According to a new patent filing, Apple seems to want to re-introduce its digital video answering machine with new features.

The app would let you record videos and send them via iChat to your friends who can view them later. The app would also let you auto-reply with your video to incoming callers if you changed your status to Away or Idle after a pre-specified time.

Going further this time, Apple explained in the filing that the videos could be uploaded on its servers, allowing the video to be displayed even when you are not logged into iChat.

Additionally, you would also be able to respond with your own video audio reply.

The concept was first introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 pre-release version in 2006 but never really materialized.