The newly published patent for iPhone specifies that Apple is apparently fixing with the idea of a classy infrared system for the iPhone, one that could help in Cupertino’s quest to come up with the music and movie industries. It will be basically a approach for an iPhone to receive data about its nearby environment. The entertainment industry could come in if, for example, a band or more likely, its record company doesn’t want a concert to be recorded illegally. They could place infrared transmitters around the stage, which, when picked up by an iPhone camera pointed at them, could trigger a disabling of all recording on the phone.

But the potentials for this kind of technology detailed in the patent titled “Systems and methods for receiving infrared data with a camera designed to detect images based on visible light” aren’t all so Big Brother. Imagine infrared transmitters next to a museum exhibit that communicates information about the display or points to a related video online. Of course, that transmitter would probably also disable photography; too didn’t you see the sign about no picture taking in this wing of the museum? Then again, if photography is allowed, applying infrared data could automatically generate a place stamp or watermark for each picture you take. Apple applies for a lot of patents, so there’s no guarantee this awesome/scary infrared technology will come to pass. But if it does, it might be the end of stagediving and crowd surfing photos forever.