An Electrically Operated Smoking Device Including an Optical Projection System for Identifying Smoking Articles Comprising an Indicium

Abstract

The present invention relates to an aerosol-generating consumable article comprising at least one indicium containing coded information about the article arranged on a surface of said article. The coded information is implemented in at least one array of readable code elements that are readable upon illumination by an optical magnification reader system, said readable code elements having a density of at least 10 elements per square mm of said indicium. The invention is also related to an aerosol-generating device configured to receive a consumable article. The aerosol-generating device comprises an optical magnification reader system configured to provide an optically magnified image of at least a portion of said indicium on a detector and to read said coded information, to recognize the authenticity of the consumable article.

1 . An aerosol-generating consumable article comprising at least one indicium containing coded information about the article arranged on a surface of said article,
 wherein   said coded information is implemented in at least one array of readable code elements that are readable upon illumination by an optical magnification reader system, said readable code elements having a density of at least 10 elements per square mm of said indicium.   
     
     
         2 . The consumable article according to  claim 1 , wherein said readable code elements are structural and/or coloured code elements. 
     
     
         3 . The consumable article according to  claims 1 , wherein at least three of the coloured code elements have different colours. 
     
     
         4 . The consumable article according to  claim 3 , wherein at least one portion of said indicium comprises at least eight code elements having a different colour. 
     
     
         5 . The consumable article according to  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the code elements are labile code elements. 
     
     
         6 . The consumable article according to  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of said indicium comprises a waveguide. 
     
     
         7 . An aerosol-generating device comprising: an outer body part, a power supply and a cavity defining a cavity axis, said body part having an opening being configured to receive a consumable article according to  claim 1  upon insertion of said article,
 wherein the aerosol-generating device further comprises an optical magnification reader system defining an entry aperture and comprising at least one focusing optical element and at least one detector, said optical magnification reader system being arranged in the outer body part and configured to provide an optically magnified image, magnified by a magnification factor M equal or greater than 1, of at least a portion of said indicium, on said detector and to read said coded information, and 
 wherein the aerosol-generating device further comprises a control unit configured to recognize authenticity of the consumable article based on the content of the information read by the optical magnification reader system in the indicium arranged on the consumable. 
 
     
     
         8 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 7  wherein the magnification factor of said optical magnification reader system is at least a factor of 2. 
     
     
         9 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 7 , wherein said optical magnification reader system comprises at least one concave optical mirror. 
     
     
         10 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 7 , wherein said optical magnification reader system comprises at least one adaptable optical element configured to adapt a focal length thereof. 
     
     
         11 . The aerosol-generating device according to  7 , wherein said optical magnification reader system comprises an optical waveguide arranged between said entry aperture and said detector. 
     
     
         12 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 11  wherein said optical waveguide comprises a diffractive light incoupler and/or a diffractive light outcoupler. 
     
     
         13 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 7 , wherein said optical magnification reader system is configured to read at least two indicia arranged on said aerosol-generating consumable article. 
     
     
         14 . The aerosol-generating device according to  7 , wherein said optical magnification reader system comprises at least one polarizer. 
     
     
         15 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 7 , wherein said detector is placed in said device so that, in operation of the device, the temperature of said detector remains lower than 45° C. 
     
     
         16 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 8  wherein the magnification factor of said optical magnification reader system is at least a factor of 10. 
     
     
         17 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 8  wherein the magnification factor of said optical magnification reader system is at least a factor of 20. 
     
     
         18 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 8  wherein the magnification factor of said optical magnification reader system is at least a factor of 50.