Cupertino (CA) - Apple’s latest patent filing may be an indication of a new iPhone feature that could allow the smartphone as well as the iPod touch to remotely access the iTunes library stored on a Mac or PC.

If this feature indeed will make it into the real world, iPhone/iPod touch users could organize and playback media items stored on their home PC - as if they resided on the player. The library would be accessed via Wi-Fi or a cellular network, elegantly bypassing media player’s limited storage capacity of the media player.

A new Apple patent filing that surfaced earlier today in the US Patent & Trademark Office database suggests that a new software enabling this feature may be added by Apple soon. The 24-page document conveniently titled "Remote access of the media items", credited to Apple employees David Heller and Thomas Mavrakakis, describes methods for remotely accessing any media file stored locally in the iTunes library on the Mac or PC, using a media player’s Wi-Fi or cellular network connectivity.

The company also proposes a Zune-like feature that would allow iPhone and iPod touch users to directly access media items stored on neighboring devices using peer-to-peer connectivity. "In the peer-to-peer environment, one mobile device can communicate with one or more other electronic devices (whether mobile or stationary) in the immediate vicinity. Data sharing can be performed when such communication is available," the patent filing states.

Remote iTunes library access could easily become the prominent feature as part of a future firmware update. Apple explains in the filing that a computer’s iTunes library can hold a huge amount of media items that cannot be copied entirely to the media player due to its very limited storage capacity. Sometimes, a user is in a hurry and can’t even wait for slow sync of hand-picked media items to his media player. To solve this problem, the company suggests a method that would copy only description files for each media item found in the local iTunes library on Mac or PC. This way, the media player’s storage would not be wasted since the description file occupies less than 1% of the space of the media file itself.

The player can then use the description file to remotely retrieve media content from a user’s iTunes library using a Wi-Fi connection or cellular network and playback music and videos as if the files resided in the media player’s built-in storage. Of course, a remote iTunes library access assumes that a Mac or PC is turned on and connected to the Internet so that it can be reached by the media player. Apple stated that remote management of the iTunes library content may be possible as well. This means that user could rename or delete media files, create new playlists or add new items to the remote library from their handset.

We have little doubt that this patent filing will end up in one of the future firmware updates for the iPhone and iPod touch. The feature delivers a real-life benefit as it can bridge the gap between the larger content that users amassed in their iTunes libraries over time and hand-picked items that they synchronize on their media player due to storage limitations.