As posted on Legal Blog Watch, iPhone users who want to check their e-mail, surf the web, send a tweet, or just text, while standing outside in the cold weather, might be interested in a new Apple patent application, published January 1, 2009, which reveals “an idea for winter gloves with special iPhone-responsive fingertips for the thumb, index and middle fingers.” This High Tactility Glove System is a system used to operate electronic device.

The glove system may include an inner liner and an outer shell. The liner may be formed from any suitable material, including a material that is thin, electrically conductive, has low thermal conductivity, and/or has an “anti-sticky” finish. The outer shell may include at least one aperture through which the inner liner may extend to operate the input mechanism of an electronic device (e.g., on at least one finger tip).