New PSVR Controller Patents Mention Per-Finger Control, Hand Detection

More accurate finger tracking might be something that Sony's looking to invest in.

That Sony will continue to push PlayStation VR with the next generation of their consoles is obvious, given how much of a focus it’s been for them in recent years (and the fact that it’s doing pretty well for itself as it is). As such, we can probably expect them to implement new technologies and improvements to provide better VR experience with the PS5. Two new patents filed by Sony (via Upload VR) – which were filed in 2017, actually, but only recently got published – hint at improvements that they might be looking to implement in the PS Move controllers for PSVR.

The first of the two patents describes a controller for granular control with a per-finger control, with each finger holding the controller (or controllers) across both hands being tracked individually. In theory, this would allow for greater control over movement in a VR space, and much more accurate tracking. The addition of basic haptic feedback for the same is also mentioned, which should theoretically result in more tactile responses from the controller.

The second patent goes hand in hand with the first, describing controllers that can detect which hand is holding the controller, which should make it easier to detect the finger actions described above more accurately, depending on whether the player is holding the controller in their right hand or the left.

As is the case with all patents, the fact that these haven been published don’t necessarily mean that such features will definitely be implemented by Sony going forward (or even that they’ll ever see the light of day). They do, however, give us an indication of the kind of steps forward Sony is thinking about taking, which is quite interesting, to say the least.

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