Apple wants iOS to offer a common display area for info relating to a location or event

Apple has filed for a patent (number 2018002321) for a “mobile device with applications that use a common place card to display data relating to a location” on iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

In the patent filing, Apple notes that one of the problems with the growing number of apps is that different ones display data relating to a same entity, such a location. Which means you have to open multiple apps to get all the info you need.

For example, if a person wishes to go to a movie theatre to catch a movie, then she may have to open up multiple different applications to view different pieces of data relating to the same movie theater. The person may have to open up a movie showtime application to check what movies are playing at the movie theatre.

If she needs driving directions to the movie theater, then she may have to open up a maps application. If the person wants to see what other people are saying about the movie theatre, then the person has to open up a business review application. 

Apple says that this makes it very inconvenient for the person who has to navigate between different pages or views of not one application but several different applications in order to view data relating to the same place. The tech giant wants your iOS device to provide common display area to display data relating to a location. 

In some embodiments, the common display area is a unified display area to display different types of data. The different types of data can include information regarding the location, multimedia associated with the location, user feedbacks regarding the location, a catalog associated with the location, social network data, etc. In some embodiments, the unified common display area is also referred to as a place card because it presents data relating to a place.”

Of course, Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product.