Having never actually tried karaoke, nor with much of an urge to do so (I'm always afraid uber-bitch Simon Cowell is lurking around the corner, just waiting to leap out and shout "you're rubbish!"), Apple's latest patent doesn't really fill me with glee.  However, if you've ever wanted to sing along with your iPod or iPhone but have been hamstrung by not knowing all the words, their plans for a dynamic on-screen lyrics system might tickle your fancy.

Basically, the system would identify the track (likely from the ID3 data), download an "augmented lyrics file", begin playback and display chunks of the words on-screen at the appropriate time.  Alternatively, the device could have a scrolling ticker-tape of lyrics for you to follow.

Now patents are curious things, and just because they're filed it doesn't mean much will come of them.  However as a portable music device with a dedicated data connection the iPhone would seem ideal to satisfy both the playback and the lyric database query sides, so perhaps we'll see not only people talking into their hands-free kits but singing as well.

[via SensoryMetrics]