It was only yesterday that Neowin revealed some of the specs that will be coming with the Surface 2, and a new patent application now defines the "refined hinge" that we discussed.
In a newly released patent application, Microsoft has filed for a patent that would allow the surface hinge to stop at two locations. Meaning, there would be two "stops" that would allow the Surface to be propped up at multiple angles. To go further, Paul Thurrott confirmed our report yesterday about the Surface Pro 2 and noted that the refined hinge matches up exactly to this newly released patent filing.
While there is no definitive proof from the filing, one might conclude that the sketches in the filing are representative of the Surface Pro 2 or Surface RT 2 (expected to be called simply the "Surface 2"). As we noted in our previous report, the two products will be nearly identical to the original Surface but the new hinge will be an obvious difference.
While we have not heard of any defined timeline for the launch of new Surfaces, with Windows 8.1 being released in October, it would not surprise us to see them hit store shelves around that timeline.
Source: Freepatentsonline.com via @H0x0d