ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,326,794, issued on June 10, was assigned to RAI STRATEGIC HOLDINGS INC. (Winston-Salem, N.C.).

"Product use and behavior monitoring instrument" was invented by Jeffrey Sean Smith (Winston Salem, N.C.), Steven L. Alderman (Lewisville, N.C.), Paul A. Brinkley (Winston-Salem, N.C.), Sarah A. Baxter-Wright (Mooresville, N.C.), Kyung Soo (Jason) Hong (Clemmons, N.C.), Paul R. Nelson (Winston-Salem, N.C.), Stephen B. Sears (Siler City, N.C.), Rajesh Sur (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and John Darnell (Winston-Salem, N.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A product use and behavior instrument includes a housing defining a central compartment therein. A con...