ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,468,173, issued on Nov. 11, was assigned to Verge Inc. (Buda, Texas).

"System and method for aerial light shows with occlusion and transparency" was invented by Paul Henry Dietz (Redmond, Wash.) and Jennifer Alford (Fort Worth, Texas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An aerial light show system includes aerial vehicles configured to move along paths consisting of positions while emitting light beams to present an aerial light show of a virtual 3D scene. Each aerial vehicle includes a light source configured to project multiple light beams in multiple specified directions, respectively, wherein the brightness and/or color of each of the mult...