Unwiredview.com added more fuel to the Apple tablet rumor mill today with their report that Apple has filed a patent application for improved digital ink recognition techniques. The patent covers techniques for improving the recognition and interpretation of digital ink phrases. You know, the kind that are longer and more meaningful than the digital ink recognition needed for small, handheld devices. In the application, Apple themselves referred to it as a “pen-based input tablet.”

Obviously Apple tablet rumors are proliferating, but it’s certain that Apple doesn’t need better digital ink recognition for the Nano. ZDNet says the patent application was filed on July 17, 2009, and published today in the US Patent & Trademark Office.

The application lends credence to the suspicion that the upcoming product will have more in common with a MacBook Air than an overgrown iPod Touch. Still, when announcing the iPhone in January 2007, Steve Jobs went out of his way to say nobody needed a stylus when we had ten of the best pointing devices in the world on our hands. That’s the same time that Apple’s Inkwell handwriting technology disappeared from Apple’s website. Still, Ink Services is actually still available in Mac OS if you connect an external graphics tablet.

Jason D. O’Grady thinks that Apple is patent-spamming to throw us off the scent. One thing’s for sure; all this speculation gives them free buzz.