As Patently Apple reports, Apple has been granted a new patent and this time is all about making the next iteration of Mac OS X go 3D. Well, the patent is actually about three-dimensional widgets, and we’re just speculating that something like this will come to Mac OS X in the future, but from what we can see in the patent - it would be amazing.

Basically, you see these widgets with multiple surfaces (like, say, a cube) and each one has a different “view”: a weather widget, for example, would have one surface for forecasts in Cupertino and one for those in New York. You get the hang of it.

“In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification could be embodied in methods that include defining a viewing surface; modeling a depth axis extending from the viewing surface; generating a plurality of three-dimensional widgets disposed along the depth axis, each three dimensional widget being a three-dimensional representation of an object and having a plurality of application surfaces; and for each three-dimensional widget having a plurality of widget functions, associate the widget functions with corresponding application surfaces. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products.

Another aspect of the subject matter described in this specification could be embodied in methods that include defining a viewing surface; defining a back surface disposed from the viewing surface along a depth axis; and generating a widget receptacle disposed along the depth axis, the widget receptacle and having a plurality of receptacle surfaces, each receptacle surface being associated with a widget and being actuated by a selection of the receptacle surface, and upon such actuation causing an instantiation of the widget associated with the receptacle surface. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products.”

Check out the patent details here, and a couple of screenshots after the break.