Apple in a new patent filing reveals that it is conducting research on a 3D remote control system for its Apple TV set-top box that would mimic the functionality of the Nintendo Wii controller and also deliver some features akin to its multi-touch technology.

In the November 2006 filing, published for the first time this week, the Cupertino-based electronics maker notes that the three-dimensional remote control systems can detect an absolute location to which a remote control is pointing in first and second orthogonal axes (e.g., the x- and y-axes) and an absolute position of the remote control in a third orthogonal axis (e.g., the z-axis).