CN115151150A - Monitoring composition of suction from electronic vaporizer - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic vaporiser (1) is disclosed for vaporising a substance to be inhaled by a user when the user draws from the vaporiser. The vaporizer is configured to receive a cartridge (11) having a vaporizable substance and having an identification tag (23) associated with a component of the substance. The vaporizer includes: a controller for obtaining a data set comprising a puff duration parameter; and a communication module configured to transmit the data set and an identification tag of a cartridge coupled to the vaporizer to a puff composition monitoring system. A system and method for monitoring the composition of at least one puff taken by a user using an electronic vaporizer is also disclosed.

Description

Monitoring composition of suction from electronic vaporizer

The present disclosure relates to an electronic vaporizer for vaporizing a substance to be inhaled by a user when the user draws from or uses the vaporizer, and to a system and method for monitoring the composition of a user's draw from or using the electronic vaporizer.

Background

Electronic vaporizers are commonly used today as a substitute for cigarettes or pipes, and consumers can find a variety of different designs with varying shapes and numbers of removable components.

Most vaporizers use a cartridge, which typically contains a quantity of nicotine (including other substances) to be converted into a vapor. The use of a tamper-resistant cartridge that cannot be refilled or replaced by a user may be helpful, for example, in estimating the amount of nicotine a user consumes over a period of time.

Accurate monitoring of the substance inhaled by a user using an electronic vaporiser may suitably be used for a variety of purposes, for example for medical purposes when attempting to quit smoking, etc., to report the composition taken by the user.

However, known monitoring systems typically provide only statistical or other inaccurate information about the substances and amounts actually consumed by a user of the electronic vaporizer. In use, depending on different factors, some components within the vaporizer cartridge may evaporate more slowly or more quickly and at different times. Furthermore, in some cases, new components may be formed during the vaporization of the substance. For example, the temperature reached by the atomizer of the vaporizer over a period of time, the atomizer having been at an elevated temperature since the previous puff, or the atomizer being at room temperature at the beginning of a puff, may affect the manner in which the components react, and thus may change the composition that is ultimately ingested by the user.

Disclosure of Invention

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is presented an electronic vaporizer for vaporizing a substance to be inhaled by a user when the user draws from the vaporizer, the vaporizer configured to receive a cartridge comprising a vaporizable substance and an identification tag associated with a component of the vaporizable substance, the vaporizer comprising:

-a sensor module for reading an identification tag and for obtaining a steam generation condition parameter comprising a puff duration parameter and optionally in some instances a temperature parameter; and

-a communication module configured to send the vapour production condition parameter and an identification tag of a cartridge coupled to the vaporizer to a puff monitoring system.

In the present disclosure, the steam generation condition parameter refers to a parameter related to a condition around steam generation (i.e., when at least a portion of the vaporizable substance contained in the cartridge is changed into steam by operation of the electronic vaporizer for inhalation by the user). The steam generation condition parameter may be, for example, a physical, operational, or environmental parameter.

According to an example, a cartridge received by the vaporizer (which may be coupled to the vaporizer) may be pre-filled with a combination of compounds in the form of vaporizable liquid substances and sealed with a tamper-resistant seal by the manufacturer, and may include an identification tag which may be, for example, an RFID tag, QR code, bar code, or other similar identification tag or code. Thus, the manufacturer can identify each cartridge using a particular label that is associated with a particular composition of matter therein and that will not be altered without breaking the seal.

Liquids with different compositions may react differently when vaporized, and vapor generation condition parameters (hereinafter condition parameters), such as temperature and/or duration of pumping, may alter the reaction of each different compound of the liquid vaporizable material in different ways. For example, depending on different factors, some compounds may evaporate more slowly or more quickly and at different times, or these compounds may sometimes even produce new compounds. Thus, the puff composition monitoring system may be able to obtain the vapor composition of the puff while taking into account condition parameters, such as parameters associated with temperature and puff duration, and further taking into account the liquid composition of the vaporizable material that is not modified according to manufacturer specifications. The puff composition monitoring system may be capable of comparing the condition parameters and the liquid composition to known data that is associated with the final vapor composition of the vaporizable material and the liquid composition under the conditions. This may make the extracted vapor composition more accurate than a statistically calculated or average vapor composition, which the manufacturer may disclose as the vapor composition of the cartridge. Thus, the monitoring system may determine the composition of the vapor inhaled by the user using the electronic vaporizer when the puff is taken.

According to the present disclosure, the steam generation condition parameter is associated with the condition that the suction has been performed: for example, the steam generation condition parameter may be associated with a temperature at which the suction is applied. More specifically, the temperature parameter may be any parameter related to the temperature at which the vaporizable material vaporizes, or may be a parameter that helps to approximate this temperature.

This temperature parameter helps to determine the composition of the vapor drawn (i.e., the composition of the vapor as the vapor material vaporizes), since the vapor composition is determined by factors such as the temperature at which the liquid vaporizes.

Furthermore, the puff duration parameter can be seen as the duration between activation of the vaporizer (when vaporization is started) and its deactivation, which can be measured in different possible ways.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the vaporizer may further comprise a nebulizer comprising at least one resistive element configured to be energized to vaporize the vaporizable substance, the sensor module receiving a resistance value of the resistive element.

According to this example, the vaporiser may comprise a body housing a nebuliser, which may be coupled, in use, to a cartridge comprising the vaporisable substance. This coupling enables the user to vaporize the vaporizable material by turning on the vaporizer to increase its temperature in order to inhale the vaporizable material in vapor form. This turning on may be performed, for example, using an on/off button or by a suction detector that turns on the nebulizer when a suction pressure on the vaporizer mouthpiece is detected.

According to this example, the nebulizer may comprise a resistive element, e.g. in the form of a resistor or a resistor bank, which may be formed, e.g. as one or more coils, comprising a cotton piece wound therein, the nebulizer being connected to the controller. Further, the atomizer may be connected to a power source, for example, a battery housed in the vaporizer body. In this way, a user may be able to select the voltage applied to the resistive element through, for example, a selector button, which in turn may control the current flowing from the battery into the resistive element. Such selectors may be used alone or in combination with the on/off buttons described previously.

When selecting a voltage, a resistive element with a high resistance will mean that less current flows through the resistive element. On the other hand, a resistive element with a low resistance will mean that more current flows through the resistive element and therefore more heat is generated at the resistive element, thereby generating more vapour, which may change the composition of the vapour being smoked (in addition to possibly creating a stronger puff for the user upon inhalation). Thus, the composition of the puff may vary with the temperature at which the vaporizable material is vaporized, which may vary with the voltage and/or resistive element used.

In addition, as the resistive element heats and vaporizes the liquid vaporizable material, other compounds from the resistive element itself or from other portions of the atomizer interior may also vaporize, thereby changing the intended vapor composition of the generated suction.

Accordingly, when the value of the resistance element is detected, the temperature parameter may be further detected based on the sensed resistance value and the voltage applied to the resistance element.

More specifically, the sensor module may receive, by its connection, the resistance value of the resistive element, which in combination with the applied voltage and other steam generation parameters present in, for example, the identification tag, may be a set of parameters from which the temperature of the resistive element may be derived by empirical data or temperature calculations, thereby obtaining a temperature parameter.

Said other steam generating condition parameter present in the identification tag may be the resistance value of the resistive element itself, the material of the resistive element, the material of the cotton piece of the resistive element or even the manufacturing date of the cartridge, which will indicate the time when the liquid was present. All of these steam generation condition parameters can be used to derive the temperature parameter.

Alternatively, the resistance value of the resistive element may also be known by the sensor module (e.g., the resistance value may be pre-recorded inside the sensor module).

The steam generation condition parameters present in the identification tag are useful because the composition of the steam being drawn can vary with the material of the resistive element (e.g., in the form of a coil) and the cotton piece with which the resistive element is used. More specifically, both the coil and the cotton cloth may react, depending on the temperature they can reach, and new compounds, such as metals, formaldehyde, etc., may be added to the vaporized substance, or may even react with other compounds present in the liquid vaporizable substance during the vaporization process, thereby changing the final vapor composition of the suction. The manufacturing date of the cartridge may also be relevant, as the liquid may have reacted with air after a long period of time inside the cartridge, which may change its composition when the puff vaporises.

Furthermore, if a predetermined voltage is applied to the resistive element, the temperature may also be deduced from the absorbed power, the value of the resistive element and/or the material of the resistive element. Thus, the suction power drawn and the resistance value and/or material may be used to derive the temperature.

In this way, the puff composition monitoring system may take into account, for example, the electrical power used to vaporize the vaporizable material (which may be inferred from the resistance value and applied voltage).

Furthermore, an example of a measurement of a puff duration parameter may be a measurement of the time between activation and deactivation of the puff detector as described previously. The puff duration parameter may also be measured, for example, by measuring the time between activation of an on/off button of the vaporizer, which may turn a resistive element on and off.

Alternatively, according to another example of the present disclosure, the vaporizer may further comprise a nebulizer comprising at least one resistive element configured to be energized to vaporize the vaporizable substance, the vaporizer further comprising a temperature sensor that senses a temperature of the resistive element.

Sensing the temperature of the resistive element can produce a useful temperature parameter because the vaporizable material is heated by the resistive element and the composition in the draw vapor can vary with the sensed temperature.

The temperature of the resistive element itself or in combination with the composition of the liquid vaporizable substance or other known parameters such as the material of the resistive element can help to determine the composition of the vapor drawn, since new compounds can be generated based on the sensed temperature and the material, e.g., resistance.

In other examples of the vaporizer disclosed herein, the vapor generation condition parameters obtained by the sensor module of the vaporizer for determining the composition inhaled by the user in a puff may not relate to temperature parameters. Furthermore, such steam generation condition parameters may relate to one or more of the specific parameters disclosed in the following detailed description.

Further, according to an example, the electronic vaporizer may further comprise a monitoring module configured to monitor an amount of at least one compound present within the vapor produced by the vaporizer based on the retrieved puff composition. Further, the monitoring module may be further programmed to block vapor delivery of the vaporizer when a predetermined level or one or more particular compounds have been delivered based on the retrieved puff composition. Such monitoring may be performed within a single puff, or may be performed within a determined period of time, when the user may have performed one or more puffs.

In this way, the amount of a particular compound inhaled by the user, such as a toxic compound present in the vaporizable liquid or a toxic compound produced during vaporization, whether or not it is already present in the liquid or vaporized component, can be controlled. Such control may be useful when the vaporizer is used, for example, as a smoking cessation tool, where a physician prescribes a daily or weekly intake of an amount of nicotine, thus limiting nicotine intake by monitoring the actual amount of nicotine delivered to the user. Furthermore, the intake of compounds may be gradually reduced rather than blocked, so that it is calibrated to the needs of the user or medical records. This reduction or blocking may be performed by reducing the steam output of the vaporizer or gradually reducing the steam output.

Alternatively or additionally, control may also be exercised over other non-toxic compounds, one or more of which may be used, for example, as a prescription drug. Thus, for example, a physician may be able to program a vaporizer to monitor the amount of medicament delivered to a patient over a period of time.

Such monitoring of the steam intake and intake of one or more compounds by the user may be controlled by: for example, varying the voltage of the vaporizer to vary the amount of vapor generated, and/or varying the amount of vapor generated over a period of time to accurately vary the intake of one or more particular compounds delivered to the user.

Any type of monitoring of any compounds within the vapor ingested by the user may be displayed to a third party (e.g., a doctor) or to the user by, for example, a display present in an electronic vaporizer or an application on a smartphone, thereby showing the user's detailed ingestion. Such ingestion may be displayed partially (e.g., based on the retrieved composition of the puff, a particular compound or ingested group of compounds) or completely.

In addition, the electronic vaporizer may further comprise an electronic display configured to display, for example, the retrieved puff components (e.g., the amount by weight of each compound of the vapor that the user may inhale) or the vapor generation condition parameters for retrieving the puff components. In this way, useful information may be delivered to the user or, for example, a physician who may prescribe a particular treatment for the user, and may be used to monitor the user's daily intake and prescribe the user's future intake, or modify an existing intake to accurately treat the user.

Further, the vaporizer may be configured to deliver the prescribed medication using a plurality of cartridges, wherein the delivery time for each cartridge is predetermined. Thus, patients who may require a strictly planned dose of medication and who may have difficulty remembering or making a normal intake, such as stroke patients or elderly patients, may be able to ingest the corresponding medication at a predetermined time by way of vaporizer inhalation. In addition, placebo cartridges may also be placed into prescribed drug-filled cartridges to reduce the patient's daily intake.

Several examples of vaporizable liquids can be used to vaporize using a system according to the present disclosure, where each liquid can include a different vaporizable component. The following is an exemplary list of different embodiments of the present disclosure in which different vaporizable components are listed.

In some embodiments, the vaporizable component comprises a water soluble substance or a water soluble derivative thereof. In some embodiments, the vaporizable component includes a glycosylated species, a polymer-derived species, and/or a hydrophilic biopolymer. In some embodiments, the vaporizable component is a pharmaceutical composition comprising a drug or substance having biological activity. In some embodiments, the biological activity is, for example, analgesic activity, anxiolytic activity, anti-inflammatory activity, bronchodilatory activity, antidepressant activity or antihypertensive activity. In some embodiments, the drug with analgesic activity is, for example, tetrahydrocannabinol. In some embodiments, the drug having anti-inflammatory activity is a corticosteroid. For example, corticosteroids are used to treat respiratory diseases such as asthma or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). In some embodiments, the drug having bronchodilator activity is, for example, a β -2 adrenergic agonist. In some embodiments, the drug with bronchodilator activity is, for example, beclomethasone, fluticasone, ciclesonide, mometasone, budesonide, flunisolide, salmeterol, formoterol, or vilanterol. In some embodiments, the drug having antihypertensive activity is, for example, a beta-blocker. In particular, the drug is, for example, atenolol. In some embodiments, the drug having anxiolytic and antidepressant activity is, for example, a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI). In particular, the drug is, for example, fluoxetine.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a system for monitoring the composition of a user's puff on an electronic vaporizer is presented, the vaporizer being configured to receive a cartridge and the cartridge comprising a vaporizable substance and an identification tag of the cartridge, the tag thus also being associated with the composition of the vaporizable substance, the system comprising:

-a repository of mappings between steam generation condition parameters and suction components for each identification tag; and

-a controller configured to:

-receiving from an electronic vaporizer an identification tag of a cartridge coupled to the electronic vaporizer and a vapor generation condition parameter, the parameter comprising a puff duration parameter;

-accessing a repository of mappings between steam generation condition parameters and puff components for each identification tag;

-retrieving from the repository a puff component corresponding to the received steam production condition parameter and the received identification tag.

The electronic vaporizer that may be used in conjunction with the disclosed system may be any of the electronic vaporizers described herein; the electronic vaporizer may also be any other type of vaporizer suitable for receiving a cartridge having a vaporizable composition, wherein information regarding the identification of the cartridge and/or the composition contained in the cartridge may be provided to a controller of the system. In some embodiments, the vaporizer may be part of a system.

A system repository according to the present disclosure may include a puff component, which may be a pre-calculated by weight component (e.g., in mg) of a plurality of different components of different vaporizable materials according to different vapor generation condition parameters. The composition of the plurality of vaporizable materials is known based on the identification tag, and for each identification tag and thus for each liquid vaporizable material composition, the repository has a vapor composition previously calculated by laboratory tests involving, for example, vaporizing the vaporizable material under different vapor generation condition parameters and combinations thereof.

As some examples disclosed herein, in some embodiments of the system, the steam generation condition parameter includes a temperature parameter, which may be obtained, for example, from a sensor module of the electronic vaporizer.

The steam production condition parameters obtained from the electronic vaporizer may not exactly match the possible steam production condition parameters in the repository, and therefore the retrieval may have to be performed by approximating the parameters from the vaporizer to the parameters present in the repository. This approximation may be an averaging of the components closest to the likely match parameters or a selection among the components associated with the repository parameters closer to the parameters from the vaporizer.

Further, the system may be distributed such that the controller may reside in a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone) connected to the electronic vaporizer to receive the identification tag and the vapor generation condition parameters from the electronic vaporizer. Furthermore, the mobile device may be connected to the described repository, e.g. by a wireless connection, in order to access the repository and retrieve the puff components.

Other possible embodiments of the system may be an embodiment in which the controller is comprised in an electronic vaporizer, the controller receiving the identification tag and the steam generation condition parameters from modules of the electronic vaporizer (by e.g. electrically connecting to these modules in the electronic vaporizer) and connecting the controller to the described repository, e.g. by wireless connection, in order to access said repository and retrieve the suction composition.

Further, in other embodiments, the reservoir may alternatively be embedded in the electronic vaporizer itself, as in the previous case.

In this way, by using a system for monitoring composition according to the present disclosure, it is possible to obtain a precise composition of a puff corresponding to the previously described puff made by a user using an electronic vaporizer, since the more precise composition has been previously calculated in a laboratory from the actual real vapor of a particular vaporizable substance vaporized by the user and previously stored in a repository, making it more precise than a statistical approximation or prediction of the general situation of the composition of a liquid vaporizable substance as it vaporizes with a puff.

According to another example of the present disclosure, the controller may be further configured to send the aspirated components to the health monitoring system and/or present the aspirated components in a display of the system.

Such health monitoring systems may use one or more puff components retrieved from a system according to the present disclosure to further display information related to the health of the user. More precisely, for example, the health monitoring system may use the puff composition of the puff inhaled by the user to monitor the amount of harmful compounds inhaled by the user, and in particular, for example, to monitor the nicotine intake of the user. Such nicotine intake may be important if the user is attempting to quit smoking, and the display of such data may be important to the user or a physician monitoring the user's smoking cessation program. Other health monitoring systems may use the components of the steam that the user has ingested over a period of time to obtain additional information that may be relevant to the user's health, etc.

Further, according to another example, the controller may be further configured to send the at least one steam production condition parameter to the health monitoring system and/or present the at least one steam production condition parameter in a display of the system.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for monitoring a composition of a user's puff on an electronic vaporizer coupled to a cartridge comprising a vaporizable substance and an identification tag associated with the composition of the vaporizable substance is presented, the method comprising:

-obtaining from an electronic vaporizer:

-an identification tag of the cartridge; and

-a steam generation condition parameter comprising a suction duration parameter representative of a duration of the suction;

-accessing a repository of mappings between steam generation condition parameters and puff components for each identification tag;

-retrieving from a repository the puff components corresponding to the obtained steam production condition parameters and identification tag.

By performing the steps of the previously disclosed method, a more accurate composition of the puff by the user may be obtained, since the obtained puff composition is retrieved from a repository, wherein the actual vapor composition of the puff is taken into account, rather than being based on a statistical approximation or prediction of the liquid composition of the vaporizable substance, and the expected composition of the vapor as the substance vaporizes.

As some examples disclosed herein, in some embodiments of the method, the steam generation condition parameter comprises a temperature parameter, which may be obtained, for example, from a sensor module of the electronic vaporizer.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the vaporizer may include a nebulizer having a resistive element, the temperature parameter is a temperature of the resistive element, and the step of obtaining the temperature parameter may include detecting a resistance value of the resistive element and determining the temperature parameter based on the detected resistance and a voltage applied to the resistive element.

According to an alternative example of the present disclosure, the vaporizer may comprise a nebulizer having a resistive element, the temperature parameter being a temperature of the resistive element, and the step of obtaining the temperature parameter may comprise the temperature of the resistive element and determining the temperature parameter based on the sensed temperature.

According to a disclosed example, the method may further comprise determining a temperature parameter at a start time of the pumping.

The final puff composition may be made more accurate in view of the temperature parameters at the start of the puff, since for example the resistive element may be preheated before the puff is performed and may change the final puff composition compared to a resistive element at room temperature.

According to another example of the present disclosure, the method may further include sending the retrieved puff components to a health monitoring system and/or a display of an electronic vaporizer.

According to another example of the present disclosure, the method may further include sending the at least one steam generation condition parameter to a display of the health monitoring system and/or the electronic vaporizer.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the method may further comprise repeating the steps of obtaining vapor generation condition parameters comprising at least a puff duration parameter and a temperature parameter and accessing and retrieving a puff component from a repository for each puff by a user using the electronic vaporizer; and sending the single puff components or the components resulting from multiple puffs to a display of the health monitoring system and/or the electronic vaporizer.

In this way, the actual vapour composition ingested by the user (possibly with multiple puffs) by electronic vaporiser inhalation can be accurately monitored in real time.

According to another example of the present disclosure, the repository may further map the steam generation condition parameters and the puff composition for each identification tag, wherein the at least one further parameter is selected from the manufacturing date of the cartridge, the material of the resistive element, the material of the cotton piece of the atomizer or the inhalation power of the puff.

According to another example of the present disclosure, at least some of the additional parameters may be included in the identification tag.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is presented comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method previously described.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is presented, comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of the previously described method.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a partially exploded view of an example of an electronic vaporizer of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2A is a perspective view and fig. 2B is an exploded view of an example of a cartridge of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an example of a cartridge of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a body of an electronic vaporizer of the present disclosure.

Figure 5 illustrates a system for monitoring the composition of at least one puff according to the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows an exploded view of an example of an electronic vaporizer 1 according to the present disclosure, which includes a body 12 and a removable cartridge 11. The body 12 houses a battery (not shown) and a controller (not shown) and receives the cartridge 11 through an opening 15 at one end of the body 12. In this particular embodiment, the cartridge includes a liquid container 22 having a vaporizable material and an atomizer having a resistive element (not shown) for vaporizing the vaporizable material of the cartridge. In addition, the body 12 includes an on/off button 14 for turning the nebulizer on and off.

In another aspect, the controller includes a sensor module that may be built into the controller to obtain a data set including steam generation condition parameters. In addition, the controller may also include a built-in communication module to transmit the acquired data set to the aspiration composition monitoring system.

Figures 2A and 2B show a cartridge 11 having a mouthpiece 21 for a user to inhale a vapour and an atomiser 32 which further comprises, as shown in the exploded view of figure 2B, a resistive element in the form of a resistor (located within the atomiser 32) for heating the liquid of the liquid container 22 to vaporise it when the cartridge is coupled to the body 12 of the vaporiser, the resistor being formed as a coil and further comprising a cotton piece placed along the coil to assist in vaporising the liquid. The cartomizer has an electrical connector 24 that connects the cartomizer to the battery of the vaporizer when the cartridge is coupled to the body of the vaporizer.

The cartridge further comprises a tamper-resistant liquid container 22 containing the liquid to be vaporised. An example of such a cartridge may be a JUUL LABS ^TM And myBLU ^TM Commercially available cartridges. In this example, the cartridge is tamper-resistant, so the user cannot refill or replace the liquid within the liquid container 22. In addition, the mouthpiece has several holes to allow air to flow into the atomizer, so that suction can be applied. The cartridge still further comprises a magnetic coupling (not shown) which keeps the cartridge fixed to the main body of the vaporizer, and an inhalation detector 25 which is connected to the controller when the cartridge is coupled to the vaporizer to detect when the user draws steam through the mouthpiece 21, and/or when the user drawsThe suction power of (1).

In this example, when the cartridge 11 is coupled to the body 12 of the vaporizer, the resistor of the atomizer 32 is further connected to the controller by its sensor module, which senses the resistor temperature. In this way, when sensing the temperature of the resistor, a very good measurement can be achieved, since the built-in temperature sensor in the controller can easily detect an accurate temperature measurement of the electrical device connected to itself. Additional further steam generation condition parameters are provided by the sensor module of the controller. Furthermore, the inhalation power of the puff may be detected by an inhalation detector 25, which is also connected to the sensor module when the cartridge 11 is coupled to the body 12 of the vaporizer, allowing the controller to detect when the user starts the inhalation (when the puff starts) and/or the inhalation power of the puff made by the user. Additional condition parameters will be described further.

Furthermore, the cartridge 11 comprises an identification tag 23 in the form of an RFID tag. In this way, the sensor module of the controller can obtain an identification from the RFID tag 23 when the cartridge 11 is coupled to the body 12 of the vaporizer.

Figure 3 shows another view of the base of the cartridge 11 in which the RFID tag 23, the electrical connector 24 of the atomiser and the inhalation detector 25 can be seen in more detail.

Fig. 4 shows a further view of the body 12 of the vaporizer, which body comprises an electrical connector 27 at the receiving end of the body, which electrical connector receives the electrical connector 24 of the atomizer in order to connect the resistor to both the battery and the controller of the vaporizer. Furthermore, the body 12 also comprises a connector 26 that connects the inhalation detector 25 of the cartridge 11 to the sensor module of the vaporiser controller when the cartridge 11 is coupled to the body 12. In this way, the controller may detect when a user draws in steam and/or suction power from the nebulizer through the mouthpiece.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a health monitoring system incorporating a puff composition monitoring system according to the present disclosure. The electronic vaporizer 1 according to an example of the present disclosure is connected to a mobile device 31 over a wireless network 32, where the network 32 may be the internet and the mobile device 31 may be a smartphone including a health monitoring application, in this case for a physician to remotely monitor the evolution of the vaporizer user's smoking cessation program. Alternatively, the user himself may also use the smartphone 31 in order to receive information about the steam intake evolution of the user when using the electronic vaporizer 1.

The smartphone 31 is also connected via a wireless network 30 (which may also be the internet) to a puff composition repository 33, which in this example is a puff composition database 33, as previously described in this disclosure.

The smoking composition database 33 includes a plurality of identification tags, each identification tag being associated with a cartridge 11 and a known composition of the liquid present in the cartridge 11. For each identification tag, i.e. for each cartridge, the database has a plurality of steam components obtained by testing in the laboratory with different steam production conditions and their corresponding steam production condition parameters.

The classification of each of the plurality of vaporized substance components is associated with a plurality or set of steam generation condition parameters for the puff. The set of possible condition parameters may be replicated in the laboratory, each liquid component vaporized using each possible condition parameter in the set of condition parameters (i.e., the pumping is performed under different conditions), and the exact vapor composition by weight for each particular combination in the set of possible combinations is measured to obtain a pumped composition (from the vaporized vaporizable material, thus the composition by weight in vapor form) corresponding to each combination of vapor generation condition parameters selected from the set.

That is, for example, a set of known liquid substances (i.e. the composition of which is known since the cartridge is identified by an identification tag from the manufacturer) has been vaporized in the laboratory, a preset number of possible puffs are made, each puff having a preset number of possible durations, a preset number of different temperatures, etc.

Such possible steam generation condition parameters may be selected from the following open list:

-the temperature of the coil;

resistance values of the coils (e.g. in ohms);

power applied to the coil (in watts or volts and resistance of the coil);

duration of the suction (in seconds);

resistive material (the system may consider a pre-established set of possible materials);

the amount of oxygen in the reservoir, and the amount of time that the substances present in the cartridge are in contact with the liquid in the reservoir (e.g., if a semi-empty cartridge is left for ten days, the nicotine may oxidize and form nitrosamine compounds, most of which are carcinogenic substances).

The date of manufacture of the cartridge (obtained by the identification tag of the cartridge). The same may happen in the above case, nicotine present in the liquid of the cartridge may oxidize (slower because less air is present in the liquid container if the cartridge is new) and nitrosamine compounds may form after weeks.

-suction power: the measurement of airflow power, or the amount of air a user draws or inhales during a puff or period of time, may be measured in units such as Kpa, watts, amperes, CFM (cubic feet per minute) or AW (watts of air). This parameter may improve the accuracy of the composition acquisition. For example, the user may press the on/off button of the vaporizer (thereby turning on the resistor of the nebulizer), but may not inhale air for 5 seconds. At the same time, the resistor may have raised the temperature, but in practice may not have vaporized the vaporizable material. Therefore, in consideration of the suction power, erroneous suction detection can be avoided. Furthermore, the temperature of the resistor may rise faster than the temperature of the atomizer when vaporizing the liquid substance. Furthermore, if the user sucks in air for only a portion of the duration of the puff, some liquid substance may have stayed in the nebulizer and, after the puff is completed, may return to the liquid container for further vaporization. Combining the measurement of the inhalation power with the use of only an inhalation detector to turn the nebulizer on and off can significantly reduce false detections of puffs, as well as other compositional changes of the liquid and/or vaporized substance.

The composition of the inhaled vapour may vary to varying degrees depending on such condition parameters. Thus, a comprehensive laboratory analysis of the vaporization of a set of vaporizable substances (whose composition is fixed and associated with a known identification tag) under a range of possible condition parameters forms a database of possible vapour puff compositions. In this way, the user can perform a plurality of puffs in several cases previously studied in the same case (using parameter measurements, i.e. through the above-mentioned open list of parameters, and other possible condition parameters), and the composition of which can be retrieved from the database.

Thus, in use, a set of condition parameters is obtained by the sensor module of the controller of the electronic vaporiser 1 and the identification tag forms a cartridge. The obtained group and identification tag are then transmitted in the form of a data set via the internet connection 32 to the smartphone 31 via the communication module of the controller of the vaporizer 1. The following chart shows an example of a data set obtained by the electronic vaporizer 1 and sent to the smartphone 31 according to an example of the present disclosure. Once the data set is received by the smartphone, the smartphone uses the data set to retrieve the corresponding vapor composition for the corresponding puff made by the user from the puff composition database 33 over the internet connection 30.

In this example, the coil temperature is the temperature reached by the coil of the atomizer of the vaporizer at the end of the puff, but other temperatures may be taken into account, such as the temperature of the coil at the beginning of the puff, or the average temperature between the beginning and the end of the puff.

Furthermore, the electronic liquid component code is an identification tag of the cartridge for identifying the liquid component of the vaporizable substance present in the liquid container of the cartridge.

Alternative or additional parameters may be, for example, the time at which the puff is completed and the user's current location (based on their geographical location). These parameters may help determine the user's consumption habits or patterns, thereby helping the physician design the appropriate prescription for the user. The following chart shows examples of the condition parameters.

According to this example, the following list of components can be tested in a non-limiting manner under laboratory conditions under all the described parameters:

nicotine, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, crotonaldehyde, certain nitrosamines in tobacco, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, arsenic, toluene, benzene, "1, 3-butadiene", isoprene, diacetyl, levulinyl, vitamin E acetate, acetoin, benzaldehyde, butyric acid, furfural, isobutyric acid, propionaldehyde, "2, 3-pentanedione", propionic acid, "2, 3-hexanedione", "3, 4-hexanedione".

The following chart shows an example of the puff composition by weight retrieved from the puff composition database 33 according to the present example.

By using the puff composition monitoring system of examples of the present disclosure, a more accurate analysis of the composition that a user has inhaled is achieved, since the obtained composition takes into account the emission of the vapor, rather than an approximation of the vapor composition that is generated based on the liquid composition of the vaporizable material (i.e., before being vaporized).

The large number of condition parameters of the suction associated with the electronic vaporiser 1 will make the composition of the vapour actually inhaled by the user more accurate (closer to reality). Such vapor composition may vary with the use of the electronic vaporizer 1: for example, a large number of short puffs may cause the vapor composition of the inhaled substance to be different, thereby vaporizing the same amount and type of liquid vaporizable substance as compared to a fewer but longer puff.

Furthermore, the steam composition may also vary with the cotton type of atomizer coil or the coil material. For example, if there is insufficient vaporizable liquid and the atomizer's cotton cloth does not absorb enough liquid or it is used excessively, the last puff may include a higher formaldehyde content (when the cartridge is full of liquid) than the first puff, making the last puff more toxic to the user. Furthermore, in this case, the resistor may overheat and may partially burn the portion of the cotton cloth in contact therewith, thereby generating a more harmful metal component. In this case, new components may be formed which are not present in the liquid itself, thereby severely altering the expected vapour composition of those puffs.

Another example may be when the liquid is subjected to different temperatures for vaporization: the amount of compounds in the vapor, and therefore the composition thereof, may vary, as some compounds of the liquid may vaporize while others may carbonize. Sometimes, after heavy use of the carburettor, the coil may become dirty and compounds may form a crust, adhere to the coil and burn, in such a way that they generate new compounds due to carbonization. Such new compounds may also replace compounds that are expected to be produced when the vaporizable material is merely vaporized. In some cases, carbonization can form unexpected highly toxic compounds that are not normally formed under normal vaporization conditions.

In summary, the manufacturer's usual calculations of the vapour composition for an intended inhalation (typically shown as information provided with the cartridge) may be less close to the final actual inhalation produced by the user.

The health monitoring system of fig. 5 may have an alternative embodiment in which the composition of the obtained puff or puffs may be used as information to achieve different goals.

For example, the smoking composition monitoring system of the present disclosure may be used as part of a smoking cessation system. Such systems may be used by the patient in the form of a reward and/or incentive application as part of the patient's smoking cessation program, or may be controlled by the physician.

In these systems, monitoring of the vapour intake composition of a user is used to calculate the nicotine consumption of the user over a period of time. Thus, detailed nicotine intake logging can help regulate the number or type of cartridges used by smokers attempting to quit smoking using an electronic vaporizer. More specifically, the pattern of vapour intake by the smoker may indicate that the prescription of the type and quantity of cartridge prescribed for the first time may be inconvenient for the user, as the user's nicotine consumption may result in a higher nicotine intake than the prescribed prescription due to several condition parameters (some or all of the parameters considered in monitoring the composition of the puff of the disclosure).

Thus, to achieve the goal of a "smoking cessation program" (smoking), the doctor (or the user himself) can vary the number or type of cartridges used. For example, a common prescribed nicotine amount is typically 40mg per day, but a prescribed number of cartridges that typically result in such ingestion may actually result in higher nicotine intake (and/or intake of other harmful substances) due to, for example, the type of puff (short puff and continuous puff) of the user.

Such a nicotine intake record may be displayed in a mobile phone application of a user or a doctor, for example. The application may show an intake record, which may be helpful in determining, for example, the next nicotine prescription.

In addition to nicotine, recordings may also be used to detect other substances that may cause allergy to the user but are not known to the user himself. In this way, intake data can be cross-referenced with allergy symptoms to ascertain which component or components a user is allergic to.

Further, in another example, the application may display the patient's health evolution from the start to the end of the smoking cessation program. The application may compare spirometric data, blood flow or other similar health parameters, for example, obtained at the beginning of a smoking cessation program, with the same data obtained after the program ends. In this way, the result of the health parameter can be compared with a more accurate vapour composition, thereby establishing a more accurate causal relationship between the health parameter and the substance actually inhaled by the patient.

The portable spirometry kit may be connected to an electronic vaporizer so that the controller obtains health parameters associated with spirometry and sends them to a health monitoring system for correlation studies with the composition of the vapor over a period of time.

Thus, in general, a physician may more accurately remotely track the effect of a user's specific intake of steam (having a specific steam composition), thereby correlating any health parameter with the user's precise intake of steam composition, resulting in many possible health studies.

Furthermore, the same health study may be used as a tool to motivate the user to quit smoking when displayed in an information application, for example, in a mobile device. Thus, all data for any health study obtained using the steam composition of a user's intake over a period of time may be graphically displayed to the user, and may be correlated with information regarding the health effects of such data by using general health data relating to the user's particular health study. Such general health data may be in the form of medical articles, studies, papers, news, and other relevant information related to the user.

Such general health data may also be compared to previous tobacco intake by the user, comparing health studies by the user before and after starting use of the electronic vaporizer, and differences in user intake. In this way, the user may have smoked fifteen cigarettes with a particular ingested smoke component a day and may now ingest a quantity of vapour with a less harmful ingested vapour component, which may encourage the user to continue using the vaporiser rather than smoking and follow, for example, a doctor's prescription.

Claims (20)

1. A system for monitoring a composition of a puff taken by a user using an electronic vaporizer, the vaporizer being configured to receive a cartridge (11) comprising a vaporizable substance and an identification tag (23) associated with the composition of the vaporizable substance, the system comprising:

-a repository (33) of mapping between steam generation condition parameters and suction composition for each identification tag;

-a controller configured to:

-receiving from the electronic vaporizer (1) the identification tag (23) of a cartridge (11) coupled to the electronic vaporizer (1) and steam generation condition parameters, including a puff duration parameter;

-accessing the repository (33) mapping between steam generation condition parameters and suction composition for each identification tag;

-retrieving from the repository (33) the puff components corresponding to the received steam generation condition parameters and the received identification tag.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the steam generation condition parameters received from the electronic vaporizer (1) further comprise a temperature parameter.

3. The system of any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the controller is further configured to send the aspirated components to a health monitoring system and/or present the aspirated components in a display of the system.

4. A method for monitoring a composition of a puff taken by a user using an electronic vaporizer (1), the electronic vaporizer (1) being coupled to a cartridge (11) comprising a vaporizable substance and an identification tag (23) associated with the composition of the vaporizable substance, the method comprising:

-obtaining from said electronic vaporiser (1):

-the identification tag (23) of the cartridge (11); and

-a steam generation condition parameter comprising a suction duration parameter representative of a duration of the suction;

-accessing a repository (33) of mappings between steam generation condition parameters and puff components for each identification tag;

-retrieving from the repository (33) the suction composition corresponding to the obtained steam production condition parameter and the identification tag (23).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the steam generation condition parameters further comprise a temperature parameter.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the vaporizer includes a nebulizer (32) having a resistive element, the temperature parameter is a temperature of the resistive element, and obtaining the temperature parameter includes detecting a resistance value of the resistive element and determining the temperature parameter based on the detected resistance and a voltage applied to the resistive element.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the vaporizer includes a nebulizer (32) having a resistive element, the temperature parameter is a temperature of the resistive element, and obtaining the temperature parameter includes sensing the temperature of the resistive element and determining the temperature parameter based on the sensed temperature.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, comprising determining the temperature parameter at a start time of the suction and/or an end time of the suction.

9. The method of any of claims 4-8, further comprising sending the retrieved puff components to a health monitoring system and/or a display of the electronic vaporizer.

10. Method according to any one of claims 4 to 9, wherein the repository (33) further maps the steam generation condition parameters and the puff composition for each identification tag, wherein at least one further parameter is selected from the manufacturing date of the cartridge, the material of the resistive element, the material of the cotton piece of the atomizer or the inhalation power of the puff.

11. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when said program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method according to any one of claims 4 to 10.

12. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 4 to 10.

13. An electronic vaporizer (1) for vaporizing a substance to be inhaled by a user when the user draws from the vaporizer, the vaporizer being configured to receive a cartridge (11) comprising a vaporizable substance and an identification tag (23) associated with a component of the vaporizable substance, the vaporizer comprising:

-a sensor module for reading the identification tag (23) and for obtaining a steam generation condition parameter comprising a suction duration parameter; and

-a communication module configured to send the steam generation condition parameter and the identification tag (23) of a cartridge (11) coupled to the vaporizer to a puff composition monitoring system.

14. Electronic vaporizer (1) according to claim 13, wherein the steam generation condition parameters obtained by the sensor module further comprise temperature parameters.

15. The electronic vaporizer (1) of claim 14, wherein the vaporizer (1) further comprises an atomizer (32) comprising at least one resistive element configured to be energized to vaporize the vaporizable substance, wherein the sensor module obtains the temperature parameter by obtaining a temperature of the resistive element or receiving a resistance value of the resistive element.

16. The system of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pumping composition mapped within the repository comprises an amount by weight of at least one compound.

17. The system of claim 2, wherein the temperature parameter corresponds to a steam temperature at the beginning and/or end of the draw.

18. Electronic vaporiser (1) according to claim 14 in which the temperature parameter corresponds to the vapour temperature at the start and/or end of the draw.

19. The electronic vaporizer (1) according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the vaporizer (1) further comprises an electronic display configured to display the retrieved puff components.

20. The electronic vaporizer (1) of claim 19, wherein the electronic display is configured to display at least one steam generation condition parameter for retrieving the suction composition.

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