Philip Morris Products S.a.

Raphael Holzherr

Hankak Lee

Felix Fernando

Keethan Dasnavis Fernando

Yannick Butin

Johnny Luke Grzan

Kang Liat Keng

A controller is provided for an electrically heatable aerosol-generating device including a heating element and a rechargeable power supply to power the heating element, the controller being configured to control a supply of power from the rechargeable power supply to the heating element, and to prevent power being supplied to the heating element when a temperature reading is below a pre-determined lower temperature threshold. An electrically heatable aerosol-generating device including the heating element, the rechargeable power supply configured to power the heating element, a temperature sensor, and the controller is also provided. And, a method of controlling an electrically heatable aerosol-generating device, including the heating element and the rechargeable power supply configured to power the heating element, is also provided.

Electrically heated aerosol-generating system

An aerosol-generating device is provided, including: a near-field communication device configured to communicate with an external device, the near-field communication device being configured to store a message including a list of records, the list including a first record associated with a first operation to be executed by the external device and a second record associated with a second operation to be executed by the external device, the first operation being different from the second operation; and a controller configured to monitor a state of the aerosol-generating device, and in response to detecting a predetermined state of the aerosol-generating device, configure the list of records to define an order of the first record and the second record in the list.

Aerosol-generating device and system comprising a dynamic near-field communication module

An electrically operable aerosol-generating system is provided, including: a charging device including a primary power source; and an elongated aerosol-generating device including a secondary power source, the charging device having a docking arrangement configured to engage with the aerosol-generating device, the docking arrangement including a docking space defined between a first end, and an opposing second end spaced from and fixed relative to the first end, the docking space accommodating a longitudinal dimension of the aerosol-generating device, and a latching projection is configured to extend from the first end or the second end to engage with a distal end or a proximal end of the aerosol-generating device.

Aerosol-generating system with charging device

An electrically operable aerosol-generating system includes: a charging device including a primary power source and a housing to retain the power source; and an aerosol-generating device including a secondary power source and having proximal and distal ends and a body extending therebetween, the charging device having a docking arrangement including a docking space between a first end and an opposing second end spaced therefrom, the first and second ends being walls of the housing, electrical contacts on at least one of the proximal or distal ends of the device to engage with corresponding electrical contacts on at least one of the first and second ends of the docking arrangement, and the electrical contacts include a positive and a negative electrical contact, at least one of which being an annular electrical contact, arranged concentrically on the at least one of the proximal or distal ends.

Aerosol-generating system with charging device and aerosol-generating device with end contacts

An electrically operable aerosol-generating system is provided, including charging and aerosol-generating devices having proximal and distal ends and a body extending therebetween, a user operable button located on the body between the ends, the system having a first engagement state in which the devices are engaged and a second engagement state in which the devices are not engaged, such that when in the first state at least a first side-portion of the body extending between the ends faces the charging device, and at least a second side-portion of the body extending between the ends faces away from the charging device and is exposed, the button being located on the second side-portion and operable when the system is in the first state, the button activating a first function when the system is in the second state, and activating a different second function when the system is in the first state.

Aerosol-generating system with aerosol-generating device and operating button protection

An electrically operable aerosol-generating system is provided, including: a charging device including a primary power source and a housing to retain the power source; and an aerosol-generating device including a secondary power source and having proximal and distal ends and a body extending therebetween, the charging device having a docking arrangement including a docking space between a first end and an opposing second end spaced therefrom, the first and second ends being walls of the housing, electrical contacts on at least one of the proximal or distal ends of the device to engage with corresponding electrical contacts on at least one of the first and second ends of the docking arrangement, and the electrical contacts include a positive and a negative electrical contact, at least one of which being an annular electrical contact, arranged concentrically on the at least one of the proximal or distal ends.

An electrically operable aerosol-generating system is provided, including a charging device including a primary power source; and an elongated aerosol-generating device including a secondary power source and having a proximal end, a distal end, and a body extending between the proximal end and the distal end, the charging device having a docking arrangement configured to engage with the elongated aerosol-generating device and to charge the secondary power source by the primary power source, in which a first coupling member disposed on the body of the elongated aerosol-generating device is configured to engage with a second coupling member disposed on a wall of the charging device.

Aerosol-generating system with charging device and aerosol-generating device with side coupling

An electrically operable aerosol-generating system is provided, including a charging device including a primary power source; and an elongated aerosol-generating device including a secondary power source and having a proximal end, a distal end, and a body extending between the proximal end and the distal end, a user operable button being disposed on the body between the proximal end and the distal end, the system having a first engagement state in which the aerosol-generating device is engaged with the charging device and a second engagement state in which the aerosol-generating device is not engaged with the charging device, such that, when the system is configured in the first engagement state, at least a first side-portion of the body faces the charging device, and at least a second side-portion of the body extending between the proximal end and the distal end faces away from the charging device and is exposed.

An electrically operable aerosol-generating system is provided, including a charging device including a primary power source; and an elongated aerosol-generating device including a secondary power source, the charging device having a docking arrangement configured to engage with the elongated aerosol-generating device, the docking arrangement including a docking space defined between a first end, and an opposing second end spaced from and fixed relative to the first end, the docking space accommodating a longitudinal dimension of the elongated aerosol-generating device.

An electrically operable aerosol-generating system is provided, including: a charging device including a primary power source; and an elongated aerosol-generating device including a secondary power source and having a proximal end, a distal end, and a body extending between the proximal end and the distal end, the charging device having a docking arrangement configured to engage with the elongated aerosol-generating device, the docking arrangement including a docking space defined between a first end, and an opposing second end spaced from and fixed relative to the first end, the docking space accommodating a longitudinal dimension of the elongated aerosol-generating device, in which electrical contacts are disposed on at least one of the proximal end or the distal end of the elongated aerosol-generating device and are configured to engage with corresponding electrical contacts disposed on at least one of the first end and the second end of the docking arrangement.

A method of controlling a portable device of an electrical system is provided, the device including an electrically heated aerosol-generating device configured to receive an aerosol-generating substrate, the device further including a rechargeable power supply and at least one electrical heating element, the method including: monitoring an ambient temperature adjacent the device; and providing power to the heating element from the rechargeable power supply in dependence on the ambient temperature adjacent the device, such that when the ambient temperature adjacent the device is within a pre-determined temperature range, providing power to the heating element, and such that when the ambient temperature adjacent the device is below a lower end of the pre-determined temperature range, and when the ambient temperature adjacent the device is above a higher end of the pre-determined temperature range, preventing power being supplied to the heating element.

A method of controlling an electrical system is provided, the electrical system including a primary charging device including a first rechargeable power supply, and a portable device including a second rechargeable power supply, the method including monitoring an ambient temperature adjacent the primary charging device, determining a charging current for charging the first rechargeable power supply of the primary charging device, in dependence on the ambient temperature, and charging the first rechargeable power supply of the primary charging device at the determined charging current. There is also provided a system and device for performing the method.

A method of controlling an electrically heated aerosol-generating system is provided, the system including a charging device including a first rechargeable power supply, and an electrically heated aerosol-generating device configured to receive an aerosol-generating substrate and including a second rechargeable power supply, and at least one electrical heating element; and the method including monitoring an ambient temperature adjacent the charging device, determining a charging current, for charging the rechargeable power supply of the charging device, in dependence on the ambient temperature, and charging the rechargeable power supply of the charging device at the determined charging current. There is also provided a system and device for performing the method.

A primary device for connecting to a secondary device is provided, including at least three electrical contacts, a voltage source, and a controller, wherein each electrical contact has an associated high switch connected between the contact and the voltage source, and an associated low switch disposed between the contact and electrical ground, and wherein the controller is connected to each of the switches and is configured to sequentially close pairs of switches to connect the voltage source to the device during an orientation operation, each pair of switches comprising a high switch associated with one of the contacts and a low switch associated with another of the contacts, and is further configured to record a voltage difference between the contacts associated with a plurality of pairs of the switches, and to determine an orientation of the secondary device relative to the primary device based on the recorded voltage difference.

Method and system for configuring electrical contacts in electrical device

A system is provided, including a primary device and a secondary device, the primary device having electrical contact pins configured to engage electrical contacts on the secondary device to allow for the exchange of power and data between the devices; the primary device having n electrical contact pins, where n is a positive integer greater than two; the devices are constructed such that the pins of the primary device are engageable with the contacts of the secondary device in a plurality of m distinct electrical orientations, wherein m is a positive integer less than n; and the primary device is configured to determine which of the m orientations the secondary device is in relative to the primary device by comparing voltages measured between at least m different pairs of contacts with a voltage record stored in a memory in the primary device.

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Fontaines, Switzerland

Raphael Holzherr