Patent ID: 7652555

Claim:
A method performed by a portable container, the container comprising an input interface, a display, one or more tag readers, a memory, and a processor, the method comprising: generating a signal upon activation of the input interface of the container; responsive to the signal, reading information from one or more identification tags physically associated with one or more objects disposed in the container using the one or more tag readers, the information including, for an object from the one or more objects, one or more of a history of removal of the object from the container, a history of addition of the object to the container, and a time of reading of the information from the identification tag physically associated with the object; determining, for each object in the one or more objects, object-related information for the object based upon the information read from the identification tag physically associated with the object and based upon information stored in the memory of the container; and displaying the object-related information determined for at least one object in the one or more objects using the display of the container; wherein the method is autonomously performed by the container without requiring any external processing.