Sony Patents "Flat Joystick Controller" With Touchpad

[roseofbattle]

Sony Patents "Flat Joystick Controller" With Touchpad

The patented device appears to be a new PlayStation Move controller.

Sony filed a patent for a "Flat Joystick Controller" in June 2012. Published earlier this month in Free Patents Online, the patent depicts a controller that looks similar to the PlayStation Move peripheral, but this one has a different button layout and a touch surface.

The patent filing states, "a touch surface is disposed on one side of the handle. The touch surface has an indicator that is identified by a surface characteristic on the touch surface. The touch surface provides an area for receiving directionality control in response to interfacing by a finger of a user." Important to note is that PS4's DualShock 4 has a touch pad. The PS4 supports the PlayStation Move, but there has been such little talk of it that there probably won't be many games making use of it.

The proposed multi-positional controller solves a problem inherent in a joystick you swing around: you can't take your thumb away from where it is to press a button. The thumb both needs to support the joystick and provide input. The patent reads:

In a traditional joystick, it is hard to keep a user's thumb still while the user provides input by engaging various motions with the joystick. This is due to the fact that in the joystick, the thumb's support moves. However, using a touch input surface, the thumb can be kept still while continuing to provide the user's input by pressing on the input surface. The pressing of the user's finger on the input surface causes friction that is recognized as the user's engagement.

Judging by the lack of overall support for PlayStation Move, this controller may never be developed for consumer use.

Source: CVG [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20130324254.pdf ]


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[Vivi22]

Looks like some folks found Valve's controller reveal interesting and figured they slap the same idea on the Move.

 

[FinalDream]

Looks like some folks found Valve's controller reveal interesting and figured they slap the same idea on the Move.

Looks like some folks at Valve found the Play Xperia interesting and decided to slap it on a controller

 

[Yoshi4102]

Looks like some folks found Valve's controller reveal interesting and figured they slap the same idea on the Move.

Looks like some folks at Valve found the Play Xperia interesting and decided to slap it on a controller

Looks like... this is a bad idea and I hope it doesn't get made.

 

[Slegiar Dryke]

Looks like some folks found Valve's controller reveal interesting and figured they slap the same idea on the Move.

Looks like some folks at Valve found the Play Xperia interesting and decided to slap it on a controller

Looks like... this is a bad idea and I hope it doesn't get made.

Looks like... Ouya might have started something beyond microconsoles ^^;

all seriousness though... bets are this won't have any better luck than the move did.

 

[holyshaman]

sorry for asking but if sony gets the patent would that mean that valve's steam controller would make money for sony?

 

[AstaresPanda]

Looks like its still going to look stupid and end up gathering dust like the one they already have

 

[Vivi22]

Looks like some folks found Valve's controller reveal interesting and figured they slap the same idea on the Move.

Looks like some folks at Valve found the Play Xperia interesting and decided to slap it on a controller

From what I know of the Xperia, it just had a touch pad. Not one specifically meant to replace d-pads/analog sticks.

 

[Malevolentcafe]

This thing looks incredibly uncomfortable to hold. I feel that the PSP's hook finger syndrome is coming back to haunt me.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Looks like some folks found Valve's controller reveal interesting and figured they slap the same idea on the Move.

Looks like some folks at Valve found the Play Xperia interesting and decided to slap it on a controller

Looks like some folks at Sony found a guy trying to play a decent game with crap controls on his smartphone and failing miserably and another guy next to him trying to game with with his laptop touchpad and went with slapping it in a phone.

OT, How do you use a touchpad or thumbstick while waving that thing around. I would imagine your thumb would move, squeeze, or rotate enough to thrown it off while swinging anyway. Why not just come up with and patent an algorithm to compensate for that as a player is swinging based on acceleration. Or better yet, realise the Wii fad is a dead horse now and we need inovation somewhere else, like the brown fps market.

 

[GladiatorUA]

So they patented a touchpad?

 

[The_Echo]

So it's just a modified Move controller which takes advantage of the additional input capabilities of the DualShock 4? Or maybe it removes the necessity for the secondary controller altogether?

Sounds nice.

But... I mean, people didn't really latch onto the Move, so...

 

[joshuaayt]

Why? Joystick is the best thing ever.

I'm still waiting for someone to patent a nunchuk type of controller connected to a mouse for pc. That way you could point and shoot wiht your mouse and move with your nunchuk. Sure you still had to be sat down, but it could be more confortable than WASD.

You know what? I thought that sounded silly at first, but... Dude, that's the best idea. I'd buy the hell out of one of those.

 

[Slegiar Dryke]

Why? Joystick is the best thing ever.

I'm still waiting for someone to patent a nunchuk type of controller connected to a mouse for pc. That way you could point and shoot wiht your mouse and move with your nunchuk. Sure you still had to be sat down, but it could be more confortable than WASD.

You know what? I thought that sounded silly at first, but... Dude, that's the best idea. I'd buy the hell out of one of those.

err...someone kinda sorta has come out with something like that. not quite as precise, but the idea is there. Have you heard of the Razer Hydra? It's a dual nunchuck style controllers with a magnetic field based location system for figuring out where the controllers are in relation to the base station. Not wireless unfortunately, which knocks it down a fair bit depending on your willingness to find a decent use. But its very programmable in terms of what you can make button presses and even some motions do, including mimicking mouse inputs. Step in the right direction, but probably not as precise and easy to use yet as the guy before you's post was talking about.

 

[VanQ]

Why? Joystick is the best thing ever.

I'm still waiting for someone to patent a nunchuk type of controller connected to a mouse for pc. That way you could point and shoot wiht your mouse and move with your nunchuk. Sure you still had to be sat down, but it could be more confortable than WASD.

You know what? I thought that sounded silly at first, but... Dude, that's the best idea. I'd buy the hell out of one of those.

err...someone kinda sorta has come out with something like that. not quite as precise, but the idea is there. Have you heard of the Razer Hydra? It's a dual nunchuck style controllers with a magnetic field based location system for figuring out where the controllers are in relation to the base station. Not wireless unfortunately, which knocks it down a fair bit depending on your willingness to find a decent use. But its very programmable in terms of what you can make button presses and even some motions do, including mimicking mouse inputs. Step in the right direction, but probably not as precise and easy to use yet as the guy before you's post was talking about.

A programmer friend of mine is currently using a Razer Hydra in conjunction with an Oculus Rift in order to develop a game where giant robots run around and punch each other. As far as I'm concerned, what he's doing in his spare time for free is far more interesting and fun than what most big developers and their attempt to cash in on the smart-phone/touch screen nonsense are doing.

 

[Slegiar Dryke]

A programmer friend of mine is currently using a Razer Hydra in conjunction with an Oculus Rift in order to develop a game where giant robots run around and punch each other. As far as I'm concerned, what he's doing in his spare time for free is far more interesting and fun than what most big developers and their attempt to cash in on the smart-phone/touch screen nonsense are doing.

wow, that sounds rather amazing XD. I'll admit that, not having much spare cash, I've not had a chance to use the Oculus Rift yet, and, admittedly, am still a bit skeptical....but if its achieved even a fraction of what I've heard it being praised for, plus an input control like the Hydra....that could definitely go places =) best of wishes to your friend on his project ^^.

I really don't get the whole touch screen/pad/etc craze XP it made at least a bit of sense on the Ouya, given it needed a bit of control for those non controller based times (found a bit of use for it myself in XBMC), and the wiiU, its an extension of the DS....beyond that though *shrugs* feels really out of place XP

 

[Strazdas]

So they patented a touchpad?

Yes, let the patent trolling begin.

No, seriuosly, why are you allowed to patent things like that? thats like patenting color green.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Why? Joystick is the best thing ever.

I'm still waiting for someone to patent a nunchuk type of controller connected to a mouse for pc. That way you could point and shoot wiht your mouse and move with your nunchuk. Sure you still had to be sat down, but it could be more confortable than WASD.

Is this kind of what you were talking about?

http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/store/razer-orbweaver-stealth