The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 10, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 20, 1997
Michael L Watkins, Chester, VA (US);
Mohammad R Hajaligol, Midlothian, VA (US);
Philip Morris Incorporated, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A novel photonic-electronic smoking system comprising a cigarette and a photonic operated electronic lighter, together with methodologies of smoking a cigarette, the lighter comprising a receptacle for removably receiving a cigarette; a photonic source; an optical train establishing a plurality of optical pathways from said photonic source to a plurality of locations at the received cigarette; a source of electrical power; a puff sensor responsive to a drawing action upon a cigarette received by said receptacle; and a controller responsive to said puff sensor for controllably communicating said source of electrical power with said photonic source so that upon drawing action upon the received cigarette, the photonic source discharges along said optical pathway to heat a region of said cigarette adjacent at least one of said locations.