Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is associated with a good, and includes one or more permanent and irreversible electrochromic indicators that are used to report the condition of that good at selected points in the movement or usage of that good. These electrochromic indicators provide immediate visual information regarding the status of the good without need to interrogate or communicate with the electronics or processor on the intelligent label. In this way, anyone in the shipping or use chain for the good, including the end user consumer, can quickly understand whether the product is meeting shipping and quality standards. If a product fails to meet shipping or quality standards, the particular point where the product failed can be quickly and easily identified, and information can be used to assure the consumer remains safe, while providing essential information for improving the shipping process.

Abstract: An intelligent audible device is provided that is constructed to monitor for an event, such as actual or elapse time, or a sensor exceeding a threshold. Responsive to the event, a sound input transducer is activated, and an output sound signal representing an intended message is projected into the local environment by a sound output transducer. The sound input transducer captures the actual sound projected into the local environment. The captured actual sound is processed and compared to the output sound signal. In this way it may be confidently determined if the intended message was actually properly projected into the local environment.

Abstract: Briefly, a new network processing system is provided that collects and coordinates key indicators regarding a product's quality as that product moves from supplier to end user. By doing so, the processing system provides robust, authentic, and trustworthy data that (1) reports the time period when any custodian had the product, (2) identifies what timing or environmental condition caused the product to go bad, and (3) verifies which custodian acted to make the product defective. In use, an intelligent label is attached to a product, and the intelligent label has a timer as well as one or more sensors for monitoring environmental conditions. Upon exceeding timing or environmental rules, a visual alarm indicator is activated on the label. Since the label has electronically retrievable data, electronically scannable data, and human readable date, the network process can collected key data regarding the product along the entire distribution chain.

Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is associated with a good, and includes one or more permanent and irreversible electrochromic indicators that are used to report the condition of that good at selected points in the movement or usage of that good. These electrochromic indicators provide immediate visual information regarding the status of the good without need to interrogate or communicate with the electronics or processor on the intelligent label. In this way, anyone in the shipping or use chain for the good, including the end user consumer, can quickly understand whether the product is meeting shipping and quality standards. If a product fails to meet shipping or quality standards, the particular point where the product failed can be quickly and easily identified, and information can be used to assure the consumer remains safe, while providing essential information for improving the shipping process.

Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is associated with a good, and includes one or more permanent and irreversible electrochromic indicators that are used to report the condition of that good at selected points in the movement or usage of that good. These electrochromic indicators provide immediate visual information regarding the status of the good without need to interrogate or communicate with the electronics or processor on the intelligent label. In this way, anyone in the shipping or use chain for the good, including the end user consumer, can quickly understand whether the product is meeting shipping and quality standards. If a product fails to meet shipping or quality standards, the particular point where the product failed can be quickly and easily identified, and information can be used to assure the consumer remains safe, while providing essential information for improving the shipping process.

Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is associated with a good, and includes one or more permanent and irreversible electrochromic indicators that are used to report the condition of that good at selected points in the movement or usage of that good. These electrochromic indicators provide immediate visual information regarding the status of the good without need to interrogate or communicate with the electronics or processor on the intelligent label. In this way, anyone in the shipping or use chain for the good, including the end user consumer, can quickly understand whether the product is meeting shipping and quality standards. If a product fails to meet shipping or quality standards, the particular point where the product failed can be quickly and easily identified, and information can be used to assure the consumer remains safe, while providing essential information for improving the shipping process.

Abstract: An information system is provided that enables stakeholders to define a secure data object that sets permissions, rules, and rights for an asset. The secure data object may be communicated to entities, such as computer hosts or hardware agents, and the entities are enable to act within the permissions, rules, and rights to conduct transactions and gather information as agents of the stakeholders. The secure data object may be received into a hardware agent attached to an asset, and the agent may have sufficient permission to monitor environmental conditions, adjust pricing, consummate a transaction, or communicate a report.

Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is associated with a good, and includes one or more permanent and irreversible electrochromic indicators that are used to report the condition of that good at selected points in the movement or usage of that good. These electrochromic indicators provide immediate visual information regarding the status of the good without need to interrogate or communicate with the electronics or processor on the intelligent label. In this way, anyone in the shipping or use chain for the good, including the end user consumer, can quickly understand whether the product is meeting shipping and quality standards. If a product fails to meet shipping or quality standards, the particular point where the product failed can be quickly and easily identified, and information can be used to assure the consumer remains safe, while providing essential information for improving the shipping process.

Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is associated with a good, and includes one or more permanent and irreversible electrochromic indicators that are used to report the condition of that good at selected points in the movement or usage of that good. These electrochromic indicators provide immediate visual information regarding the status of the good without need to interrogate or communicate with the electronics or processor on the intelligent label. In this way, anyone in the shipping or use chain for the good, including the end user consumer, can quickly understand whether the product is meeting shipping and quality standards. If a product fails to meet shipping or quality standards, the particular point where the product failed can be quickly and easily identified, and information can be used to assure the consumer remains safe, while providing essential information for improving the shipping process.

Abstract: A hardware agent is a hardware device attached to, embedded in, or otherwise associated with a good. In particular, the hardware agent is bound to the good in such a way that information held by the agent may be confidently associated with the good. The hardware agent is constructed to securely hold information about the good, and information about stakeholders, such that the agent may autonomously make binding decisions regarding the good, including sales and financial transactions.

Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is associated with a good, and includes one or more permanent and irreversible electrochromic indicators that are used to report the condition of that good at selected points in the movement or usage of that good. These electrochromic indicators provide immediate visual information regarding the status of the good without need to interrogate or communicate with the electronics or processor on the intelligent label. In this way, anyone in the shipping or use chain for the good, including the end user consumer, can quickly understand whether the product is meeting shipping and quality standards. If a product fails to meet shipping or quality standards, the particular point where the product failed can be quickly and easily identified, and information can be used to assure the consumer remains safe, while providing essential information for improving the shipping process.

Abstract: Briefly, a method for verifying the visual perceptibility of a display is provided. An intended message is written to a bistable display. Pixels that comprise portions of the message are measured and evaluated to determine if the message actually displayed on the bistable display was perceptible by a human or a machine. In some cases, information regarding the message actually perceivable from the display may be stored for later use. Responsive to determining that a message is perceivable or not perceivable, alarms may be set, one or more third parties notified, or additional display features may be set.

Abstract: A verifiable display is provided that enables the visual content of the display to be detected and confirmed in a variety of ambient lighting conditions, enviroments, and operational states. In particular, the verifiable display has a display layer that is capable of visually setting an intended message for human or machine reading, with the intendended message being set using pixels. Depending on the operational condition of the display and the ambient light, for example, the message that is actually displayed and perceivable may vary from the intended message. To detect what message is actually displayed, a light detection layer in the verifiable display detects the illumination state of the pixels, and in that way is able to detect what message is actually being presented by the display layer.

Abstract: Briefly, a method for verifying the visual perceptibility of a display is provided. An intended message is written to a bistable display. Pixels that comprise portions of the message are measured and evaluated to determine if the message actually displayed on the bistable display was perceptible by a human or a machine. In some cases, information regarding the message actually perceivable from the display may be stored for later use. Responsive to determining that a message is perceivable or not perceivable, alarms may be set, one or more third parties notified, or additional display features may be set.

Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is associated with a good, and includes one or more permanent and irreversible electrochromic indicators that are used to report the condition of that good at selected points in the movement or usage of that good. These electrochromic indicators provide immediate visual information regarding the status of the good without need to interrogate or communicate with the electronics or processor on the intelligent label. In this way, anyone in the shipping or use chain for the good, including the end user consumer, can quickly understand whether the product is meeting shipping and quality standards. If a product fails to meet shipping or quality standards, the particular point where the product failed can be quickly and easily identified, and information can be used to assure the consumer remains safe, while providing essential information for improving the shipping process.

Abstract: Briefly, a method for verifying the visual perceptibility of a display is provided. An intended message is written to a bistable display. Pixels that comprise portions of the message are measured and evaluated to determine if the message actually displayed on the bistable display was perceptible by a human or a machine. In some cases, information regarding the message actually perceivable from the display may be stored for later use. Responsive to determining that a message is perceivable or not perceivable, alarms may be set, one or more third parties notified, or additional display features may be set.

Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is disclosed that has two viewable surfaces. Each surface is constructed such that a permanent and irreversible message may be set into each surface independently. That is, a first message may be set into the first viewing surface of the electro-optic material, and another message may be set into the second viewing surface, for example, at a later time. Various constructions are described including a construction using two pairs of stimulating electrodes, and a second construction using a single pair of stimulating electrodes.

Abstract: Briefly, an intelligent label is associated with a good, and includes one or more permanent and irreversible electrochromic indicators that are used to report the condition of that good at selected points in the movement or usage of that good. These electrochromic indicators provide immediate visual information regarding the status of the good without need to interrogate or communicate with the electronics or processor on the intelligent label. In this way, anyone in the shipping or use chain for the good, including the end user consumer, can quickly understand whether the product is meeting shipping and quality standards. If a product fails to meet shipping or quality standards, the particular point where the product failed can be quickly and easily identified, and information can be used to assure the consumer remains safe, while providing essential information for improving the shipping process.

Abstract: Briefly, a new network processing system is provided that collects and coordinates key indicators regarding a product's quality as that product moves from supplier to end user. By doing so, the processing system provides robust, authentic, and trustworthy data that (1) reports the time period when any custodian had the product, (2) identifies what timing or environmental condition caused the product to go bad, and (3) verifies which custodian acted to make the product defective. In use, an intelligent label is attached to a product, and the intelligent label has a timer as well as one or more sensors for monitoring environmental conditions. Upon exceeding timing or environmental rules, a visual alarm indicator is activated on the label. Since the label has electronically retrievable data, electronically scanable data, and human readable date, the network process can collected key data regarding the product along the entire distribution chain.