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SamsungPatent applicationPhones & computersInterest 6/10

Samsung patents lock screen that grows to show app notifications

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Samsung has filed a patent for a smartphone lock screen that displays a small widget between two app icons. When a notification arrives from an app linked to one of those icons, the widget expands to cover that icon's space to show the message. If the notification is from an unrelated app, it simply appears within the existing widget area.

Why it mattersThis design could make checking messages on a locked phone more intuitive by visually linking the notification to the specific app icon it belongs to.

In the filing’s own words

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a display, memory, including one or more storage media, storing instructions, and at least one processor comprising processing circuitry and communicatively coupled to the display and the memory, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to display, in a lock state of the electronic device, a lock screen including a widget located between a first icon and a second icon through the display, display, through the widget, information corresponding to a first application, obtain, while displaying the lock screen, a notification from a second application, based at least in part on determining that the second application is associated with the first icon, expand the widget to a location of the first icon and display the notification through the widget, and based at least in part on determining that the second application is not associated with the first icon and the second icon, display the notification through the widget.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An electronic device comprising: a display; at least one processor comprising processing circuitry, and memory, comprising one or more storage media, storing instructions wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: display, in a lock state of the electronic device, a lock screen comprising a widget located between a first icon and a second icon through the display, display, through the widget, information corresponding to a first application, obtain, while displaying the lock screen, a notification from a second application, based at least in part on determining that the second application is associated with the first icon, expand the widget to a location of the first icon and display the notification through the widget, and based at least in part on determining that the second application is not associated with the first icon and the second icon, display the notification through the widget.

Facts

Company
Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
Official title
ELECTRONIC DEVICE, METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM FOR DISPLAYING INFORMATION ON LOCK SCREEN
Publication number
US20260319636A1
Application number
19695524
Filed
Jun 2, 2026
Published
Oct 15, 2026
Inventors
2
Claims
20

Classified under

G06F 3/04817 Physics & computingG06F 3/04847 Physics & computingG06F 3/14 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.