Apple files patent application for touchscreen

The patent fest continues at Apple. With a company as secretive as they are, looking at patent filings is almost the only way to get a sense of what they are working on. The latest filing is for a touchscreen control interface. According to the pictures, it looks like an on-screen keyboard. Beyond that, it isn’t clear what exactly Apple is filing a patent for.

This creates a bit of a mystery. An on-screen keyboard isn’t a new idea at all. Even the ability for a touchscreen to recognize multiple simultaneous inputs isn’t new. Apple clearly has to have a different take on the technology. One interpretation of the filing is that the innovation is that the applications will automatically resize when the keyboard appears so that the keyboard doesn’t obscure whatever you are working on.

Regardless of what they have in mind, this is yet further fuel for speculation about the future of the iPod as well as, perhaps, a mac tablet of some sort.