A new patent recently filed by Sony could be a huge step forward forPlayStationcontrollers and how they keep players immersed in gameplay experiences. This compounds with several otherSony controller patentsthat appear to be attempting to make strides towards immersion, something that has become one of the DualSense’s major focuses.
In the case of this most recent patent, filed in late March, the major concern of this new technology involves the mechanical sounds made byPlayStationcontrollers. Specifically, the primary problem that this new system looks to correct is the sound that is produced from controllers like the DualSense whenever the mechanisms that create vibration start working.
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The new system set up in Sony’s patent looks to be able to detect whenever the console has sent a vibration command to a controller and determine whether or not to accompany the signal with a sound. This sound is intended to act as a counter towards the noise created by theinterior mechanisms of a PlayStation controllerand cancel out the sounds of the motors that control the vibration. Using a competing sound to cancel another noise isn’t exactly new technology, though it isn’t the type of thing that most hardware developers have taken the time to put into consoles.
Many of the figures in the patent seem to show similar designs to how thenew PS5 VR controllershave appeared in this type of documentation. The addition of a new battery system that comes with this noise canceling feature also suggests that the intention is for a set of controllers that closely resembles the new PSVR peripheral. So, both the noise canceling and the new power saving settings might not be in preparation for a second generation of DualSense controllers, but more likely for when the next version of VR makes its final appearance.
Considering that noise canceling technology isn’t exactly new, it’s interesting that console manufacturers haven’t implemented this type of system to cut down on the sounds of fans or hard drives spinning sooner. However, if the intention of this new patent is forSony’s PSVR 2, then this could be the best avenue to test the utility of canceling the noise due to virtual reality’s leaning towards greater immersion. Still, if the feature turns out to be successful in VR, it is possible that similar uses of this technology could be brought in for a future generation of either the PS5 or the DualSense controller.
