or more controllers and/or microcontrollers, for data processing. The control circuitry 110 may comprise a microcontroller comprising a processor, memory and input/output means.

Further optionally, the aerosol-generating device 100 and/or the control circuitry 110 includes a data storage 114 for storing data, such as but not limited to the herein mentioned network data. Alternatively, or additionally, software instructions may be stored in the data storage 114, which when executed by the control circuitry 110 instruct the aerosol-generating device 100 to carry out any one of the methods described herein.

The aerosol-generating device 100 optionally includes a user interface 120. The user interface 120 may be alternatively or additionally provided on any one of the other components 140, 300 of the aerosol-generating system 1000, such as the charger device 140 or the user device 300. The user interface 120 may have any configuration such as but not limited to, for example, a display, one or more light-emitting units and/or a haptic user interface. Optionally, the user interface 120 may also be configured for receiving one or more user inputs from a user, for example to operate the aerosol-generating device 100 to generate aerosol. The user interface 120 is exemplary shown as a button in Figure 1. However, as explained, any other type of user interface 120, such as an acoustic interface, a haptic interface, a touch interface, a display, a tactile interface, an arrangement of one or more light emitting units, such as LEDs, or other means can be optionally included in the aerosol-generating device 100 and/or any other one of the components 140, 300 of the aerosol-generating system 1000 in the alternative or in addition.

The user interface 120 may not be configured for obtaining the name of a wireless network and/or a password for connecting to a wireless network based on user input on the aerosolgenerating device 100. Hence, the aerosol-generating device 100 may be a so-called headless device. However, the user interface 120 may be configured to establish a connection based on Wi-Fi Protected Setup after obtaining user input for establishing a connection, e.g., a first connection 1 with the user device 300, as described herein and shown in Fig. 2.

Further, the aerosol-generating device 100 includes a communication interface or circuitry 130 for communicatively coupling the aerosol-generating device 100 to one or more optional components of the aerosol-generating system 1000, in particular to one or more of the charger device 140, the mobile device 300 or, as shown in Fig. 2, to a wireless network 410, which may be set up or provided by a network router 400. Also, the communication interface 130 may be part of the charger device 140, in case it is part of the aerosol-generating device 100.

One or more communication interface types or communication protocols may be implemented in the aerosol-generating device 100 and its communication interface or circuitry 130. In particular, the communication interface or circuitry 130 may be configured for one or both of wired and wireless communication with one or more of the user device 300, the charger device 140, the network router 400 or, in other words, its wireless network 410, and the server 500. For example, the communication interface 130 may be based on one or more of a BUS communication, a cable communication, a wireless communication, a Bluetooth communication, a Wi-Fi communication or, in other words, a Wireless Local Area Network communication, an infrared communication, a nearfield communication, an internet communication or any other suitable type of communication or communication protocol. The aerosol-generating device 100 may optionally be coupled to, for example physically coupled and/or at least partly inserted into, the charger device 140 for charging the energy storage 102 and/or for storing the aerosol-generating device 100. Charging may, for example, be based on inductive charging or via electrical connections via the charging interface 103.

The aerosol-generating device 100 and/or the control circuitry 110 may be configured to supply electrical energy to the at least one aerosolization element 106 to heat at least a portion of the aerosol-generating article 200 to or above the predetermined heating temperature to generate aerosol, as described herein.

Figure 2 shows an exemplary communication scheme between the aerosol-generating device 100, the user device 300, the server 500, and the network router 400 or, in other words, the wireless network 410 set up thereby, to which different devices within the range of the wireless network 410 may connect. The server may be arranged at such a distance from the aerosolgenerating device 100, the user device 300 and the network router 400 such that a communication with it is required via the Internet, for example.

For establishing an Internet-based communication between the aerosol-generating device 100 and the server 500, e.g., for exchanging usage data and/or configuration data from one to the other or both ways, it may be required to connect the aerosol-generating device 100 to the Internet, e.g., as may be provided by the wireless network 410 as a network resource. However, the aerosol-generating device 100 being headless means that the network identifier, e.g., SSID, of the wireless network 410 and potentially a password, e.g., WPA key, may not be provided as user input on the aerosol-generating device 100. However, the user device 300, e.g., when it has been previously connected to the wireless network 410 or when a user selects the SSID of the wireless network 410 and knows the password, may provide the SSID and the potentially necessary password as network data.

For this purpose, the aerosol-generating device 100 may establish a first connection 1 or, in other words, communication or line of communication, in particular for exchange of messages or data packages or payloads, between the aerosol-generating device 100 and the user device 300, which may be executing a hotspot mode, thereby becoming a Wi-Fi station or router. Hence, the first connection 1 may be a Wi-Fi connection and the payloads send via the first connection 1 may be Wi-Fi payloads. For establishing the first connection 1 , the herein mentioned Wi-Fi Protected Setup after obtaining user input for establishing the first connection 1 on the aerosolgenerating device’s user interface 120 may be used. The establishing of the first connection 1 is exemplary shown in Fig. 3 as a step S1 of the method depicted therein.

Alternatively, or additionally, for example, a device identifier, e.g., SSID or serial number, of the aerosol-generating device 100 and optionally a password for establishing the first connection 1 with the aerosol-generating device 100 may be provided, e.g., in the form of a machine-readable code, in particular QR-code, on the aerosol-generating device 300. The user of the user device 300 may simply take an image of or scan this code, e.g., with a camera of the user device 300, and thereby obtain the device identifier and password for establishing the first connection 1.

Alternatively, or additionally, for example, the aerosol-generating device 300 may be broadcasting information, e.g., via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or any other wireless communication technique, including the SSID and device identification information indicative of the device having the SSID being an aerosol-generating device 100 and a password for establishing the first connection 1 with the aerosol-generating device 100. For example, the broadcasted information may be up to 32 bytes long and contain a specific identifier allowing the user device 100 to identify the broadcasted information as being from an aerosol-generating device 100. For example, the user device 300 may access, display and/or execute an application 320, e.g., a web application or progressive web application, in particular on a web browser 310 of the user device 300. This application 320 may contain information regarding the specific identifier allowing the user device 300 to identify the information as relating to the aerosol-generating device 100. A second identifier in the broadcasted information, e.g., an up to 32 bytes long name or code, may be the password itself. Alternatively, for example, the second identifier may be transmitted, by the user device 300 to the server 500 for retrieving the password, similar or in addition as described in the below example. In any case, the broadcasted information may be received by the user device 300 and the user device 300 or user thereof may quickly identify which of potentially many different SSIDs broadcasted within its range is the aerosol-generating device 100 and establish the first connection 1 using the SSID and password.

Alternatively, or additionally, for example, the user device 300 may retrieve the SSI D and/or the password of the aerosol-generating device 100 from the server 500, where it may be stored. The aerosol-generating device 100 may for this purpose have a third connection 3 to the server 500, which may be a cellular connection, for example, and use the Internet. For example, the user device 300 may transmit all SSIDs within its range or, in other words, received on the user device 300, e.g., as may be displayed for user selection, to the server 500. This may be via or by using the application 320 on the user device 300. In fact, any of the communication from the side of the aerosol-generating device 100 with the user device 300 and/or the server 500 may go through the application 320, which may contain or be configured to generate specific requests and responses, e.g., as HTTP requests and responses in the case of a web application 320. The user device 300 may transmit all SSIDs to the server 500. In particular, when the SSID is a unique device identifier, e.g., a serial number, the server may identify this SSID as being of an aerosolgenerating device 100, e.g., because the server 500 stores all SSIDs of aerosol-generating devices 100, at least of the same manufacturer. The server 500 may accordingly return the SSID and/or the password of the aerosol-generating device 100 to the user device 300, which may then be used to establish the first connection 1 by the user device 300.

Alternatively, or additionally, for example, the user device 300 may retrieve the SSI D and/or the password of the aerosol-generating device 100 from the server 500 by using a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device 100, as may be provided on the aerosol-generating device 100, a manual and/or a packaging thereof, e.g., in the form of a serial number, and transmit it, in particular via the web application 320 accessed or executed on the web browser 310 of the user device 300, to the server 500 for retrieving the SSID and/or the password therefrom.

Once the first connection 1 is established, the aerosol-generating device 100 may obtain, from the user device 300 and via the first connection 1, the network data. The obtaining of the network data is exemplary shown in Fig. 3 as a step S2 of the method depicted therein. Based thereon, the aerosol-generating device 100 may establish the second connection 2, in particular Wi-Fi connection, to the wireless network 410, as exemplary shown in Fig. 3 as a step S3 of the method depicted therein.

However, some wireless networks 410 may not require a password or require a password but have additional measures in place for establishing the second connection 2 and/or granting access to its network resource, e.g., the Internet, in particular a second connection 2 with access to the Internet via the network router 400. One such measure may be a captive portal, which may need to be completed or solved for accessing the Internet by the aerosol-generating device 100. For example, public wireless networks tend to use captive portals requiring accepting certain terms and conditions, providing user-related data, entering a code, a username and password, and similar as described herein, before granting access to the network resource. For a headless aerosol-generating device 100 this may be challenging to handle.

In the present example, however, the aerosol-generating device 100 may also establish a second connection 2 to a wireless network 410 and gain Internet access even in case such measures are in place. Specifically, the aerosol-generating device 100 may obtain, via the second connection 2, second network data relating to the captive portal of the wireless network 410. The aerosol-generating device 100 may then, via the first connection 1 , transmit the second network data to the user device 300, where the captive portal may be completed based at least on user input on the user device 300. The user device 300 may accordingly return, via the first connection 1 to the aerosol-generating device 100, third network data relating to input information for completing the captive portal. The aerosol-generating device 100 may obtain this third network data accordingly and transmit it, via the second connection 2 to the network router 400, where this third network data may be processed and if the captive portal is thereby solved successfully, the Internet access may be granted to the aerosol-generating device 100, enabling it to communicate via the Internet with the server 500. This procedure is shown in more exemplary detail and discussed further below with reference to Fig. 5 for the example of a web application 320 running on the user device 300 and using HTTP.

In any case, once the aerosol-generating device 100 has access to the Internet via its second connection 2 to the wireless network 410, which may be set up by one or more network routers 400, for example, the aerosol-generating device 100 may communicate with the server 500. This may include that the aerosol-generating device 100 obtains, via the second connection 2, configuration data for configuring one or more settings and/or updating an operating software or firmware of the aerosol-generating device 100, for example. Also, or alternatively, the aerosolgenerating device 100 may share usage data relating to a usage of the aerosol-generating device 100 by the user, e.g., usage statistics, to the server 500. It may be provided that the user may, specify on the user device 300, in particular via the web application 320, by means of user input, which configuration data and/or usage data shall be exchanged, e.g., which settings are to be carried out on the aerosol-generating device 100. For this purpose, the user device 300 may continue communicating with the server 500 over the Internet. However, at this point, the first connection 1 may be terminated and the user device 300 may use any other connection than the cellular connection 3 to communicate with the server 500, e.g., use the wireless network 410 just as the aerosol-generating device 100 by connecting thereto.

As explained, the data exchanged between the aerosol-generating device 100 and the server 500, either one way or both ways, may be at least partially influenced or determined by the user by using the user device 300 and its application 320, e.g., web application, e.g., by controlling settings thereon, according to which the aerosol-generating device 100 shall be configured, e.g., to allow a number of consecutive puffs, an amount of energy usable to generate aerosol, a number of usage sessions the aerosol-generating device 100 is operable to generate aerosol, and/or a number of aerosol-generating articles 200 usable with the aerosol-generating device 100. Also, it may be provided that the user may, via the web application 320, control the amount, type, times and/or similar of the usage data being exchanged, which may be, for example, one or more of a time the aerosol-generating device 100 has been operated by the user, a number of consecutive puffs a user has taken, an amount of energy used to generate aerosol, a number of usage sessions the aerosol-generating device 100 has been operated to generate aerosol, and a number of aerosol-generating articles 200 used with the aerosol-generating device 100 to generate aerosol in one or more usage sessions. Alternatively, or additionally, the server 500 may alone or additionally influence or determine the data to be exchanged, for example, by transmitting to the aerosol-generating device 100 configuration data for carrying out a mandatory or securityrelevant update of the operating software of the aerosol-generating article 100.

It may for example be provided that an additional layer of security is implemented for exchanging the data between the aerosol-generating device 100 and the server 500, at least for some or all of the data as mentioned herein, for example. This additional layer of security may benefit from keeping the first connection 1 and the second connection 2 maintained instead of terminating the first connection 1. Specifically, the aerosol-generating device 100 may transmit, via the second connection 2, to the server 500 a unique device identifier, e.g., the serial number of the aerosol-generating device 100. The server 500 may in response to obtaining the unique device identifier generate a temporary device identifier and transmit it to the aerosol-generating device 100, where it may be obtained via the second connection 2. This temporary device identifier may, for example, be displayed on a display as user interface 120 of the aerosol- generating device 100 and/or be transmitted via the first connection 1 to the user device 300, where it may be processed by the application 320. For example, the user device 300 may forward this temporary device identifier via the cellular connection 3 to the server 500, where it may be verified, i.e., whether the temporary device identifier is a temporary device identifier generated by the server 500. Optionally, the user device 300 may also forward the unique device identifier to verify that the temporary device identifier is the one generated for the unique device identifier. If the temporary device identifier is verified or, in other words, authenticated, the server 500 may grant permission for exchanging the herein described data, e.g., usage data and/or configuration data, via the second connection 2 in one way or both ways between the server 500 and the aerosol-generating device 100, before exchanging the data. Otherwise, if the permission is not granted, the server 500 may for example not transmit any of the data to the aerosol-generating device 100 and/or not obtain any of the data from the aerosol-generating device 100.

An exemplary on-boarding process including the method of Fig. 3 for an aerosol-generating device 100 is now explained with reference to the flow chart of Figure 4 in more detail.

In a step S1 , a user may be directed to a dedicated website on their user device 300, specifically on their web browser 310 to start the on-boarding process or journey. For this purpose, the aerosol-generating device 100 or any additional material provided therewith may be comprising a QR code or other machine-readable code, which may be comprising or indicating a URL. Scanning the machine-readable code with a camera of the user device 300 may consequently open the dedicated website in the web browser 310. A user instruction to perform the scanning operation may be provided alongside the machine-readable code. This particular machine-readable code may be generic in that it does not contain any information identifying the aerosol-generating device 100. Alternatively, or additionally, a specific machine-readable code, e.g. QR code, may be provided on or as part of the aerosol-generating device 100. Such specific machine-readable code may comprise the herein specified device identifier, the password, or both for facilitating establishing the first connection 1 of the user device 300 to the aerosol-generating device 100.

In a step S2, upon opening the URL, the web application 320 may be accessed and/or installed. This may involve a sign-in process, in which the user registers a user account, signs in into an existing user account, consents to the use of data and/or provides any other consents or information as may be advantageous for the use of the aerosol-generating device 100 or required by certain regulations or requirements. User instructions may be provided by the web application 320 guiding the user through the process.

In a step S3, after the registration and/or sign-in process was performed, depending on the configuration of the aerosol-generating device 100, one or more actions by the user on the aerosol-generating device 100 may be required and instructed on the web application 320. This may involve placing the aerosol-generating device 100 inside or at the charger device 140 in case a configuration with a charger device 140 is present. Thereby, both, the aerosol-generating device 100 and the charger device 140 may be registered. Additionally, or alternatively, a button or any other user interface provided on the aerosol-generating device 100 and/or the charger device 140 may be pushed or actuated by the user. This button or user interface may activate the capability of the aerosol-generating device 100 to establish the first connection 1 with the user device 300. Specifically, a Software Access Point, SoftAP, mode may be activated on the aerosol-generating device 100 upon actuation of the button or user interface, such that the aerosol-generating device 100 consequently acts as a virtual Wi-Fi access point. For example, the user interface or button may be comprising a Wi-Fi icon indicating to the user that actuating or interacting with the user interface or button switches the aerosol-generating device’s mode to SoftAP, such that the aerosol-generating device 100 creates a corresponding Wi-Fi network and is acting as a router. This Wi-Fi network may be simplified. Specifically, it may not be protected by a password, i.e. , without a password to connect to it. The SSID of the network established by the aerosolgenerating device 100 in the SoftAP mode can be standardized across different aerosolgenerating devices 100 and broadcasted in clear. However, the SSID may include a specific hashtag, which may be specific or different for each aerosol-generating device 100. The aerosolgenerating device 100 may receive feedback when a user device 300 connects, e.g., indicated by a green light on the aerosol-generating device 100. The SoftAP mode can have a timeout of a couple seconds or a couple minutes, e.g., about 5 minutes.

In a step S4, upon activating the SoftAP network, the user device 300 in the web application 320 can indicate the availability of the SoftAP network and instruct the user to select that network for connection in the settings of the user device 300, which may be in an application on the user device 300 separate from the web application 320, specifically in a settings application of the user device 300. Hence, the user may be required to switch from the web application 320 to the settings application of the user device 300 for establishing the first connection 1. Due to the specific hashtag, the user device 300 may be able to identify the SoftAP network of the aerosol-generating device 100 as one that belongs to an aerosol-generating device 100.

In a step S5, consequently, the user may select the SoftAP network indicated on the web application 320 and thereby establish the first connection 1 between the user device 300 and the aerosol-generating device 100 as described above with respect to step S1 of the method of Fig. 3. After the selection and establishment of the first connection 1 , the user may need to return back to the web application 320 on their user device 300 in case the user needed to establish the first connection 1 on a different application of the user device 300, namely in the settings of the user device 300.

Through the first connection 1, the web application 320 on the user device 300, e.g., the smartphone, can communicate with the aerosol-generating device 100. Hence, the aerosolgenerating device 100 may act as a web server.

In a step S6, the web application 320 may now further instruct the aerosol-generating device 100 to perform a web or network scan as a client. The web application 320 may constantly check the status of this web or network scan. When the web or network scan is finished, the web application 320 may request the list of available networks or SSIDs in the vicinity or range of the aerosol-generating device 100. Then, the web application 320 may visualize the list of available networks or SSIDs along with additional information, e.g., if the network is password protected and/or its signal strength. The communication between the web application 320 and the aerosolgenerating device 100 may be based on standard HTTP protocol. Optionally, the web application 320 may be configured such that the user can enter the Wi-Fi network or SSID manually. The web or network scan by the aerosol-generating device 100 gives the advantage that the aerosolgenerating device 100 may scan for Wi-Fi networks it is compatible with.

In a step S7, the web application 320 may then provide any user-selected Wi-Fi network or SSID and entered password to the aerosol-generating device 100 via the first connection 1 as described with respect to the step S2 of the method of Fig. 3. Specifically, the web application 320 will provide the selected Wi-Fi network and its password to the aerosol-generating device 100 via the first connection 1. The user's Wi-Fi network password (e.g., home Wi-Fi) may be encrypted at the application level. It may not be visible and/or readable to a malicious actor, who might be listening on the first connection 1. It will be still known and/or visible for the user entering the password.

The first connection 1 or Wi-Fi network between the aerosol-generating device 100 and the user device 300 may be an open network. This means that it is not password protected, which may be done to ease the user experience. Particularly, the method described herein may be simpler, easier to follow, and have lower chance of failure and disconnection of the first connection and the second connection. In addition, the communication between the web application 320 and the aerosol-generating device 100 via the first connection 1 may be based on the standard HTTP protocol. Nevertheless, the user's Wi-Fi network password (e.g., home Wi-Fi) should be protected (i.e., encrypted), since it is sensitive information. Particularly, the combination of using HTTP and password encryption as described herein can achieve an effective connection without losing security. For this purpose, in general, an asymmetric encryption method may be used. Specifically, the aerosol-generating device 100 may have a private/public key pair. The private key may be retained securely in the aerosol-generating device 100, and the public key may be sent to the user device 300. This means that when the first connection 1 between the user device 300 and the aerosol-generating device 100 is established, the next step may be for the user device 300 or web application 320 to request a unique cryptographic certificate from the aerosolgenerating device 100. The unique cryptographic certificate may be used to verify that it was issued by an aerosol-generating device 100, specifically by a specific manufacturer. The user device 300 can obtain a public key from the certificate. The user device 300 may then use the public key to encrypt the user's Wi-Fi network password. The encrypted password may be transmitted to the aerosol-generating device 100. The aerosol-generating device 100 decrypts the user's Wi-Fi network password using the private key. This assures that the SoftAP is indeed created by the aerosol-generating device 100.

In the context of the above, a cryptographic certificate plays a crucial role in establishing a secure connection between the user device 300 and the aerosol-generating device 100. For the certificate issuance, the aerosol-generating device 100 may have a unique cryptographic certificate issued by a trusted authority. This certificate may contain the public key and other identifying information of the aerosol-generating device 100. When the user device 300 first connects to the aerosol-generating device 100, it may request the cryptographic certificate from the aerosol-generating device. The user device 300 may then verify the authenticity of the certificate to ensure it was issued by a trusted source, specifically the manufacturer of the aerosolgenerating device 100. This verification process may involve checking the certificate's digital signature, which is created using the private key of the issuing authority. Once the certificate is verified, the user device 300 may extract the public key from the certificate. The user device 300 may then use the extracted public key to encrypt sensitive information, such as the user's Wi-Fi network password. The encrypted password may then be transmitted to the aerosol-generating device 100. Since the data is encrypted with the public key of the aerosol-generating device 100, only the corresponding private key of the aerosol-generating device 100 can decrypt it. For the decryption, the aerosol-generating device 100 may use its private key to decrypt the received password, ensuring that only the intended user device 300 can access the sensitive information. This process ensures that the communication between the user device 300 and the aerosolgenerating device 100 is secure and that sensitive information, like the Wi-Fi password, is protected from unauthorized access. The use of the private/public key pair may further include an asymmetric encryption algorithm, such as but not limited to RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman), ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography), or DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm).

In addition, the communication between the web application 320 and the aerosol-generating device 100 may be based on the standard HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) protocol and not on HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure). HTTPS would require certificates that are valid for a certain period only and this might exceed the shelf life of the aerosol-generating device 100. HTTP does not encrypt the data being transmitted between the client (e.g., a web browser) and the server. HTTP thus avoids the need for the user to renew expired certificates or purchase new certificates which might happen when using HTTPS, thus reducing the likelihood of failure, and avoiding additional cost and time for obtaining certificates, or unnecessary waste by returning or disposing devices failed to connect.

Consequently, a step S8 corresponding to step S3 of the method of Fig. 3 may be carried out by establishing the second connection 2. The aerosol-generating device 100 may be concurrently acting as a SoftAP. This is advantageous as the web application 320 can get information on the status and display it to the user. Additionally, if pairing fails (e.g., due to an incorrect password), it is easier to restart the process. Once the aerosol-generating device 100 is connected to the wireless network 410 and thereby and then to the backend server 500, it may notify the web application 320.

Consequently, in a step S9, the web application 320 may receive information to identify the aerosol-generating device 100. Specifically, a unique device identifier, such as a device serial number, may be read out to the web application 320 via the first connection 1 . The serial number may be not secret but e.g. printed on the aerosol-generating device 100 or its packaging and can also be input manually into the web application 320. The web application 320 may store the information about the aerosol-generating device 100. However, it is to be noted that this information can be obtained at any time when the first connection 1 is established. To simplify the process, this information is not encrypted. This allows later to link the user account to the specific aerosol-generating device 100. In parallel, a unique identifier of the web application 320, e.g. associated with the user account signed into the web application 320 or server 500, may be provided to the aerosol-generating device 100. Thus, the web application 320 and the aerosolgenerating device 100 exchange a unique set of identifiers. These may be used for identification at the server 500 to match the aerosol-generating device 100 with the user account.

Consequently, in a step S10, the web application 320 may instruct the device to close the SoftAP and thereby terminate the first connection 1. The aerosol-generating device 100 remains connected to the wireless network 410 via the second connection 2. The user device 300 may lose connection to the aerosol-generating device 100 via the first connection 1 and may instead reconnect to any previous wireless network, e.g. the wireless network 410.

It is noted that the aerosol-generating device 100 can be configured to connect to multiple wireless networks 410, e.g., at home, at office, or at other important locations of the user. Configuration of additional second connections 2 to further wireless networks 410 may be established with the same process as described above. The aerosol-generating device 100 may then automatically connect to the available wireless network 410 via the second connection 2.

In a step S10, using the second connection 2, the aerosol-generating device 100 may connect to the server 500. The aerosol-generating device 100 may be configured to automatically connect to the server 500 upon establishing the second connection 2. The aerosol-generating device 100 may then identify itself by sending its unique device serial number. The unique number of the aerosol-generating device 100 may for example be flashed to the aerosol-generating device 100 during manufacturing. This process ensures that each aerosol-generating device 100 has a unique identifier that can be used for authentication and security purposes. In parallel, the web application 320, via its own Internet connection, e.g. through connection to the wireless network 410, also connects to the server 500 and provides the aerosol-generating device’s serial number that it obtained from the aerosol-generating device 100 previously as described above. The communication between the aerosol-generating device 100 and the web application 320 on the user device 300 may consequently be provided via the server 500 or generally a backend and/or cloud system of the manufacturer, manager or provider of the aerosol-generating device 100. The communication between the aerosol-generating device 100 and the server 500 may be automatic, e.g., automatically showing the availability of e.g. software updates. This can be displayed on the web application 320, on the user device 300, or be hidden.

In an alternative solution, a static identifier such as the device serial number of the aerosolgenerating device 100 may not be used, as it may be guessed or predicted. Instead, the aerosolgenerating device 100 may be configured to request the server 500 to create a temporary identifier, e.g. random characters, such as random numbers. This temporary identifier may be valid for a limited time period only, e.g. a few minutes. Then, the aerosol-generating device 100 may pass this temporary identifier to the web application 320 via the first connection 1, which is still active at that point. Next, the user device 300 may disconnect from the aerosol-generating device 100 and reconnect to the server 500, e.g. via wireless network 410. The web application 320 or user device 300 may then send the temporary identifier to the server 500. This allows the server 500 to identify and connect the aerosol-generating device 100 to the user account.

It is now referred to Fig. 5 for discussion of the procedure of completing the optional captive portal as explained above. For this purpose, it is noted that the aerosol-generating device 100 may be configured to transfer messages coming from the network router 400 to the user device 300, in particular the web application 320 accessed by the web browser 310 of the user device 300. In particular, when these messages are HTTP responses, it may not be by using the HTTP protocol, but simply by encapsulating these messages into a Wi-Fi data payload which may be sent, via the first connection 1, to the user device 300 or web application 320 so that the user device 300 or web application 320 knows how to read such Wi-Fi data payload, i.e., how to get the message content.

Hence, the second network data may be a message encapsulated into a Wi-Fi data payload. After a correct W-Fi connection of the aerosol-generating device 100 to the wireless network 410 and if the network router 400 gives Internet access directly to the aerosol-generating device 100, then the aerosol-generating device 100 can for instance send the second network data to the server 500 via a HTTP request to an API (application programming interface) endpoint of the server 500 and receive in return an HTTP response of the server 500 indicating that the data were correctly received. Such kind of validation of HTTP responses may be expected or planned by the aerosol-generating device 100 and the user device 300 or web application 320 may not carry out the steps described herein with respect to the second network data relating to the captive portal.

On the other hand, in case a HTTP response incoming by the network router 400 is unexpected by the aerosol-generating device 100 and is identified to be a web content, for instance in case of a captive portal, then the aerosol-generating device 100 may signal this exception via the first connection 1 to the user device 300 for carrying out the steps described herein with respect to the second network data relating to a captive portal. For instance, the URL can be the domain of the server 500, followed by a keyword indicating to record the second network data, which may be in the HTTP body of the request (POST type request). The content of the second network data, herein referred to also as A as shown in Fig. 5, may be passed as the payload in the HTTP body of the request. The status of this request (e.g., an integer number returned by the server 500) indicates if the request has failed or not.

When receiving such request, the server 500 may save the payload A in an associated database and an identifier IdA, allowing to retrieve such payload A, generated by the server 500 and returned in a HTTP response by the server 500 to the user device 300, in particular its web application 320 and via the cellular connection 3 (as for the entire communication between the server 500 and the user device 300. Then, the user device 300 may activate (if not already done) the web browser 310 and make it send an HTTP request to the server 500 including the identifier IdA. The identifier IdA could be in the body of a HTTP request to the server 500 or directly in the URL of the HTTP request, for example. For example, it could be as simple as a HTTP request to an API endpoint of the server 500 with the URL including the identifier IdA. In such latter case, the URL can be the domain of the server 500, followed by a keyword indicating to the server 500 to provide a recorded content and then the identifier IdA allowing to find the recorded content, in a GET type HTTP request. The “status” of this request (e.g., an integer number returned by the server) indicates if the request has failed or not.

On receiving the HTTP request of the web browser 310 (with the identifier IdA), the server 500 may provide an HTTP response A’, which is similar to A with few adjustments regarding the URLs in the web page content which are now all recorded and replaced by URLs pointing toward the server 500, each with a specific identifier IdW. The web browser 310 can display A’ and the user can interact with it, creating a HTTP request B, which may be send to the server 500 with the identifier IdW. On receiving the HTTP request B, the server may retrieve in its database the initial URL corresponding to IdW, then send B and the initial URL to the user device 300 via the cellular connection 3.

The initial web content A of the second network data, which can be for instance a captive portal web page as explained herein, could include links to different URLs, including for instance if the network router 400 is in a hotel, a disclaimer page hosted on the hotel website that would be displayed only if requested by a Wi-Fi client of the network router 400, or similar. Because the initial web content is meant to be displayed on the user device 300, which may not be connected to the network router 400, such kind of links may not be correctly working. Accordingly, the server 500 may parse the initial web content A and change it to the content A’, where each of the initial links appearing in A are changed to a link generated by a “Provide data request” (a link toward the server 500 associated with the unique identifier IdW), where the associated data are the initial links which will be provided as URLs. This way, when using the web browser 310 of the user device 300, if the user clicks on one of these links, the user device 300 will generate a HTTP request with a URL which is a “Provide data request” to the server 500 which, in return, will provide to the web application 320, via the cellular connection 3, a content which is the URL of the initial link and with the browser request unchanged. This parsing and modification may also cover the way data are mostly send in formulars (for instance a captive portal) on Internet, via POST or GET methods as commonly known.

Data send using GET method are identifiable because they are between HTML tags <form></form>, where the tag <form> includes different attributes, including the attribute “method” indicating the method used (here GET) and (optional) the attribute “action” indicating the targeted <name of page> where the data should be sent on the server hosting the formular (if no page is indicated, the target is the current web page). Furthermore, for GET method, the data of a formular are sent in the URL of the request and are made of pairs of name/value variables separated by For instance, the generated URL by the formular will be <name of server>/<name of page>?name1=value1&name2=value2&... , where valuel , value2... are values entered in the formular by the user. The POST method is similar, except that the data sent are stored into the body of the HTTP request. In case of such POST or GET formulars, the parsing/change process used by the server 500 will be: for each <form>, adjust the attribute “action” to a new identifier IdF, and record the initial “action” value and “method” and associate it to the value of IdF. The adjusted form (A’) can be displayed in the web browser 310 and the user can enter data in it and submit the form. When receiving the adjusted form request, which may be targeting the page IdF on the server W, then: In case IdF is associated with a “method” GET, the server will retrieve the URL which is the initial value of “action” and add to it the list of pairs name/value separated by “&” appearing in the URL of the HTTP request. In case IdF is associated with a “method” POST, the server will retrieve the URL which is the initial value of “action”. In both cases, the HTTP content will be the HTTP content provided by the HTTP request of the browser. This way, if the form is submitted by the user with the web browser 310 on the user device 300, the server will receive the GET or POST HTTP request B addressed to the page IdF and will be able to use it to generate an URL and a HTTP request B, and send this content back, via the cellular connection 3, to the user device 300. The transfer of information from the server 500 to the user device 300, via the cellular connection 3, may be such that the URL and the HTTP content are separated and each “&” clearly identified.

This transfer of information may be a HTTP communication using the cellular connection 3, so it can be a HTTP response of the server 500 where the URL and the HTTP content are in the HTTP body of the response, each identified and delimited by specific keywords expected by the web application 320 on the user device 300. This response can be generated for instance by dedicated HTTP requests made in loop by the web application 320 using the cellular connection 3 addressed to the server 500 and having the IdA in parameter, so that these dedicated requests ask to receive B (i.e., the response B of a browser associated to the initial page A identified by IdA) once B has been received by the server. The response B may be comprised by or be the third network data, now being forwarded by the user device 300 to the aerosol-generating device 100 for completing the captive portal.

Hence, the user device 300 may send the content B and the URL to the aerosol-generating device 100 via the first connection 1, which sends the request B to the URL via the second connection 2, where it appears as if it was the aerosol-generating device 100 which had generated the Request B to the URL. The user device 300 may read the HTTP response sent to it by the server 500, retrieve in it the HTTP request B and the URL then may send this data to the aerosolgenerating device 100 via the first connection 1. This transfer of information from the user device 300 to the aerosol-generating device 100 via the first connection 1 may be such that the URL and the HTTP content are separated and each & clearly identified as such in the Wi-Fi data. This transfer of information may be not an HTTP communication, but a Wi-Fi communication using a Wi-Fi payload. The aerosol-generating device 100 may be able to read such Wi-Fi communication and retrieve in it the HTTP request B and the URL. Then, the aerosol-generating device 100 may make a HTTP request with the HTTP content B to the URL, via the second connection 2, i.e. , transmit the third network data for completing the captive portal.

If the aerosol-generating device 100 is configured for concurrent mode, it may be able to have two simultaneous W-Fi client connections and the aerosol-generating device 100 can send the HTTP request to the URL via the network router 400 while keeping activated the hotspot mode. If not, then the aerosol-generating device 100, once it has received the HTTP content and URL, may drop the W-Fi client connection to the hotspot of the user device 300 and activate the W-Fi client connection to the network router 400 (the aerosol-generating device 100 may now able to connect to the network router 400 when needed without the help of the user device 300).

Furthermore, in this latter case, the aerosol-generating device 100 may start a concurrent mode and activate its communication interface 130 while the user device 300 ends the hotspot mode and thereby the first connection 1 and connects the user device 300 as a W-Fi client to the aerosol-generating device 100. In both cases, the aerosol-generating device 100 may carry on receiving the HTTP response sends to the aerosol-generating device 100 via the network router 400, and in case this response needs a browser to be displayed (e.g., if the HTTP response is different from the ones expected by the aerosol-generating device 100), then the explained method steps relating to the captive portal, in particular as described herein partially or fully based on an HTTP and/or W-Fi level, in particular including the interaction between the user device 300 and the server 500, may be repeated. Additionally, it may be possible to use the user device 300 as a web interface for the aerosol-generating device 100. In particular, as described herein, via the web interface or web application 320, for example, the usage data and/or configuration data to be exchanged between the aerosol-generating device 100 and the server 500 may be at least partially controlled.

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" or “substantially”. 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 ± 20% 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.

As used herein, the phrase “being indicative of” may for example mean “reflecting” and/or “comprising”. Accordingly, an entity, element and/or step referred to herein as “being indicative of [...]” can be synonymously or interchangeably used herein with one, two or all of said entity, element and/or step “comprising [...]” and said entity, element and/or step “reflecting [...]”.

Further, as used herein, phrases such as “based on”, “related” or “relating”, “associated” and similar are not to be seen exclusively in terms of the entities, elements and/or steps to which they are referring, unless otherwise stated. Instead, these phrases are to be understood inclusively, unless otherwise stated, in that, for example, an entity, element or step referring by any of these phrases or similar, e.g., being “based on”, an or another entity, element or step, does not exclude that the respective entity, element or step may be further or also “based on” any other entity, element or step than the one to which it refers.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art and practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.

In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

Claims

2. The aerosol-generating device of claim 1 , wherein the first connection and the second connection are Wi-Fi connections.

3. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to terminate the first connection after establishing the second connection.

4. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the aerosol-generating device has no user interface configured for obtaining the network identifier and/or a password for connecting to the wireless network based on user input on the aerosolgenerating device.

5. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the network data is further indicative of a password of the wireless network, and wherein the aerosolgenerating device is configured to establish the second connection based on the network identifier and the password.

6. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to simultaneously maintain the first connection and the second connection.

7. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to: obtain, via the second connection, second network data relating to a captive portal of the wireless network; transmit, via the first connection, the second network data to the user device; obtain, via the first connection, third network data relating to input information for completing the captive portal; and transmit, via the second connection, the third network data for completing the captive portal to access one or more network resources of the wireless network.

8. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the aerosol-generating device has a user interface configured to obtain a user input for establishing the first connection, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to establish the first connection based on Software Access Point, SoftAP, after obtaining the user input.

9. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the network data is encrypted by an asymmetric encryption method.

10. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the network data is based on a user selection from one or more network identifiers on the user device, and wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to determine the one or more network identifiers via its communication interface and transmit, via the first connection, the determined one or more network identifiers for the user selection to the user device.

11. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein: o one or both of a device identifier of the aerosol-generating device and a password for establishing the first connection with the aerosol-generating device is provided on the aerosolgenerating device; o the aerosol-generating device is configured to broadcast information including a Service Set Identifier (SSID) of the aerosol-generating device and one or both of: device identification information indicative of the device being an aerosol-generating device; and a password for establishing the first connection with the aerosol-generating device; and/or o the aerosol-generating device is configured to establish the first connection based on one or more of a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a password of the aerosol-generating device being stored on a server.

12. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to transmit a unique device identifier of the aerosolgenerating device via the second connection.

13. The aerosol-generating device of claim 12, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to: obtain, via the second connection, a temporary device identifier of the aerosol-generating device after transmitting the unique device identifier; and wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to: display the temporary unique device identifier on a display of the aerosol-generating device; and/or transmit, via the first connection, the temporary device identifier.

14. The aerosol-generating device of claim 13, wherein the temporary device identifier is configured to grant permission for transmitting, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device and/or obtaining, via the second connection, data from the aerosolgenerating device, in particular when the temporary device identifier is provided as user input on the user device.

15. The aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims, wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to automatically establish a second connection with any one of multiple networks based on different network data obtained for each one of the wireless networks, wherein the automatic establishment of the second connection comprises a selection of one of the multiple networks based on priorities assigned to the different wireless networks, wherein the priorities are based on signal strengths of the wireless networks.

16. A system comprising the aerosol-generating device of any one of the previous claims and a user device, wherein the aerosol-generating device obtained or obtains the network data indicative of a network identifier of the wireless network from the user device.

17. A method for controlling an aerosol-generating device having a communication interface for connecting to a user device and a wireless network, the method comprising: establishing a first connection, the first connection being to the user device; obtaining, via the first connection, network data indicative of a network identifier of the wireless network; and establishing a second connection, the second connection being to the wireless network, based on the network data.

18. The method of claim 17, the method further comprising: transmitting, via the first connection, network data to the aerosol-generating article, by the user device.

19. The method of claim 17 or 18, wherein the first connection is terminated after establishing the second connection.

20. The method of any one of claims 17 to 19, wherein the first connection and the second connection are simultaneously maintained.

21. The method of any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein the method further comprises: obtaining, via the second connection, second network data relating to a captive portal of the wireless network; transmitting, via the first connection, the second network data to the user device; obtaining, via the first connection, third network data relating to input information for completing the captive portal; and transmitting, via the second connection, the third network data for completing the captive portal to access one or more network resources of the wireless network.

22. The method of any one of claims 17 to 21 , wherein the method further comprises one or more of: transmitting, by the wireless network or network router via the second connection, the second network data to the aerosol-generating device; obtaining, by the user device via the first connection, the second network data from the aerosol-generating device; obtaining, by the user device, in particular at least by means of a user input on the user device, the third network data; transmitting, by the user device via the first connection, the third network data to the aerosolgenerating device.

23. The method of any one of claims 17 to 22, wherein the aerosol-generating device broadcasts information including a Service Set Identifier (SSID) of the aerosol-generating device and one or both of: device identification information indicative of the device being an aerosol-generating device; and a password for establishing the first connection with the aerosol-generating device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the method comprises: obtaining, by the user device, the broadcasted information; identifying, by the user device, the device broadcasting the information as aerosolgenerating device based on the device identification information.

25. The method of any one of claims 17 to 24, wherein the aerosol-generating device establishes the first connection based on one or more of a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a password of the aerosol-generating device being stored on a server.

26. The method of any one of claims 17 to 25, wherein the aerosol-generating device transmits a unique device identifier of the aerosol-generating device via the second connection.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the aerosol-generating device transmits, via the second connection, the unique device identifier to a server.

28. The method of claim 26 or 27, wherein the aerosol-generating device: obtains, via the second connection, a temporary device identifier of the aerosol-generating device after transmitting the unique device identifier; and wherein the aerosol-generating device: displays the temporary device identifier on a display of the aerosol-generating device; and/or transmits, via the first connection, the temporary device identifier.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the method comprises one or more of: obtaining, by the server, the unique device identifier; generating, by the server, the temporary device identifier based on the unique device identifier; transmitting, by the server, the temporary device identifier to the aerosol-generating device; receiving, by the user device, the temporary device identifier; in particular by means of a camera of the user device scanning the temporary device identifier and/or by obtaining it from the aerosol-generating device via the first connection; transmitting, by the user device, the temporary device identifier to the server; obtaining, by the server, the temporary device identifier; authenticating, by the server, the obtained temporary device identifier, in particular by comparing it to the generated temporary device identifier.

30. The method of claim 28 or 29, wherein the server grants permission for transmitting, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device and/or obtaining, via the second connection, data from the aerosol-generating device, in particular after authentication of the obtained temporary device identifier by the server.

31. The method of any one of claims 17 to 30, wherein the aerosol-generating device: obtains, via the second connection, configuration data for configuring the aerosolgenerating device; and configures the aerosol-generating device based on the configuration data.

32. The method of any one of examples 17 to 31 , wherein the aerosol-generating device transmits, via the second connection, one or both of: usage data relating to the usage of the aerosol-generating device; and configuration data relating to one or more settings and/or a version of an operating software of the aerosol-generating device.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the aerosol-generating device transmits, via the second connection, the one or both of the usage data and the configuration data to a server.

34. The method of any one of claims 17 to 33, wherein the aerosol-generating device has a user interface, and wherein the method comprises: obtaining, by the user interface, a user input for establishing the first connection; and wherein the aerosol-generating device establishes the first connection based on Software Access Point, SoftAP, after obtaining the user input.

35. The method of any one of claims 17 to 34, wherein the network data is encrypted by an asymmetric encryption method.

36. The method of any one of claims 17 to 35, wherein the network data is based on a user selection from one or more network identifiers on the user device, and wherein the method comprises: determining, by the aerosol-generating device via its communication interface, the one or more network identifiers; and transmitting, by the aerosol-generating device via the first connection, the determined one or more network identifiers for the user selection to the user device.

37. A computer program product, which when executed by an aerosol-generating system, instructs the aerosol-generating system to carry out the method of any one of claims 17 to 36.