Here Are All The Known Patent Diagrams For Apple's iWatch (AAPL)

Apple has yet to confirm that it is working on an iWatch — a portable, wrist-based mobile device that might function like an iPod-cum-wristwatch-cum-iPhone.

But it has filed trademark applications for the name "iWatch." And, even more tantalizing for Apple-watchers, it has also filed a number of diagrams with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that seem to show iWatch-style devices.

See the Apple iWatch patent diagrams >

Companies file patents all the time, just to get legal ownership of the technology even if they don't want to develop it. They sometimes file patents to prevent competitors from developing similar products.

And patent applications are couched in legal-ese and misleading information — so we can't say for sure that these are Apple's sketches of the iWatch.

The following gallery is, we believe, all the diagrams Apple has filed with the USPTO so far that describe iWatch-like devices, or patents for previous products that could be repurposed for the iWatch.

Here's the best-known of the existing iWatch patent diagrams — an actual wristband on a human hand (for scale) and the suggestion that it might be hooked up to a curved iPhone.

Note that the wristband is continuous.

This patent for an "armband" that holds an electronic device was filed on July 2, 2013. The filing gives no indication of size — so it could be simply an iPhone holder. Apple once marketed a watch-like "Sportband" product with Nike that was similar.