Electrical cigarette using mems pressure sensor

Abstract

Electrical cigarettes and methods for performing the operations thereof are provided. An exemplary method includes: receiving, from a pressure sensor, pressure sensor data; computing , using the pressure sensor data and average pressure sensor data, differential pressure data; determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet a first criteria involving a first set of thresholds; upon determining the differential pressure data does meet the first criteria, determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet a second criteria involving a second set of thresholds; upon determining the pressure data does meet the second criteria, issuing a trigger signal indicating enough differential pressure is present for smoking.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electrical cigarette comprising:
 a pressure sensor producing pressure sensor data;   a digital circuit coupled to the pressure sensor, the digital circuit includes one or more computing device processors coupled to one or more computing device memories, the one or more computing device memories storing instructions executed by the one or more computing device processors, wherein the instructions are configured to:
 receive, from a pressure sensor, pressure sensor data; 
 compute, using the pressure sensor data and average pressure sensor data, differential pressure data; 
 determine whether the differential pressure sensor data meet a first criteria involving a first set of thresholds; 
 upon determining the differential pressure data does meet the first set of thresholds, determine whether the differential pressure sensor data meet a second criteria involving a second set of thresholds; and 
 upon determining the pressure data does meet the second criteria, issue a trigger signal indicating enough differential pressure is present for smoking; and 
   a heating filament circuit coupled to the digital circuit, wherein the heating filament circuit receives the trigger signal and heats a filament to initiate smoking.   
     
     
         2 . The electrical cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein the digital circuit comprises a microcontroller unit. 
     
     
         3 . The electrical cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein while determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet the first criteria, the instructions are configured to determine whether the differential pressure sensor data is greater than a first threshold of the first set of thresholds or less than a second threshold of the first set of thresholds. 
     
     
         4 . The electrical cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein the first set of thresholds comprises information defining the upper bounds and lower bounds of the average pressure data. 
     
     
         5 . The electrical cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further configured to determine, using the differential pressure sensor data, whether to update the average pressure sensor data based on a third criteria involving the first set of thresholds. 
     
     
         6 . The electrical cigarette if  claim 5 , wherein while determining whether to update the average pressure sensor on the third criteria, the instructions are configured to determine whether the differential pressure sensor data is less than or equal to a first threshold of the first set of thresholds or greater than or equal to a second threshold of the first set of thresholds. 
     
     
         7 . The electrical cigarette of  claim 5 , wherein upon determining the third criteria is met, the instructions are further configured to update, using the pressure sensor data, the average pressure sensor data. 
     
     
         8 . The electrical cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein the average pressure data comprises a moving average of the pressure sensor data. 
     
     
         9 . The electrical cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein the average pressure data comprises a fixed average of the pressure sensor data. 
     
     
         10 . The electrical cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein while determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet the second criteria, the instructions are configured to determine whether the differential pressure sensor data is greater than a first threshold of the second set of thresholds or less than a second threshold of the second set of thresholds. 
     
     
         11 . The electrical cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein the second set of thresholds comprises information defining the upper bounds and lower bounds for issuing the trigger signal. 
     
     
         12 . A method for performing operations of an electrical cigarette, the method comprising:
 receiving, from a pressure sensor, pressure sensor data;   computing, using the pressure sensor data and average pressure sensor data, differential pressure data;   determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet a first criteria involving a first set of thresholds;   upon determining the differential pressure data does meet the first criteria, determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet a second criteria involving a second set of thresholds; and   upon determining the pressure data does meet the second criteria, issuing a trigger signal indicating enough differential pressure is present for smoking.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the digital circuit comprises a microcontroller unit. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet the first criteria comprises determining whether the differential pressure sensor data is greater than a first threshold of the first set of thresholds or less than a second threshold of the first set of thresholds. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the first set of thresholds comprises information defining the upper bounds and lower bounds of the average pressure data. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising determining, using the differential pressure sensor data, whether to update the average pressure sensor data based on a third criteria involving the first set of thresholds. 
     
     
         17 . The method if  claim 16 , wherein determining whether to update the average pressure sensor on the third criteria comprises determining whether the differential pressure sensor data is less than or equal to a first threshold of the first set of thresholds or greater than or equal to a second threshold of the first set of thresholds. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising upon determining the third criteria is met, updating, using the pressure sensor data, the average pressure sensor data. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the average pressure data comprises a moving average of the pressure sensor data. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the average pressure data comprises a fixed average of the pressure sensor data. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet the second criteria comprises determining whether the differential pressure sensor data is greater than a first threshold of the second set of thresholds or less than a second threshold of the second set of thresholds. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the second set of thresholds comprises information defining the upper bounds and lower bounds for issuing the trigger signal. 
     
     
         23 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by a microcontroller of an electrical cigarette causing the microcontroller to execute a method for performing the operations of the electrical cigarette, the method comprising:
 receiving, from a pressure sensor, pressure sensor data;   computing, using the pressure sensor data and average pressure sensor data, differential pressure data;   determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet a first criteria involving a first set of thresholds;   upon determining the differential pressure data does meet the first criteria, determining whether the differential pressure sensor data meet a second criteria involving a second set of thresholds; and   upon determining the pressure data does meet the second criteria, issuing a trigger signal indicating enough differential pressure is present for smoking.   
     
     
         24 . An integrated circuit of an electrical cigarette comprising:
 a pressure sensor producing pressure sensor data;   a digital circuit coupled to the pressure sensor, the digital circuit analyzing the pressure sensor data and issuing a trigger signal when the digital circuit determines whether there is sufficient differential pressure present for smoking; and   a heating filament circuit coupled to the digital circuit, wherein the heating filament circuit receives the trigger signal and heats a filament to initiate smoking.   
     
     
         25 . The integrated circuit of  claim 24 , wherein the digital circuit comprises a microcontroller unit. 
     
     
         26 . The integrated circuit of  claim 24 , further comprising a power management circuit for managing power delivered to the electrical cigarette. 
     
     
         27 . The integrated circuit of  claim 26 , wherein the power management circuit controls a battery source for delivering power to the integrated circuit. 
     
     
         28 . The integrated circuit of  claim 24 . wherein the digital circuit stores an algorithm used to determine whether there is sufficient differential pressure present for smoking.