SAN JOSE, Calif. — Bye-bye click wheel?

If a recent patent filing is any indication, Apple Computer may abandon the iconic wheel that has become virtually synonymous with its popular iPod music players. The company has explored replacing the click wheel with a virtual one as part of a touch-sensitive display. But now the company appears to be looking at a third option.

That option would use a touch-sensitive frame surrounding the display. Rather than click a physical button built into the gadget or press a virtual one on the screen, users would touch an area on the frame to operate their iPod.

Gadget designers face a challenge in trying to create a device with as large a screen as possible while still incorporating — and providing an easy way to access — an array of different functions, Apple noted in the patent application, which the company filed in June but was not published on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Web site until Thursday. The problem with touch-sensitive screens is that they usually generate virtual buttons or windows that typically "overlay the content being displayed," the company said. This new approach may solve that problem.

Apple representatives did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the patent filing.

It's not surprising that Apple is exploring different interfaces for a device that would likely be first and foremost a video player, said Van Baker, an analyst with research group Gartner. Because movies and TV shows typically run much longer than songs, users wouldn't need to interact with the iPod as often, Baker noted.

"The need for having that navigation available is not as significant," he said.

But don't mourn the click-wheel's passing yet, Baker and other analysts say.

An iPod with a touch-sensitive frame or even one with a full screen may never see the light of day, they said.

"Apple files patents for a lot of products that never make it to market," said Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies, an industry consulting firm. "You really can't read too much into their patent filings without understanding that filing them is part of their normal business procedure."

And even in the patent application, Apple didn't completely jettison the click-wheel idea. One of the diagrams in the filing explores the possibility of a hybrid model that would have both a touch-sensitive frame and a virtual wheel.

Click wheel or no, Apple's filing also hints at another interesting feature in this full-screen iPod: a sensor that would determine whether to display images and text vertically or horizontally depending on how the user was holding the gadget.

The touch-sensitive areas of the frame would also change based on the device's orientation.

It was unclear from the filing whether Apple would use the touch-sensitive frame in all of its iPods or just the rumored replacement for its top-of-the-line video-playing one. The patent filing is only the latest in a number of related ones from the company that have fueled speculation it will soon release a full-screen iPod to play movies and TV shows downloaded from its iTunes store.