The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 17, 2020
Filed:
Jun. 23, 2015
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Nader M. Nassar, Somers, NY (US);
Grant D. Miller, Boulder, CO (US);
Erich D. Walls, Indianapolis, IN (US);
Richard Newhook, Marlton, NJ (US);
Stephen Y. Chow, Coppell, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An apparatus, termed a destination validation device (DVD), comprises a sensor configured to sense physical presence of a parcel and to obtain metadata from said parcel; at least one data processor connected with at least one memory storing software instructions that when executed causes the DVD to at least determine from reading the obtained metadata whether a signature is required for delivery of the parcel, and prepare a destination delivery acknowledgement indicating whether said signature is required; and a transmitter configured to communicate the prepared destination delivery acknowledgement external of the DVD. In this manner a delivery service can verify that the parcel is at the physical delivery location. Further details provide for also obtaining the (digital) signature when the metadata indicates it is required for delivery of the parcel. Other embodiments include a method and a computer program product comprised of software instructions on a computer-readable medium.