Sony patents LED-infused, motion-tracking controller

While the PS4 might be "just around the corner," and Nintendo's Wiimote is sure to give you all the (potentially dangerous) controller flinging fits you can handle, it appears that Sony's giving the whole "controller innovation" thing another go. Sure, Sony's faced its fair share of lawsuits (hasn't everyone?), and had noticeable trouble with Dual Shock in particular, but the less-than-revolutionary SIXAXIS controller is apparently lacking a heavily-desired feature: motion tracking. We're fairly certain that Sony is watching its toes to make sure the next lawsuit to hit doesn't come from the big N, but its latest patent describes a "handheld controller having detectable elements for tracking purposes," which admittedly sounds awfully familiar. The design looks simply like a revamped version of the current SIXAXIS, with embedded LEDs on the front of the device and an "external camera (Sony's sensor bar patent?) to capture the movements" of the user. After combing through the patent jargon, there's little doubt that the goal here is to deliver a controller that allows gamers to maneuver and react with more than just button mashes, but whether or not this development will actually be realized (or if games / lawyers will end up supporting it) remains to be seen.

[Via Unwired View, thanks Staska]

[Tom @ Dec 14th 2006 3:05PM]

Switching the LEDs to being on the controller and the camera device to being the plugged-in peripheral (as they have in this patent) may be all it takes to avoid lawsuits on this one I suppose. Though it would sure as hell make it a lot more difficult for enterprising young hacker types to use the controller on their computers ala the wiimote.. not much harder, but slightly harder.

[Ryan @ Dec 14th 2006 3:06PM]

Although the technology serves a very similar purpose to the Wii Remote+Sensor Bar combination, they could probably get the patent by without any problem as it sounds as though the Sony sensor would receive a signal from the controller, where as the Wii Remote works in the opposite way, receiving the signal from the sensor bar.

[Wow. @ Dec 14th 2006 4:48PM]

um, what signal from the sensor bar? Would that be the same signal two well placed candles give off? I think you're mistaken.

I think it would be in Sony's interest to make this thing work in conjunction with eyetoy.

[sidedraft @ Dec 14th 2006 3:08PM]

The PS3 controller already has those 4 led lights on the front.

[Brad @ Dec 14th 2006 3:13PM]

Great idea, Sony! You could use the controller for fun things like swinging a sword, hitting a tennis ball, or pulling the drawstring of a bow.

Except, you have to have both hands on the controller? Wait a minute. Those motions don't sound as convincingly natural anymore.

[bor_bor @ Dec 14th 2006 3:28PM]

Yeah, this is so "Me Too" and for what purpose? I don't see this being that great of an addition since it's bound to a two handed controller.

[Ross @ Dec 14th 2006 3:28PM]

And didn't Engadget report on a story a week or two ago about Sony filing for a motion sensing patent more than a year ago? Here we go:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/sony-patents-its-own-version-of-the-wiimote-and-sensor-bar/

I'd have thought you might have mentioned this seeing as it was a week ago.

[Ralph @ Dec 14th 2006 3:27PM]

Brad - Good call. I can't tell you how liberating it is to get some gaming in with one had way over there ----------->HERE and the other hand all the way over there----------------------->Here.

And as an added bonus, the cat gets a lap to sleep on. "It's ok to love your pets, it's just not ok to LOVE your pets".

[Bobickus @ Dec 14th 2006 3:29PM]

The wii's bar provides an array of LEDs, creating a clear beacon for the camera in the remote. Would the four LED array the front be as clear a beacon?

Regardless, it seems more convenient to minimize inerferring IR sources coming from the direction of a screen, rather than those coming from the entirety of the room.

Naysaying, as always...

[chaosrain @ Dec 14th 2006 3:30PM]

Frankly, I'm really curious to see how the motion/position sensing stuff develops. I have a Wii and Call of Duty 3 is pretty weak...the shooting stuff's okay, but the additional motions are super-sucky. Zelda's fun, but when it comes to Sony, you're looking at more FPS games and I'd like to see one on the Wii that demonstrates the benefit of the technology better than CoD3, which is not so striking just yet. Based on my experience with it, I'm not about to buy Far Cry any time soon.

[Flit @ Dec 14th 2006 3:39PM]

Sony. Go to hell. I doubt this patent is anything more than for the ps3 controller. Motion sensing? 4 led's that are already on the controller. I call shennanigans.

[Flit @ Dec 14th 2006 3:40PM]

I enjoy the wiimote. After playing zelda for two hours i was like "hey! i'm having a lot of fun!"

[Smeagol @ Dec 14th 2006 3:43PM]

The "external camera to capture the movements" is their upcoming EyeToy HD. It will also have advanced gesture recognition (individual fingers), read coded cards (Eye of the beholder), and enable HD video conferencing.

That sounds a lot more advanced than the wiisensor bar with its LEDs, no?

[kompression @ Dec 14th 2006 3:44PM]

Why???

[Evan @ Dec 14th 2006 3:47PM]

Sony's technique is inferior to Nintendo's technique.

Sony's technique could not be used to "aim" accurately at the screen, like a light-gun. Small rotations associated with "aiming" will only have a sub-pixel effect the LED positions as they are sensed by the camera. The sub-pixel effect on position will be overwhelmed by lateral motions of the controller. Also, the ability to calculate sub-pixel positions is very poor if a color camera (like the EyeToy) is used, due to the mosaic color pattern on the sensor.

Sony's technique also requires that the LEDs be facing the camera, which greatly limits the range of motion that this technique can track. No baseball bat or golf club swings.

So, it's range of motion is limited to approximately that of the Wiimote's "aiming" functionality, but it's no where near as accurate as the Wiimote for aiming. About the only thing this is good for is detecting large movements in the camera plane while keeping the controller pointed at the camera. I can't think of how that could be nearly as useful in a game compared to what the Wii is capable of.

[Thomas @ Dec 14th 2006 4:23PM]

Sony are idiots.
The got all the technology but they dont seem to know how to use it.

The reason the SixAxis could never be good for playing sports *is because you cant hold it like you would a sports bat*

The Wiimote can be hold like a golf club, tennis racket, boxing gloves, snocker cue...whatever.

Sony just doesnt seem to understand technology is good, but it also have to be coupled with design.
They honestly think their controller shape is perfect so it never needs to be changed.
Grow up sony.
Your playstations were successfull for other reasons, you dont have to be terrified of changeing your controller shape.

[andy @ Dec 14th 2006 4:29PM]

The benefit of sony's approach is increased battery life. burning a few LED's takes less current that running a CCD, processing and RFing the information back to a base unit.

While this may be patentable, I haven't read N's claims so it may very well be a patentable improvement on N's system while also being an infringement if put in practice.

[Porsche 911 @ Dec 14th 2006 4:37PM]

Why is everyone saying the PS3’s controller had copied the Wii’s controller? Remember, the Eye Toy came out before the Wii’s controller, and it can sense motion.

[NN10 @ Dec 15th 2006 7:47AM]

okok nintendo copied sony... XDXD remember the powerglove??? ^_^

[ChrisWray @ Dec 14th 2006 7:08PM]

The jig is up, Sony.

[CM @ Dec 14th 2006 7:17PM]

Hmm, looks like they're trying to patent Ereal's RGT light gun, among other things:

http://www.erealgames.com/aboutrgt.php

I think this is its patent:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&S1=Wang-Xiaoling.INNM.&OS=in/Wang-Xiaoling&RS=IN/Wang-Xiaoling

[Canadian_Bacon @ Dec 14th 2006 7:26PM]

microsoft pattent from 03...!

[Canadian_Bacon @ Dec 14th 2006 7:27PM]

ugh, code didnt work, heres the url

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=49&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&S1=gyration&OS=gyration&RS=gyration">

[Murc @ Dec 14th 2006 11:43PM]

people change, cars change, electronics shange...but the PS controller is forever.

[Teejay @ Dec 15th 2006 12:53PM]

Not again... sony.. eat my shorts!

[MML @ Dec 20th 2006 7:09PM]

sony should stop being a follower and start thinking on their own

[LikesGadgetsWillTravel @ Jan 2nd 2007 7:50PM]

Huh?!? How can this be patented? Using light-beacons and an optical sensor has been used to determine the position of objects in space for decades. And before that, they used radio-beacons and RF receivers for triangulation -- it's done thousands of times each day with each landing airplane.

I don't think this patent (nor Nintendo's if they have one) would be enforcable, as it's an obvious application of existing technology.

[TM @ Mar 13th 2007 7:37PM]

Too bad we didn't patent this when we started selling these for computers 5 years ago. I guess we should worry that Sony might sue us for those systems we already installed at Sandia National Labs and a few universities.
www.phasespace.com

[skyhawk @ May 1st 2007 7:15AM]

I am pretty new to LED controller. I have been looking for The LED controller to suite my small project. I have www.lunaraccents.com/technology-programmable-LED-controller.html
to help me with my project but their price is getting high for me to afford. I am going to try on my own and have to start to study more about this new thing!

[skyhawk @ May 1st 2007 7:17AM]

http://www.lunaraccents.com/technology-programmable-LED-controller.html

[Rock Lee @ Jun 5th 2007 1:57AM]

Man, you guys are dumb. This IS the SIXAXIS!!! _<

Have you guys even played Super Rub A Dub for the PS3? Have you guys seen all those Youtube videos of people using the SIXAXIS to detect X,Y,Z movement?!!?

[Rock Lee @ Jun 5th 2007 1:58AM]

And Thomas, Sony DID try to change their controller to the Boomerang. But everybody hated it.

Also, SIXAXIS isn't meant ONLY for motion sensing games. It's meant for regular games that also applies some motion sensing to an extent if the developers want.

Wii is 99% for motion sensing games.

PS3 is for ANY kind of game, therefore they cannot favor the motion sensing aspect over the other genres.

And Sony's success is due to the reason that they allow as many different sorts of games on their system as they can. While Nintendo and Microsoft aim mainly at a few certain types of games, which is why they can't sell as much.