Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a patent for technology that allows an item to be used like a PlayStation controller.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a patent for technology that allows an item to be used like a PlayStation controller. An example was given on a banana.

A patent was discovered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that describes how a non-electronic object can be turned into a game controller. In the filing, Sony Interactive Entertainment uses the banana (which you can see below) as one such item. Apparently, it works like this: the camera captures any object that the user is holding and tracks the input on its surface. The item cannot be luminous, as this will disrupt the above tracking.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has indicated that games can be trained to recognize an object used as a controller, or developers can customize their games to recognize certain elements as gamepads. Technology is seen as a vehicle for cheap gaming.

“It would be nice if the user could use an inexpensive, simple, and non-electronic device as a peripheral for video games. The [technology] presented aims to solve or at least alleviate some of the aforementioned problems, ”the company wrote.

Originally published at phonemantra