International Business Machines Corporation

Robert E Chapman

Edith H Stern

Barry Edward Willner

Philip Shi-lung Yu

Asser Nasreldin Tantawi

David Perry Greene

Systems and methods are provided to monitor a container associated with an item. According to one embodiment, an indication that a container has been opened is received. For example, the container may transmit a signal when a person opens the container to access an item. Based on the received indication, ownership of the item may be transferred and/or another item may be provided (e.g., to the person who opened the container). According to other embodiments, item quality information, item warranty information, and/or security information are determined based on the received indication. According to still other embodiments, a sender receives a notification based on the indication or the indication is recorded as an acceptance of an agreement. In yet another embodiment, the indication is used to verify that the container was opened in accordance with an item requirement.

Systems, methods, and apparatus for monitoring a container associated with an item

Data communication between a data sender and at least one data recipient is facilitated when the data recipient is associated with a telephone number that can not be used to access the user with a telephone call. An invention receives the telephone number associated with the data destination (data recipient) and receives an indication that data is to be communicated. The invention uses the telephone number to determine at least one characteristic of data destination/recipient. The invention also receives at least one characteristic of the data to be communicated that enable the data to be communicated to the data receiver/recipient.

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Raleigh, NC, United States of America

Robert E Chapman