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Apple patents digital media reservation system

Time for another peek into the Apple patent catalog for some gool ol' speculation into that mysterious product pipeline which Steve Jobs called the "best I've ever seen in my life." This time, a patent titled "reservation of digital media items" filed waaay back in December 2004 (but only published this week on the USPTO website) has broken free. Like the filing for the audio interface seen yesterday, this patent again describes a system relying on the relative computing strength and fast network access of a PC / Mac working together with a second, portable wireless device. This time however, the "portable wireless device" is used to browse and then tag an item of interest from an "online media store" with the PC / Mac then being used to purchase or preview the tagged item at a later time. The patent specifically references eBooks and ring tones as some of the items of interest for download by a cellphone or wireless PDA. Now, If you're a believer then this is just further confirmation of that oft rumored and all butconfirmediPhone. Or perhaps it's just insight into an extension of that crippled Moto partnership. We don't know. However, these filings do give some insight into Apple's views on the continued importance of synchronization between future portable devices and the PC/Mac digital hub.

[Via c|net News]