Oct 13, 2010 09:07 GMT  ·  By

The US Patent and Trademark Office has approved a patent application filed by Apple filed in 2008 which prevents users from sending or receiving “objectionable” text messages, according to a report.

TechCrunch points out to Apple’s patent application filed years ago, noting that it bears the official title “Text-based communication control for personal communication device.”

The site translates, so to speak, saying “sexting” is actually at the heart of this patent application.

Indeed, Apple is looking into the possibility of preventing underage users from communicating via rough language.

According to the patent filings, this can be done in various ways, such as alerting the user, an admin, or other people designated to learn of the use of objectionable content.

The iPhone could also offer suggestions to replace the unapproved text, or downright delete the objectionable word as soon as the user has finished typing.

The source in question offers a couple of paragraphs from the patent summary (available below).

“In one embodiment, the control application includes a parental control application. The parental control application evaluates whether or not the communication contains approved text based on, for example, objective ratings criteria or a user’s age or grade level, and, if unauthorized, prevents such text from being included in the text-based communication.”

“If the control contains unauthorized text, the control application may alert the user, the administrator or other designated individuals of the presence of such text. The control application may require the user to replace the unauthorized text or may automatically delete the text or the entire communication.”

Imagine adults agreeing to buy an iPhone that doesn’t let them speak freely.

Exactly. That’s why such an implementation could only materialize as an added option in the phone’s Restrictions menu. This would also be possible solely via a future software update to the iOS powering Apple’s handsets.