ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,460,925, issued on Nov. 4, was assigned to UNIVERSITAT KONSTANZ (Constance, Germany).

"Method for the computer assisted determination of physical properties of a porous layer disposed on a surface of substrate" was invented by Gabriel Micard (Constance, Germany), Yves Patrick Botchak Mouafi (Reichenau, Germany) and Barbara Terheiden (Constance, Germany).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and an apparatus (15) for computer-implemented determination of physical properties of a porous layer (1) present on a surface of a substrate. The physical properties include at least a layer thickness (d) of the layer, a porosity (p) of the layer and...