Recent Walmart Patent Application Describes Blockchain-Managed Smart Appliances

#Recent Walmart Patent Application Describes Blockchain-Managed Smart Appliances

U.S. retail giant Walmart has applied for another patent, which describes the management of smart appliances using blockchain technology, according to an application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office August 2.

The application outlines systems and methods for managing a smart appliances such as a desktop or server computer, a kiosk, a tabletop device, or more portable computing devices, such as a wearable or gaming devices, laptop computers, or portable media players.

From a practical perspective, users will employ a device, whether it is wearable or not, that maintains the private key used to authorize a transaction. One use case described was a kiosk for receiving packages from delivery drones.