ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,741,609, issued on Sept. 22.

"Gesture-based vehicle entry system with virtual keypad" was invented by Keith Weston (Canton, Mich.), Andrew Brown (Royal Oak, Mich.), Stuart C. Salter (White Lake, Mich.) and John R. Van Wiemeersch (Novi, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Access to a vehicle is controlled by detecting gestures pointing to a virtual keypad. A setup mode preconfigures a sequence of touchpoints as a security key, wherein an administrant performs a timed series of distinct gestures according to a chosen number and location of touchpoints which are detected by the vehicle using captured real-time images. Touchpoints during a...