Apple stumbled on an iPhone idea while experimenting with a multi touch interface for a possible tablet device. And while most of Apple’s work with touch has been focused on an iPhone since then, it does not mean that Apple abandoned the idea of bringing touch interface to traditional computing devices such as iMac desktops or Mac Book laptops.

The latest Apple patent filing is a case in point. It shows that Apple is working to implement multi touch interface in a … mouse.

Yes. As in computer mouse with multi-touch interface:

The multi-touch mouse will be made with a transparent top shell, will have illumination source inside to illuminate the shell and a camera to record the images when top shell is illuminated. When user grips the mouse, points or multipoints of contact are imaged as points of light due to reflection, while other areas are imaged as dark areas. By analyzing sequential images, characteristics associated with the one or more points of contact can be used to drive inputs.

Add the processor and clever image processing software and you have a mouse that is able to recognize various multi-touch gestures, just like the iPhone. And now you can:

• Remove the buttons and additional sensors from the mouse and make the buttons anywhere the user places his fingers. When user presses the mouse, the finger image grows larger and indicates button event. The mouse  can even tell whether a right or left button was pressed
• Control the cursor or other tracking device on screen by moving your fingers, instead of mouse
• Use various gestures like translating, rotating, pressing, tapping and others to initiate zooming, paging, scrolling, rotating, enlarging/shrinking, etc.
• Use the mouse as identification device (by scanning the fingerprints and other characteristics of the palm)
• Make mouse highly customizable and programmable to the needs of individual user
• And many other interesting things

The speculation that Apple will incorporate multi-touch into it’s computer product line has been going on ever since the new UI was revealed to the public. And now the peaces are starting to fall into place:

• Crunchgear has already reported that Apple Macbooks will soon come with a multi-touch touchpads.
• Another patent filing for backside touch interface shows the way how Apple can create various surfaces (like extended touchpads) with multi touch features
• There’s also Apple’s petent filing for touch sensitive bezel around electronic device
• Now we have a mouse with multi-touch interface

Looks like in a few years or even months multi-touch will be all around us indeed…

And, despite the best efforts from Microsoft, just like with GUI, looks like multi-touch user interface revolution starts with Apple.