diff --git a/include/utils/Flattenable.h b/include/utils/Flattenable.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..852be3b6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/utils/Flattenable.h
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2010 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#ifndef ANDROID_UTILS_FLATTENABLE_H
+#define ANDROID_UTILS_FLATTENABLE_H
+
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <utils/Errors.h>
+
+namespace android {
+
+class Flattenable
+{
+public:
+    // size in bytes of the flattened object
+    virtual size_t getFlattenedSize() const = 0;
+
+    // number of file descriptors to flatten
+    virtual size_t getFdCount() const = 0;
+
+    // flattens the object into buffer.
+    // size should be at least of getFlattenedSize()
+    // file descriptors are written in the fds[] array but ownership is
+    // not transfered (ie: they must be dupped by the caller of
+    // flatten() if needed).
+    virtual status_t flatten(void* buffer, size_t size,
+            int fds[], size_t count) const = 0;
+
+    // unflattens the object from buffer.
+    // size should be equal to the value of getFlattenedSize() when the
+    // object was flattened.
+    // unflattened file descriptors are found in the fds[] array and
+    // don't need to be dupped(). ie: the caller of unflatten doesn't
+    // keep ownership. If a fd is not retained by unflatten() it must be
+    // explicitly closed.
+    virtual status_t unflatten(void const* buffer, size_t size,
+            int fds[], size_t count) = 0;
+
+protected:
+    virtual ~Flattenable() = 0;
+
+};
+
+}; // namespace android
+
+
+#endif /* ANDROID_UTILS_FLATTENABLE_H */
diff --git a/libs/utils/Android.mk b/libs/utils/Android.mk
index d2cfd3b5c..d0eedb43a 100644
--- a/libs/utils/Android.mk
+++ b/libs/utils/Android.mk
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ commonSources:= \
 	CallStack.cpp \
 	Debug.cpp \
 	FileMap.cpp \
+	Flattenable.cpp \
 	RefBase.cpp \
 	ResourceTypes.cpp \
 	SharedBuffer.cpp \
diff --git a/libs/utils/Flattenable.cpp b/libs/utils/Flattenable.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1f2ffaa28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs/utils/Flattenable.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2006 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include <utils/Flattenable.h>
+
+namespace android {
+
+Flattenable::~Flattenable() {
+}
+
+}; // namespace android