Well, not right way, but hopefully soon. In the category of true innovation, Apple is once again set to shake things up by getting rid of the traditional lens/ccd combination for digital imaging.

Recall that in Star Trek and other sci fi imaginings the actors all speak directly to each other through imaging technology. Anyone who has used computers to Video conference knows it doesn’t work that way, and the experience is far more askew.

Apple has filed patents for technology to change all that:

The clever idea is to insert thousands of microscopic image sensors in-between the liquid crystal display cells in the screen. Each sensor captures its own small image, but software stitches these together to create a single, larger picture.

A large LCD screen filled with image sensors would be ideal for videoconferencing, Apple suggests, as participants would always appear to look straight into the “camera”. The technique could also add a camera function to a cellphone or PDA without wasting space, and light from the screen should help illuminate a subject.

The more sensors there are, the wider and clearer the image. Sketches accompanying the company’s patent show as many sensors as liquid crystal cells in a screen. If some of the sensors have different focal lengths, switching between them would make the screen behave like a zoom lens.

Recalling our previous discussions of the future of the iPod, we have to conclude that the iPod is destined to integrate this view screen technology as well. Combined with enhanced mobile data rates we’re talking about the true audiovisual communicator. No lens or eyepiece to get dirty. Direct eye contact.

Depending on how the technology develops, those old jokes about the secretary holding the paper up to the monitor to use the computer fax modem won’t be so silly anymore. Use your flat panel LCD to scan? Why not? With software image correction, it may not be that far off.

How about signing into a website by pressing your thumb against the sign-in box on the screen? Or how about retinal scanning? Facial recognition? Seems like some important implications for Identity 2.0 may be inherent in this development.

And think of the interesting possibilities if this technology could be coupled with flexible displays. Roll it up and have panoramic image capture. Put it on the outside of a sphere and have an all-seeing-eye for surveillance. No more lenses for wide-angle.

Things just keep getting more and more interesting.