Nokia’s been struggling to play catch-up with the smartphone world, but they’ve also been expressing interest in penetrating the tablet world too, but all these while they’re just news with world. Finally today we have a clearer picture of Nokia’s motive, in the form of some sketches, courtesy of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The federal bureau has just published two design patents granted to the Finnish company for a tablet device, which was applied for on the same day, which is May 28th, 2010. Of course, the date of the patent easily suggest that this may be a prototype MeeGo machine that never manage to go out of the lab and be the MeeGo tablet that everyone dreamt about, moreover since the Nokia-Microsoft partnership.

Even though a USPTO filing isn’t necessarily a sign of a product plan, these patents show that Nokia was actively exploring a touch-only tablet just weeks after the Apple iPad shipped. A MeeGo tablet has been rumoured for late this year and would be the only candidate left unless Nokia was willing to try a Windows 7 slate.

SOURCE via Electronista