Sony has a brand new patent

New Playstation controller on the horizon?

No, it's not what you're thinking (though the image does allude to it). This isn't the infamous boomerang controller that was rumoured in the lead-up to the PS3 launch. Like we postulated in an earlier article, Sony has recently patented just that.

The new design features two matching pieces consisting of a handgrip and buttons, each with a large sphere on the end. Inside the sphere is an array of sensors, using an "ultrasonic tracking system" to place each controller in the real world, and transmit that information back to the PS3. This can also be used to calculate distance, so it's entirely possible that games could ask you to hold your arms a meter apart, and judge you on how well you were able to achieve this.

The patent also mentions video capture as a large component of how the system will work, presumably analysing your movements in an eye-toy-esque style, correlating that with the data from the twin grips, and finally displaying that action ingame.

These two separate pieces also link together through the connection of a "full controller insert plate", which is essentially a board that joins the two, and adds the usual array of buttons that you'd normally find on a PS controller. We're not quite sold on the comfort of this quirky controller (nor are we convinced it'd be justified or affordable to get a camera as well as this, not to mention the console itself), but it does hold some promise for innovation - and this is always a good thing.

Check out the patent, and some more info on the controller by 1up.com.