Yesterday the USPTO published a unique granted patent, filed on behalf of Apple, that gives some insight into the company’s potential plans. The patent is titled “Remote control of electronic devices” and the basic gist is that a device is in the works that would let you use your mobile device to remotely control your home computer.

But wait, I hear you say — there are already a ton of apps that do just that for the iPhone. Yes, there absolutely are (my favorite is Jaadu VNC). It looks like Apple’s aim is to have this be an integrated part of the device.

The patent’s abstract states:

“A controlling device (e.g., a telephony device) can remotely control various tasks associated with a controlled device (e.g., a personal computer), including the navigation of user interfaces associated with applications or an operating system associated with the controlled device. A task can be controlled at the controlled device by mapping user input received at the controlling device to control commands suitable for execution at the controlled device.”

The entire application (currently available here . . .

Read more at: Mashable