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Sony Patents Power Glove-Like Motion Controller For PlayStation VR (hothardware.com) 44

MojoKid writes: With so much of the VR buzz revolving around Oculus, HTC and Google lately, it would be easy to forget that Sony has its own competitor coming, called PlayStation VR. And now, as new patents have revealed, the Japanese gaming giant could have a nifty trick up its sleeve, so to speak. It looks like Sony could developing what some could consider a spiritual successor to the Power Glove, that classic late 80s peripheral for the Nintendo Entertainment System. A diagram pulled from the recent patent filing shows this glove's implementation is straight-forward. However, Sony's glove is not going to be bulky like the Power Glove was. The documents also refer to hand flexor sensors that indicate a level of precision tracking at the fingertip level, as well as some sort of cloud network processing offload.
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Sony Patents Power Glove-Like Motion Controller For PlayStation VR

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  • >> documents also refer to hand flexor sensors that indicate a level of precision tracking at the fingertip level

    I believe rule 34 applies here.

    • Rule #34 always applies, and in most cases is simply a corollary to the fact that any new technology will not be successful until the porn industry embraces it.

      VR and teledildonics are so inextricably linked in the future it isn't funny.

      Which means these gloves need to be easily washable.

  • Oh, Great (Score:4, Funny)

    by sunderland56 ( 621843 ) on Monday February 29, 2016 @12:26PM (#51609103)

    Now when I raise my middle finger in a game, I get banned. Wonderful. Just what I wanted.

  • Now you're playing with power!
  • Seriously. When an idea is so clearly developed that they've made movies involving the use of it, how can a corporation even think of patenting it? This is ridiculous.

    I'm not even sure that there are grounds for patenting particular implementations of the glove. The idea of building a glove with electronics to measure e.g. finger bend and pressure is out there in the public domain -- there are dozens of ways to implement it and NONE of them should be patentable, not unless they contain a truly unique invention that is patentable in its own right for e.g. measuring the bend. But I'm not seeing much of that.

    This is just trolling. Next up -- Sony patents a socket that can be inserted in the human brain so one can play the game without any controller at all. Oh, wait, that too was invented by SF authors (plural), e.g. William Gibson. Maybe they should just put Gibson on retainer.

    rgb

    • Yeah, this is kind of like claiming you've invented a functional FTL engine and then, instead of patenting the engine, you try to patent the idea of going faster than light. It's ridiculous. But that doesn't mean that they're not going to be granted a patent for it. It happens all the time.

    • When an idea is so clearly developed that they've made movies involving the use of it, how can a corporation even think of patenting it?

      Lawyers, and idiot lawmakers who have been handing over increasingly stupid laws allowing for the protection of "intellectual property", even for things which are so well documented in popular culture as to be more or less obvious.

      I'm with you, in the last 30 years, who can't envision this exact product, and who hasn't been expecting another iteration to come along?

      Updati

    • What matters is entirely about what they are trying to patent. Chances are they aren't making any sort of strong claim and just want to patent their specific mechanism as a glove, which is, potentially, novel. If they do try to claim too much, either the patent application gets rejected, or the court decides it's silly whenever it comes to trial. Nothing new about that. Since TFA doesn't state what is being claimed, we can just speculate.
    • When an idea is so clearly developed that they've made movies involving the use of it, how can a corporation even think of patenting it?

      Because movies don't tell you how to build the fucking thing.

      I'm not even sure that there are grounds for patenting particular implementations of the glove. The idea of building a glove with electronics to measure e.g. finger bend and pressure is out there in the public domain -- there are dozens of ways to implement it and NONE of them should be patentable, not unless they contain a truly unique invention that is patentable in its own right for e.g. measuring the bend. But I'm not seeing much of that.

      Try clicking the link in the summary. Those nice little pictures they show depict a not-Power Glove. In fact, no glove at all. Take a look.

      • by mikael ( 484 )

        They could patent the components used, the type of digital data sent back, the software clean-up required, the fabrics used. Like a system of fibre-optic cables, light sensors, ADC converters with a wi-fi/bluetooth interface.

    • Seriously. When an idea is so clearly developed that they've made movies involving the use of it, how can a corporation even think of patenting it? This is ridiculous.

      You do realize that they use CGI in movies, right? They don't actually invent the stuff in reality. There's a big damn difference between imagining "X" would be really cool and actually figuring out a way to do it.

      I suppose you don't think the Wright brothers deserve credit for the first manned, powered, heavier than air, controlled flight either. Daedalus and Icarus, Ezekiel's Chariot and magic carpets preceded them in literature.

      I'm not even sure that there are grounds for patenting particular implementations of the glove. The idea of building a glove with electronics to measure e.g. finger bend and pressure is out there in the public domain -- there are dozens of ways to implement it and NONE of them should be patentable, not unless they contain a truly unique invention that is patentable in its own right for e.g. measuring the bend. But I'm not seeing much of that.

      It depends on how they are doing it, doesn't it? The patent system annoys

      • by gl4ss ( 559668 )

        well.

        you think that the patent actually describes anything about how to make their glove or how it _actually_ works? HAHAHAH HAHA HAH AHAH AH HAAHAH H AH AH AH AH AH.

        look, if you want to look at powerglove patents, various methods of doing the sensors and such, you need to go back to the '80s. the mattel powerglove didn't spring out to existence out of nothing. lots of research and expired patents related to that, covering most of the ways you could do it.

        if they have made a new nanomaterial or whatever fle

    • Seriously. When an idea is so clearly developed that they've made movies involving the use of it, how can a corporation even think of patenting it? This is ridiculous.

      In determining the validity of a patent, a reference qualifies as prior art "for everything it teaches". So, for example, Johnny Mnemonic qualifies for the concept of manipulating virtual objects with your hands in free space, and you couldn't get a patent claim that said "A method of manipulating virtual objects, comprising translating positions of a user's hands into a virtual environment." But JM doesn't teach how to do it, and if your patent claim goes more into the specific details, then you can get a

  • Everyone loves the Power Glove. It's so BAD.
  • Yet-another-gimmick device. Where is the killer app, let alone the apps?

    Evaluation of Motion Controller:

    [x] Fad
    [x] Device
    [x] Hype train
    [x] Lacks apps
    [x] Consumers (generally) don't give a fuck
    [ ] Ship it!

    So how's the sales of the PlayStation Move working out?

    • by kruug ( 4451395 )
      Similar to Microsoft's Kinect. Are you bitching about that too?
      • by rsborg ( 111459 )

        Similar to Microsoft's Kinect. Are you bitching about that too?

        Not since they decided to make it optional for the XB One.

      • I was. Motion Gesture are idiotic for a few reasons:

        * Invisible interfaces are unintuitive. What are all your options? How "far" do I have to "push" before it is acknowledge? The fundamental problem is that the _lack_ of tactile feedback makes the Kinnect retarded -- this is the same reason "virtual" hologram keyboards never took off. There is a reason we still have physical keyboards -- they just work and there is no guessing games involving "did I press then button?"
        * Arm fatigue due to unnecessary s

  • Does the movie "Minority Report" count as prior art?
  • Even if Sony made something awesome and light years ahead of anyone else, I can't possibly stomach the idea of buying something from a company that constantly proves it not only doesn't give a shit about clients or customers, but chooses to screw them over.

    • So what you're saying is that you don't buy anything, ever, from anyone.

      • Realistically, it's all relative. I wish there was less shady stuff all around, but when I have a choice between evil and less evil, I'm going to pick less evil - and perhaps question whether I need to make the choice (or purchase) at all.

        For example, kids are in slaves in mines for the minerals used in your cell phone. How do you realistically fight back? Maybe you do your research for which companies have a better track record? Maybe you buy a cell phone every 4 years instead of two? Maybe you do som

  • Fairly sure this was first described in the Perry Rhodan space novels in the 1960s.

    Which means it's a German invention.

  • Yeah, no porn / adult-entertainment possibility there, I'm sure.

  • I'm not buying unless it looks and works like this: http://vignette4.wikia.nocooki... [nocookie.net]

"All the people are so happy now, their heads are caving in. I'm glad they are a snowman with protective rubber skin" -- They Might Be Giants

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