Addressing the complaints of nearly every iPhone owner in a colder climate (which is much of the US and the globe right now), Apple has filed for a patent that would cover using a multi-touch device with gloves they are supposedly developing.

The US Patent Office application notes that touchscreens like those on the iPhone and iPod touch don’t tend to work as well in colder weather. As they depend on the electrical response from a user’s fingertips, which is often blocked off when wearing gloves obviously, the screens either force users to take off their gloves or else hold off until they return indoors.

Apple’s solution would give gloves a second, inner layer beyond the surface that would simulate the electrical feedback of human fingers when exposed to the outside and thus, a touchscreen would work fine. Apertures at each fingertip would let users peel back the outer, more weatherproof layer to leave a finger protected only by the inner layer but capable of using touchscreen devices with roughly the same responsiveness as bare skin.

It’s a cool idea, and Apple will probably (soon) have the patent for it. Somewhere, Steve Jobs is smiling.