Sony has been awarded yet another patent describing a controller capable of changing temperature. The newly patented concept reveals some new details about how Sony's unconventional gadget is supposed to work.

The first indication that the company is toying with this idea emerged online in spring 2023. Back then, Sony secured a patent for some hot-and-cold gamepad internals that could ostensibly fit into the frame of the PS5 DualSense controller. The gist of the idea was to have a controller that would send different thermal sensations to the user based on what's happening on the screen, all in a bid to deliver a more immersive gameplay experience.

The Japanese gaming giant secured yet another similar patent in early July 2024. Its accompanying documentation, reviewed by Game Rant, describes a controller that can change the temperature of its shoulder buttons, specifically the L2 and R2. Similar to Sony's 2023 hot-and-cold controller patent, the newly publicized solution is only intended to send brief thermal sensations, whose intervals wouldn't be much longer than those of vibrations generated by the DualSense haptic feedback motors. The concept gamepad's shoulder buttons would hence cool down shortly after heating up, and vice versa.




The technical documentation describing the gadget suggests that its system for heating up and cooling down triggers would be compatible with typical controller internals, such as voice coil actuators utilized in some modern haptic feedback motors. The mechanism itself would be based on a technology called Peltier elements, also known as thermoelectric coolers. These are small devices that can efficiently convert electrical energy into a temperature difference, allowing them to quickly emit and absorb heat from the user's perspective. But what's actually happening is that the heat is effectively being flipped across a Peltier element, with one side always getting hotter while the other is cooling down.

Sony's Hot/Cold Controller Could Support 'Pain Sensations' and Novel Accessibility Features
In certain applications, the Peltier mechanism could even deliver "pseudo-pain sensations" by heating up and cooling down in quick succession, Sony's patent states. Another potential use case would be to utilize the concept to provide cutting-edge accessibility features, communicating information to hearing or visually impaired gamers. The actual intensity of sensations would also be customizable by the end user, the patent reads.

The chances of this novel technology ever seeing the light of day are unclear. Sony secures hundreds of patents on an annual basis, with the vast majority of them never moving beyond the concept phase. Be that as it may, the fact that the company is still filing for new patents on this front suggests that it remains interested in exploring the possibility of adding thermal sensations to its controllers in the future.

Posted: Jul 11, 2024 10:43 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://gamerant.com/playstation-hot-cold-controller-new-tech-gamepad-details/