Apple Inc. (Cupertino, CA)

What is a Patent for Apps for mobile devices that use a common card for displaying information regarding a specific location

Search Patent for Apps for mobile devices that use a common card for displaying information regarding a specific location

Certain embodiments incorporate a graphic user interface, also known as a GUI. This could include an interactive map with an option to select specific indications of a place. A place card that contains specific information about the location is displayed in the GUI when it detects the indicated selector.

The mobile device industry has been increasing for many years. As the market grows it has also led to an increase in number of applications. The problem with this growing number of applications is that they all display data related to the same entity or place. For instance when a person wants to visit a cinema theatre to see a movie and wants to see a movie, the person might have to open up multiple different applications to view different pieces of information related to the same movie theatre. To check the movies playing in the theater it is possible for the user to launch a showtime for movies application. If the person needs directions for driving to the cinema and needs directions to the theatre, then they may be required to use the maps application. To read what others have to say about the movie, the person must open a business review application. This is very difficult for the person who has to switch between pages or viewports of several different applications to see data relating to the same area.

The embodiments described herein are the use of a mobile computing device that is able to display data related to a specific location. In some embodiments, the common area can be a unifieddisplay area that displays different types of information. Location information, such as address and phone number, is one of the different kinds of data. ) as well as multimedia related to the location (e.g., video, photos), user feedbacksregarding the location (e.g. reviews), a catalog associated with the location (e.g. an menu, movie showtimes, schedule of events) and social network information (e.g., social network posts, photos, video clips) and so on. The unified commondisplay 10 could also be referred to as the”place card” in certain embodiments because it contains data that relates to a particular location.

In some instances, the different types of applications may include a contact application that utilizes the common location card to act as a contact card to that place. Applications may also include maps apps that display the standard card when a person chooses a place from a map. The phone application might include a feature that displays the common card when someone selects a recent mobile phone call. The apps could also include a messageapplication that displays the common place card when the user chooses a representation of the location in a text message (e.g. an SMS message). The application may also include an external application which displays the common place card when a personselects an option to access information relating to the place.

In certain instances applications on the mobile device can share local caches for display of place cards related to various places. An application may retrieve data from the local cache by using an identification number (ID). In certain instances, the unique ID may be a point of interest ID. In some embodiments the unique ID can be a telephone number. Different applications may utilize different types of unique IDs for retrieving data from local caches. The application in certain instances retrieves data from one or more servers when the data doesn’t reside in the local cache.

The previous Summary is designed to provide a concise introduction to certain embodiments described in the document. It is not meant to serve as an introduction or an overview of all subjects covered in this document. The Detailed Description which follows and the Drawings that are mentioned in the Detailed Description will further explain the specific embodiments described by this document, a full examination of the Summary, Detailed Description and the Drawings is needed. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter are not to be limited by the illustrative details in the Summary, Detailed Description, and the Drawings, but are to be defined by the appended claims, because the claimed subject matter can be represented in various forms without breaking with the essence of the subject matters.

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