Apple Patents Hand Recognizing Handhelds, But For What Purpose?

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Love them or hate them there is no denying the fact that Apple is a highly successful company. Not only do they have their line up of MacBooks, Mac Pros and iMacs but they also have their extensive line up of hand held devices including the various iPods the, iPad and of course the iPhone. Add to that the forthcoming Apple TV and you can see why Apple is quickly becoming a household name, if it hasn’t already.

Some may argue that it’s the quality of their products that have made them so successful. This may be true, but it’s the innovation put in place that, in most cases, really makes the various Apple products shine. For example, as you probably know, the iPhone was the first device to really bring the full touchscreen form factor to the masses. Of course, this was soon copied with just about every handset on the market today featuring a large capacitive touchscreen.

In order to keep ahead of the pack, Apple is constantly hard at work on new ideas. This can be made evident by the immense number of patents filed by the company. While it’s likely that many of these patents will never materialize, some have given us a hint at what’s to come. Take for example the iPad landscape dock connector patent that we recently showed you – this is something that at least seems somewhat realistic.

Today it’s been noted that Apple has filed for another patent that seems a bit less realistic than a landscape iPad dock connector. If you couldn’t tell from the picture, this patent deals with a handheld device that automatically recognizes a user’s hands.

It’s possible that this will find it into a future Apple product but for now it’s clearly just on the drawing board. What exactly Apple will use this for we don’t know but it could possibly have something to do with security or just an added level of personalization when various users share a single device. Alternatively, it could recognize where a consumer is holding the device and adjust the software’s user interface accordingly.

Then again, the possibilites are vast so we’re just taking shots in the dark here.

What’s your best guess as to what Apple will use this patent for?