“A filing published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday reveals that Apple is looking to patent the iOS Notification Center, a feature similar to Google’s Notification Bar which allows mobile device users to keep tabs on a multitude of apps from a central hub,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.

“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,” Campbell reports. “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.”

Campbell reports, “Most recently, Samsung sued Apple in South Korea, alleging the iOS Notification Center infringes on active patents. Not much information has been made available in the reported suit, though the “active patent” is believed to be related to Google’s Notification Bar. “

Much more, including Apple’s patent application diagrams and illustrations, in the full article here.