A new patent published recently by Sony after being filed May 3, 2021, which describes a method to detect if a player is idle or not at the controller through motion, pausing the game for the player, rather than having to do it yourself.
The abstract of the patent reads,
“A technique detects when a computer simulation controller such as a computer game controller is idle and, thus that the simulation (game) should be paused immediately without waiting for an “AwayFromKeyboard” timer to out by detecting whether or not the user has laid the controller down and gone away or simply is not responding.”
It’s an interesting notion, that could be helpful for players, though depending on how long it would take for this function to kick in, it could also become troublesome.
There’s also a question as to how necessary something like this is, considering that there are likely many, many players hardwired to pause anything when they leave the room.
Or what if you simply wanted to leave your character on an idle point for capturing footage, keep the soundtrack playing so you can listen to it while you go do whatever you might need to, or even just to enjoy the view?
In those veins it could easily become annoying for players, though if it can be turned off, then that no longer becomes an issue.
As with many Sony patents however, we’ll still have to see if this ever really sees the light of day, or in this case a controller.
Source – [Reddit]