US Patent 11394547 Transaction agents and systems

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. Although the hardware agent may perform many functions autonomously, it often will have communication capabilities enabling it to share information with stakeholders, or to others as allowed.