It was a big announcement by the Redmond, Washington based software giant Microsoft, when on Tuesday it claimed that it registered its 10,000th U.S. patent.

According to Microsoft, it received the U.S. Patent No. 7,479,950 for the technology used in its Surface computing platform – the technology that helps to place objects on a surface and have them associated with data or media stored on the computer's hard drive.

Yes, using the technology, you can place a set of car keys on a Microsoft Surface computer and the computer can associate it with particular blocks of data, such as music files; the computer could bring up your schedule or list of favorite TV shows airing that night.

According to the Patent document, "Data elements stored in a computing system and associated with a physical object are reassociated with the same or another physical object. An identifying characteristic presented by the physical object, such as a reflective pattern applied to the object, is detected when the object is positioned adjacent to the interactive display surface. Images or other files associated with the identifying characteristic are accessed and displayed on the interactive display surface. A gesture by a user adjacent to the interactive display surface is detected to reassociate a selected representation. For example, the user can change where the selected element fits in a sequence of data elements, or reassociate the selected element with a second object placed on the interactive display surface. In a networked environment, the reassociated element can be stored on a server and subsequently accessed from a different interactive surface via the network using the second physical object."

In a statement, one of four Microsoft Research co-inventors of the technology, Curtis Wong said, "The goal of this patent is to make the interaction between the physical and virtual worlds a little more seamless."

Microsoft claimed that they are currently ranked 4th among companies with the most U.S. patents. The company received 2,030 U.S. patents in 2008.