There has been much discussion about whether the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware images and video from Gearlive.com is fake. It seems to be coming to a consensus that the images aren’t fake. I remember finding some Apple patents a while ago which seemed strikingly similar to what was being shown… and sure enough after some digging I found it. Watch the video and see what I mean. I’ve made an animated gif from images from the patent to illustrate the similarities. The patent application even shows the Brownian motion wiggle of the icons in rearrangement mode (it has an alternative where the icon circles around instead).

Portable Electronic Device with Interface Reconfiguration Mode

Compare with the videos of the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware

Details of the iPhone Firmware Patent Application

Title: Portable Electronic Device with Interface Reconfiguration Mode
Inventors: Van Os, Anzures, Forstall, Christie, Ording, Chaudhri, Lemay
Application Number: 20070157089

Abstract:
A portable electronic device displays a plurality of icons (e.g., graphical objects) in a region in a touch-sensitive display; detects a predefined user action, with respect to the touch-sensitive display, for initiating a predefined user interface reconfiguration process; and varies positions of one or more icons in the plurality of icons in response to detecting the predefined user action. The varying includes varying the positions of the one or more icons about respective average positions.

Extracts:
Attention is directed towards embodiments of portable electronic devices, including portable communications devices, that have graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The portable devices include an interface reconfiguration mode. In response to a user initiating the interface reconfiguration mode, positions of one or more icons displayed on the portable device may be varied about respective average positions. The varying of the positions of the one or more icons may include animating the one or more icons to simulate floating of the one or more icons on a surface corresponding to a surface of a display in the portable device. The display may be a touch-sensitive display, which responds to physical contact by a stylus or one or more fingers at one or more contact points. While the following embodiments may be equally applied to other types of displays, a touch-sensitive display is used as an illustrative example.

The varying of the positions of the one or more icons may intuitively indicate to the user that the positions of the one or more icons may be reconfigured by the user. The user may modify, adapt and/or reconfigure the positions of the one or more icons. In embodiments where the portable device includes a touch-sensitive display, the user may make contact with the touch-sensitive display proximate to a respective icon at a first position. Upon making contact with the touch-sensitive display, the respective icon may cease varying its position. The user may drag the respective icon to a second position. Upon breaking contact with the touch-sensitive display, the respective icon may resume varying its position. In some embodiments, the respective icon can be “thrown,” so that the final position of the respective icon is different from the point at which the icon is released. In this embodiment, the final position can depend on a variety of factors, such as the speed of the “throw,” the parameters used in a simulated equation of motion for the “throw” (e.g., coefficient of friction), and/or the presence of a lay out grid with simulated attractive forces. In some embodiments, the display may include two regions. During the interface reconfiguration mode, positions of one or more icons displayed in the first region may be varied while positions of one or more icons displayed in the second region may be stationary.

The user may similarly modify, adapt and/or reconfigure the positions of additional icons during the interface reconfiguration mode. When the user has completed these changes (at least for the time being), he or she may terminate the interface reconfiguration mode. In response to this user action, the portable device may return to a normal mode of operation and the varying of the displayed positions of the one or more icons will cease.

The user may initiate or terminate the interface reconfiguration process by selecting one or more appropriate physical buttons on the portable device, by a gesture (such as making contact and swiping one or more fingers across the touch-sensitive display or making contact and holding for more than a predefined time period) and/or by selecting one or more soft buttons (such as one or more icons that are displayed on the touch-sensitive display). As used herein, a gesture is a motion of the object/appendage making contact with the touch screen display surface. In some embodiments, the interface reconfiguration process terminates a pre-defined time after the interface reconfiguration process is initiated, i.e., there is a time out.

The one or more icons displayed on the portable device may be graphical objects. In some embodiments, the one or more icons may be widgets, which are combinations of states and procedures that constitute on-screen representations of controls that may be manipulated by the user, such as bars, buttons and text boxes. In an exemplary embodiment, the one or more icons correspond to application programs (email, browser, address book, etc.) that may be selected by the user by contacting the touch-sensitive display proximate to an icon of interest.

The animated effects during the interface reconfiguration mode, such as the varying position(s) of one or more of the icons 222, may be in accordance with corresponding equations of motion for one or more of the icons in a plane substantially coincident with the display surface with GUI 210. The equations of motion may have a coefficient of friction less than a threshold allowing the simulation and/or animation of floating or sliding of one or more of the icons. The equation of motion for the respective icon may have a non-zero initial velocity, a non-zero angular velocity, and/or a restoring force about the respective average position of the respective icon such that the position of the respective icon oscillates in the region 224 (FIG. 2D) substantially centered on the respective average position of the respective icon.

In some embodiments, the position of the respective icon may be varied during the interface reconfiguration mode in such a way that the respective icon rotates about the respective average position of the respective icon while maintaining a fixed orientation with respect to the GUI 210 and the portable electronic device 200. This is illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B, which show the portable electronic device 200 during the interface reconfiguration mode. In this example, the position of the video icon 222 in tray 216 is varied in such a way that it maintains a fixed orientation in region 224. This may make it easier for the user to determine the function of the respective icon during the interface reconfiguration mode.