New Patent Filed By Sony Interactive Entertainment Shows To Be A VR Peripheral For Finger Tracking

It wasn’t too long ago that users online dug up a patent filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment paved for the upcoming next generation platform. During the initial discovery in November of 2019, a patent placed by the console giant revealed some interesting traits for the supposed Dualshock 5.

Aspects such as the gamepad’s triggers appear to be slightly bigger in appearance, while the complete opposite can be said for the symmetrical control sticks on the front. Another take away is the missing light bar on the controller; seemingly verifying that the piece of the controller is only unique to the currently available Dualshock 4. Another nitpick from the images provided illustrates that Sony dropped the micro USB port on the bottom for a modern USB-C instead.

In light of more to learn, it now looks that a new patent surfaced, this time concerning the next iteration for the virtual reality peripheral on the PlayStation platform. Taken from the new set of pictures that were paired with the filing, the patent looks to be a new controller for the PSVR. In contrast to the current controllers we are familiar with, the peripheral surely sticks out with major changes for the second iteration.

One eye grabber from the patent is the strap that the player would rest their hand in unlike the controller built to circulate over instead. Holding the player’s hand while the fingers wrap around the controller to reach the button inputs on the other side. However, the other side of the device also looks to include an addition that is not a button in particular.

Reading the patent which cites this segment of the controller to be an “electrostatic sensor or an infrared sensor,” it is suspected to utilize the player’s appendage for finger tracking. Similar with the competing Valve Index, this implementation could direct information to the respected software as for how the player’s hands are being used. As of now, no such technology is paired in the PlayStation VR controllers.

Unlike ratings for games which hold more credibility to arrive, filed patents only illustrate what the company is aiming for and tend to be updated or abandoned ultimately. Seeing how the approaching PlayStation 5 has yet to arrive, expect the second version of PlayStation VR to also receive updates from what we see now.

What is your opinion on these changes with the new PlayStation VR controllers?

Source: UploadVR