Videoconferencing on the iPhone

Video conferencing on the iPhone rumors have been around almost as long as the iPhone itself.  Well, they are still in rumor mode but have a very slightly more realistic chance at coming to fruition if Apple’s latest patent unearthing gets the go-ahead.  Informationweek (via Apple Core) found a bunch of information relating to video conferencing on the iPhone.  Quoth the patent:

In some embodiments, the functions may include telephoning, video conferencing, e-mailing, instant messaging, blogging, digital photographing, digital videoing, Web browsing, digital music playing, and/or digital video playing. Instructions for performing these functions may be included in a computer-readable storage medium or other computer program product configured for execution by one or more processors.
….
In some embodiments, an optical sensor is located on the back of the device, opposite the touch screen display on the front of the device, so that the touch screen display may be used as a viewfinder for either still and/or video image acquisition. In some embodiments, an optical sensor is located on the front of the device so that the user’s image may be obtained for videoconferencing while the user views the other video conference participants on the touch screen display.

Is this something we’ll see in iPhone 3.0?  Although patents are rarely a good indication of upcoming products, this one is an interesting read.