PlayStation LifeStyle

It’s no secret that the Kinect is outselling the PlayStation Move by quite a fair margin, so Sony may be looking to come out with their own Kinect competitor that can actually sense depth and track subtle movements where the PS Eye cannot. A newly published patent has revealed that the company has begun work on a new 3D camera that could potentially be a part of the PlayStation 4.

Only just published, what’s most interesting about the patent is that is was originally filed last October – a full year after the Kinect launched and broke Guinness World Records for sales. Sony previously admitted they had looked into 3D cameras long before the Kinect was a reality, but decided against it in favor of a button-based peripheral – the PS Move. However, now that Move and PS Eye-creator Dr Richard Marks has published the new patent, it does certainly suggest that the company has once again started to look into such a system.

The patent says:

An invention is provided for affording a real-time three-dimensional interactive environment using a depth sensing device. The invention includes obtaining depth values indicating distances from one or more physical objects in a physical scene to a depth sensing device.

Continuing (emphasis added):

A system for providing a real-time three-dimensional interactive environment, comprising: a depth sensing device capable of obtaining depth values indicating distances from one or more physical objects in a physical scene to a depth sensing device…

The patent also suggests that the camera would use a system similar to the Kinect’s, where it sprays out infared to determine depth.

wherein the depth sensing device is a depth camera using controlled infrared lighting

Along with the patent, some drawings were also included that show how depth would be recognized:

A Kinect-like camera for the PlayStation 4 would make a lot of sense – it’s too late to try to introduce another camera this gen, but with Microsoft sure to have a next-gen Kinect, Sony will need something to be able to compete against them with – which is why we included it on our PS4 Wishlist.

http://playstationlifestyle.net/2012/02/20/sony-patents-kinect-like-3d-depth-sensing-camera-kinect-for-playstation-consoles/

mabey they could just tweak the existing pseye to accommodate more advanced functions

Move has actually closed the gap, and is not far behind, fail article do some research.

Wonder if this is gonna cause copyright infringement...

Interesting either way... certainly Sony's motivation for doing so...

Copy rights? MS didn't invent cameras or motion controls lol.

you can say copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy .. all you want but owning a sony console is a bit like a real world katamari. :P

Change your sig mr popular!

OT: It's all very well cpying something, but if you don't have the passion for it in the first place you won't go very far with it.

Wrong word. I meant patent. And whether or not they invented it doesn't matter if they've already got a patent for it.

And this is apperantly necesarry:

lol

eh, my bandwidth is suppose to reset tomorrow so i'm gonna just ride it out.  might have to look into upgrading though.  :(

@nsanity - love the new avatar!

You think MS patented MOTION CONTROLS? BWHAHAHAHA, BWHAHAHAHA.