ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,617,439, issued on May 5, was assigned to International Electronic Machines Corp. (Troy, N.Y.).

"Transportation operation fault detection" was invented by Zahid F. Mian (Loudonville, N.Y.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An impact load detector can include a rigid object affixed to a structure for which an impact is to be evaluated. The detector can include one or more sensors which are configured to acquire impact data corresponding to an effect the impact on the structure has on the rigid object. The detector can include a data processor that processes the impact data to evaluate for a presence of a set of faults."

The patent was filed on...