Who's ready for some Friday morning hotness? Alright, it may not be that hot, but probable new features are always welcome in my book. Looks like the Big Goog has been awarded a new lockscreen patent, which could bring some new features to our good buddy pattern lock.

Pattern lock is no stranger to Android; in fact, it has been part of the mix since the beginning. With this new patent, though, the old dog may be learning a couple of new tricks, like custom gestures to launch specific apps.

In response to detection of the touch gesture, a particular action is executed on the mobile device while the mobile device stays locked. The particular action determined according to the pre-defined shape. In this way, detection of the touch gesture causes the particular action to execute while keeping the mobile device locked.

This feature is pretty rad because it would allow you to perform tasks by making a gesture anywhere on the lockscreen, not just in a specific area. There are quite a few possibilities here, like quick access to the dialer or SMS app, toggle Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or even silence the device in an instant, just to throw some ideas out there. Awesome.

And now, for a visual explanation: