ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,361,814, issued on July 15, was assigned to BioVigil Hygiene Technologies LLC (Ann Arbor, Mich.).

"Hand cleanliness" was invented by Steven F. Bolling (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Brian Sheahan (Sonoma, Calif.), Joseph M. Madden (Los Gatos, Calif.) and Shimon Gersten (San Diego).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Among other things, systems to encourage compliance with hand washing procedures can include: an infrared emitter that projects a first infrared beam with a transverse cross-section having a first axis and a second axis that is shorter than the first axis, the transverse cross-section having a maximum length along the first axis, the infrared...