Aerosol-generating device with user selectable progression criteria

Abstract

An aerosol-generating device for generating an aerosol from an aerosol-forming substrate is provided, the aerosol-generating device including a controller configured to control a usage session, to select one of a first criterion and a second criterion different from the first criterion, and to control the usage session with reference to the selected criterion, both the first criterion and the second criterion being criteria selected from the list consisting of volume of aerosol-generated, a combination of time and number of user puffs, a combination of time and volume of aerosol-generated, and a combination of time and a monitored user interaction parameter. A method of operating an aerosol-generating device is also provided.

1 .- 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . An aerosol-generating device for generating an aerosol from an aerosol-forming substrate, the aerosol-generating device comprising a controller configured to control a usage session, to select one of a first criterion and a second criterion different from the first criterion, and to control the usage session with reference to the selected criterion, wherein both the first criterion and the second criterion are criteria selected from the list consisting of volume of aerosol-generated, a combination of time and number of user puffs, a combination of time and volume of aerosol-generated, and a combination of time and a monitored user interaction parameter. 
     
     
         17 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 16 , wherein the controller is further configured to control a duration of the usage session with reference to the first criterion or with reference to the second criterion. 
     
     
         18 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 16 , wherein the controller is further configured to control the usage session with respect to the first criterion, the second criterion, or at least one further criterion different from the first criterion or the second criterion. 
     
     
         19 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 16 , further comprising a visual indicator configured to display progress of the usage session during use of the aerosol-generating device. 
     
     
         20 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 16 , further comprising a user interface configured to enable a user to select which of the first criterion or the second criterion is used to control the usage session. 
     
     
         21 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 18 , further comprising a user interface configured to enable a user to select which of the first criterion, or the second criterion, or the at least one further criterion, is used to control the usage session. 
     
     
         22 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 18 , wherein the at least one further criterion is a criterion selected from the list consisting of (a) time, (b) number of user puffs, (c) volume of aerosol-generated, (d) a monitored user interaction parameter, (e) a combination of time and number of user puffs, (f) a combination of time and volume of aerosol-generated, and (g) a combination of time and the monitored user interaction parameter. 
     
     
         23 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 16 , wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured such that the usage session has a maximum duration determined by a threshold for the selected criterion used to control the usage session. 
     
     
         24 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 23 ,
 wherein a duration of the usage session is controlled with respect to a criterion selected from a plurality of available criteria, or   wherein, when the criterion selected is volume of aerosol generated, the usage session has a maximum duration determined by a threshold volume of aerosol generated during the usage session, or   wherein, when the criterion selected is a combination of time and number of user puffs, the usage session has a duration determined by reference to both a threshold time and a threshold number of user puffs taken during the usage session, or   wherein, when the criterion selected is a combination of time and volume of aerosol-generated, the usage session has a duration determined by reference to both a threshold time and a threshold volume of aerosol generated during the usage session.   
     
     
         25 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 16 , wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to monitor a user interaction parameter indicative of user interaction. 
     
     
         26 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 25 ,
 wherein the user interaction parameter is indicative of user puffs taken during the usage session, or   wherein the user interaction parameter is indicative of volume of aerosol released by the aerosol-forming substrate, or delivered to the user, during the usage session.   
     
     
         27 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 16 , further comprising a puff counting mechanism and/or a puff sensor configured to determine the number of puffs taken by a user during the usage session. 
     
     
         28 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 16 ,
 further comprising a visual indicator comprising a plurality of light emitting units,   wherein the controller is further configured to control the visual indicator to indicate progress of the usage session,   wherein the visual indicator is configured to indicate progress of an event as a sequence of 1 st  to n th  different indication states, n being a number equal to or greater than 4.   
     
     
         29 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 16 ,
 further comprising a visual indicator comprising a plurality of light emitting units,   wherein control electronics are configured to independently control each light emitting unit of the plurality of light emitting units to display a first indication so as to indicate a progression of the usage session to a user when the usage session is controlled by the first criterion, and to display a second indication visually distinguishable from the first indication, so as to indicate the progression of the usage session to the user when the usage session is controlled by the second criterion.   
     
     
         30 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 29 , wherein the first indication and/or the second indication is an illumination sequence displayed by the plurality of light emitting units. 
     
     
         31 . The aerosol-generating device according to  claim 30 , wherein the first indication is a different illumination sequence from the second indication and/or the first indication is a different colour illumination from the second indication. 
     
     
         32 . A method of operating an aerosol-generating device for generating an aerosol from an aerosol-forming substrate, the aerosol-generating device comprising a controller configured to control a usage session, wherein the controller determines whether a first criterion for control of the usage session or a second criterion for control of the usage session different from the first criterion is selected, and controlling the usage session based on the selected one of the first criterion and the second criterion, wherein both the first criterion and the second criterion are criteria selected from the list consisting of volume of aerosol-generated, a combination of time and number of user puffs, a combination of time and volume of aerosol-generated, and a combination of time and the monitored user interaction parameter.