Word has been circulating around the Internet that Apple is finally preparing to launch a next gen video iPod that will feature a touch-screen panel similar to the one used in the iPhone within a year.

Longstanding rumors about a touch-screen iPod have been bolstered by a recent U.S. patent awarded to the Cupertino based company.

According to Apple Insider, DigiTimes has also added more fuel to the fire, citing "sources at upstream suppliers" that Taiwan-based Wintek will be supplying the touch panels. DigiTimes says that Wintek will "begin shipping capacitive touch screen panels in the second half of 2007".

Apple Insider also noted that during a private meeting last month at the Apple Town Hall, Apple CEO Steve Jobs mentioned that a division of the company was working hard on next gen iPods that would run an embedded version of Mac OS X.

This particular tidbit was picked up by Wall Street analysts, among them Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster. Munster wrote in a report to clients earlier this week that they "expect Apple to release high capacity iPods based on OS X sometime during or before Macworld '08 in January".