ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,309,297, issued on May 20, was assigned to GOOGLE LLC (Mountain View, Calif.).

"Encrypted response timing for presence detection" was invented by Brian Clinton Cornell (Kenmore, Wash.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A computer-implemented method for verifying identity of an asset can include transmitting, by a first asset, a challenge message at a challenge message transmit time. The challenge message can include a challenge response delay. The method can include receiving, by the first asset, a reply message at a reply message receive time. The reply message can be transmitted from a second asset that is in receipt of the challenge messa...