A new Sony patent suggests the company is exploring adaptive analog sticks that will add manual resistance adjustments.
Adaptive Trigger technology has added a sense of immersion in modern console gaming, but it is limited to the L2 and R2 Triggers. However, that may no longer be the case, as Sony has filed a patent for a very similar mechanism for the Analog Sticks.
New PlayStation Analog Sticks
The patent (US-12752183-B2) describes elastic components and thread grooves under the Analog Sticks that can be manually adjusted to increase or decrease resistance. Unlike Trigger resistance, this design places much more emphasis on the user’s ability to manually adjust resistance by simply rotating the Analog Stick.
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The patent describes a few issues it intends to solve, most notably the “sense of discomfort with the resistive feel provided” by existing sticks and the lack of precision required for some delicate operations. I suppose it would be akin to the precision of medical equipment controls and the resistance in some steering wheels.
While manual adjustment is a key component of this design, the patent also describes an electronically controlled version that could allow the resistance mechanism to be moved by a motor or linear actuator based on instructions from a connected device. The patent’s own example describes:
The position of the disk-shaped member may be moved along the longitudinal direction of the shaft section by obtaining, while rotating the shaft section or the rotating member with a motor (e.g., a stepping motor), a rotation angle thereof with a rotary encoder and electrically controlling an amount of rotation thereof… In the case of this example, a processor included in the controller may determine a rotation angle by the motor or a movement direction and an amount of movement by the linear actuator in accordance with instructions from the information processing apparatus connected to the controller and control the motor or the linear actuator.
In simple terms, the shaft of the Analog Stick has thread grooves that, when rotated, move the elastic component up or down. That elastic component is what adds resistance. Similarly, the cylinder body may have a thread-groove design that receives signals from a device within the controller, or from software or the game itself, to adjust resistance.
Since the patent doesn’t give examples using a video game or a real-life scenario, it is difficult to picture how the automatic feature would apply in a game and how it would work alongside the manual adjustment, as no drawing shows both at the same time. That is why we should focus more on the manual capability for now.
I should also make it clear that this is not a brand new innovation. The patent family history of this mechanism dates back to 2021, and this is only the most recent iteration. Sony’s patent cites earlier work from companies including Mattel and Microsoft, whose patents also describe ways of changing the physical resistance of an analog stick. Sony therefore appears to be pursuing a different implementation of an established idea, one that is somewhat similar to the Adaptive Triggers.
Who knows, maybe we’ll see these analog sticks added to the PlayStation 6 controller? What do you think? Let us know what you’re thinking on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
Source: Search “12752183” on USPTO.
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