SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING SMOKING SUBSTITUTE DEVICES AND ASSOCIATED METHODS

1 . A system for managing a smoking substitute device, the system comprising:

a smoking substitute device;

a mobile device on which an application is installed, wherein the smoking substitute device is configured to communicate with the application;

an application server, wherein the mobile phone is configured to communicate with the application server, and wherein the application server stores validity state information associated with the smoking substitute device from which it can be determined whether the smoking substitute device is valid for use;

wherein the smoking substitute device stores ID information identifying the smoking substitute device; and

wherein the smoking substitute device, application and/or application server is/are configured to determine whether the smoking substitute device is valid for use based on the ID information identifying the smoking substitute device and the validity state information associated with the smoking substitute device and, if the smoking substitute device, application and/or application server determines that the smoking substitute device is not valid for use, issue a disable signal configured to disable the smoking substitute device.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the validity state information associated with the smoking substitute device includes one or more invalidity flags, and the determination by the smoking substitute device, application and/or application server of whether the smoking substitute device is valid for use includes the smoking substitute device, application and/or application server using the ID information to check whether the one or more invalidity flags associated with the smoking substitute device indicate that the smoking substitute device is valid or invalid for use.

3 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the validity state information associated with the smoking substitute device is associated with the smoking substitute device by being stored in association with the ID information identifying the smoking substitute device.

4 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the disable signal is configured to disable the smoking substitute device permanently or non-permanently, depending on the validity state information associated with the smoking substitute device.

5 . The system according to claim 4 , wherein if the disable signal is configured to disable the smoking substitute device non-permanently, the smoking substitute device, application and/or application server is configured to issue a re-enable signal configured to re-enable the smoking substitute device if one or more re-enablement criteria are met.

6 . The system according to claim 5 , wherein the one or more re-enablement criteria include a user passing a verification process at the application.

7 . The system according to claim 5 , wherein the one or more re-enablement criteria include the validity state information associated with the smoking substitute device at the application server being changed to indicate that the smoking substitute device is valid for use.

8 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the smoking substitute device is configured to communicate wirelessly with the application via a communication channel established directly between the smoking substitute device and the mobile device on which the application is installed.

9 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein:

the system includes one or more further smoking substitute devices configured to be wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device;

the application server stores validity state information associated with the/each further smoking substitute device;

the/each further smoking substitute devices stores ID information identifying the further smoking substitute device;

for the/each further smoking substitute device, the smoking substitute device, application and/or application server is configured to determine whether the further smoking substitute device is valid for use based on the ID information identifying the further smoking substitute device and the validity state information associated with the further smoking substitute device and, if the smoking substitute device, application and/or application server determines that the further smoking substitute device is not valid for use, issue a disable signal configured to disable the further smoking substitute device.

10 . (canceled)

11 . A system for managing a smoking substitute device, the system comprising:

a smoking substitute device comprising a main body and a consumable configured to be physically coupled to the main body;

wherein the consumable is associated with validity state information from which it can be determined whether the consumable is valid for use with the main body; and

wherein the system is configured to determine from the validity state information whether the consumable is valid for use with the main body and, if the system determines from the validity state information that the consumable is not valid for use with the main body, inhibit use of the consumable with the main body.

12 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the system includes a mobile device on which an application is installed, wherein the smoking substitute device is configured to communicate with the application.

13 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the validity state information associated with the consumable includes an expiry date.

14 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the validity state information associated with the consumable includes one or more invalidity flags.

15 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the validity state information associated with the consumable includes compatibility information for determining whether the main body is compatible with the consumable.

16 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the system is configured to obtain validity state information associated with the consumable by:

reading ID information identifying the consumable from an identifier provided with the consumable; and

using the ID information to look up the validity state information associated with the consumable.

17 . The system according to claim 16 , wherein the ID information uniquely identifies the consumable, or uniquely identify a batch of consumables that includes the consumable, wherein the ID information is configured to allow the validity state information associated with the consumable to be looked up by the system.

18 . The system according to claim 16 , wherein the validity state information associated with the consumable is stored at an application server included in the system.

19 . (canceled)

20 . (canceled)

21 . (canceled)

22 . (canceled)

23 . The system according to claim 16 , wherein the application on the mobile device is configured to communicate the ID information to an application server included in the system so that the application server looks up the validity state information associated with the consumable.

24 . (canceled)

25 . (canceled)

26 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the system is configured to recognise when a consumable determined by the system as being not valid for use with the main body is physically coupled to the main body by:

the system being configured to obtain the validity information associated with the consumable whilst the consumable is physically coupled to the main body, then determining from the validity state information whether the consumable is valid for use with the main body.

27 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the system is configured to recognise when a consumable determined by the system as being not valid for use with the main body is physically coupled to the main body by:

prompting a user to present an identifier provided with a consumable to a component of the system so that that component of the system can obtain/read ID information identifying the consumable from the identifier provided with the consumable, before the user physically couples the consumable to the main body or whilst the consumable is physically coupled to the main body;

using the ID information to look up the validity state information associated with the consumable; and

determining from the validity state information whether the consumable is valid for use with the main body.

28 . (canceled)