Transfer iPhone files during a call

The iPhone community likes to keep a close eye on the patents office, and AppleInsider has picked up on a new patent application from Apple that intends to expand the limits on connectivity of two handsets during a voice call.

"While a user of a mobile device is using telephony services, the user may want to send a message or a file to another part," the patent reads. "To send this information, the user may have to disconnect the call, and then perform a lookup of the caller's contact information prior to being able to send the message or file. This multi-step process can be tedious for the user."

This connectivity solution could potentially use several different data transfer systems, including GSM, GPRS, Edge, wi-fi or Bluetooth, and will automatically collect all required contact information from the voice call participants.

This even includes conference calls, potentially allowing users to share pictures, slideshows, e-mails, links, sound files, videos, even games (and/or data from within games) at the touch of a button while chatting.

Depending how much data the iPhone is able to stream during a voice call, there's every chance this system could work in reverse, and add voice chat to connected, online gaming.