Don’t like to let people know what you’re listening on your iPod Touch? Don’t like your friends peeking at your lovey-dovey messages with your scandalous mysterious friend? I think Apple is getting lots of emails regarding these problems that their users are facing, and they’ve come up with a solution apparently.

Apple has a new patent on an LCD display with adjustable viewing angles, explicitly designed to “shield the display away from unintended viewers”, which may slip into future iDevices if Apple managed to iron out this new technology perfectly.

According to the filing, the display would include steering modules made of liquid crystal material, which aim the so-called scattering modules that sit on top of them. The top layer then redirects the light, making it possible to narrow down and alter the viewing angle. The patent specifically calls out cellphones and laptops, paving the way for discreet displays on MacBooks and iPhones, though the broad phrase “other portable electronic devices” leaves plenty of room for iPads and iPod Touches.

No word, of course, on when or if Apple will secure this patent and if so, what devices might incorporate such screens, but Apple is also the company that filed many patents just for the lulz anyway, though there are some that managed to get into final products too. Hopefully we’ll see this in the next iPhone.

SOURCE via Electronista