TOBACCO HEATING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DETECTING PRESENCE OF TOBACCO UNIT BY USING OPTICAL SENSING OPERATION

Abstract

A tobacco heating device for heating a tobacco unit includes a housing, a chamber, a light source, an optical sensor, and a controller. The housing has an outer surface, an inner side surface, a closed base surface, and an opening lip. The chamber is used for accommodating a tobacco unit, which is to be inserted through the opening lip into the chamber. The light source, disposed at a first position located on the inner side surface, is used for illuminating a light ray into the tobacco unit when the tobacco unit is inserted. The optical sensor, disposed at a second position located on the closed base surface, is used for detecting a light change. The controller, coupled to the optical sensor, is used for enabling and controlling a heating operation to heat the tobacco unit in response to the detected light change.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/765,795, filed on March 3rd, 2025. The content of the application is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of Invention

The invention relates to a tobacco heating mechanism, and more particularly to a tobacco heating device and a corresponding method.

Description of the Prior Art

Generally speaking, for a conventional tobacco heating device, it is difficult to detect whether a tobacco unit has been (or is) inserted into such tobacco heating device. A user may need to manually click a button of conventional tobacco heating device to heat a tobacco unit after the user themselves has determined that the tobacco unit is inserted into the conventional tobacco heating device. The manual operation is inconvenient for the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore one of the objectives of the invention is to provide a novel type tobacco heating device and a corresponding method, to solve the above-mentioned problems.

According to the embodiments of the invention, a tobacco heating device for heating a tobacco unit is disclosed. The tobacco heating device comprises a housing, a chamber, a light source, an optical sensor, and a controller. The housing has an outer surface, an inner side surface, a closed base surface, and an opening lip. The chamber is used for accommodating a tobacco unit, which is to be inserted through the opening lip into the chamber. The light source, disposed at a first position located on the inner side surface, is used for illuminating a light ray into the tobacco unit when the tobacco unit is inserted. The optical sensor, disposed at a second position located on the closed base surface, is used for detecting a light change. The controller, coupled to the optical sensor, is used for enabling and controlling a heating operation to heat the tobacco unit in response to the detected light change.

According to the embodiments, a method of a tobacco heating device for heating a tobacco unit is disclosed. The method comprises: providing a housing having an outer surface, an inner side surface, a closed base surface, and an opening lip; providing a chamber for accommodating a tobacco unit, which is to be inserted through the opening lip into the chamber; providing a light source disposed at a first position located on the inner side surface to illuminate a light ray into the tobacco unit when the tobacco unit is inserted; using an optical sensor disposed at a second position located on the closed base surface to detect a light change; and, enabling and controlling a heating operation to heat the tobacco unit in response to the detected light change.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a tobacco heating device according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the tobacco heating device of FIG. 1 accommodating a tobacco unit according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing different examples of objects that may be inserted into the tobacco heating device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing examples of different sensing images generated by the optical sensor in response to different scenarios according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of the dynamic variation of the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor in response to that the tobacco unit is inserted twice.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of the dynamic variation of the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor in response to that a pen refill object is inserted twice.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example of the dynamic variation of the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor in response to that a metal object such as a fountain pen object is inserted twice.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a tobacco heating device according to a different embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a tobacco heating device according to a different embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of a tobacco heating device according to a different embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention aims at providing a technical solution of a novel type tobacco heating device capable of detecting whether a tobacco unit is (or has been) inserted based on an optical sensing operation within the tobacco heating device so as to dynamically (or automatically) enable and control a heating element/operation of the tobacco heating device to directly/indirectly heat the inserted tobacco unit. This can be achieved by using the light transmittance of different materials to determine whether a tobacco unit is inserted.

Refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a diagram of a tobacco heating device 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram of the tobacco heating device 100 of FIG. 1 accommodating a tobacco unit 200 according to an embodiment of the invention. The tobacco heating device 100 is used for heating the tobacco unit 200 such as a heated tobacco stick/pod, and it comprises a housing 105, a chamber 110, a light source (e.g. a light-emitting-diode (LED)) 115, an optical sensor 120, a controller 125, and a battery 130.

The housing 105 comprises an outer surface, at least one inner side surface, a closed base surface (i.e. the bottom), and an opening lip. The chamber 110 is used for accommodating and accepting the tobacco unit 200, which is to be inserted through the opening lip into the chamber 110. A heating element (not shown in FIG. 1), comprised within the housing 105, may be disposed on the closed base surface or at any position located at the at least one inner side surface.

The light source 115 is disposed at a first position located on the inner side surface and is used for illuminating a light ray into the tobacco unit 200 to implement side light illumination when the tobacco unit 200 is inserted and accommodated by the chamber 110, as shown in FIG. 2. The optical sensor 120 is disposed at a second position located on the closed base surface and is used for detecting a light change such as an ambient light change within the chamber 110. The first position is designed to be not very close to the second position so that the optical sensor 120 does not directly illuminate the light ray onto the optical sensor 120, and thus the optical sensor 120 can accurately sense the light change transmitted through the tobacco unit 200 if the tobacco unit 200 is inserted.

The controller 125 is coupled to the optical sensor 120, and is used for dynamically enabling and controlling the heating element (or heating operation) to heat the tobacco unit 200 in response to the detected light change. By doing so, the tobacco heating device 100 can detect that the tobacco unit 200 has been inserted into the chamber 110 and automatically enable the heating operation to heat the tobacco unit 200. In addition, the battery 130 is coupled to the light source 115, the optical sensor 120, and controller 125, and it is used to provide power for these circuit elements.

In one embodiment, the housing 105 for example (but not limited) is a tubular housing, and the tobacco unit 200 is a tobacco stick/pod. The inner side surface is vertical to the closed base surface, and the optical sensor 120 can accurately detect the light change caused by the tobacco unit 200 when the tobacco unit 200 is inserted into the chamber 110 of the tubular housing. For example (but not limited), as shown in FIG. 2, the tobacco unit 200 may comprise a filter core 201 used as a front-end seal unit for preventing the contamination by blocking loose tobacco particles, a tobacco leaf unit 202 composed of tobacco leaves, and a cigarette real filter 203 to be drawn on by the user. The front-end seal filter core 201 has a transparent material, and for example the transparent material of the front-end seal filter core 201 is an acetate fiber which has light transmittance characteristic and can be similar to the material of the cigarette real filter 203. The acetate fiber has the excellent transparency, high moisture resistance, and chemical resistance. When the tobacco unit 200 is inserted into and accommodated/accepted by the chamber 110, the light ray of the light source 115 is designed to be accurately illuminated into the transparent material of the front-end seal filter core 201, so that all or a larger portion of lights can be transmitted through the transparent material into the optical sensor 120 and the optical sensor 120 can detect the light change which is generated by the light transmittance through the front-end seal filter core 201.

Further, the tobacco heating device 100 can be used to distinguish between a heated tobacco unit 200 and other different kinds of objects by detecting the light change. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing different examples of objects that may be inserted into the tobacco heating device 100 of FIG. 1. In FIG. 3, a first object can be a metal object such as a fountain pen object (but not limited) and may be erroneously inserted into the tobacco heating device 100, and in this situation such metal object’s diameter may be almost equal to that of the opening lip of the tobacco heating device 100; that is, the metal object may be fitted into the chamber 110, and the metal object is opaque and not transparent. Further, a second object may be a thin object which has a diameter smaller than that of the opening lip of the tobacco heating device 100, and such thin object may be a pen refill object (but not limited). The pen refill object may be not transparent. The third object is the tobacco unit 200, e.g. a tobacco pod/stick, which can be fitted into and accommodated by the chamber 110 of the tobacco heating device 100.

In practice, the optical sensor 120 generates one or more sensing images corresponding to the detected ambient light change within the chamber 110, and the controller 125 receives the one or more sensing images to perform an object detection/determination.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing examples of different sensing images generated by the optical sensor 120 in response to different scenarios according to an embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 4, the first sensing image IM1 is generated by the optical sensor 120 in response to that the light source 115 is disabled (i.e. LED turned off), and it is a darker image (e.g. having the average intensity level of zero) since of no ambient light within the chamber 110. Further, the second sensing image IM2 is generated by the optical sensor 120 in response to that the light source 115 is enabled (i.e. LED turned on) and no tobacco pods are inserted. In this situation, the second sensing image IM2 is a dark image (e.g. having the average intensity level equal to 35 but not limited) since there are no transparent objects and the optical sensor 120 is disposed at the second position to not directly receive the illuminated light ray of light source 115.

Further, the third sensing image IM3 is generated by the optical sensor 120 in response to that the light source 115 is enabled (i.e. LED turned on) and a tobacco unit 200 (e.g. tobacco pod/stick) is inserted. In this situation, the third sensing image IM3 may be a bright image (e.g. having an average intensity level equal to 127), and for example the average brightness value of third sensing image IM3 is greater than a first brightness threshold value TH1. Also, the third sensing image IM3 has an image feature such as a small contrast (which is smaller than a contrast threshold value) since the tobacco unit 200 is fitted into the chamber 110 and a larger portion of the light ray of the light source 115 can be transmitted to the optical sensor 120 through the transparent material (e.g. filter core 201) of the tobacco unit 200.

Further, the fourth sensing image IM4 is generated by the optical sensor 120 in response to that the light source 115 is enabled (i.e. LED turned on) and a pen refill object is inserted. In this situation, the fourth sensing image IM4 may be a bright image (e.g. having the average intensity level equal to 80), and for example the average brightness value of fourth sensing image IM4 is smaller than the first brightness threshold value TH1 and is greater than a second brightness threshold value TH2 which is smaller than the first brightness threshold value TH1. Also, the fourth sensing image IM4 has a different image feature such as a greater contrast (which is greater than the contrast threshold value) since the pen refill object is thin and a portion of the light ray of the light source 115 may be erroneously transmitted to the optical sensor 120 through the pen refill object. For example, for the greater contrast, a brighter image portion such as a bright spot occurs at the right-bottom corner of the sensing image IM4 while the image portions at the other corners may be darker.

Further, the fifth sensing image IM5 is generated by the optical sensor 120 in response to that the light source 115 is enabled (i.e. LED turned on) and a fountain pen object is inserted. In this situation, the fifth sensing image IM5 is a dark image (e.g. having the average intensity level equal to 37) since the fountain pen object may be fitted into the chamber 110 and may almost block the illuminated light ray of light source 115. For example (but not limited), the average brightness value of fifth sensing image IM5 is smaller than the second brightness threshold value TH2 which is smaller than the first brightness threshold value TH1. The fifth sensing image IM5 is a dark image which has an image feature such as a small contrast (which is smaller than the contrast threshold value).

Based on one or more different image features (e.g. average brightness value and/or contrast) of the sensing image(s), the controller 125 can accurately differentiate/distinguish between a tobacco unit 200 and other different type objects. For example, when an average brightness value of a sensing image (e.g. IM3) is higher than the first brightness threshold value TH1, the controller 125 can determine that an object, now inserted into the chamber 110, is a tobacco unit 200. When the object, inserted into the chamber 110, is determined as the tobacco unit 200, the controller 125 can automatically enable and control the heating operation to heat the tobacco unit 200. When it is determined that no objects are inserted into the chamber 110 by detecting the sensing image (e.g. IM2), the controller 125 can automatically disable the heating operation.

If the average brightness value of the sensing image is smaller than the first brightness threshold value TH1, then the controller 125 can determines that the object, now inserted into the chamber 110, is not a tobacco unit 200 since the controller 125 can determine that the sensing image (e.g. IM4 or IM5) is not generated due to the light transmittance of the transparent material such as the acetate fiber. In this situation, the controller 125 can disable the heating operation.

That is, by determining whether the average brightness value of the sensing image is greater than the first brightness threshold value TH1, the controller 125 can determine whether the generated light change is caused by the transparent material of the front-end seal filter core 201.

Further, for example, the controller 125 can determine that the object, inserted into the chamber 110, is a pen refill object when the average brightness value of the sensing image (e.g. IM4) is higher than the second brightness threshold value TH2 which is smaller than the first brightness threshold value TH1 and a contrast of the sensing image is higher than a contrast threshold value. Further, in one embodiment, the controller 125 can determine that the object, inserted into the chamber 110, is a metal object when the average brightness value of the sensing image (e.g. IM5) is lower than the second brightness threshold value TH2.

Further, in one embodiment, the controller 125 is used for detecting a dynamic insertion and removal behavior of an inserted object such as the tobacco unit 200, pen refill object, or metal object in response to a dynamic variation of a brightness value caused by the detected light change. FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of the dynamic variation of the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 in response to that the tobacco unit 200 is inserted twice. FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of the dynamic variation of the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 in response to that a pen refill object is inserted twice. FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example of the dynamic variation of the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 in response to that a metal object such as a fountain pen object is inserted twice. In FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 7, the horizontal axis indicates time while the vertical axis indicate the brightness value (e.g. average intensity level) of the corresponding sensing image captured by the optical sensor 120 with time.

In FIG. 5, initially, when the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 are to indicate dark images, the controller 125 can determine that no objects are inserted in this situation. Then, during the time period T1, the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 are greater than the first brightness threshold value TH1 (e.g. the intensity level being equal to 100), and the controller 125 can determine that an object is inserted for the first time and such object is a tobacco unit. Then, during the time period T2, the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 are also greater than the first brightness threshold value TH1 (e.g. the intensity level being equal to 100), and the controller 125 can determine that the tobacco unit is inserted for the second time. Thus, the controller 125 can determine that the tobacco unit is inserted twice. In this example, lager intensity impulses may occur at the ending portions and the starting portions of the time periods T1 and T2; however, this is not intended to be a limitation of the invention.

In FIG. 6, initially, when the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 are to indicate dark images, the controller 125 can determine that no objects are inserted in this situation. Then, during the time period T3, the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 are greater than the second brightness threshold value TH2 (e.g. the intensity level being equal to 60) and smaller than the first brightness threshold value TH2 (e.g. the intensity level being equal to 100), and the controller 125 can determine that an object is inserted for the first time and such object may be a thin object such as a pen refill object. Then, during the time period T4, the average brightness values of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 are also greater than the second brightness threshold value TH2 (e.g. the intensity level being equal to 60) and smaller than the first brightness threshold value TH2 (e.g. the intensity level being equal to 100), and the controller 125 can determine that the pen refill object is inserted for the second time. Thus, the controller 125 can determine that the pen refill object is inserted twice. In this example, smaller intensity impulses may occur at the ending portions and the starting portions of the time periods T3 and T4; however, this is not intended to be a limitation of the invention.

In FIG. 7, initially, when the average brightness values (almost no variations) of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 are to indicate dark images, the controller 125 can determine that no objects are inserted in this situation. Then, the average brightness values (having variations) of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 are smaller than the second brightness threshold value TH2 (e.g. the intensity level being equal to 60) and may be also smaller than that of the dark images, and the controller 125 can determine that an object is inserted for the first time and such object may be a metal object such as a fountain pen object. Then, the average brightness values (having variations) of sensing images consecutively generated by the optical sensor 120 are also smaller than the second brightness threshold value TH2 (e.g. the intensity level being equal to 60) and may be also smaller than that of the dark images, and the controller 125 can determine that the metal object is inserted for the second time. Thus, the controller 125 can determine that the metal object is inserted twice.

Further, in a different embodiment, the optical sensor 120 may be installed and disposed at a position located on a different inner side surface, and is used for detecting the light change. FIG. 8 is a diagram of a tobacco heating device 800 according to a different embodiment of the invention. The difference between the embodiments of FIG. 1 and FIG. 8 is that the optical sensor 120 in FIG. 8 is disposed at the position located at the different inner side surface comparative to the position of light source 115. For example, the position of optical sensor 120 in FIG. 8 may be substantially at a same horizontal plane at which the position of light source 115 is located or may be at a different horizontal plane comparative to the position of light source 115. In other modifications, the position of optical sensor 120 may be disposed at a different position at the same inner side surface at which the light source 115 is located. For instance, the position of optical sensor 120 may be above or below the position of the light source 115. FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 are diagrams of tobacco heating devices 900 and 1000 according to embodiments of the invention.

In a summary, by using the side light illumination for detection, the optical sensor 120 can observe and detect a change in brightness when a tobacco unit is inserted, and it can detect a decreased brightness value or a dark image if a metal object is inserted. Thus, when the brightness value falls within a predetermined range, the controller 125 can detect the presence of a tobacco unit. In addition, the other image analysis schemes such as uniformity of the image/frame, number of bright spots, etc., can be also used and performed to provide a greater flexibility and to enhance the performance of detecting/identifying whether a tobacco unit in inserted.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A tobacco heating device for heating a tobacco unit, comprising:

a housing having an outer surface, an inner side surface, a closed base surface, and an opening lip;

a chamber, for accommodating a tobacco unit, which is to be inserted through the opening lip into the chamber;

a light source, disposed at a first position located on the inner side surface, for illuminating a light ray into the tobacco unit when the tobacco unit is inserted;

an optical sensor, disposed at a second position located on the closed base surface, for detecting a light change; and

a controller, coupled to the optical sensor, for enabling and controlling a heating operation to heat the tobacco unit in response to the detected light change.

2. The tobacco heating device of claim 1, wherein the housing is a tubular housing, the tobacco unit is a tobacco stick, and the inner side surface is vertical to the closed base surface; the optical sensor detects the light change when the tobacco stick is inserted into the tubular housing.

3. The tobacco heating device of claim 1, wherein the tobacco unit comprises a front-end seal filter core, a tobacco leaf unit, and a cigarette real filter; the front-end seal filter core has a transparent material; when the tobacco unit is inserted into the chamber, the light source emits the light ray into the transparent material of the front-end seal filter core, and the optical sensor detects the light change which is generated by a light transmittance through the front-end seal filter core.

4. The tobacco heating device of claim 3, wherein the transparent material of the front-end seal filter core is an acetate fiber.

5. The tobacco heating device of claim 1, wherein the optical sensor generates a sensing image corresponding to the light change; the controller determines that an object, inserted into the chamber, is the tobacco unit when an average brightness value of the sensing image is higher than a first brightness threshold value.

6. The tobacco heating device of claim 5, wherein the controller determines that the object, inserted into the chamber, is not the tobacco unit when the average brightness value of the sensing image is smaller than the first brightness threshold value.

7. The tobacco heating device of claim 6, wherein the controller determines that the object, inserted into the chamber, is a pen refill object when the average brightness value of the sensing image is higher than a second brightness threshold value which is smaller than the first brightness threshold value and a contrast of the sensing image is higher than a contrast threshold value.

8. The tobacco heating device of claim 6, wherein the controller determines that the object, inserted into the chamber, is a metal object when the average brightness value of the sensing image is lower than a second brightness threshold value which is smaller than the first brightness threshold value.

9. The tobacco heating device of claim 1, wherein the controller is used for enabling and controlling the heating operation to heat the tobacco unit in response to a dynamic variation of a brightness value caused by the detected light change.

10. A method of a tobacco heating device for heating a tobacco unit, comprising:

providing a housing having an outer surface, an inner side surface, a closed base surface, and an opening lip;

providing a chamber for accommodating a tobacco unit, which is to be inserted through the opening lip into the chamber;

providing a light source disposed at a first position located on the inner side surface to illuminate a light ray into the tobacco unit when the tobacco unit is inserted;

using an optical sensor disposed at a second position located on the closed base surface to detect a light change; and

enabling and controlling a heating operation to heat the tobacco unit in response to the detected light change.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the housing is a tubular housing, the tobacco unit is a tobacco stick, and the inner side surface is vertical to the closed base surface; the optical sensor is used to detect the light change when the tobacco stick is inserted into the tubular housing.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the tobacco unit comprises a front-end seal filter core, a tobacco leaf unit, and a cigarette real filter; the front-end seal filter core has a transparent material; and, the method further comprises:

when the tobacco unit is inserted into the chamber, using the light source to emit the light ray into the transparent material of the front-end seal filter core, and using the optical sensor to detect the light change which is generated by a light transmittance through the front-end seal filter core.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the transparent material of the front-end seal filter core is an acetate fiber.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the optical sensor generates a sensing image corresponding to the light change; and the method further comprises:

determining that an object, inserted into the chamber, is the tobacco unit when an average brightness value of the sensing image is higher than a first brightness threshold value.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining that the object, inserted into the chamber, is not the tobacco unit when the average brightness value of the sensing image is smaller than the first brightness threshold value.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining that the object, inserted into the chamber, is a pen refill object when the average brightness value of the sensing image is higher than a second brightness threshold value which is smaller than the first brightness threshold value and a contrast of the sensing image is higher than a contrast threshold value.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining that the object, inserted into the chamber, is a metal object when the average brightness value of the sensing image is lower than a second brightness threshold value which is smaller than the first brightness threshold value.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

enabling and controlling the heating operation to heat the tobacco unit in response to a dynamic variation of a brightness value caused by the detected light change.