Interactive aerosol provision system

Abstract

An aerosol delivery system comprises an aerosol delivery device, at least one proximity sensor configured to detect a person without physical contact by them with the sensor: and configured to output a detection signal when a person is detected, and an activity state processor configured to receive the detection signal, and to determine whether to change an operational state of the aerosol delivery device between a first activity state and a second activity state based at least in part on the received detection signal.

1 . An aerosol delivery system, comprising:
 an aerosol delivery device;   at least one proximity sensor configured to detect a person without physical contact by them with the sensor; and configured to output a detection signal when a person is detected; and   an activity state processor configured to receive the detection signal, and to determine whether to change an operational state of the aerosol delivery device between a first activity state and a second activity state based at least in part on the received detection signal.   
     
     
         2 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 1 , in which:
 the at least one proximity sensor is located on one or more selected from the list consisting of:
 i. the aerosol delivery device; and 
 ii. a companion device. 
   
     
     
         3 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 1 , in which:
 compared to the second activity state, the first activity state has one or more selected from the list consisting of:
 i. a lower power requirement; 
 ii. fewer active functions; 
 iii. a lower power setting for one or more functions; and 
 iv. an alternative function to one for the second activity state. 
   
     
     
         4 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 1 , in which:
 the proximity sensor comprises a capacitive sensor comprising a first sensor electrode and an insulating layer, creating a parasitic capacitance with the environment above the insulating layer and a proximity capacitance with a person acting as a conductor when they are within proximity of an electrical field of the capacitive sensor.   
     
     
         5 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 1 , in which:
 the proximity sensor comprises an audio sensor operable to detect audio characteristic of proximity to a person.   
     
     
         6 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 5 , in which the audio sensor comprises a plurality of microphones configured to detect one or more selected from the list consisting of:
 i. direction; and   ii. attenuation distance of voiced sounds   
     
     
         7 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 5 , in which the proximity sensor is operable to detect a delayed correlation between detected audio and an emitted audio. 
     
     
         8 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 7  in which the emitted audio is emitted from one of the aerosol delivery device or a companion device. 
     
     
         9 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 7  in which the proximity sensor uses the delayed correlation to detect one or more selected from the list consisting of:
 i. whether the aerosol delivery device has been removed from storage; and 
 ii. a distance from the person's face. 
 
     
     
         10 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 5  in which the audio sensor is operable to detect one or more characteristic biometric feature(s) of the person. 
     
     
         11 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 10 , in which a characteristic biometric feature of the person comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of:
 i. their voice;   ii. their heart rate;   iii. their breathing rate; and   iv. the type of their breathing   
     
     
         12 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 1 , comprising an electromagnetic sensor configured to detect one or more characteristic biometric feature(s) of person. 
     
     
         13 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 1 , comprising:
 at least a second sensor; and   the activity state processor uses the detection signal and a signal from the at least second sensor to estimate whether a detected person may be a user.   
     
     
         14 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 13 , in which
 the first sensor is one of a capacitance, active audio, passive audio, or electromagnetic sensor; and   the second sensor is one of a capacitance, active audio, passive audio, or electromagnetic sensor.   
     
     
         15 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 13 , in which
 the second sensor is one of capacitance and configured to detect a holding pattern of the person.   
     
     
         16 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 1 , in which
 the first activity state may include one or more selected from the list consisting of:
 i. display of a first set of information; 
 ii. display of a first level of detail of information; 
 iii. a lower duty cycle or lower power data transmission; 
 iv. a lower duty cycle or lower power pre-heating; 
 v. a lower duty cycle or lower power lighting; and 
 vi. a lower duty cycle or lower power situational awareness. 
   
     
     
         17 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 1 , in which
 the second activity state may include one or more selected from the list consisting of:
 i. display of a second set of information (being separate to or a superset of a first set of information); 
 ii. display of second higher level of detail of information; 
 iii. a higher duty cycle or higher power data transmission; 
 iv. a higher duty cycle or higher power heating; 
 v. a higher duty cycle or higher power lighting; and 
 vi. a higher duty cycle or higher power situational awareness. 
   
     
     
         18 . The aerosol delivery system of  claim 1 , in which
 the aerosol delivery system is configured to switch back from the second state to the first state at predetermined time after one or more selected from the list consisting of:   i. detection of a person has elapsed;   ii. an aerosol delivery has been completed; and   iii. a user interface interaction has been completed.   
     
     
         19 . An activity state determining method for an aerosol delivery system, comprising the steps of:
 detecting a person without physical contact using at least one proximity sensor;   outputting a detection signal when a person is detected;   receiving the detection signal; and   determining whether to change an operational state of the aerosol delivery device between a first activity state and a second activity state based at least in part on the received detection signal.   
     
     
         20 . A computer program comprising computer executable instructions adapted to cause a computer system to perform the method of  claim 19 .