Apple granted patent on iChat and tablet tech ahead of expected tablet launch

The world is anxiously waiting for the Apple event to kick off and the anticipation is that Apple will finally reveal its long rumored tablet to the world. Word is coming in ahead of the launch of the tablet officially that Apple has been granted important patents on tech used in iChat and the tablet expected to launch today.

The drawings in the patents clearly show a large tablet device with an on-screen keyboard sporting proximity detection. The patent also a system that detects if the tablet is being touched by a finger or a stylus and will be able to tell where the user is pointing before the finger hits the screen.

That is cool and would allow you to control a cursor on screen without actually having to touch the screen and leave fingerprints. Other patents issued cover a video conferencing system, color management system, and several other patents relating to tech likely to turn up on the Apple tablet.