Personal vaporizer cartridge with near field communications

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a system and method for modifying output parameters of a power supply portion of a personal vaporizer. The power supply portion of the personal vaporizer uses an NFC reader to extract data from an NFC tag located on a cartridge portion of a personal vaporizer, and reads or modifies one or more output parameters based on the extracted data.

1 . a cartridge for a personal vaporizer comprising:
 a reservoir configured to contain a fluid to be vaporized;   a heating element configured to vaporize the fluid;   a set of contacts configured to receive power from a power supply and deliver the power to the heating element;   a wick configured to deliver the fluid to the heating element; and   a near field communication (NFC) tag comprising an antenna and a circuit, the circuit storing a uniform resource locator (URL) and a unique identification (ID) associated with the cartridge, wherein the NFC tag is configured to transmit the URL and ID in response to an interrogation from an NFC reader.   
     
     
         2 . The cartridge of  claim 1 , wherein the circuit stores at least one parameter associated with the fluid. 
     
     
         3 . The cartridge of  claim 1 , wherein the circuit stores a setting associated with the heating element and the fluid to be vaporized. 
     
     
         4 . The cartridge of  claim 3 , wherein the setting is a power level and duration setting associated with the power to the heating element. 
     
     
         5 . The cartridge of  claim 1 , comprising a puff sensor configured to detect when airflow passes through the cartridge and send a puff signal. 
     
     
         6 . A power supply for a personal vaporizer comprising:
 a battery;   a near field communication (NFC) reader configured to interrogate an NFC tag and extract a uniform resource locator (URL) and unique identification (ID) from the NFC tag;   a controller configured to:
 receive the URL and ID from the NFC reader; 
 determine a power setting based on the URL and the ID; and 
 deliver electrical power from the battery to a set of contacts according to the determined power setting, wherein the set of contacts is associated with a heating element of a cartridge for the personal vaporizer. 
   
     
     
         7 . The power supply of  claim 6 , wherein determining a power setting based on the URL and the ID comprises accessing a database storing the ID and retrieving the power setting based on the ID. 
     
     
         8 . The power supply of  claim 6 , wherein the NFC reader interrogates the NFC tag in response to the cartridge for the personal vaporizer being connected to the contacts. 
     
     
         9 . The power supply of  claim 6 , wherein the power supply delivers electrical power according to the determined power settings in response to receiving a puff signal from a puff sensor. 
     
     
         10 . The power supply of  claim 9 , wherein the puff sensor is located on the cartridge. 
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 receiving, at a controller of a power supply portion of a personal vaporizer, a signal indicating a new cartridge is to be installed;   interrogating, by a near field communication (NFC) reader of the power supply portion, an NFC tag associated with the new cartridge;   extracting, by the NFC reader, information associated with the new cartridge;   determining, by the controller and based on the information, an output setting for the power supply portion associated with the cartridge.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the signal indicating a new cartridge is to be installed is an electrical connection of the new cartridge to a set of contacts associated with the power supply portion. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the signal indicating a new cartridge is to be installed is associated with a button press by a user of the personal vaporizer. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , determining the output setting comprises comparing the information with a database to identify the output setting associated with the new cartridge. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the output setting is a power level setting. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the output setting is a power duration setting.