Apple Patents Widget Organization, Virtual KB, and Episodic Games

by Jody Mitoma on April 10, 2008 at 12:14 pm

Above you are granted with the three most recent iPhone/Touch-related patents that Apple has filed for with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Three of the many patents are in regards to the iPhone/Touch.

One of the three patents allows for rearranging the springboard; widget organization. Another is a configuration for unique virtual keyboards that display for different tasks. The last is most interest. As the story title states, it is a patent for episodic gaming.

iPhone Alley explains each patent below:

The first patent, Graphical User Interface for Configuring and Displaying Widgets, covers the organization of widgets on the iPhone and iPod touch.

Their second patent, Soft Keyboard Display for a Portable Multifunction Device, covers “computer-implemented method for displaying soft keyboards at a portable electronic device with a touch screen display”, or the iPhone’s virtual keyboard.

Lastly, the third patent, Treatment of Episodic Games, pertains to titles that make up only part of a whole story, such as Half-Life 2. The patent is for a method of detecting what episodes of a game a user has and telling them what others are available. Using this, they could theoretically inform you when a new episode for an iPhone/touch game that you own comes out.

(Source: iPhone Alley)