Sony has published a new patent for some sort of controller sensor technology that suggests its future PlayStation controllers may be capable of changing temperature to reflect what’s happening on screen (e.g., a DualSense 2 controller that gets hot when Kratos swings his Blades of Chaos). “A controller includes a sensor that uses an elastically deformable elastic member, detects user’s contact with or deforming action of the elastic member, and outputs an electric signal based on the detected contact or deforming action in question,” reads an abstract for the patent, which was spotted by Exputer earlier this week. The PlayStation DualSense controller, which features Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers for more immersive gameplay, is available now in as many as eight color variations for $69.99.
From a Patentscope database listing:
[…] a temperature control apparatus such as a Peltier element capable of electrically changing temperature may be provided on the front surface of, or inside the elastic member 11, and the circuit section 12 may set the temperature presented by the temperature control apparatus in accordance with an instruction input from the information processing apparatus 2. In this example, the information processing apparatus 2 receives information indicating user’s contact with or deforming action or the like of the elastic member 11, generates information indicating the temperature to be presented to the user, and sends the information to the controller 1. Then, the circuit section 12 of the controller 1 controls the temperature control apparatus such as a Peltier element to present the temperature indicated by the information input from the information processing apparatus 2 in question.
It should be noted that the circuit section 12 may set the temperature presented by the temperature control apparatus in response to a signal indicating the details of user’s contact with or deforming action of the elastic member 11 detected by the sensor 121 in place of or together with an instruction input from the information processing apparatus 2. In this case, when the user deforms the controller 1, the temperature control apparatus such as a Peltier element provided in the elastic member 11, for example, is controlled to present the preset temperature corresponding to the deformation in question. For example, the temperature control apparatus may be controlled such that the larger the amount of deformation, the higher the temperature becomes. This allows the user to feel the temperature change corresponding to deformation.