Apple Patent Application: On Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published information revealing Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s intentions to patent its iOS Notification Center.
Below is a solid overview from AppleInsider that explains the inner workings of the iOS Notification Center, as well as an issue the company may face moving forward:
As with many other operations level iOS features, Notification Center is the result of an ongoing effort to create a more inviting and intuitive experience for the end user. In this case, however, many believe that Apple cribbed the functionality from Google’s Android OS which implemented a very similar notification system before Notification Center was introduced in iOS 5. The internet search giant actually filed its own patent application for what it calls “Notification Bar” in 2009, some two years prior to Apple’s “Notification Center” filing.
Could this lead to legal issues with the search giant? As AppleInsider goes on to explain, Samsung has already sued Apple Inc. in South Korea for “alleging the iOS Notification Center infringes on active patents.”
Here is more information from the patent, more specifically the Description portion:
Today’s portable electronic devices are able to integrate multiple functionalities. These devices are capable of running multiple applications. In particular, some of these applications may generate trigger events that can result in the display of a notification.
Because electronic devices can contain many applications, the potential for application-based notifications can become numerous and unwieldy, particularly if a user is required to access each application individually in order to view application-specific notifications. Accordingly, what is needed is a more efficient and intuitive approach for organizing notifications and providing users with instant access to these notifications.
What are your thoughts on Apple Inc.’s latest patent filing? Is the company going to find itself in hot water with Google’s attorneys? Will the patent even be granted?
Check back here for more updates on Apple Patent Application.
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