According to a Monday report on the Patently Apple Website, Apple has filed an international patent which hints at a touch-screen iMac-like device that would switch from OS X to iOS, based on orientation.

As per the details forwarded by PatentlyApple – a Website that essentially looks for an analyzes Apple’s patents – the January 2010-filed patent hints at Apple’s development of an iMac-akin device that combines the features of the original iMac with the touch capabilities, which are clearly the key reason behind the popularity of the iPod Touch and the iPad.

The patent filed by Apple points to a kind of iMac device that can virtually switch between hi-resolution mouse input mode and a low-resolution touch-screen mode.

As a result, the device will feature a crossover of iMac-iPad technology, boasting the ability to move between Apple’s iMac-desktop-specific OS X operating system and the iOS operating system used in the iPad.

Going by Apple’s elaboration in the patent application, a host of computers to the display of the device will be able to sense the transition from the OS X to the iOS and consequently perform any number of actions, which would include “logging onto a computer or a computer network, permitting authorized individuals access to restricted areas of the computer or computer network, loading a user profile associated with a user's preferred arrangement of the computer desktop, or launching a particular program.”