The four patents are, a "data tapping" patent, a patent involving Siri and unified search, a new slide-to-unlock patent, and a word-completion patent for touch-screen entry of text.
According to Florian Muller at Foss Patents, the unified search patent which involves Siri could be a direct threat to Google's search business.
The word completion patent may cover Google's functionality involved in Google's mobile search app.
The "data tapping" feature, which, for example, lets users tap on a phone number in an e-mail to automatically make a phone call, got Android-handset maker HTC into hot water last year, when the International Trade Commission ruled the company had violated Apple's patent and said it would enforce a ban on HTC's products that use the feature. HTC quickly said it had developed a workaround.
Slide-to-unlock is currently at play in an Apple legal action against the Galaxy Nexus in Germany, where a resolution of some sort is expected in March.
Earlier in Germany Apple dragged Samsung to the court for patent infringement. but the German court rejected Apples request to ban 10 Samsung smartphones.Apple's Steve Jobs thought Android was a knock-off of his company's iOS operating system and famously said Apple was "going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this." Since then, the battle between the two companies intensified.
Now the question is if the US company also rejects Apples request or it bans Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphones.
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