On Tuesday Apple was awarded the patent for a heart-rate monitor which is expected to be embedded and work with the upcoming iWatch.

The company was awarded 22 other patents, along with the one which has been named the “seamlessly embedded heart rate monitor”, by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

According to the abstract for the patent the monitor is “an an electronic device having an integrated sensor for detecting a user’s cardiac activity and cardiac electrical signals. The electronic device can include a heart sensor having several leads for detecting a user’s cardiac signals. The leads can be coupled to interior surfaces of the electronic device housing to hide the sensor from view, such that electrical signals generated by the user can be transmitted from the user’s skin through the electronic device housing to the leads.”

Aside from the heart rate monitor the patents range in variety from new display stands, docking stations, a new touch screen to even ones that allow handheld devices to have a proximity detector.

[via Cnet, Apple Insider, Patently Apple]