RIM’s latest patent concerns a “smart” cellphone holster that can tell your Blackberry when it has been safely slotted inside, at which point the phone can automatically disable the screen and buttons to prevent accidental calls.  And as with the best magic tricks, it’s all done with magnets.

Specially positioned magnets sewn into the case itself are detected by sensors in the Blackberry, relying on the “Hall effect” where a voltage develops as a result of current flow in the presence of a magnetic field.  Obviously it would require an update to the Blackberry handset itself, but since this is merely a patent and not a promise, there’s no guarantee we’ll ever see such a case on the market at all.

cellpassion [via UberPhones]