Like an old episode of Star Trek, Apple patents provide us with a look at many possible futures for the iPhone, some of which -- but not all of which -- may one day be ours. Cases in point, AppleInsider rounds up the latest batch from Cupertino:

• Location-based home screen means a user would be presented with a dynamically generated Home Screen based on factors such as location (get off the plane, automagically be presented with local weather, maps, contacts, etc.)

• Speech-to-text would take what you say into the iPhone and transcribe it into editable text (similar to what many 3rd party apps offer now).

• Image transportation, where picture are automagically scaled and sent for display on a TV or similar external monitor.

• Event-based contact lists, hosted server-side, that would allow access for event participants.

• In-call file transfer would let users share a file with someone they're already talking to on the phone.

Yeah, iPhone 4.0 is coming when again?