The best evidence to date about Apple’s desire to develop a touchscreen iPod was revealed this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The file entitled “Electronic Device Having Display and Surrounding Touch Sensitive Bezel for User Interface and Control” was submitted by Apple on June 23rd 2006 and it provides a tremendous amount of detail about how such a device would operate.
According to the filing, the screen itself would not be touched. The user would be able to navigate via touch sensitive controls located on the sides of the device (as illustrated above.)
Apple also noted that the device could be used as a digital media player, personal digital assistant, picture frame, cell phone or a handheld gaming unit.
Naturally, a bureaucratic document such as a patent filing is going to to be long and confusing – 103 pages long to be exact. However, if you would like to check out the filing in its entirety, it is available here.
Click through the jump for more pictures.
