“Apple has applied for a patent (number 20150370425) with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for an ‘application menu for a video system.’ Should it ever come to fruition, it could mean a radically revamped interface for OS X and iOS, as well asthe Apple TV’s tvOS,” Dennis Sellers reports for Apple World Today. “Interestingly, the patent mentions a television with a touch-sensitive surface (either a touch screen display or a touch pad).”
Sellers reports, “Here’s Apple’s summary of the invention: ‘The invention is directed to an electronic device. The electronic device generates for presentation on a display a user interface including a plurality of groups of icons. A plurality of the icons have been grouped based at least in part on metadata of applications associated with the icons. The electronic device receives input selecting a respective icon. In response to receiving the input selecting a respective icon, the electronic device invokes an instance of an application associated with the respective icon.'”
More info, along with Apple’s patent application illustrations and diagrams, in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple TV’s tvOS, in particular, cries out for intuitive ways to group apps.