The iPhone could offer an automated home screen providing local weather, time, maps and contacts based on the device’s location, according to a new patent application from Apple.

Revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office this week, Apple’s filing dated Feb. 21, 2008 for “Transitional Data Sets” describes an invention that would display specific applications automatically populated based on dynamic factors like location. The application notes that conventional user interfaces on mobile devices are clunky and cluttered. The new invention would aim to cut down on the number of icons by giving users what they need at a particular moment in time.

In one example, the iPhone would utilize location-aware applications, and populate the home screen with those based on the city in which the user is currently located. Included pictures show an iPhone home screen with a “San Francisco” button, which would take the user to a location-aware screen on the device.

“The user can create a set of location-aware applications that can be populated by transitional data sets,” the patent filing reads. “A transitional data set is a data set that can change based on the current location of the mobile device… as determined by a positioning technology (e.g., GPS, cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi).”

In addition, the feature could change the icons of applications to represent the current location of the phone. The patent filing describes an icon showing the Golden Gate Bridge when the phone is in San Francisco, but that icon could change to an image of the New York City skyline when the phone is in the Big Apple.