- Sony Interactive Inc. has applied for a patent to convert inanimate objects into game controllers.
- The system could 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 Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. to patent a system that turns ordinary household objects and food products into PlayStation controllers, reports Entrepreneur.
“The system comprises an operable input unit for obtaining images of a passive non-luminous object maintained by a user such as a video game controller,” says the patent.
In the patent, Sony uses an illustrated banana to visualize its new system. Oranges are one of the other examples the company uses. “For example, a player can hold two bananas – one in each respective hand; or, for example, two oranges – one in each respective hand,” he said.
Although the patent designs show a banana, Sony predicts that the system will work with anything from a coffee mug to a pen.
“It would be desirable if a user could use a cheap, simple, non-electronic device as a video game peripheral,” says the patent, as reported by Polygon.
The system is also composed of an object detector and an object pose detector, which depends on the position of at least one of the player’s hands, all registered by a camera, by Entrepreneur. The camera would be installed in order to map virtual buttons on the object of choice, so that pressing an object works like pressing a button.
The patent says that this would help users to take advantage of all the functions of the games, including multiplayer mode.
Even if the patent is registered, it does not mean that Sony will actually carry out the project. A patent protects only other competitors from using this type of technology.