Apple granted patent for ‘User Interfaces For Sharing An Account With Another User Identity’

Apple has been granted a patent (US 11868461 B2) for ‘User Interfaces For Sharing An Account With Another User Identity.”

About the patent

A computer system can be used to configure various aspects of an account, such as an account provisioned on the computer system. Typically, the account is associated with a user of the computer system.

In the patent Apple says that some customary techniques for configuring an account using a computer system are “generally cumbersome and inefficient.” For example, some existing techniques are unable to share the account with another user identity. 

In addition, Apple says that some existing techniques for configuring the account use a complex and time-consuming user interface, which may include multiple key presses or keystrokes. What’s more, existing techniques for configuring the account require more time than necessary, wasting user time and device energy.

Apple’s patent involves a technique for providing computer systems with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for configuring and sharing an account for use by another user identity. Such methods and interfaces optionally complement or replace other methods for configuring an account. 

Apple says that such methods and interfaces reduce the cognitive burden on a user and produce a more efficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated computing devices, such methods and interfaces conserve power and increase the time between battery charges.

Summary of the patent

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “The present disclosure generally relates to displaying a user interface for sharing an account associated with a first user identity with a second user identity. The user interface includes a first sharing option and a second sharing option. One or more inputs corresponding to a request to share the account are detected. 

“If the one or more inputs include a selection of the first sharing option, a request to invite the second user identity to become a joint owner of the account is transmitted. If the one or more inputs include a selection of the second sharing option, a request to invite the second user identity to become a participant of the account without becoming a joint owner of the account is transmitted.”