Patently Apple first reported on a radial menu patent back in 2012 when Apple was granted their first patent. It was filed in 2008, five years prior to Samsung introducing "Air Commands" at an event on September 4, 2013 for their Galaxy Note.

Since then Patently Apple has posted several other patent reports on this possible future feature for both iOS and macOS (01, 02, 03, 04, and more). 

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of xx newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover.

Apple's granted patent covers an improved user interface of an electronic device for providing an 'options menu.' Devices, methods, and graphical user interfaces for a menu of options enables users of electronic devices to view and select available options more effectively and efficiently, improving a speed of user interactions with the options menu to make such selections, and thereby decreasing energy used by the electronic devices, and potentially extending the battery life of the device.

 The radial menu includes a first sequence of selectable options that extends off of an edge of the display so that a first portion of the first sequence of selectable options is displayed while a second portion of the first sequence of selectable options is not displayed. The radial menu also includes a first selection region at a first fixed location on the radial menu.

 While a first portion in the first sequence of selectable options is displayed in the first selection region of the radial menu, an option-selection input associated with the radial menu is detected, such as a touch input. Responsive to detecting the option-selection input, the first sequence of selectable options is slid around a perimeter of the radial menu so that the first option is moved out of the first selection region of the radial menu and a second option is moved into the first selection region of the radial menu.

Apple's patent FIG. 5 below is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for providing a radial menu user interface; FIG. 9B illustrates sliding the second sequence of options around a second ring of the radial menu; FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of an electronic device.

Although Apple's granted patent is a continuation patent from their 2016 patent (# 20170192627), Apple is relating it to a provisional patent instead. Though in the end, the patent shares the same patent figures and body text.

What's New

So. what has been actually updated? Yes, of course, their patent claims. There are 22 new patent claims for this invention. Below is just a sampling of the additions.

Claim #1: A method comprising: displaying a menu item on a display; receiving a first input that is directed to within the menu item; in response to receiving the first input: displaying a radial menu on the display, wherein the radial menu includes: a first sequence of selectable options that extends off of an edge of the display so that a first portion of the first sequence of selectable options is displayed while a second portion of the first sequence of selectable options is not displayed; and a first selection region at a first fixed location on the radial menu; displaying a first option, from the selectable options in the first sequence, in the first selection region in response to the first option having been selected when the radial menu was last displayed; while the first option in the first sequence of selectable options is displayed in the first selection region of the radial menu, detecting a second input associated with the radial menu; determining whether the second input corresponds to an option-selection input or a scroll movement input; in response to determining that the second input corresponds to the option-selection input directed to a second option within the radial menu, automatically sliding the first sequence of selectable options around a perimeter of the radial menu so that the first option is moved out of the first selection region of the radial menu and the second option is moved into the first selection region of the radial menu; and in response to determining that the second input corresponds to the scroll movement input not directed to the second option, automatically sliding the first sequence of selectable options around the perimeter of the radial menu by scrolling the first sequence of selectable options in accordance with a direction of the scroll movement input.

Claim #2: The method of claim 1, wherein the radial menu further includes a circular segment displayed at the edge of the display.

Claim #3: The method of claim 1, wherein the radial menu further includes a center region and a circular segment, the circular segment displaying the first sequence of selectable options and surrounding a portion of the center region before the first sequence of selectable options are slid around the perimeter, and wherein sliding the first sequence of selectable options comprises increasing the portion of the center region that is surrounded by the circular segment.

Claim #4: The method of claim 1, wherein the option-selection input corresponds to a touch input directed to the second option, and wherein the scroll movement input corresponds to a swipe gesture not directed to the second option within the radial menu.

To review the rest of the new patent claims and/or to review a large body of patent figures, review granted patent 10,831,337 here.