14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has applied for new patents that deal with recognizing the user's input from a multipoint sensitive display and interpreting it. This is similar to how the trackpad on the MacBook Pro acts as a scroll wheel if two fingers are used, but much more complex.
One example would be zooming on a map or any other image by using two fingers held together to place the focus on the image, and then parting them, and in doing so, zoom in on that location. The opposite act, of placing two fingers and bringing them together would accomplish the same effect. Moving your fingers across the device would enable panning of the image and rotating them would enable, you guessed it, rotation.
Furthermore, the patent describes how UI elements would react, such as the three gum-drop buttons for closing, minimizing and resizing the window would enlarge when the users pass their finger over, to allow for easy selecting with the finger. Other such UI elements include a virtual clickwheel, like the one on the iPod, which would be manipulated in exactly the same way, a keyboard interface wich would allow the user to type text as well as a mixing application with sliders and the such.
Like so many Apple patents it is unclear when we will see this materialize into an actual product, but many uses spring to mind, such as 'full screen' iPod, where the clickwheel disappears, and the device is rotated 90 degrees to make for a big screen, much better suited for viewing movies and such, or implementation in laptops where the screen effectively becomes the trackpad.