Apple filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against HTC this week in an indirect attack against Google's Android platform.

That got us to wondering: If Apple wins this lawsuit, just what would a Google phone, such as the HTC-built Nexus One, look like?

Realistically, Apple and HTC are going to reach a settlement outside of court, and the impacts on actual hardware are unpredictable. But we thought that rather than barrage you with boring patents to explain the suit, we'd illustrate the suit's potential implications by describing a Google phone in the hypothetical situation where Apple won – a phone stripped of every feature that Apple's patents lay claim to.

The patents listed in Apple's complaints are related to touchscreens, multitouch gestures, graphical user interfaces, signal processing and other technologies Apple pioneered for the iPhone. Here's a hint: If Apple had its way, a Google phone wouldn't be pretty.

(A hat tip to Engadget's Nilay Patel, a former attorney, for his fantastic work rounding up and explaining the patents to help guide our analysis.)

Out of the 20 patents in question, there are a few that stand out as the most noteworthy: Patents related to the way icons automatically rearrange themselves, scrolling behavior, the "unlock" mechanism, how phones sleep and multitasking.

App Rearrangement —————–

The patent titled "Time-based, non-constant translation of user interface objects between states" describes the way a row of icons automatically rearrange when icons are added or removed. When you delete an icon, for example, Apple's iPhone springboard automatically shifts icons to fill an empty spot to keep rows in order.

How a Google phone would look without it

Without this ability, an Android phone's main screen would revert to the behavior of traditional PC desktops. On your Windows or Mac desktop, when you delete an icon, it leaves an empty space; you must either manually move your icons or choose a command to fill in any gaps between icons. So an Android phone's screen would look like a cluttered mess with gaps in between icons after you deleted apps. You'd either have to manually drag and rearrange your apps or a tap a button to automatically sort the screen.

Unlock Mechanism —————-

The "Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image" (.pdf) patent attempts to grant Apple the exclusive rights to using gestures for moving an unlock image to perform an unlock. (With the iPhone, for example, you swipe the "Slide to unlock" tab to access the Home screen.) Given the broadness of the patent, this could apply to any manner of touching buttons or making swiping gestures on a touchscreen to perform an unlock.

__How a Google phone would look without it

__Google would be forced to work around the gestural unlock mechanism. Manufacturers would have to add an extra physical button to unlock the phone, or you'd have to press a combination of physical buttons to perform the unlock, as you do with many older candy-bar phones. Or perhaps to unlock the phone you would shake it, or, even sillier, speak a unique phrase into the microphone. Worst and least likely, Google could do away with the locked screen altogether and go straight to your menu, giving thieves easy access to your apps and personal data.

Scrolling ———

The patent titled "Touch screen device, method and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics" relates to scroll behavior on a touchscreen. If you start scrolling in a certain direction it locks you in that direction to spare you any wobbly chaos. And if you swipe at an angle you can pan freely.

How a Google phone would look without it

Google could either allow scrolling to be a bumpy mess, or it could again revert to the old PC desktop metaphor in which windows can be navigated with arrows (as illustrated above). Or it could require every manufacturer making an Android phone to add a scroll wheel, like the one on the Nexus One.

Notifications ————-

The patent "Method and apparatus for distributing events in an operating system" relates to notifications changing behavior of apps, such as in the event of a power failure.

How a Google phone would look without it

An Android phone currently notifies you when your battery is running low, and then it shuts off the GPS to conserve power. So say goodbye to that.

Multitasking ————

The patent "Message protocol for controlling a user interface from an inactive program" addresses the act of a foreground application remaining active while an application running in the background is also processing. So yes, multitasking. Many believe the iPhone doesn't have multitasking capability, but technically it does run some of Apple's built-in apps in the background, such as the phone and the iPod.

How a Google phone would look without it

If you're typing an e-mail on a Google phone and you get a phone call, the phone app would immediately close the e-mail, or the call would go straight to your voicemail box. Listening to your Android phone and want to browse the web? Tough beans: You can only do one at a time. It'll be a familiar feeling with videogame consoles, which only let you run one game at a time.

Sleep Mode ———-

The patent "Conserving power by reducing voltage supplied to an instruction-processing portion of a process" is filled with a flurry of technical jargon, but it most likely refers to a process of reducing power consumption, or minimizing power leakage, when a device is put to sleep.

How a Google phone would look without it

Manufacturers would have to draw up alternative methods to conserve battery life in sleep mode (which they most likely already have done). Or they could foolishly let the processor run at full power even when the phone is "asleep," which would get phones pretty hot in your pocket. And if all else failed, manufacturers could ship phones with a battery extender to keep the phone up and running, like the modest example we've fashioned above.

Summary ——-

Put it all together and what do we get? Something like the admittedly hyperbolic mock-up above. Picture an HTC Google phone whose desktop shows a grid of icons with gaps. Arrows on the screen help you navigate your windows. A physical unlock button on the phone gets you past the lock screen. Battery life could potentially be poor in sleep mode, which could be addressed with a free battery extender – or even better, a hand-crank charger – as shown in the illustration above.

Illustration: Dennis Crothers/Wired.com