Apple again has added another major iOS interface patent to its arsenal. Jack Purcher of Patently Apple writes, “Today, Apple is embroiled in a series of lawsuits against Samsung, HTC and others over many aspects of the iPhone, iPad and iOS features. In 2007, Samsung, HTC, Google and all others in the industry didn’t have a smartphone with the likes of Apple’s iPhone features. They didn’t have the solutions that Apple eloquently brought to market to make a smartphone truly smart. Apple carefully and meticulously crafted a full end-to-end smartphone solution. So when the copycat’s and their followers whine in public and on blogs that Apple should learn to compete instead of initiate litigation – I bowl over with laughter.
The patent in question is 8,223,134, which is credited to Senior VP of iPhone Software Scott Forstall, Henri Lamiraux, Andrew Platzer, Michael Matas and Imran Chaudhri as the inventors of granted patent which was originally filed in Q1 2007.
The patent claims the following:
A method, comprising: at a portable multifunction device with a touch screen display: displaying a portion of an electronic document on the touch screen display, wherein the displayed portion of the electronic document has a vertical position in the electronic document; displaying a vertical bar on top of the displayed portion of the electronic document, the vertical bar displayed proximate to a vertical edge of the displayed portion of the electronic document, wherein: the vertical bar has a vertical position on top of the displayed portion of the electronic document that corresponds to the vertical position in the electronic document of the displayed portion of the electronic document; and the vertical bar is not a scroll bar; detecting a movement of an object in a direction on the displayed portion of the electronic document; in response to detecting the movement: scrolling the electronic document displayed on the touch screen display in the direction of movement of the object so that a new portion of the electronic document is displayed, moving the vertical bar to a new vertical position such that the new vertical position corresponds to the vertical position in the electronic document of the displayed new portion of the electronic document, and maintaining the vertical bar proximate to the vertical edge of the displayed portion of the electronic document; and in response to a predetermined condition being met, ceasing to display the vertical bar while continuing to display the displayed portion of the electronic document, wherein the displayed portion of the electronic document has a vertical extent that is less than a vertical extent of the electronic document.
Image Credit: Patently Apple
Sources: Patently Apple, USPTO
