ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,359,480, issued on July 15, was assigned to The Braun Corp. (Winamac, Ind.).

"Digital door" was invented by Eric Sajed Dosenbach (Winamac, Ind.) and Michael R. Pugh (Winamac, Ind.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An automatic door opening apparatus for a vehicle. Two and three hinge joint embodiments with motors at each hinge joint to control motion of the door opening apparatus relative to the vehicle at that hinge joint. The motors are individually programmable to customize the door opening apparatus and movement to different vehicles. The motors can be in alignment or out-of-alignment with the hinge joints, but in either case the motor ...