Patent Description:
Combustion of organic material such as tobacco is known to produce tar and other potentially harmful byproducts. There have been proposed various smoking substitute devices in order to avoid the smoking of tobacco.

Such smoking substitute devices can form part of nicotine replacement therapies aimed at people who wish to stop smoking and overcome a dependence on nicotine.

Smoking substitute devices may comprise electronic systems that permit a user to simulate the act of smoking by producing an aerosol (also referred to as a "vapour") that is drawn into the lungs through the mouth (inhaled) and then exhaled. The inhaled aerosol typically bears nicotine and/or flavourings without, or with fewer of, the odour and health risks associated with traditional smoking.

In general, smoking substitute devices are intended to provide a substitute for the rituals of smoking, whilst providing the user with a similar experience and satisfaction to those experienced with traditional smoking and tobacco products. Some smoking substitute systems use smoking substitute articles (also referred to as a "consumables") that are designed to resemble a traditional cigarette and are cylindrical in form with a mouthpiece at one end.

The popularity and use of smoking substitute devices has grown rapidly in the past few years. Although originally marketed as an aid to assist habitual smokers wishing to quit tobacco smoking, consumers are increasingly viewing smoking substitute devices as desirable lifestyle accessories. Some smoking substitute devices are designed to resemble a traditional cigarette and are cylindrical in form with a mouthpiece at one end. Other smoking substitute devices do not generally resemble a cigarette (for example, the smoking substitute device may have a generally box-like form).

There are a number of different categories of smoking substitute devices, each utilising a different smoking substitute approach. A smoking substitute approach corresponds to the manner in which the substitute system operates for a user.

One approach for a smoking substitute device is the so-called "vaping" approach, in which a vapourisable liquid, typically referred to (and referred to herein) as "e-liquid", is heated by a heating device to produce an aerosol vapour which is inhaled by a user. An e-liquid typically includes a base liquid as well as nicotine and/or flavourings. The resulting vapour therefore typically contains nicotine and/or flavourings. The base liquid may include propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerin.

Vaping smoking substitute devices can be configured in a variety of ways. For example, there are "closed system" vaping smoking substitute devices which typically have a sealed tank and heating element which is pre-filled with e-liquid and is not intended to be refilled by an end user. One subset of closed system vaping smoking substitute devices include a main body which includes the power source, wherein the main body is configured to be physically and electrically coupled to a consumable including the tank and the heating element. In this way, when the tank of a consumable has been emptied, the main body can be reused by connecting it to a new consumable. Another subset of closed system vaping smoking substitute devices are completely disposable, and intended for one-use only.

There are also "open system" vaping smoking substitute devices which typically have a tank that is configured to be refilled by a user, so the device can be used multiple times.

An example vaping smoking substitute device is the myblu™ e-cigarette. The myblu™ e-cigarette is a closed system device which includes a main body and a consumable. The main body and consumable are physically and electrically coupled together by pushing the consumable into the main body. The main body includes a rechargeable battery. The consumable includes a mouthpiece, a sealed tank which contains e-liquid, as well as a heating device, which for this device is a heating filament coiled around a portion of a wick which is partially immersed in the e-liquid. The device is activated when a microprocessor on board the main body detects a user inhaling through the mouthpiece. When the device is activated, electrical energy is supplied from the power source to the heating device, which heats e-liquid from the tank to produce a vapour which is inhaled by a user through the mouthpiece.

Another example vaping smoking substitute device is the blu PRO™ e-cigarette. The blu PRO™ e-cigarette is an open system device which includes a main body, a (refillable) tank, and a mouthpiece. The main body and tank are physically and electrically coupled together by screwing one to the other. The mouthpiece and refillable tank are physically coupled together by screwing one of the other, and detaching the mouthpiece from the refillable tank allows the tank to be refilled with e-liquid. The device is activated by a button on the main body. When the device is activated, electrical energy is supplied from the power source to a heating device, which heats e-liquid from the tank to produce a vapour which is inhaled by a user through the mouthpiece.

Another approach for a smoking substitute system is the so-called Heated Tobacco ("HT") approach in which tobacco (rather than an "e-liquid") is heated or warmed to release vapour. HT is also known as "heat not burn" ("HNB"). The tobacco may be leaf tobacco or reconstituted tobacco. The vapour may contain nicotine and/or flavourings. In the HT approach the intention is that the tobacco is heated but not burned, i.e. the tobacco does not undergo combustion.

A typical HT smoking substitute system may include a device and a consumable. The consumable may include the tobacco material. The device and consumable may be configured to be physically coupled together. In use, heat may be imparted to the tobacco material by a heating element of the device, wherein airflow through the tobacco material causes components in the tobacco material to be released as vapour. A vapour may also be formed from a carrier in the tobacco material (this carrier may for example include propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerine) and additionally volatile compounds released from the tobacco. The released vapour may be entrained in the airflow drawn through the tobacco.

There may be a need for improved design of smoking substitute systems, in particular HT smoking substitute systems, to enhance the user experience and improve the function of the HT smoking substitute system.

An example of the HT approach is the IQOS™ smoking substitute device from Philip Morris Ltd. The IQOS™ smoking substitute device uses a consumable, including reconstituted tobacco located in a wrapper. The consumable includes a holder incorporating a mouthpiece. The consumable may be inserted into a main body that includes a heating device. The heating device has a thermally conductive heating knife which penetrates the reconstituted tobacco of the consumable, when the consumable is inserted into the heating device. Activation of the heating device heats the heating element (in this case a heating knife), which, in turn, heats the tobacco in the consumable. The heating of the tobacco causes it to release nicotine vapour and flavourings which may be drawn through the mouthpiece by the user through inhalation.

A second example of the HT approach is the device known as "Glo"™ from British American Tobacco p. Glo™ comprises a relatively thin consumable. The consumable includes leaf tobacco which is heated by a heating device located in a main body. When the consumable is placed in the main body, the tobacco is surrounded by a heating element of the heating device. Activation of the heating device heats the heating element, which, in turn, heats the tobacco in the consumable. The heating of the tobacco causes it to release nicotine vapour and flavourings which may be drawn through the consumable by the user through inhalation. The tobacco, when heated by the heating device, is configured to produce vapour when heated rather than when burned (as in a smoking apparatus, e.g. a cigarette). The tobacco may contain high levels of aerosol formers (carrier), such as vegetable glycerine ("VG") or propylene glycol ("PG").

The present inventor(s) have observed that most smoking substitute devices currently on the market are configured to operate in isolation of other devices, which limits the functions the smoking substitute devices can perform.

Users of smoking substitute devices may wish to operate their devices without needing to learn a prescribed set of preconfigured instructions or operations. Further, users of smoking substitute devices may be concerned that their device could be used by another individual who should not be permitted to activate the device, e.g. a thief, or a child. Additionally, users of smoking substitute devices may be concerned that a device which operates in connection with a wider network is prone to security breaches, leaving their personal data exposed.

<CIT> describes an electronic vapor device with integrated audio, and a method comprising receiving a status of a vaporizer component of an electronic vapor device, determining a first audio file of a plurality of audio files based on the status, determining a first characteristic based on the status, and causing an audio output device to output the first audio file according to the first characteristic.

<CIT> describes a voice responsive electronic vapor system configured to control at least one function of an electronic vapor device via voice controls.

Natural Language Processing, typically shortened as "NLP", can be understood as a subset of artificial intelligence and is a type of speech recognition technique intended to allow an inference model (used interchangeably herein with the terms "natural language processing model" and "natural language processing inference model") to derive semantic meaning from words expressed in a natural language form (e.g. as expressed by a human), rather than words expressed in accordance with a defined protocol. Thus, the step of "using a natural language processing model to analyse the recognised words spoken by the user" may be expressed as "using a natural language processing model to analyse the recognised words spoken by the user to determine semantic meaning". Most NLP techniques rely on machine learning techniques to derive meaning and/or context from words expressed in a natural language form.

Preferably, the smoking substitute device is configured to generate an aerosol from an aerosol forming substrate.

A natural language processing model can be understood as a model that implements natural language processing.

Since a natural language processing model permits use of more natural language for controlling operation of the device (compared e.g. with a more simplistic command driven model that might require a user to utter specific words or phrases in accordance with a defined protocol), a better user experience can be achieved.

The speech control function may include biometrically recognising words spoken by the user, e.g. using a voice recognition function, as described below.

The natural language processing model may analyse the semantic meaning of words spoken by the user, and/or the language dialect spoken by the user.

The natural language processing model is stored on and configured to be run by the smoking substitute device itself, i.e. without elements of the model being stored or run on an external device. By implementing the natural language processing model on the smoking substitute device itself, users can control their device using natural language, without suffering from the Quality of Service (QoS latency issues associated with implementing the natural language processing on a cloud service.

Preferably, the speech control function includes:.

Importantly, the command expressed in a natural language form need not be expressed in accordance with a formal protocol in order to be recognised using the natural language processing model.

For example, the speech control function may be configured to control operations of the smoking substitute device based on the analysis of phrases including: "please provide connection status", "please provide connection configuration", "please provide current battery level", "please provide anticipated battery depletion", "please provide nicotine used to date", "can we set a nicotine quota?", "what is my nicotine quota to date?", "what is my current pod level", "what flavour is the current pod?", "please add my name to the current vape device profile", "please add this email to the current vape device profile"; or phrases which are substantially semantically similar to the abovementioned phrases. Additionally or alternatively, the speech control function may be configured to control operations of the smoking substitute device based on the analysis of phrases which are regional dialect and/or accent variations of the abovementioned phrases.

By way of example, the recognised command may be a command to initiate wireless pairing of the smoking substitute device with an external device (e.g. Bluetooth pairing with a mobile device), but this command may have been expressed in a natural language form such as "can you please connect to my phone" or "connect to phone please", rather than in accordance with a defined protocol (which may require the user to express the command using one or more specifically worded voice commands or sensor sequences).

By way of example, the recognised command may be a command to disable one or more functions of the device such that the one or more functions of the device do not work until those functions are re-enabled, but this command may have been expressed in a natural language form such as "please lock" or "lock my device please", rather than in accordance with a defined protocol (which may require the user to express the command using one or more specifically worded voice commands).

By way of example, the recognised command may be a command to display usage statistics (e.g. on a display of the device or on a display of a mobile device wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device), but this command may have been expressed in a natural language form such as "show me some stats" or "what's my usage", rather than in accordance with a defined protocol (which may require the user to express the command using one or more specifically worded voice commands).

In some examples, the command recognised by the natural language processing model may be accompanied by an associated confidence level, indicating a level of confidence that the command has been correctly recognised. The confidence level would typically be produced by the natural language model itself. The/each confidence level would typically be expressed as a probability, e.g. with <NUM> indicating an <NUM>% probability that the command has been correctly recognised. The probability may be expressed as a probability range. The/each confidence level may be expressed as a sigmoid probability, that is a probability corresponding to the value of a sigmoid function.

By way of example, the model may analyse the recognised words spoken by the user and assign a respective confidence level to each of a number of possible commands, with the confidence level indicating that the recognised words contain that possible command. The possible command with the highest associated confidence level may then be recognised as a recognised command expressed in a natural language form within the recognised words, with that associated confidence level being the confidence level associated with the recognised command. Additionally, the model may recognise semantic meaning and/or language dialects spoken by the user. In some examples, a plurality of models are run via parallel processing with response times of <NUM> or less. In some examples the plurality of models includes one or more of: a model to recognise words, a model implementing predetermined knowledge of a lexicon to recognise semantic meaning, and a model to recognise the language dialect. Speech to text tokenising may be used.

The smoking substitute device may be configured to, if a confidence level associated with a command recognised by the natural language processing model is less than a predetermined threshold value, perform a verification function to verify the command intended to be executed by the user.

In this way, the device is able to verify that only operations which the users intends to be carried out are executed. This increases the fidelity of the operations of the device with respect to the user's commands.

If the confidence level is expressed a probability, the predetermined threshold may be, e.g. <NUM>% or higher, <NUM>% or higher, or more preferably <NUM>% or higher. A predetermined threshold of <NUM>% or higher is thought beneficial to prevent against unauthorised use, e.g. by a child.

The verification function may include, for example:.

By way of example, the output may present the recognised command alongside a number of other (alternative) possible commands that may instead be wanted, whilst asking which of these commands is wanted, or alternatively the output could simply ask whether the user wishes to implement the recognised command (without necessarily referring to any other possible commands).

The output device may, for example, be the audio interface of the smoking substitute device or an audio interface of a mobile device wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device, in which case the output asking the user to verify whether the recognised command should be implemented (e.g. in the form of a generated sequence of words) may be provided to the user audibly (e.g. via the audio interface of the smoking substitute device or the audio interface of the mobile device).

The output device may, for example, be a display of the smoking substitute device or a display of a mobile device wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device, in which case the output asking the user to verify whether the recognised command should be implemented (e.g. in the form of a generated sequence of words) may be provided visually by the display of the smoking substitute device or the display of the mobile device.

The smoking substitute device may be configured to perform a usage feedback function that includes:.

The usage feedback function may be performed in response to a user asking a question of their device, in the form of a command expressed in a natural language form (which may be analysed using the natural language processing model, as described above).

In this way, the device can provide feedback in relation to their usage of the smoking substitute device with words expressing that feedback in a natural language form.

For example, in response to a user asking a question in natural language form "what is the connection status?", the device may respond using an output device of the smoking substitute device:.

For example, in response to a user asking a question in natural language form "what is the battery level?", the device may respond using an output device of the smoking substitute device:.

The output device may, for example, be the audio interface of the smoking substitute device or an audio interface of a mobile device wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device, in which case the sequence of words may be provided to the user audibly via the audio interface of the smoking substitute device or the audio interface of the mobile device.

The output device may, for example, be a display of the smoking substitute device or a display of a mobile device wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device, in which case the sequence of words may be provided visually by the display of the smoking substitute device or the display of the mobile device.

The smoking substitute device is configured to prevent the audio signal obtained by the audio interface from being communicated to from the device to the mobile device.

In some examples, the smoking substitute device is configured to prevent recognised words spoken by the user from being communicated from the device to the mobile device.

In this way, potentially sensitive data concerning the user can be kept on the user's smoking substitute device without sending it to the mobile device, whilst still allowing the user to control their device using natural language. This helps maintain the privacy of the user.

Preferably, the natural language processing model is stored in in one or more natural language processing chips included in the smoking substitute device, e.g. in a single natural language processing chip included in the smoking substitute device.

A natural language processing chip can be understood as a chip which implements a natural language processing model, optionally along with other language processing functions. An example of such a chip is the NLP-5x made by SENSORY®. Other natural language chips are available. For example, chips made by Arm® having DSP capability and compatibility with Arm NN, Arm Compute Library or the CMSIS-NN software library could be used as the natural language processing chip.

The natural language processing model may be stored in one or more processors included in the smoking substitute device, wherein the one or more processors are configured to implement one or more recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms. The one or more processors could include one or more natural language processing chips, but this is not a requirement.

A processor configured to run machine learning algorithms may be considered to be a processor configured to perform one or more operations which constitute well known recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms. An example of such an algorithm is a long short-term memory (LTSM) algorithm. Another example of implementing such an algorithm is the use of a gated recurrent unit (GRU). Both of these examples are well-known to those skilled in the art of machine learning. An example of a class of processing chips suitable to be configured to run recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms is the group of ARM Cortex-A made by Arm Holdings Ltd ARM Cortex-A processors with digital signal processing (DSP) functions can be configured to implement artificial neural networks using the ARM CMSIS NN library (ARM cortex microcontroller software interface standard neural network). A typical implementation of the natural language processing model includes one or more machine learning neural networks, e.g. a series of such networks. This could run on any natural language processing chip, e.g. as described above.

Preferably, the smoking substitute device is configured to perform a voice recognition function in which the smoking substitute device determines whether an audio signal obtained by the audio interface contains speech uttered by a user whose voice has been registered by the smoking substitute device as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device.

Registration of a voice with the smoking substitute device (as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device) may conveniently be performed by a user using the audio interface included in the smoking substitute device, or alternatively using an audio interface of a mobile device (e.g. a laptop) wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device. For example, registration of a voice may involve prompting a user to use their voice (e.g. using an output device of the smoking substitute device or a display of a mobile device wirelessly connected to the mobile device), obtaining a sample of the user's voice (e.g. using the audio interface of the smoking substitute device or an audio interface of a mobile device wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device) when the user uses their voice in response to the prompt. In some examples, the registration is a one-time setup sequence including biometric assignment of the user to the device.

The smoking substitute device may be configured to permit control of the smoking substitute device based on an analysis of an audio signal obtained by the audio interface using the natural language processing model, only if the smoking substitute device determines that the audio signal contains speech uttered by a user whose voice has been registered by the smoking substitute device as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device, i.e. only if the smoking substitute device "recognises" the voice as being one registered by the smoking substitute device as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device.

The smoking substitute device may be configured to disable one or more functions of the device, if the smoking substitute device determines that an audio signal obtained by the audio interface does not contain speech uttered by a user whose voice has been registered by the smoking substitute device as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device.

In this way, a user whose voice is not recognised may be prevented from using the device to perform one or more operations. In some examples, this will prevent children from being able to use the device.

The smoking substitute device may be configured to disable one or more functions of the device, if the smoking substitute device determines that an audio signal obtained by the audio interface both (i) does not contain speech uttered by a user whose voice has been registered by the smoking substitute device as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device; and (ii) contains a command (e.g. recognised by the natural language processing model) for controlling operation of the smoking substitute device.

In this way, a user who is attempting to control the device but whose voice is not recognised can be prevented from using the device to perform one or more operations. Whereas a user who is talking in the vicinity of the device but is not attempting to control the device will not cause the smoking substitute device to be disabled.

The smoking substitute device may be configured to disable one or more functions of the device, if a predetermined length of time has elapsed since the smoking substitute device last determined that an audio signal obtained by the audio interface contains speech uttered by a user whose voice has been registered by the smoking substitute device as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device.

In this way, a user whose voice is not recognised may be prevented from using the device, unless the device is returned to a user whose voice is recognised.

The predetermined length of time may be, for example, <NUM> minute or more, <NUM> minutes or more, or <NUM> day or more, depending on implementation requirements. A user may be able to adjust the predetermined length of time, e.g. via a mobile device wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device.

The one or more functions of the smoking substitute device that could be disabled (in any above-described scenario in which one or more functions of the smoking substitute device is disabled) may include, for example: permitting activation of the smoking substitute device to produce vapour.

In this way, a user would not be able to produce vapour using the device unless/until the one or more functions are re-enabled.

The smoking substitute device may be configured to re-enable one or more previously disabled functions of the smoking substitute device if the smoking substitute device determines that an audio signal obtained by the audio interface contains speech uttered by a user whose voice has been registered by the smoking substitute device as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device.

In this way, the registered user can conveniently re-enable their device. Note that in this context, re-enabling one or more previously disabled functions might not require the user to utter any particular phrase or set of words, so long as a determination is made that the audio signal contains speech uttered by a user whose voice has been registered by the smoking substitute device as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device.

The smoking substitute device may be configured to re-enable one or more previously disabled functions of the smoking substitute device if the smoking substitute device determines that an audio signal obtained by the audio interface both (i) contains speech uttered by a user whose voice has been registered by the smoking substitute device as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device; and (ii) contains a command (e.g. recognised by the natural language processing model) for controlling operation of the smoking substitute device.

This may help to avoid a user accidentally re-enabling their device, e.g. by an un-registered user holding the device near the registered user whilst the registered user happens to be talking.

Preferably, the smoking substitute device includes a natural language processing chip which contains the natural language processing model and is configured to perform a voice recognition function as outlined above.

An example of a chip that is capable of both containing a natural language processing inference model and performing a voice recognition function is the NLP-5x made by SENSORY®. Here we note that the NLP function has dedicated memory within the NLP-5x, but there is also dedicated space available for other applications (e.g. a vape application) which do not interfere with the NLP function.

A method of controlling a smoking substitute device and a mobile device is also described herein.

The method may include any method step implementing or corresponding to any apparatus feature described in connection with the first aspect of the invention.

Described herein is electrical circuitry confirmed to perform a speech control function that includes:.

The circuitry may be configured to provide any functionality as described in relation to the first aspect of the invention.

Described herein is a smoking substitute device (as described herein) and an external device (e.g. as described above).

A smoking substitute device as described herein may be configured to generate an aerosol from an aerosol forming substrate. The smoking substitute device may be configured to deliver the aerosol to a user for inhalation. For avoidance of any doubt, the smoking substitute device could be either a vaping smoking substitute device, or a heat not burn smoking substitute device (such devices are described in the background section, above). As used herein, the term "aerosol" may include a suspension of aerosol forming substrate, included as one or more of: solid particles; liquid droplets; gas. Said suspension may be in a gas including air. The aerosol may include one or more components of the aerosol forming substrate. As used herein, the term "aerosol forming substrate" (also "aerosol-forming precursor" or "precursor") may refer to one or more of a: liquid; solid; gel; other substance (for which an aerosol is generated). An aerosol generating unit of the smoking substitute device may be configured to process the aerosol forming substrate to form an aerosol as defined herein. The term "aerosol" herein may be used interchangeably with the term "vapour".

<FIG> shows an example system <NUM> for managing a smoking substitute device <NUM>.

The system <NUM> as shown in <FIG> includes a mobile device <NUM>, an application server <NUM>, an optional charging station <NUM>, as well as the smoking substitute device <NUM>.

The smoking substitute device <NUM> is configured to communicate wirelessly, e.g. via Bluetooth™, with an application (or "app") installed on the mobile device <NUM>, e.g. via a suitable wireless interface (not shown) on the mobile device <NUM>. The mobile device <NUM> may be a mobile phone, for example. The application on the mobile phone is configured to communicate with the application server <NUM>, via a network <NUM>. The application server <NUM> may utilise cloud storage, for example.

The network <NUM> may include a cellular network, low-power wide-area network (LWPAN) wireless Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and/or the internet.

In other examples, the smoking substitute device <NUM> may be configured to communicate with the application server <NUM> via a connection that does not involve the mobile device <NUM>, e.g. via a narrowband internet of things ("NB-IoT") connection. In some examples, the mobile device <NUM> may be omitted from the system.

A skilled person would readily appreciate that the mobile device <NUM> may be configured to communicate via the network <NUM> according to various communication channels, preferably a wireless communication channel such as via a cellular network (e.g. according to a standard protocol, such as <NUM> or <NUM>) or via a WiFi network.

The app installed on the mobile device and the application server <NUM> may be configured to assist a user with their smoking substitute device <NUM>, based on information communicated between the smoking substitute device <NUM> and the app and/or information communicated between the app and the application server <NUM>.

The charging station <NUM> (if present) may be configured to charge (and optionally communicate with) the smoking substitute device <NUM>, via a charging port on the smoking substitute device <NUM>. The charging port on the smoking substitute device <NUM> may be a USB port, for example, which may allow the smoking substitute device to be charged by any USB-compatible device capable of delivering power to the smoking substitute device <NUM> via a suitable USB cable (in this case the USB-compatible device would be acting as the charging station <NUM>). Alternatively, the charging station could be a docking station specifically configured to dock with the smoking substitute device <NUM> and charge the smoking substitute device <NUM> via the charging port on the smoking substitute device <NUM>.

<FIG> shows an example smoking substitute device <NUM> for use as the smoking substitute device <NUM> in the system <NUM> of <FIG>.

In this example, the smoking substitute device <NUM> includes a main body <NUM> and a consumable <NUM>. The consumable <NUM> may alternatively be referred to as a "pod".

In this example, the smoking substitute device <NUM> is a closed system vaping device, wherein the consumable <NUM> includes a sealed tank <NUM> and is intended for one-use only.

<FIG> shows the smoking substitute device <NUM> with the main body <NUM> physically coupled to the consumable <NUM>.

<FIG> shows the main body <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM> without the consumable <NUM>.

<FIG> shows the consumable <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM> without the main body <NUM>.

The main body <NUM> and the consumable <NUM> are configured to be physically coupled together, in this example by pushing the consumable <NUM> into an aperture in a top end <NUM> of the main body <NUM>, e.g. with the consumable <NUM> being retained in the aperture via an interference fit. In other examples, the main body <NUM> and the consumable could be physically coupled together by screwing one onto the other, through a bayonet fitting, or through a snap engagement mechanism, for example. An optional light <NUM>, e.g. an LED located behind a small translucent cover, is located a bottom end <NUM> of the main body <NUM>. The light <NUM> may be configured to illuminate when the smoking substitute device <NUM> is activated.

The consumable <NUM> includes a mouthpiece (not shown) at a top end <NUM> of the consumable <NUM>, as well as one or more air inlets (not shown in <FIG>) so that air can be drawn into the smoking substitute device <NUM> when a user inhales through the mouthpiece. At a bottom end <NUM> of the consumable <NUM>, there is located a tank <NUM> that contains e-liquid. The tank <NUM> may be a translucent body, for example.

The tank <NUM> preferably includes a window <NUM>, so that the amount of e-liquid in the tank <NUM> can be visually assessed. The main body <NUM> includes a slot <NUM> so that the window <NUM> of the consumable <NUM> can be seen whilst the rest of the tank <NUM> is obscured from view when the consumable <NUM> is inserted into the aperture in the top end <NUM> of the main body <NUM>.

In this present embodiment, the consumable <NUM> is a "single-use" consumable. That is, upon exhausting the e-liquid in the tank <NUM>, the intention is that the user disposes of the whole consumable <NUM>. In other embodiments, the e-liquid (i.e. aerosol former) may be the only part of the system that is truly "single-use". In such embodiments, the tank <NUM> may be refillable with e-liquid or the e-liquid may be stored in a non-consumable component of the system. For example, the e-liquid may be stored in a tank located in the device or stored in another component that is itself not single-use (e.g. a refillable tank).

The tank <NUM> may be referred to as a "clearomizer" if it includes a window <NUM>, or a "cartomizer" if it does not.

<FIG> is a schematic view of the main body <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM>.

<FIG> is a schematic view of the consumable <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, the main body <NUM> includes a power source <NUM>, a control unit <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, an audio interface <NUM>, a wireless interface <NUM>, optionally a display <NUM>, an electrical interface <NUM>, and, optionally, one or more additional components <NUM>.

The power source <NUM> is preferably a battery, more preferably a rechargeable battery.

The control unit <NUM> may include a microprocessor, for example.

The control unit <NUM> includes an NLP unit <NUM>. The NLP unit may be a natural language processing chip, for example.

The memory <NUM> is preferably includes non-volatile memory.

The audio interface <NUM> may include a microphone and, optionally, a loudspeaker.

The wireless interface <NUM> is preferably configured to communicate wirelessly with the mobile device <NUM>, e.g. via Bluetooth. To this end, the wireless interface <NUM> could include a Bluetooth™ antenna. Other wireless communication interfaces, e.g. WiFi, are also possible.

The display <NUM>, if included, may, for example, be a screen.

The electrical interface <NUM> of the main body <NUM> may include one or more electrical supply contacts. The electrical interface <NUM> may be located in, and preferably at the bottom of, the aperture in the top end <NUM> of the main body <NUM>. When the main body <NUM> is physically coupled to the consumable <NUM>, the electrical interface <NUM> may be configured to pass electrical power from the power source <NUM> to (e.g. a heating device of) the consumable <NUM> when the smoking substitute device <NUM> is activated, e.g. via the electrical interface <NUM> of the consumable <NUM> (discussed below). When the main body <NUM> is not physically coupled to the consumable <NUM>, the electrical interface may be configured to receive power from the charging station <NUM>.

The additional components <NUM> of the main body <NUM> may include the optional light <NUM> discussed above.

The additional components <NUM> of the main body <NUM> may, if the power source <NUM> is a rechargeable battery, include a charging port configured to receive power from the charging station <NUM>. This may be located at the bottom end <NUM> of the main body <NUM>. Alternatively, the electrical interface <NUM> discussed above is configured to act as a charging port configured to receive power from the charging station <NUM> such that a separate charging port is not required.

The additional components <NUM> of the main body <NUM> may, if the power source <NUM> is a rechargeable battery, include a battery charging control circuit, for controlling the charging of the rechargeable battery. However, a battery charging control circuit could equally be located in the charging station <NUM> (if present).

The additional components <NUM> of the main body <NUM> may include an airflow sensor for detecting airflow in the smoking substitute device <NUM>, e.g. caused by a user inhaling through a mouthpiece <NUM> (discussed below) of the smoking substitute device <NUM>. The smoking substitute device <NUM> may be configured to be activated when airflow is detected by the airflow sensor. This optional sensor could alternatively be included in the consumable <NUM> (though this is less preferred where the consumable <NUM> is intended to be disposed of after use, as in this example).

The additional components <NUM> of the main body <NUM> may include an actuator, e.g. a button. The smoking substitute device <NUM> may be configured to be activated when the actuator is actuated. This provides an alternative to the airflow sensor noted, as a mechanism for activating the smoking substitute device <NUM>.

The additional components <NUM> of the main body <NUM> may include a reading device configured to read information associated with the consumable from a machine readable data source included in (e.g. contained in the body of, or attached to) the consumable <NUM>.

In some examples, the reading device (if present) may be configured to read information from the machine readable data source non-wirelessly, e.g. using an electrical connection between the main body <NUM> and consumable <NUM>.

For example, the reading device (if present) may include a set of one or more electrical communication contacts configured to read information from the machine readable data source via an electrical connection established between the set of one or more electrical communication contacts and the machine readable data source. Conveniently, the set of one or more electrical communication contacts of the reading device may be configured to provide the electrical connection by engaging with a set of one or more electrical communication contacts of the consumable <NUM>, when the main body <NUM> and the consumable <NUM> are physically coupled together.

In some examples, the reading device (if present) may be configured to read information from the machine readable data source wirelessly, e.g. via electromagnetic waves or optically. Thus, for example, the machine readable data source included in the consumable <NUM> could be an RFID tag (in which case the reading device included in the main body <NUM> may be an RFID reader) or a visual data source such as a barcode (in which case the reading device included in the main body may be an optical reader, e.g. a barcode scanner). Various wireless technologies and protocols may be employed to allow the reading device to wirelessly read information from a machine readable data source included in or attached to the consumable <NUM>, e.g. NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, as would be appreciated by a skilled person.

The reading device (if present) may be configured to write information associated with the consumable to the machine readable data source (e.g. wirelessly or non-wirelessly, via one of the mechanisms discussed above) in addition to being configured to read information associated with the consumable from the machine readable data source. In this case, the reading device may be referred to as a reading/writing device.

As shown in <FIG>, the consumable <NUM> includes the tank <NUM>, an electrical interface <NUM>, a heating device <NUM>, one or more air inlets <NUM>, a mouthpiece <NUM>, and, optionally, one or more additional components <NUM>.

The electrical interface <NUM> of the consumable <NUM> may include one or more electrical supply contacts. The electrical interface <NUM> of the main body <NUM> and an electrical interface <NUM> of the consumable <NUM> are preferably configured to contact each other and therefore electrically couple the main body <NUM> to the consumable <NUM> when the main body <NUM> is physically coupled to the consumable <NUM>. In this way, electrical energy (e.g. in the form of an electrical current) is able to be supplied from the power source <NUM> in the main body <NUM> to the heating device <NUM> in the consumable <NUM>.

The heating device <NUM> is preferably configured to heat e-liquid contained in the tank <NUM>, e.g. using electrical energy supplied from the power source <NUM>. In one example, the heating device <NUM> may include a heating filament and a wick, wherein a first portion of the wick extends into the tank <NUM> in order to draw e-liquid out from the tank <NUM>, and wherein the heating filament coils around a second portion of the wick located outside the tank <NUM>. In this example, the heating filament is configured to heat up e-liquid drawn out of the tank <NUM> by the wick to produce an aerosol vapour.

The one or more air inlets <NUM> are preferably configured to allow air to be drawn into the smoking substitute device <NUM>, when a user inhales through the mouthpiece <NUM>.

The additional components <NUM> of the consumable <NUM> may include a machine readable data source, which may e.g. be contained in the body of, or attached to the consumable <NUM>. The machine readable data source may store information associated with the consumable. The information associated with the consumable may include information concerning the content of the consumable (e.g. e-liquid type, batch number) and/or a unique identifier, for example.

The machine readable data source may be rewritable, e.g. a rewritable RFID chip, or read only, e.g. a visual data source such as a barcode. As indicated above, the additional components <NUM> of the main body <NUM> may include a reading device configured to read information associated with the consumable from the machine readable data source.

For example, the electrical interface <NUM> of the consumable <NUM> may include a set of one or more electrical communication contacts, which may allow a reading device of the main body to read information from a machine readable data source of the consumable, e.g. as discussed previously.

In use, a user activates the smoking substitute device <NUM>, e.g. through actuating an actuator included in the main body <NUM> or by inhaling through the mouthpiece <NUM> as described above. Upon activation, the control unit <NUM> may supply electrical energy from the power source <NUM> to the heating device <NUM> (via electrical interfaces <NUM>, <NUM>), which may cause the heating device <NUM> to heat e-liquid drawn from the tank <NUM> to produce a vapour which is inhaled by a user through the mouthpiece <NUM>.

Of course, a skilled reader would readily appreciate that the smoking substitute device <NUM> shown in <FIG> and <FIG> shows just one example implementation of a smoking substitute device, and that other forms of smoking substitute device could be used as the smoking substitute device <NUM> of <FIG>.

By way of example, a HNB smoking substitute device including a main body and a consumable could be used as the smoking substitute device <NUM> of <FIG>, instead of the smoking substitute device <NUM>. One such HNB smoking substitute device is the IQOS™ smoking substitute device discussed above.

As another example, an open system vaping device which includes a main body, a refillable tank, and a mouthpiece could be used as the smoking substitute device <NUM> of <FIG>, instead of the smoking substitute device <NUM>. One such open system vaping device is the blu PRO™ e-cigarette discussed above.

As another example, an entirely disposable (one use) smoking substitute device could be used as the smoking substitute device <NUM> of <FIG>, instead of the smoking substitute device <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the NLP unit <NUM> is a natural language processing chip. A natural language processing chip is a chip which implements a natural language processing model. A natural language processing chip may also perform additional language processing functions.

In some examples the natural language processing chip could be the NLP-5x made by SENSORY®. The NLP-5x is capable of supporting both hidden Markov modelling as well as neural networks, both of which are algorithms well known to those skilled in the art of natural language processing. The NLP-5x is also configurable to implement biometric voice verification. This allows an NLP-5x chip to additionally be used for voice recognition, e.g. as described in more detail below.

In some embodiments, the natural language processing chip is configured to implement one or more recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms.

In some examples, the recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms include long short-term memory (LSTM) algorithms.

In some examples, the one or more recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms include gated recurrent units (GRUs).

In some examples the one or more recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms are implemented by using TensorFlow™ machine learning networks. The skilled person will be aware that many other machine learning frameworks are appropriate for implementing recurrent neural networks.

The one or more recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms could be implemented using standard, freely available software, e.g. by implementing one or more of the SciPy, NumPy, Matplotlib, pandas, and scikit-learn (sklearn) libraries of the Python® programming language. Additionally or alternatively, the one or more recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms could be implemented using proprietary licensed software, e.g. MATLAB®.

In some examples, the inference outputs of the one or more recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms are optimised by implementing one or more sparse-matrix operations. The one or more sparse-matrix operations may include implementation of well-known sparse-matrix libriaries, e.g. the NVIDIA CUDA® Sparse Matrix library™ - cuSPARSE.

The one or more recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms are preferably built and trained on a separate system to the smoking substitute device <NUM>, not shown in the figures. Preferably the separate system is an external graphics processing unit (GPU).

In some examples, the recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms are implemented on one or more processing chips suitable to run recurrent neural network machine learning algorithms, e.g. the ARM Cortex-A processors made by Arm Holdings Ltd. Other chips made by Arm®, e.g. having DSP capability, and compatibility with Arm NN, Arm Compute Library or the CMSIS-NN software library could be equally be used. For avoidance of any doubt, these are just examples, and other chips (not necessarily made by Arm®) could also be used.

In some examples, implementing the natural language processing model includes retraining freely available pre-trained natural language processing models on an external workstation. In some examples, the pre-trained natural language processing models may include one or more of: Universal Language Model Fine-tuning (ULMFiT), a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), embedding-from-language models (ELMo's), and bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT). In some examples, the external workstation is a graphics processing unit (GPU). In some examples, the training data required to implement the re-training is based on usage data of a plurality of users. In some examples, the plurality of users includes <NUM> users or more, <NUM> users or more, <NUM> users or more, or more preferably <NUM> users or more. Alternatively, the pre-trained natural language processing models may be implemented without retraining them via machine learning algorithms, In some examples, where the pre-trained natural language processing models are not retrained, a text classifier module may be included in the natural language processing model to classify the recognised text according to one or more predetermined categories of spoken language.

A skilled person could readily implement the natural language processing and machine learning as described herein in light of the present disclosure as well as known natural language processing and machine learning techniques, which are well described in the literature.

<FIG> is a flow chart depicting a method by which natural language processing can be implemented to recognise and execute commands given by the user.

As depicted in <FIG>, a user <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM> issues a command in naturally spoken words S400. It is anticipated that different users of the device will use different naturally spoken words to convey the same intended meaning.

The naturally spoken words S400 are received by the audio interface <NUM> of the smoking substitute device and transmitted to the NLP unit <NUM> of the device as natural audio input in step S401. The NLP unit <NUM> on the control unit <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM> contains an NLP model which is used to perform natural language processing (NLP) S402 on the natural audio input. The results of the natural language processing, e.g. a possible command, may then be compared to a predetermined list of possible commands in step S403.

In some examples, the command recognised by the natural language processing model may be accompanied by an associated confidence level, indicating a level of confidence that the command has been correctly recognised. The confidence level would typically be produced by the natural language model itself. The/each confidence is preferably expressed as a probability, e.g. with <NUM> indicating a <NUM>% probability that the command has been correctly recognised.

In some examples, the model may analyse the recognised words spoken by the user and assign a respective confidence level to each of a number of possible commands, with the confidence level indicating that the recognised words contain that possible command. The possible command with the highest associated confidence level may then be designated as a recognised command expressed in a natural language form, with the confidence level associated with said possible command being the confidence level associated with the recognised command.

If a confidence level associated with the recognised command is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the NLP unit <NUM> notifies the control unit <NUM> of the recognised command the user <NUM> intends to be executed. The control unit <NUM> subsequently executes this command S409.

If the confidence level associated with the recognised command is below the predetermined threshold (or indeed if the NLP unit cannot determine the command that the user <NUM> intends to be executed by the smoking substitute device <NUM>), the NLP unit may perform a verification function to verify the command intended to be executed by the user, e.g. in the form of an output asking the user to verify whether a recognised command should be implemented, or asking which of a plurality of possible commands should be implemented. In this example, the verification function involves natural language processing S402 (using the NLP model) to generate a verifying question S404 in natural language.

Although in this example, natural language processing S402 is used to generate the verifying question S404, in other examples it would be possible for the verifying question to be generated by other means, e.g. the control unit <NUM> could be configured to instruct the audio interface <NUM> to emit an audible signal indicative of the need for verification of a recognised command. Additionally or alternatively the display <NUM> could be configured to display visual information indicative of the need for verification, e.g. "Do you want to perform the following function: pair the device".

The generated verifying question S404 is delivered to the user using one or more output devices. The one or more output devices may, for example, include the audio interface <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM>. Additionally or alternatively, the one or more output devices may include an audio interface of the remote device <NUM> wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device <NUM>. In this way, the generated verifying question S404 may be configured as a generated audio output S405 and delivered to the user audibly S406.

Additionally or alternatively, the one or more output devices may include the display <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM>. Additionally or alternatively, the one or more output devices may include a display of the remote device <NUM> wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device <NUM>. In this way, the generated verifying question S404 may be configured as a generated visual output S405 and delivered to the user visually S406.

Additionally or alternatively, the one or more output devices may include a haptic feedback unit of the smoking substitute device <NUM>. The haptic feedback unit may be configured to vibrate to alert the user <NUM> that there is a generated audio/visual output S405 corresponding to the generated verifying question S404. Preferably the haptic feedback corresponding to the alert of a verifying question is uniquely distinguishable from any other haptic feedback that the smoking substitute device is configured to deliver, thereby indicating the command that is to be verified.

The user <NUM> then provides verification input to the device S407 to verify the command that the user intends the smoking substitute device <NUM> to execute. The verification input may be, for example, words spoken in natural language, but it is not necessary for the verification input to be processed with natural language processing. For example, the verification input may be an input through a touchscreen display on the smoking substitute device <NUM> or the remote device <NUM> which communicates the input wirelessly to the smoking substitute device. As another example, the verification input may be through mechanical means, e.g. a button or actuator.

The smoking substitute device processes the verified command S408. If the verification input is in the form of words spoken in natural language, the verified command may be processed with natural language processing, similar to in step S402.

Once the verified command has been processed by the smoking substitute device <NUM>, the device implements (or "executes") the verified command S409.

The predetermined confidence level threshold may be, e.g. <NUM>% or higher, <NUM>% or higher, or more preferably <NUM>% or higher.

<FIG> is a flow chart depicting a method by which natural language processing can be implemented to deliver a feedback notification about the usage date of the device to the user.

As depicted in <FIG>, one or more processors on the control unit <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM> determine one or more parameters associated with the usage data of the device S500. The one or more parameters associated with the usage data of the device may include e.g. the number of activation events of the device in a predetermined period of time, the predicted time of a next activation event, the predicted time a next empty battery event, the predicted time of a next empty consumable event.

The one or more parameters associated with the usage data of the device are encoded as usage information S501. The NLP unit <NUM> of the smoking substitute device implements natural language processing S402 using a natural language processing model to generate a feedback notification in natural language S504.

The generated feedback notification S504 is delivered to the user using one or more output devices. The one or more output devices may, for example, include the audio interface <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM>. Additionally or alternatively, the one or more output devices may include an audio interface of the remote device <NUM> wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device <NUM>. In this way, the generated feedback notification S504 may be configured as a generated audio output S405 and delivered to the user audibly S406.

Additionally or alternatively, the one or more output devices may include the display <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM>. Additionally or alternatively, the one or more output devices may include a display of the remote device <NUM> wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device <NUM>. In this way, the generated feedback notification S504 may be configured as a generated visual output S405 and delivered to the user visually S406.

Additionally or alternatively, the one or more output devices may include a haptic feedback unit of the smoking substitute device <NUM>. The haptic feedback unit may be configured to vibrate to alert the user <NUM> that there is a generated audio/visual output S405 corresponding to the generated feedback notification S504. Preferably the haptic feedback corresponding to the alert of a feedback notification is uniquely distinguishable from any other haptic feedback that the smoking substitute device is configured to deliver.

<FIG> is a flow chart depicting a method by which personal data is discarded while relevant command data is issued from the smoking substitute device in the system of <FIG> to the mobile device in the system of <FIG>.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the NLP unit <NUM> may be configured to transmit the recognised command intended by the user <NUM> of the device to the remote device <NUM> wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device in step S601. The remote device <NUM> selects the appropriate command to be executed S603 and transmits an instruction to execute the selected command to the smoking substitute device <NUM> in step S409.

In these cases, to prevent a security breach of personal data, the natural audio input S401, preferably also the recognised words spoken by a user in that audio signal, is permanently discarded in step S602. Only the recognised command is transmitted to the mobile device <NUM>, i.e. the NLP unit <NUM> is configured to prohibit natural audio input and/or other personal data from leaving the smoking substitute device <NUM>.

<FIG> is a flow chart depicting a method by which natural language processing can be implemented as a voice recognition unit.

As depicted in <FIG>, the user <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM> speaks in naturally spoken words S400. It is anticipated that different users of the device will use different naturally spoken words to convey the same intended meaning.

The naturally spoken words S400 are received by the audio interface <NUM> of the smoking substitute device and are optionally transmitted to the NLP unit <NUM> of the device as natural audio input in step S401. The NLP unit <NUM> on the control unit <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM> performs natural language processing (NLP) S402 on the natural audio input. If the natural audio input has been transferred to the NLP unit <NUM> for natural language processing, it is subsequently transmitted to a voice recognition unit which determines if the detected voice belongs to a user <NUM> whose voice has been registered with the smoking substitute device S703. In some examples, the NLP unit <NUM> also acts as the voice recognition unit. The natural audio input may be transmitted directly to the voice recognition unit without first being transmitted to the NLP unit <NUM>.

Registration of a voice with the smoking substitute device may conveniently be performed by a user using the audio interface included in the smoking substitute device, or alternatively using an audio interface of a mobile device wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device. This registration process may involve prompting a user to use their voice, e.g. using an output device of the smoking substitute device or a display of a mobile device wirelessly connected to the mobile device.

If the voice recognition determines that the voice of the user <NUM> does not correspond to the voice of a registered user of the device in step S703, the smoking substitute device <NUM> may be configured to disable one or more functions of the device S704.

Additionally or alternatively, the smoking substitute device may be configured to disable one or more functions of the device only if an audio signal obtained by the audio interface <NUM> both (i) does not contain speech uttered by a registered user; and (ii) contains a command (e.g. recognised by the natural language processing model) for controlling operation of the smoking substitute device.

Additionally or alternatively, the smoking substitute device <NUM> may be configured to disable one or more function of the device if a predetermined length of time has elapsed since the smoking substitute device last determined in step S703 that an audio signal obtained by the audio interface <NUM> of the smoking substitute device <NUM> contains speech uttered by a user whose voice has been registered by the smoking substitute device <NUM> as being valid for use with the smoking substitute device.

The predetermined length of time may be, for example, <NUM> seconds or more, <NUM> seconds or more, <NUM> minute or more, <NUM> seconds or more, or <NUM> minutes or more depending on need. A registered user may be able to adjust the predetermined length of time, e.g. via the remote device <NUM> wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device <NUM>. Additionally or alternatively, the predetermined length of time could be determined by the device itself by implementing an algorithm accounts for the frequency of usage of the device. In some examples, this algorithm is a machine learning algorithm.

If the voice recognition unit determines that the voice of the user <NUM> corresponds to the voice of a registered user of the device in step S703, the smoking substitute device <NUM> may be configured to check if one or more functions of the device S705. If one or more functions of the smoking substitute device have been disabled, then the device may be configured to re-enable the one or more disabled functions of the device S706.

Additionally or alternatively, the smoking substitute device may be configured to re-enable one or more previously disabled functions of the smoking substitute device if the smoking substitute device determines that an audio signal obtained by the audio interface both (i) contains speech uttered by a registered user; and (ii) contains a command (e.g. recognised by the natural language processing model) for controlling operation of the smoking substitute device.

The one or more functions of the smoking substitute device <NUM> that could be disabled may include, for example permitting activation of the smoking substitute device to produce vapour The one or more functions of the smoking substitute device <NUM> that could be disabled may include, for example wirelessly pairing the smoking substitute device with a new mobile device.

<FIG> is a flow chart depicting a method by which natural language processing can be implemented to both function as a voice recognition unit and to recognise and execute commands given by the user.

As depicted in <FIG>, the NLP unit <NUM> is configured to implement both one or more voice recognition algorithms S703, and natural language processing to recognise commands S403 uttered by a registered user of the device, as described previously with respect to previous <FIG> and <FIG>. Since these steps have already been described, the description of these steps does not need to be repeated here.

Claim 1:
A system (<NUM>) comprising a smoking substitute device (<NUM>) and a mobile device (<NUM>), wherein the mobile device is wirelessly connected to the smoking substitute device;
wherein the smoking substitute device is configured to generate an aerosol from an aerosol forming substrate, the smoking substitute device comprising an audio interface (<NUM>);
wherein the smoking substitute device is configured to perform a speech control function that includes:
recognising words spoken by a user in an audio signal obtained by the audio interface;
using a natural language processing model stored on and configured to be run by the smoking substitute device to analyse the recognised words spoken by the user;
if a confidence level associated with a command recognised by the natural language processing model is less than a predetermined threshold value, perform a verification function to verify the command intended to be executed by the user; and
controlling an operation of the smoking substitute device based on the analysis of the recognised words spoken by the user;
wherein the smoking substitute device is configured to prevent the audio signal obtained by the audio interface (<NUM>) from being communicated from the device to the mobile device; and
wherein the verification function includes:
using the natural language processing model to generate a sequence of words asking the user to verify whether the recognised command should be implemented;
using an output device of the mobile device (<NUM>) to produce an output which provides the sequence of words to the user; and
if, in response to the output, the user verifies that they want to implement the recognised command, controlling operation of the smoking substitute device to implement the recognised command.