Controller for suction apparatus

Abstract

The present invention provides a controller for a suction apparatus, that performs atomization processing of heating and atomizing an aerosol source in response to reception of an atomization request of the aerosol source, comprising: a processor configured to determine, for each of a plurality of elements used for the atomization processing, whether a residual amount is insufficient; and a display configured to display information for making a notification of an insufficient residual amount for each of the plurality of elements, wherein the display is configured to display, even in a case where the processor determines insufficient residual amounts for at least two elements among the plurality of elements, the information concerning one element selected from the at least two elements.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A controller for a suction apparatus, that performs atomization processing of heating and atomizing an aerosol source in response to reception of an atomization request of the aerosol source, comprising:
 a processor configured to determine, for each of a plurality of elements used for the atomization processing, whether a residual amount is insufficient; and   a display configured to display information for making a notification of an insufficient residual amount for each of the plurality of elements,   wherein the display is configured to display, even in a case where the processor determines insufficient residual amounts for at least two elements among the plurality of elements, the information concerning one element selected from the at least two elements.   
     
     
         2 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein in a case where the processor determines insufficient residual amounts for at least two elements among the plurality of elements, the processor selects the one element from the at least two elements in accordance with a predetermined condition concerning a priority order of displaying the information on the display. 
     
     
         3 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the predetermined condition includes a condition that an element for which a time required for recovery of the residual amount is longer is preferentially selected as the one element from the at least two elements. 
     
     
         4 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the predetermined condition includes a condition that an element that cannot be visually perceived by a user is preferentially selected as the one element from the at least two elements. 
     
     
         5 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the predetermined condition includes a condition that an element whose degree of influence on a flavor of a gas generated by the atomization processing is higher is preferentially selected as the one element from the at least two elements. 
     
     
         6 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the predetermined condition includes a condition that an element for which a timing of determining the insufficient residual amount is earlier is preferentially selected as the one element from the at least two elements. 
     
     
         7 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein in a case where the residual amount of the one element is recovered, the processor displays, on the display, the information concerning another element of the at least two elements instead of the information concerning the one element. 
     
     
         8 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the processor determines, for each of the plurality of elements, whether the residual amount is insufficient, based on whether the number of responses to the atomization request with a current residual amount is equal to or greater than a threshold. 
     
     
         9 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein the thresholds for at least two elements among the plurality of elements are set to different values. 
     
     
         10 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein
 the controller for the suction apparatus is detachably attached with an atomizer including a container configured to hold the aerosol source and a heater configured to heat the aerosol source in the container,   the plurality of elements include a first element as a power supply configured to supply electric power to the heater and a second element as the aerosol source in the container, and   a second threshold as the threshold for determining whether the residual amount of the second element is insufficient is set to a value smaller than a first threshold as the threshold for determining whether the residual amount of the first element is insufficient.   
     
     
         11 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein
 the controller for the suction apparatus is detachably attached with a capsule including a flavor source,   the plurality of elements further include a third element as the flavor source in the capsule, and   a third threshold as the threshold for determining whether the residual amount of the third element is insufficient is set to a value smaller than the second threshold.   
     
     
         12 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the controller for the suction apparatus is detachably attached with an atomizer including a container configured to hold the aerosol source and a heater configured to heat the aerosol source in the container and with a capsule including a flavor source, and   the plurality of elements include at least two of a first element as a power supply configured to supply electric power to the heater, a second element as the aerosol source in the container, and a third element as the flavor source in the capsule.   
     
     
         13 . The controller for the suction apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the display is electronic paper.