During the day yesterday it was registered to Apple a new patent for the mobile terminal unlocking system, the patent being an updated version of one received by the company a few years ago. That patent described the system for unlocking mobile terminals, a system used both in iOS and in many Android terminals. The initial form of the patent only protected the unlocking system in iOS that involved moving a slider from a fixed point to a fixed point. Apple has updated that patent, broadened the scope of the intellectual property, and this new patent they registered again covers a much wider functionality of the technology.
The third patent registered to Apple describes an action to unlock the screen of a mobile terminal that involves moving a graphic element between certain points on the screen, without clearly delimiting the route on which that element must be moved or the region in which everything must be in place, these elements being described in the first two versions of the patent. Through this modification to the initial patent, Apple covers the functionality of many current Android terminals, a functionality that was implemented in recent years to circumvent Apple's initial patents. Practically through this update of the patent, Apple can sue many manufacturers of Android terminals and theoretically win the lawsuits brought against them.
In the USA, companies are allowed to update their patents before they are granted permanently, Apple has done this over the years and thus managed to cover the functionality of Android terminals with patents.
