A recent patent application uncovered by The Baltimore Sun details a user interface for interacting with three-dimensional objects. The described UI may show the future of interaction on the iPhone or the rumored Apple tablet.
The patent application, filed last year but published early last month, describes a number of multitouch gestures to manipulate objects, including icons, presented in a simulated 3D space. Such gestures could present users with a simplified and intuitive way to interact with increasingly complex mobile devices. "As portable electronic devices become more compact, and the number of functions performed by a given device increase, it has become a significant challenge to design a user interface that allows users to easily interact with a multifunction device," according the patent application.
Speculation is that the described interface may make its debut on an Apple tablet device expected to be revealed later this month. A former Apple employee recently told The New York Times that the device's user interaction would be unlike what we have seen so far from the iPhone. "You will be very surprised how you interact with the new tablet," the former employee said.
Curiously, unlike a number of other patent applications related to iPhone technology, Apple's name appears nowhere on the application itself. A Palo Alto-based IP law firm is listed as the contact, while it turns out the three people listed as inventors do in fact work in software engineering at Apple. Searching for the same law firm turned up several other patents related to iPhone interface elements with Apple employees—including SVP of iPhone software Scott Forstall—listed as inventors. Keeping Apple's name off of the published patent applications may have been an attempt to prevent publicizing of the patent application prior to the unveiling of the technology.
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