Apple currently holds the largest market share in the market of digital music players and is also very successful with its iTunes music store, however, the company has gone further and patented “an invention that allows cell phone or wireless handheld users to interact with an online music store?

The invention appears to be a way for Apple to capture revenue from music fans with short attention spans, notes Cnet News.com web-site. For example, cell phone users on the go who hear a song might want to purchase that tune right away, but by the time they get back to their PC, they have forgotten the name of the song or the artist.

The patent abstractly describes itself as “techniques for interacting with an online media store using a first device to identify a digital media item of interest to a user of the first device, using the first device to store an interest indicator for the digital media item of interest at the online media store, and subsequently interacting with the online media store using a second device to purchase or preview the digital media item of interest as identified by the interest indicator. Additionally, ring tones and graphics associated with the digital media item of interest can also be purchased.

It is unclear whether Apple's plans include a patent that covers a situation when a user can purchase and download a music file directly from his cell phone.

• Cnet News.com: Apple Patent Covers Wireless iTunes Distribution.
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Reservation of Digital Media Items.