Heads up, iPod users! The future generations of Apple's uber-successful iPod mp3 players might just get the touch-screen treatment as a US patent was granted on the concept to Apple Corporation.

The patent describes an "electronic device uses separate surfaces for input and output. One of the surfaces (e.g., the bottom) includes a force-sensitive touch-surface through which a user provides input (e.g., cursor manipulation and control element selection)."

This development caps a long-standing rumor that Apple is planning to go touch-screen. If the patent makes it to design integration, the iPod should get even more popular as touch-screen controls have proved appealing to a wide audience. It is still uncertain whether video iPods will be among those units which will get the technology integrated, but it certainly does show a lot of promise to take Apple's innovative ways a step further up the rest.