Functional Control and Age Verification of Electronic Devices Through Visual Communication

A method comprising:

• transmitting, by a host device, an age verification request via a wireless communications interface to an age verification system to verify an age of a user;
• receiving, at the host device, an age verification confirmation from the age verification system for the user;
• outputting an optical signal via a light source of the host device based on the age verification confirmation;
• receiving, at an aerosol delivery device, the optical signal from the light source of the host device via an optical detector of the aerosol delivery device;
• and
• transitioning the aerosol delivery device out of a locked state in response to receipt of the optical signal from the host device;
• wherein, in the locked state, aerosol delivery is prevented.

A host device comprising:

• a communications interface;
• a light source;
• and
• processing circuitry;
• wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:
• transmit an age verification request via the communications interface to an age verification system to verify an age of a user of an aerosol delivery device;
• receive an age verification confirmation from the age verification system for the user;
• and
• output an optical signal via the light source based on the age verification confirmation for receipt by an optical detector of the aerosol delivery device.