Apple Patent Lawsuit: Apple Awarded Content Magnification Patent

Apple Patent Lawsuit: It appears that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is busy once again in the wonderful world of patents. This time around, the company is focusing on the content magnification system used in iOS – something that iPad and iPhone users have become quite familiar with.

Here is what AppleInsider had to say about the patent:

“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple rights to a variation of the content magnification system used in iOS, a common tool many iPhone, iPad and iPod owners utilize on a daily basis to enlarge graphical assets.”

Although the patent was first filed in 2009, it was not until 2013 that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office actually awarded the patent to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

If you are interested in reading the patent in its entirety, visit this page on the United States Patent website.

Here is the abstract, which should give you a better idea of what is covered:

“Context-sensitive, automated use of a magnification loupe is disclosed to facilitate management and manipulation of user interface content and small user interface elements via gestures on a touch-sensitive surface. In one embodiment, a magnifying loupe is displayed based on the context associated with a finger-based gesture on a touch-sensitive surface. For example, a magnification loupe is displayed when one or more user interface elements corresponding to the location of the gesture on the touch-sensitive surface is smaller than a predefined size threshold, but the loupe is not displayed when the user interface elements corresponding to the location of the gesture on the touch-sensitive surface are larger than the predefined size threshold. In another embodiment, the magnification power of the loupe varies based on the size of the one or more user interface elements corresponding to the location of the gesture on the touch-sensitive surface.”

Are you a bit confused as to what all this means? If so, the following overview from AppleInsider may help you better understand the patent: