Apple has finally been awarded a patent for a system of integrating a touch-screen panel directly into an IPS (in-plane switching) display, as found on the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S -- which it first applied for in 2007, shortly after the announcement of the first iPhone. The method is considered to be both superior and more cost-effective in comparison to the usual method of overlaying a touch-screen layer or panel on top of a display panel.
