United States Patent and Trademark Office
- Sony Interactive Inc. has filed a patent to convert inanimate objects into game controllers.
- The system could potentially work with anything from coffee mugs to pens.
- It would also be equipped with a camera that will allow players to press virtual buttons.
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The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently published a bizarre request from video game firm Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. to patent a system that turns ordinary household objects and food products into PlayStation controllers, Entrepreneur reports.
“The system comprises an input unit operable to obtain images of a non-luminous passive object held by a user as a video game controller,” the patent says.
In the patent, Sony uses an illustrated banana to visualize their new system. Oranges are among one of the other examples the company uses. “E.g. a player may hold two bananas – one in each respective hand; or e.g two oranges – one in each respective hand.”
While the patent designs shows a banana, Sony anticipates that the system would work with anything from coffee mugs to a piece of bread.
“It would be desirable if a user could use an inexpensive, simple, and non-electronic device as a video game peripheral,” the patent says, as reported by Polygon.
The system also consists of an object detector and an object pose detector, which is dependent on the position of at least one of the player's hands, all registered by a camera, per Entrepreneur. The camera would be installed with the purpose of mapping out virtual buttons on the object of choice so that pressing on an object works like pressing a button.
The patent says this would help users take advantage of all the functions of games, including multiplayer.
Even though the patent is registered, it doesn't mean Sony will actually carry out the project. A patent only protects other competitors from utilizing this type of technology.