by , 4:05 PM EDT, April 27th, 2006

Apple has submitted a patent application for an LCD screen that can display images as well as capture a shot of what's in front of it. According to an article at NewScientist, the device would contain "thousands of microscopic image sensors in-between the liquid crystal display cells in the screen. Each sensor captures its own small image, but software stitches these together to create a single, larger picture."

In addition to the obvious use in videoconferencing, the Web site speculates that the invention could be used in a cell phone or PDA as a way to both snap photos and display information.