Patents by Inventor Jean-Marc Flick

Jean-Marc Flick has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240123164
    Abstract: An aerosol-generating system for heating a liquid aerosol-forming substrate is provided, the aerosol-generating system including: an aerosol-forming chamber; and a leakage preventer configured to prevent or reduce leakage of liquid aerosol condensate from the aerosol-generating system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2023
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Applicant: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Michel THORENS, Jean-Marc FLICK, Olivier Yves COCHAND, Flavien DUBIEF
  • Patent number: 11883581
    Abstract: An aerosol-generating system for heating a liquid aerosol-forming substrate is provided, the aerosol-generating system including an aerosol-forming chamber; and leakage prevention cavity configured to prevent or reduce leakage of liquid aerosol condensate from the aerosol-generating system, the cavity being in a wall of the aerosol-forming chamber and being configured to collect liquid condensate formed from the aerosol-forming substrate, and in which the cavity is in a form of an annular groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Michel Thorens, Jean-Marc Flick, Olivier Yves Cochand, Flavien Dubief
  • Publication number: 20230404318
    Abstract: The invention concerns a full automatic coffee machine (100) comprising a coffee extraction unit (10) with: —a brewing chamber (1) for receiving coffee powder, —an upper piston (2), —a lower piston (3) movable inside said brewing chamber (1) between a lowest position and a highest position —wherein the lower piston (3) comprises a piston rod (31), which comprises an internal channel (311) extending from a channel inlet (311a) at the lateral wall surface of the rod to a channel outlet (311b) at the bottom wall surface of the rod, and wherein the channel inlet (311a) is designed and positioned on the lateral wall surface of the rod so that said channel inlet (311a) overlaps the bottom wall (11) of the brewing chamber only when the lower piston is in the highest position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2021
    Publication date: December 21, 2023
    Inventors: JEAN MARC FLICK, ROBERTO ANGELO CALDERONE, JEAN DANIEL BLUNIER
  • Publication number: 20230226289
    Abstract: An aerosol-generating device is provided, including: a storage portion to store an aerosol-forming substrate and having an outer housing and an internal passageway, the storage portion forming a reservoir for the substrate between the outer housing and the internal passageway; a vaporizer being at least partially inside the internal passageway; and a porous interface at least partially lining the internal passageway to convey the substrate from the storage portion towards the vaporizer, the device being electrically operated and the vaporizer including an electric heater to heat the substrate, the heater including first and second cylindrical electrical connection portions, and a cylindrical heating filament between the first and the second portions, the first and the second portions being in the form of hollow tubes, the cylindrical shape of the first and the second portions and the filament defining a cylindrical bore with an air flow route therethrough.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2023
    Publication date: July 20, 2023
    Applicant: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Flavien DUBIEF, Olivier COCHAND, Michel THORENS, Jean-Marc FLICK, Yvan DEGOUMOIS
  • Patent number: 11638793
    Abstract: An aerosol generating device is provided, including a storage portion to store an aerosol-forming substrate and having an outer housing and an internal passageway, the portion forming a reservoir for the substrate between the housing and the passageway; a vaporizer including an electric heater to heat the substrate to form an aerosol, the vaporizer at least partially inside the passageway; and a porous interface at least partially lining the passageway to convey the substrate towards the vaporizer, the device being electrically operated, the heater including first and second electrical connection portions, and a heating filament therebetween, a cylindrical shape of the connection portions and the filament define a cylindrical bore, an air flow route is defined through the bore, and the first connection portion being a first cylindrical electrical connection portion, the second connection portion being a second cylindrical electrical connection portion, and the filament being a cylindrical heating element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Flavien Dubief, Olivier Cochand, Michel Thorens, Jean-Marc Flick, Yvan Degoumois
  • Publication number: 20230113967
    Abstract: An electrically heated aerosol generating system for receiving an aerosol-forming substrate includes at least one electric heater for heating the aerosol-forming substrate to form the aerosol. The heater includes a heating element of a first cross section electrically connected to a plurality of elongate support elements. Each support element has a cross section greater than the first cross section. At least one of the support elements is integrally formed with the heating element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2022
    Publication date: April 13, 2023
    Applicant: Philip Morris USA Inc.
    Inventors: Michel Thorens, Jean-Marc Flick, Olivier Yves Cochand, Flavien Dubief
  • Patent number: 11576409
    Abstract: The invention relates to method for preparing a foodstuff in a food processing system (100), the system comprising solid state radio frequency cooking means (51) that transmits an electromagnetic wave to a food substrate and a cavity where the food is cooked, the method monitoring the return power losses, which are the difference between the power emitted by the solid state radio frequency cooking means (51) and the reflected power in the cavity, for optimising the delivery of the radio frequency power to the food substrate by controlling and adjusting at least two parameters: the emitted frequency of the solid state radio frequency cooking means (51) and the distance of the cooking means (51) to the food substrate. In the method of the invention, the dielectric properties, the water content and/or the compaction of the food substrate are monitored throughout the preparation method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Societe des Produits Nestle S.A.
    Inventors: Jean-Marc Flick, Youcef Ait Bouziad, Fabien Ludovic Agon, Sheldon Fernandes
  • Patent number: 11516889
    Abstract: An electrically heated aerosol generating system for receiving an aerosol-forming substrate includes at least one electric heater for heating the aerosol-forming substrate to form the aerosol. The heater includes a heating element of a first cross section electrically connected to a plurality of elongate support elements. Each support element has a cross section greater than the first cross section. At least one of the support elements is integrally formed with the heating element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Philip Morris USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Michel Thorens, Jean-Marc Flick, Olivier Yves Cochand, Flavien Dubief
  • Publication number: 20220347402
    Abstract: An aerosol-generating system for heating a liquid aerosol-forming substrate is provided, the aerosol-generating system including an aerosol-forming chamber; and leakage prevention cavity configured to prevent or reduce leakage of liquid aerosol condensate from the aerosol-generating system, the cavity being in a wall of the aerosol-forming chamber and being configured to collect liquid condensate formed from the aerosol-forming substrate, and in which the cavity is in a form of an annular groove.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2022
    Publication date: November 3, 2022
    Applicant: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Michel THORENS, Jean-Marc FLICK, Olivier Yves COCHAND, Flavien DUBIEF
  • Publication number: 20220257049
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a sanitization unit (1), for sanitizing a liquid to be delivered to a beverage preparation unit (102) in order to prepare a beverage, the sanitization unit (1) comprising: —an irradiation chamber (2) configured to receive an amount of liquid, and—an irradiation device (4) configured to emit sanitizing radiations into the irradiation chamber (2) so as to sanitize the liquid in the irradiation chamber (2), wherein the irradiation chamber (2) comprises: —a liquid inlet (10) located in a lowermost region of the irradiation chamber (2) for introducing the liquid into the irradiation chamber (2), —a liquid outlet located in an uppermost region of the irradiation chamber (2) for discharging the introduced liquid out of the irradiation chamber (2), and—an air inlet (14) located in the uppermost region of the irradiation chamber (2) so as to let air enter the irradiation chamber (2) and evacuate the liquid out of the irradiation chamber (2) via the liquid inlet (10) and/or via the liqu
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2020
    Publication date: August 18, 2022
    Inventor: JEAN-MARC FLICK
  • Patent number: 11406772
    Abstract: There is provided an aerosol generating system for heating a liquid aerosol-forming substrate. The system includes an aerosol-forming chamber, and a leakage preventer for preventing or reducing leakage of liquid aerosol condensate from the aerosol generating system. The leakage preventer may include one or more of: at least one cavity in a wall of the aerosol-forming chamber, for collecting droplets of condensed liquid aerosol-forming substrate; at least one hooked member for collecting droplets of condensed liquid aerosol-forming substrate; an impactor for disrupting airflow in the aerosol-forming chamber so as to collect liquid droplets; and a closure member for substantially sealing the aerosol-forming chamber when the aerosol generating system is not in use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Michel Thorens, Jean-Marc Flick, Olivier Yves Cochand, Flavien Dubief
  • Publication number: 20220167784
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a sanitization unit (1) for sanitizing a liquid delivered to prepare a beverage. The sanitization unit (1) comprises an irradiation chamber (2) to receive liquid. The irradiation chamber (2) comprises: i) a liquid inlet (10) for introducing the liquid into the 5 irradiation chamber (2) and ii) a liquid outlet (12) for discharging the introduced liquid out of the irradiation chamber (2). An irradiation device (4) is configured to sanitize the liquid in the irradiation chamber (2). The liquid outlet (12) comprises a flow restrictor (12.1) to restrict a liquid flow when the pressure difference across the flow restrictor (12.1) is below a predetermined threshold, and to allow for a liquid flow with a higher flow rate when this pressure difference is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2020
    Publication date: June 2, 2022
    Inventors: CHRISTIAN ABEND, JEAN-MARC FLICK, BERNARD KUNZLE
  • Publication number: 20210345642
    Abstract: The invention relates to a food system (100) for preparing a texturized non-meat food product from a dehydrated powder product with the appearance and the texture of meat, the system comprising: —a processing chamber (10) receiving the dehydrated food product, hydrating and structuring at least part of it, and extruding it into a mass of a certain shape; —driving means (20) driving in rotation primary and secondary processing tools (110, 111) within the processing chamber (10) for hydrating, structuring and extruding the mass of food product; —a fluid reservoir (30) supplying a fluid into the processing chamber for hydrating the food product and creating a food mass; such that the processing chamber (10) comprises three sequential sub-chambers: —a mixing sub-chamber (12) comprising a primary processing tool (110) for hydrating, optionally heating, homogenizing and/or structuring the dehydrated food product or at least part of it into a food mass in batch mode; wherein the volume of the mixing sub-chamber (12)
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2019
    Publication date: November 11, 2021
    Inventors: Youcef Ait Bouziad, Jean-Marc Flick, Sheldon Fernandes
  • Patent number: 11129419
    Abstract: An aerosol-generating system is provided, including a storage portion configured to store an aerosol-forming substrate; an aerosol-generating element configured to generate an aerosol from the aerosol-forming substrate; a control circuitry in communication with the storage portion or the aerosol-generating element; and disabling means for rendering the storage portion inoperable in the aerosol-generating system in response to a disable signal from the control circuitry. There is also provided a method in an aerosol-generating system, including sending a disable signal from the control circuitry to the disabling component following a determination that an amount of the aerosol-substrate in the storage portion is below a threshold level or following a determination of a malfunction in the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventor: Jean-Marc Flick
  • Publication number: 20210186105
    Abstract: An electrically heated smoking system includes a shell and a replaceable mouthpiece. The shell includes an electric power supply and electric circuitry. The mouthpiece includes a liquid storage portion and a capillary wick having a first end and a second end. The first end of the wick extends into the liquid storage portion for contact with liquid therein. The mouthpiece also includes a heating element for heating the second end of the capillary wick, an air outlet, and an aerosol forming chamber between the second end of the capillary wick and the air outlet. When the shell and mouthpiece are engaged or connected, the heating element is in electrical connection with the power supply via the circuitry, and a flowpath for air is defined from at least one air inlet to the air outlet via the aerosol forming chamber. In use, liquid is transferred from the liquid storage portion towards the heating element by capillary action in the wick.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2021
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Applicant: Philip Morris USA Inc.
    Inventors: Michel THORENS, Jean-Marc FLICK, Olivier Yves COCHAND
  • Publication number: 20210186068
    Abstract: The invention relates to method for preparing a foodstuff in a food processing system (100), the system comprising solid state radio frequency cooking means (51) that transmits an electromagnetic wave to a food substrate and a cavity where the food is cooked, the method monitoring the return power losses, which are the difference between the power emitted by the solid state radio frequency cooking means (51) and the reflected power in the cavity, for optimising the delivery of the radio frequency power to the food substrate by controlling and adjusting at least two parameters: the emitted frequency of the solid state radio frequency cooking means (51) and the distance of the cooking means (51) to the food substrate. In the method of the invention, the dielectric properties, the water content and/or the compaction of the food substrate are monitored throughout the preparation method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2018
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Inventors: Jean-Marc Flick, Youcef Ait Bouziad, Fabien Ludovic Agon, Sheldon Femandes
  • Patent number: 11013265
    Abstract: A smoking system includes a capillary wick for holding liquid, at least one air inlet, at least one air outlet and a chamber between the air inlet and air outlet. The air inlet, the air outlet and the chamber are arranged so as to define an air flow route from the air inlet to the air outlet via the capillary wick so as to convey aerosol formed from the liquid to the air outlet. The smoking system further includes at least one guide for channeling the air flow in the air flow route, so as to control particle size in the aerosol. The smoking system optionally includes at least one heater for heating the liquid in at least a portion of the capillary wick to form the aerosol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc.
    Inventors: Michel Thorens, Jean-Marc Flick, Olivier Yves Cochand, Flavien Dubief
  • Patent number: 10966464
    Abstract: A vapor generating system includes a mouthpiece housing including an air outlet at a first side of the mouthpiece housing. The vapor generating system further includes a liquid storage portion, a filamentary wick extending into the liquid storage portion, a heating coil at least partially surrounding a portion of the filamentary wick and a chamber between the heating coil and the air outlet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: PHILIP MORRIS USA INC.
    Inventors: Michel Thorens, Jean-Marc Flick, Olivier Yves Cochand
  • Publication number: 20210076739
    Abstract: An aerosol generating device is provided, including a storage portion to store an aerosol-forming substrate and having an outer housing and an internal passageway, the portion forming a reservoir for the substrate between the housing and the passageway; a vaporizer including an electric heater to heat the substrate to form an aerosol, the vaporizer at least partially inside the passageway; and a porous interface at least partially lining the passageway to convey the substrate towards the vaporizer, the device being electrically operated, the heater including first and second electrical connection portions, and a heating filament therebetween, a cylindrical shape of the connection portions and the filament define a cylindrical bore, an air flow route is defined through the bore, and the first connection portion being a first cylindrical electrical connection portion, the second connection portion being a second cylindrical electrical connection portion, and the filament being a cylindrical heating element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2020
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Applicant: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Flavien DUBIEF, Olivier COCHAND, Michel THORENS, Jean-Marc FLICK, Yvan DEGOUMOIS
  • Patent number: 10881149
    Abstract: There is provided an aerosol generating device for heating an aerosol-forming substrate, including a storage portion for storing the aerosol-forming substrate and a vaporizer for heating the aerosol-forming substrate to form an aerosol. The storage portion has an outer housing and an internal passageway, the storage portion forming a reservoir for the aerosol-forming substrate between the outer housing and the internal passageway, and the vaporizer extends at least partially inside the internal passageway in the storage portion. The device further includes a porous interface at least partially lining the internal passageway for conveying the aerosol-forming substrate from the storage portion towards the vaporizer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Flavien Dubief, Olivier Cochand, Michel Thorens, Jean-Marc Flick, Yvan Degoumois