Earlier this year Microsoft and Ford unveiled Sync, an in-car communications and entertainment system that is expected to be a factory-installed option for various 2008 model year vehicles.

This patent however details a "car stereo including a docking station into which an off-the-shelf handheld computer can be docked," and additionally, it hints towards support for a multitude of devices. The stereo would also include a memory system that will "maintain a record its current state when it is undocked from a particular type of appliance," so when you plug back in, everything starts up where you left off.

Not to be limited by digital audio players, the patent also allows for "another interface form [that] may allow the user to select from resources such as GPS, internet, a printer over USB, etc."

[View Patent (PDF) via Engadget]