This Apple patent lists Steve Jobs as an inventor and is directed towards method and apparatus for use of rotational user inputs. Mr. Jobs was awarded U.S. Patent 7345671 entitled “Method and apparatus for use of rotational user inputs” on March 18, 2008. The utility patent has been cited 83 times by other U.S. patents in the field of computer technology and in other fields.

Improved approaches for users of computing devices to interact with graphical user interfaces are described. According to one aspect, a rotational user action supplied by a user at a user input device is transformed into linear action with respect to a graphical user interface. According to another aspect, a portion of an extended list of items is displayed by a graphical user interface and, through rotational user actions at a user input device, the portion of the list being displayed can be varied with welcomed ease of use. Although the type of computing device can vary, the improved approaches are particularly well-suited for use with a portable media player. Link: U.S. Patent 7345671

Apple filed this utility patent on September 26, 2002 giving it a processing time of 2000 days (compared to an average processing time of 1399 in the field). They have a total number of 15027 patents. The first named inventor is Steve P. Jobs of Palo Alto, CA. The patent was allowed by primary examiner Richard Hjerpe and assistant examiner Leonid Shapiro.

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