Apparatus and method for location monitoring of a network-enabled smoking substitute device
The present disclosure relates to a technique that utilizes the ability of a smoking substitute device to wirelessly connect via a wireless personal area network to a portable communication terminal (e.g. mobile phone) to provide a user with location-related information about the smoking substitute device. The technique may be used to issue a notification upon detection a dropped connection, e.g. to prevent loss or theft of the smoking substitute device. The technique may use other information from the smoking substitute device and/or portable communication terminal to judge whether or not a dropped connection is notifiable. For example, notifications may be suppressed based on any of a duration of the loss of the wireless connection, a presence of a wireless connection between the portable communication terminal and another smoking substitute device, a current location of the portable communication terminal, and historical smoking substitute device usage data.
1 . An apparatus for monitoring a smoking substitute device, the apparatus comprising:
a portable communication terminal configured to communicate with the smoking substitute device via a wireless communication channel and comprising a location tracking unit configured to determine a current location of the portable communication terminal, wherein the portable communication terminal is configured to:
poll the smoking substitute device on a periodic basis via the wireless communication channel;
automatically detect loss of a wireless connection between the portable communication terminal and the smoking substitute device based on a failure of the portable communication terminal to receive one or more responses from the smoking substitute device in response to the polling of the smoking substitute device;
automatically determine that a dropped connection notification for the loss of the wireless connection should be suppressed based on smoking substitute device notification suppression criteria being fulfilled, wherein the smoking substitute device notification suppression criteria comprises the current location of the portable communication terminal and historical smoking substitute device usage data of the smoking substitute device at the current location, wherein the historical smoking substitute device usage data comprises activation events of the smoking substitute device received via the wireless communication channel and accumulated over time; and
suppress the dropped connection notification and thereby prevent unnecessary notifications being issued to avoid wasting power and processing resources.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the notification suppression criteria relate to any one or any combination of:
a duration of the loss of the wireless connection; and
a presence of a wireless connection between the portable communication terminal and another smoking substitute device.
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the portable communication terminal is configured to:
compare the current location with a stored list of locations at which notifications are to be suppressed; and
suppress a dropped signal notification if the current location does not match a location on the stored list.
4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the portable communication terminal is configured to:
obtain, from the location tracking unit, a current location of the portable communication terminal upon detection of the loss of the wireless connection;
compare the obtained current location with a map of historical usage locations; and
suppress a dropped signal notification if the current location does not match a location on the map of historical usage locations.
5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising the smoking substitute device, wherein the smoking substitute device comprises a wireless interface configured to transmit data to the personal communication terminal across the wireless communication channel, wherein, before the loss of the wireless connection, the smoking substitute device is configured to transmit to the portable communication terminal usage data, and wherein the portable communication terminal is configured to:
obtain, from the location tracking unit, location information corresponding to the usage data, and
create the map of historical usage locations using the usage data and the corresponding location information.
6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the portable communication terminal is a mobile phone.