“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday awarded Apple U.S. Patent No. 8,560,960 for ‘Browsing and interacting with open windows,’ which at first blush appears to be a modified solution that brings Cover Flow to the desktop,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“Deeper in the document, however, is language describing a fresh take on usability that implements a secondary mode of input more akin to controls used in an iOS device,” Campbell reports. “According to the patent’s detailed description, a user can tilt the computer to present the three-dimensional desktop ‘with a raised view level, such that desktop items behind the browsable parade are revealed.’ This action not only allows for a more immersive interactive experience, but increases viewable desktop space and aids in navigating the UI.”
“By tilting the three-dimensional desktop space, users can view an entire group of open windows in the parade from a higher view point. Content previously obscured by an active top window is made viewable, allowing users to select another window without cycling through all open assets,” Campbell reports. “It is unclear if Apple will implement the Cover Flow window invention in a future version of OS X, but a similar technique uses iOS device sensors to create the ‘parallax effect’ seen in iOS 7.”
Read more, and see Apple’s patent application illustrations and diagrams, in the full article here.