This Apple patent lists Steve Jobs as an inventor and is directed towards user interface for providing consolidation and access. Mr. Jobs was awarded U.S. Patent 7434177 entitled “User interface for providing consolidation and access” on October 7, 2008. The utility patent has been cited 177 times by other U.S. patents in the field of computer technology and in other fields.

Methods and systems for providing graphical user interfaces are described. To provide greater access and consolidation to frequently used items in the graphical user interface, a userbar is established which includes a plurality of item representations. To permit a greater number of items to reside in the userbar, a magnification function can be provided which magnifies items within the userbar when they are proximate the cursor associated with the graphical user interface. Link: U.S. Patent 7434177

Apple filed this utility patent on December 20, 1999 giving it a processing time of 3214 days (compared to an average processing time of 1599 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 X. L Bautista and examiner .

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