Sony has just filed two US patent applications for a new device that has a touchscreen on at least one of its surfaces and which may or may not have phone, portable media playback, email/web browsing, gaming and, most likley, toast-making applications. On top of all that the device is listed as invented by a certain Phil Harrison – i.e. the former outspoken head of Sony Computer Entertainment who departed the company back in February. Yep, you bet we’re intrigued...

And we’re doubly fascinated by the promise of what are described in the application as “digital tactile pixels”. These babies allow for direct and gesture-based input via a grid of bumps that rise up underneath the main touchscreen to help simulate physical button presses. That sounds supremely daft on the one hand yet, on the other, very cool indeed.

Cooler still, though, these tactile pixels even offer force feedback across the surface of the touchscreen. This apect of the invention is based on the observation, as mentioned in the application, that “existing touch screens are configured to receive a mechanical input and provide a visible output” but “are not configured to provide both a visible and mechanical output.” Which is true enough, we guess, but that doesn’t mean there’s a yawning chasm of a gap in the marketplace for a device that fulfils such criteria.

But, hey-ho, when did such considerations ever stand in the way of progress, even if it is as gloriously nuts as this device sounds. Either way, keep an eye out for something Sony-branded resembling a cross between a DS Lite and iPhone that’s covered in vibrating bumps in the not too distant future. Oh, and check out the full patent details if you’re desperately short of entertainment later this afternoon – look for application number 20080150911 in the Publication Number Search option found at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html. Have fun!