Windows Phone Thoughts: Microsoft Files Patent for PC of the Future

"Microsoft has filed a patent called "Smart interface system for mobile communication devices" to turn your smartphone into a "full-fledged" PC with peripherals. The patent application dated January 22, 2009 (originally filed in Dec 2007) describes the Smart Interface as an intelligent cradle that acts as an interface between the mobile device and the peripherals."

I am incredibly surprised that it has taken Microsoft this long to file a patent for this technology. Didn't Bill Gates give a good 10 minutes demonstration of a technology similar to this a few years ago at CES? If my memory serves me correctly, Bill was using a T-Mobile SDA with the glorious hump for the antenna at the top of the device. He walks over and puts his phone on a makeshift terminal and the terminal then turns into a giant screen where he can interact with it just as he would his desktop computer of the future. The demo was pretty awesome and you would think if Microsoft was spending all that time researching technology such as that they wouldn't waste years on filing for a patent for said device. Hopefully this technology is approaching our pockets sometime in the very near future.