A new Sony patent suggests that the company’s upcoming PlayStation VR viewer (PSVR) will detect users ‘ dizziness.
The patent was originally filed in early 2017 (six months after the original PSVR publication) and was published last week. He describes a system for detecting what he describes as “virtual reality sickness”, using a viewfinder (HMD) that is equipped with a range of biometric sensors such as a thermometer, eye-tracking cameras, a humidity sensor and outdoor orientation sensors.
According to the patent, the viewer would use these features to set a “health threshold value” that could supposedly indicate when a VR experience is too intense for the user and then act accordingly. There’s even a microphone that will hear “negative” words and sounds that might suggest the user is having a hard time.
Some elements of the viewer can also be used in other ways. Eye tracking allows only the parts of a screen that we are directly looking at to be fully rendered, drastically reducing the processing power required to execute experiences.
The viewfinder is also equipped with a battery, suggesting that it may be a stand-alone system.
Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida recently commented that we will see improvements in VR comfort and immersion in the future, and elements of this patent could play an important role in this. Earlier this year we also saw a patent suggesting that the company was also working on new motion controllers for virtual reality.
