Samsung Gear VR With Xbox Kinect-Like Hand Gesture Support In The Works, Patent Hints

A new Samsung patent, filed in December, surfaced Friday, indicating the company’s new technology for controllers for its Gear VR headset. According to the patent, Samsung’s virtual reality headset controllers will function using a magnetic field and react to hand gestures.

The patent lists “a method of controlling an electronic device, the method includes, based on a magnetic field generated by a source, obtaining a coordinate of a user’s hand; and reflecting the obtained coordinate of the user’s hand in a virtual reality environment based on a change of a location of the source due to a movement of the user.”

Read: Samsung Reportedly Working On Standalone Gear VR Headset With 2,000 ppi Pixel Density

This technology might provide better hand tracking from users. According to image listed in the patent, the new controllers will look somewhat similar to the current controllers available for the Gear VR, but will come with a hand strap at the back. This will let the users use the controllers more freely while accessing VR, unlike the current controllers, which need the user to grab them to direct VR usage.

Samsung Gear VR is actually one of the most popular VR headsets in the market, having sold 5 million units by the start of this year, but it is behind other VR headsets such as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift and lacks features such as positional tracking. A magnetic controllers might make for better gaming usage. Controllers are important for playing VR games as they are not limited by issues that a regular joystick faces such as wiring. Magnetic ones might extend the range of distance for the user and tracking hand movements would simulate tasks and activities in VR.

The patent further mentions that the controllers might be used with multiple devices, not just the Gear VR headset.

“The device described herein may comprise a processor, a memory for storing program data and executing it, a permanent storage unit such as a disk drive, a communications port for handling communications with external devices, and user interface devices, including a touch panel, keys, buttons, etc.

When software modules or algorithms are involved, these software modules may be stored as program instructions or computer readable codes executable on a processor on a computer-readable medium. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. This media can be read by the computer, stored in the memory, and executed by the processor,“ — the patent indicates that the controllers will run using their own hardware and software, which means they would have independent inputs and outputs, which would lead to a better response time in gaming usage with minimal lags.

Read: HTC Vive vs. Oculus Rift vs. Samsung Gear VR vs. PlayStation VR: Virtual Reality Headset Sales On The Rise

Such kind of motion sensing has specialized by Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect since 2010, but the gaming console uses an infrared projector, a camera and a 3D sensor to track the user’s movements.