Sony’s attempt to quietly patent new controller technologies did not go unnoticed by members of the online press. The Unwired View found that U.S. Patent application 20060282873 was awarded to Sony on December 14, 2006 for a “Hand-held Controller Having Detectable Elements for Tracking Purposes.†The patent was originally filed on May 8, 2006 -- exactly one day before the Wii controller was publically demonstrated at E3.
An array of photonically detectable elements, likely to be LEDs, can be mounted or built into a game controller and be sensed by an image capturing device when the elements are oriented at least partly towards the screen.
The image-capturing device proposed in the patent is a camera, though it is unclear if it is a traditional camera like the EyeToy peripheral for PS2. As stated in the patent’s description:
Detecting and tracking a user's manipulations of a game controller body may be implemented in different ways. For example, in some embodiments a camera peripheral can be used with the computer entertainment system to detect motions of the hand-held controller body and transfer them into actions in a game. The camera can be used to detect many different types of motions of the controller, such as for example up and down movements, twisting movements, side to side movements, jerking movements, wand-like motions, plunging motions, etc. Such motions may correspond to various commands such that the motions are transferred into actions in a game.
Detecting and tracking the user's manipulations of a game controller body can be used to implement many different types of games, simulations, etc., that allow the user to, for example, engage in a sword or lightsaber fight, use a wand to trace the shape of items, engage in many different types of sporting events, engage in on-screen fights or other encounters, etc.
Sony filed a similar patent in Japan earlier this year, which details the method of a wireless motion device that can be sensed by a camera peripheral.
The move can be perceived as a validation of Nintendo’s innovative Wii controller, or perhaps it is just a way for Sony to protect itself from threats of patent infringement should it choose to introduce such a peripheral. Sony was hit with a lawsuit amounting to over $80 million in damages over its use of rumble in its DualShock 2 controllers.
