The always-eagle-eyed PatentBolt has spotted a new patent application from Google (GOOG) that indicates the company is designing a way to bring radial menus to its Android and Chrome devices. From the initial designs, it looks as though the radial menus will not be visible on the screen until a user makes a swipe gesture from the edge of a device. Once the swipe is made, a semicircle menu pops up in the section of the screen where the swipe was made. The logic behind the semicircle menu is to save screen real estate and give users a simpler way to access different features of their applications. If Google is looking to dodge bullets with its new design, however, it may be out of luck: As PatentBolt notes that Apple (AAPL) has filed two patents for similar technology over the past couple of years.
Google toys with major Android redesign as patent wars heat up
Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:31PM EST
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Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.
